My Friends From News & Experts Are Back With New PR Advice For Authors, Branding, and Your Media Pitch …

The Key To Media Success Is Focusing On Their Needs, Not Yours.
Written by Miguel Casellas-Gil and Shared by Marsha Friedman

2020 has been a challenging year in so many ways for nearly everyone – and pitching the media in the middle of a pandemic is no exception.COVID-19 dominated so much of the news cycle that, seemingly for months, any pitch that didn’t include a coronavirus angle ended up in some reporter, editor or producer’s deleted file.

Fortunately, at News & Experts we found plenty of ways to tie our clients and their messages to the situation, though at times it required some exceptional brainstorming sessions! And eventually other topics began to work their way back into new reports, much to everyone’s relief.But even through these unusual times, a couple of things did not change.

One is the value of media coverage for building your brand or promoting your business. Your ROI is the credibility you gain from the implicit endorsement when the media turns to you as an expert who can provide valuable insight to their audience.

The other thing that didn’t change is that, to be successful, you need to understand the media, their needs and what they want from you.Just recently, journalists were surveyed about how the pandemic had affected their work. They were also asked for their thoughts on how those seeking PR could do a better job of pitching to them and working with them.

As a result of their responses, let me share a few ideas on what you should be doing that will ingratiate you with journalists and increase your chances of publicity success:

Pitch journalists via email.
Most people in the media prefer to be pitched by email, rather than by phone or by a personal message on social media. With reduced staff and limited resources, they are often crunched for time and an email allows them to review a pitch at their leisure, without you interrupting their day. Make sure you have a succinct subject line that grabs their attention (but doesn’t promise more than you can deliver)! Try to keep the body of the pitch short and to the point.

Be willing to do video interviews.
In years past, most interviews with print reports were conducted in person or by phone. As we all know, times have changed, so it’s possible print journalists will request an interview over Zoom or another similar service. Your willingness to honor their requests will help create a great relationship with them. Of course, TV interviews absolutely will happen this way, so the more comfortable you are being interviewed on camera, the better.

Keep up with local news.
When you’re pitching to your local media, make sure your pitch is relevant to their readers, viewers or listeners. That’s why it’s important to follow the news so that you understand what is more likely to resonate with those editors, producers or talk show hosts you are trying to reach. One thing I always advocate when pitching the media (because it works!) is never pitch yourself, your company or your product. Instead, pitch the issue on which you’re an expert, or pitch the problem that your company, product or service solves.

Be on the lookout for fresh angles.
As I mentioned earlier, this entire year has been saturated with news about COVID-19, and that’s expected to continue for a while. So, continue to look for ways to insert yourself into whatever conversation is going on in the news, especially if you can come up with angles that are different from what everyone else is doing and apply directly to your community.

At the same time, the media are certainly open to other topics beyond the pandemic, especially ones with a positive punch to them. You might have even noticed that some TV news reports always try to end their broadcast with something upbeat, leaving their viewers feeling good after what otherwise was a gloomy newscast!

And keep in mind, as you help the media and give them what they want and need, you will help yourself. Your list of media successes will grow and you will be on your way to becoming a go-to expert the media turns to again and again. Stop by our website today!
https://newsandexperts.com/

Helpfully yours,

If you want professional advice on getting the most out of your publicity efforts, give us a call at 727-443-7115.

Cat’s PR Friends Show us How To Social Media For ‘Building Your Brand and Use It To Grow Your Small Business Too.

May 19, 2019 Catherine Lyon - Literary Marketing Expert A Writer's Thoughts, Book Promotion Tips For Authors, Featured Guest, Marketing and More, News Around The Web, Posts, Updates and More Advice, Book Promotion, Brand As An Author, cat's reading den, lyonmediaservices, Marketing Tips, Media, Media For Business, News Experts, Shine On Media

Cat’s amazing friends of Strong Social – Media Blog is a great place to visit as they are a growing PR media site that helps “the little guys” become better at branding themselves as authors, writers, and if you are like me, run a small media marketing and book promoting brand and business.

They know the importance and power of Social Media to help authors build their brand and gain exposure, sales, and reviews for all their books. Let’s see what they are teaching us today about Branding and Using Social Media for your small business …~Cat Lyon

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4 Easy Tips to Apply Social Media Strategies to get your Brand Noticed

Social Media is no longer something that companies can go without. We’ve long past that time when small business owners thought that communicating with their key audience was more of a choice, rather than a mandatory necessity.

