From Vocus’ 2014 State of the Media Report

Understanding how to properly pitch a story to the media is a crucial skill all public relations professionals must cultivate in order to be successful in the industry.  Many professionals face great difficulty in how they should go about pitching a story. Would a phone pitch be the best route to go? What about an e-mail pitch? Could sending a tweet to the journalist work? The challenge of knowing how to pitch to each journalist can be quite daunting of a task for any public relations professional.

Vocus, a top provider of public relations and cloud based solutions, have released their 2014 State of the Media Report in which they discuss at length  the impact social media pitching is having on professionals.  Similar with the findings of the 2013 State of the Media report, journalists are still turning to social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ to receive and promote their stories. Tayne Kim, managing editor of magazine content at Vocus Media Research Group, added in the 2014 report that professionals should also take notice of two new emerging social media platforms, Newsle and About.me, when pitching stories.

Here are a few findings from the 256 journalists surveyed in this report:

  • Fifty percent of journalists surveyed use a social media platform to promote their stories.
  • A little less than half (49%) of journalists use social media to engage with their core audience.
  • The report goes into detail by saying that 87 percent of the journalists prefer Twitter where as 79 percent favor Facebook when promoting content. LinkedIn followed at 25.8 percent and Google+ received 18.5 percent.
  • Despite the popularity of social media, 91 percent of reporters still prefer to receive an e-mail pitch. Only 2.7 percent surveyed said that they rather have a social pitch.
  • The study also analyzes the state of traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, television and radio.  It talks about the misconception of traditional media’s impact in the new age.  The report details how traditional media is using social media to help leverage itself in today’s market.

Here are some key findings about traditional media over the past year:

  • Newspaper closures decreased since 2012: The amount of newspapers closing their production fell from 152 publications in 2012 to 128 publications in 2013.
  • Weekly newspaper publications were mostly impacted by the closures:  Seventy-two of the newspaper closures were weeklies and 27 were online publications.
  • Newspapers turned social: The Chicago Sun-Times’ decided to cut a majority of their photography department in favor of hiring individuals who were well trained on using iPhone cameras.
  • Fewer magazines launched: In 2011 and 2012, 195 and 165 magazines respectively launched. In 2013, the number fell to 97 new launches.
  • More magazines folded: In 2012, there were 81 magazine closures. The number rose to 159 closures in 2013.
  • Radio listenership soared: According to Nielsen findings, radio amassed 700,000 listeners a week and nearly 242 million listeners in total.
  • New TV shows debuted: The report states that approximately 100 television shows made their debut in 2013. This includes local newscasts, national sports and talk shows on both cable and broadcast networks.  PBS, CNBC and MSNBC also launched several political and financial related programs.

Traditional media as a whole has continued to embrace social platforms despite any issues they might have with it. Social media has rejuvenated the journalism industry by changing the way we start conversations, express our opinions and bring attention to extraordinary stories. We should look forward to traditional media continuing this trend of new age interaction for many more years to come.

If you’re in healthcare, insurance, technology or other professional services industries, and need help with a PR, marketing or social media campaign, contact Scott Public Relations.

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2013 State of the Media report

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