How to use Twitter in digital PR

Over the years Twitter has transcended from a platform purely to share life updates with your friends, to a fully fledged news resource and vital workplace tool.

Here at Motive, using Twitter is an integral part of day-to-day work. We firmly believe it is one of the best free tools to have in your digital PR arsenal, so here’s what we believe Twitter is best at when it comes to PR.

Sourcing contacts

Ever struggled to find a journalist's contact email address? Yep, think that’s just about all of us. If your media contact tool can’t seem to source a journalist's details then your next port of call should be Twitter.

Simply type the journo’s name into the search bar and locate their profile. More often than not they will have their email address in their bio, if not their bio will contain a link to a personal blog or company site which should give you a better chance at finding that all important email address.

Trend Analysis

Twitter’s explore function is an oasis for potential content campaigns, news releases, ideation tips and pretty much anything else you can imagine. This tool is split into different sections to help make finding trending topics a lot easier.

It is split into for you, trending, news, sports, entertainment, and, you guessed it. COVID-19. Under each of these tabs trending topics are numbered by real time popularity. This can give you a precise indication of what people on the Twittersphere are chatting about right now.

Twitter add-on tool, Tweetdeck is a great extension to use when analysing trends, as it allows you to bring up multiple searches at one time and compare them side-by-side. It’s also a super important tool for tracking breaking news in both local and national areas.

Requests

Now I’m sure we’ve all seen #journorequest and #mediarequest on various social platforms but just how effective are they on Twitter. The answer is, extremely. With thousands of uses every single day, using industry related hashtags are a great way to find niche case studies for appropriate clients.

You might be surprised with the amount of people who are willing to help you out or at the very least point you in the direction of someone who will (usually an @ in the replies).  

Brand updates

One of the first places that brands will post updates about the company whether it be maintenance, new services, or important announcements is Twitter. Following your clients on Twitter is always advisable but follow accounts that you enjoy.

For example, one of my favourites to follow is Netflix UK & Ireland. They post updates on upcoming releases and often pose questions to their followers, in which the responses can be the basis for an interesting opinion-led campaign.

Opportunities

Network, network, network. It’s called social media for a reason. Be social and don’t be afraid to start conversations with other PR professionals. Interacting with other industry professionals can help you to boost your personal brand, help source new clients, and find interesting information sources.

Whether you’re looking to further your career or just looking to chat to other like minded individuals, seeking those opportunities through Twitter is a great place to start.

If you would like to find out more about how Motive can help you GET IN TOUCH. We would love to hear from you.

© MOTIVE