It so happens that being present on social networks has become a must in almost every sector of activity, and here are the top 5 social media must-haves for every brand:

5. A Social Media Manager

Sure, it sounds redundant, but trust us. Having a social media manager is mandatory if you want to get optimal results from your entire digital communication strategy. You can start by creating the social media accounts for your brand by yourself and try to keep them constantly updated, but sooner or later, you’ll realize that this activity is taking up more and more of your time.

This could lead to you getting distracted from your company’s core focus, making it necessary to hire a professional social media manager to take care of the work and to take things to the next level.

4. Instagram and Youtube Are a Must-Have

Even if you’re not activating in a very dynamic domain, your brand needs to be present on Instagram and Youtube. Assuming you already have a Facebook and a Twitter account, you should start placing a strong focus on the visual like book trailers or more about your craft as a writer.

When it comes to visual, Instagram (for photos) and Youtube (for videos, of course!) are the key social networks to focus on. More and more companies are shifting their communication efforts to visual content, because, we all know it, people have less and less time to read.

Keep it social with strong visual content!

3. Focus on Understanding Social Media Management Tools

If your brand has a lot of things to communicate, you can easily forget to post certain updates or news because you are present on too many platforms. This is why opting for a social media management tool that helps you organize and schedule posts on different social networks is a life-saver.

Hootsuite is one of the most popular choices out there, but feel free to look around to what best suits your needs, or consults with your social media manager (if you already have one) on what tools you should start using.

2. Try Getting More into The Analytics

Sprout Social is a very special social media solution for every brand. It’s being used by top worldwide companies because not only does it make social media easier to manage, but it also provides detailed-customized reports to help you improve your digital communication. And save time posting by automating your posts on social media by using Buffer (dot) Com. They are an affordable Social Media Management Platform.

“Buffer makes it easy for businesses and marketing teams to schedule posts, analyze performance, and manage all their accounts in one place.”

They both can also be considered strong lead generators for your business if you analyze all the reports carefully and make the necessary adjustments in order to achieve your business goals.

It’s definitely worth giving it a shot!

1. Focus on hashtags

Hashtags are as important today as they were the first time they were introduced by Twitter. It helps people search and index a certain topic, making it easier for you to connect with your core audience.

Use websites like hashtagify.me to get the best relevant hashtags you need to send out your message. Hashtags are one of the easiest ways to make your message visible to a wider audience, so be sure to include them in your updates.

Now let’s talk about to grow your business on Social Media!

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5 Tips on How to Use Social Media for Small Businesses

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It’s no longer a secret that social media helps any business in reaching its targeted audiences. Not only that, but social media has become a must-have for any business, be it big or small. It’s a very fast, efficient and easy to use way of getting in touch with your current and future possible clients.

It helps in raising awareness about your company, it helps in getting leads for your business, and it’s a way of letting people know what your company is doing on a regular basis.

Sure, everything sounds good in theory, but let’s look over 5 tips on how to use social media for small businesses. A more practical approach.

5. Start by setting up a social media plan for your business

First thing’s first. Set up a social media plan where you do an audit of your company and try to figure out which social networks work best for your industry. We’re not going to lie to you, research does take up a lot of time in the beginning. Help is out there, and affordable if you “just want to WRITE,” look to our friend ‘Cat’ of lyonmediaservices.com and she can surely help. WHICH?

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The good news? That it’s worth it and you only have to do it once. At least to that extent. After that, it’s all about her trying to keep you relevant in your field and do constant check-ups on what the competition is doing. Which brings us to our next tip…

4. Research your competition and keep up to date with the latest news

In the digital age, not knowing what your competition is doing is a definite disadvantage. Especially since doing research or checking updates from your competitors has never been easier.

Start by following their social media accounts and see what they’re posting. Analyze their content and try to identify a pattern. See what works with their audience and how they engage with people who approach them. You can even take it a step further, by subscribing to their newsletters, webinars, conferences and so on, just to be sure that you’re always in the loop.

Take whatever works from their social media communication and add it to your plan.

3. Master one social media platform

Spreading too much, too fast is almost never a good idea. Sure, start by creating social media accounts for your business on all the relevant social networks, but try to master one platform before being “too social” on all of them.

Time is a limited resource and most likely, you will not be able to invest the same amount of time on all social networks. Rather than having 3-4 accounts with less developed content, try on focusing on one and get yourself noticed there. After that, it’s easy to scale and take a part of your audience with you. This blends with the next tip we have in store for you.

2. Engage with your audience. See what they have to say

This tip is probably the most important one of them all, however, this does not mean that you should skip all the other steps. Engaging with your audience can prove to be crucial, especially when you are a small business or a company that’s just starting out.

Your customers and the relationship you build with them is all you have. This is why you need to nurture it and put almost as much time in it as you would put in your products and services. Establishing a loyal fan base is key in taking your business to the next level. Answer questions and ask questions. This will get the ball rolling.

1.Create Your Brand Recognition

If you manage to create a strong brand recognition, you can already consider yourself a winner. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should leave your guard down, but it does mean that you will need to put less effort into your communication activities and you can focus on taking your business even further.

You’ll be able to focus more on developing your product, think about scaling up and how to acquire more customers, once your company has established itself as a strong brand.

You’ll be able to communicate more, by saying less. You’ll appear professional, but also close to your audience.

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If you’re interested in learning more about social media management, or if you have any questions about social media for small businesses, do not hesitate to contact our specialized consultants. CAT SURE Highly Recommends Them!!

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Happy 2019 PR Message From My Dear Friend Marsha of News & Experts. New Year and a New Branding For Authors!

December 15, 2018 Catherine Lyon - Literary Marketing Expert A Writer's Thoughts, Author News, Book Promotion Tips For Authors, Featured Guest, Marketing and More, News Around The Web, Posts Guest PR Article, Marsha Friedman, New Year Branding Makeover, News Experts, PR Advice, Tips

2019 Offers A Fresh Start To Re-Ignite Your Personal Brand – BY Marsha Friedman

It’s that exciting time of year when we look with eager anticipation to the future, plotting out how we can make the coming 365 days even better than the previous ones.

Maybe you want to expand your business. Perhaps you hope to add a few percentage points to your sales goals.

As you set all those wonderful goals for 2019, make sure you don’t neglect to include a few resolutions for continuing to build your personal brand. These days, with the ever-changing media landscape, the opportunities to ramp up your publicity are more plentiful than ever, yet I don’t think people are always aware of that – or realize how to take advantage of those opportunities when they are aware.

For example, nearly all print publications have an online presence that helps them reach a potentially larger audience than when they depended on delivering to homes and newsstands within a limited geographic area. And it’s easier than ever for you to share with others any articles you are quoted in, either by posting links on your website or by making use of social media.

Meanwhile, new online publications continue to pop up, so the digital realm is creating additional print real estate – and additional opportunities for you.
So, as you toast the arrival of the New Year and prepare to take advantage of the digital domain’s publicity possibilities in 2019, here are a few things you should be doing:

Maintain a strong social media presence.
One of your best weapons in the quest for publicity is social media, which can help you make connections both with the media and with your target audience. Jay York, our senior digital marketing strategist, says it’s important to know which platforms are best for what you do. For example, let’s say you are a restaurant owner.

Instagram provides a platform for foodies photographing their meals, as well as an avenue to browse hashtags related to new and interesting cuisines. Facebook offers broad appeal and features such as event creation, which provides additional value to restaurants. If you’re a financial professional, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all are good. LinkedIn is a great place to build your network and authority with higher-end clients.

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Facebook’s ad network provides powerful tools for targeting the right audience. Twitter, like LinkedIn, also provides an opportunity to focus on building authority and networking with other industry and business influencers.

Develop a content-rich website.
Your website, among other things, provides you with a chance to be your own publisher. Are you miffed that no one else will publish your thoughtful op-ed article? Don’t pout! Instead, create a blog, providing those who visit your website valuable information based on your insight in your area of expertise. Update the blog at least every week or two so people will keep coming back to read your newest thoughts and advice for them.

Create a digital-media footprint.
Vow that in 2019 you are going to redouble your efforts to pitch story ideas to the media. Reach out to publications and let them know how their readers would benefit from what you have to say. (Remember your blog? You can share that with journalists as well, giving them an even better taste of the topics you can speak about.)

If you find success reaching top-tier media, great! But don’t neglect the seemingly smaller players, including trade publications and your local small daily and weekly newspapers. The articles that small publications write are sometimes picked up by larger publications, and all of it can be linked to on your website, helping to impress clients and potential clients that you are someone the media turn to when they need a voice of authority.

As you do all these things and the months of 2019 fly by, who knows how one great publicity success might lead to another. We once had a social media strategist who was asked to discuss a topic on a local TV station. The appearance worked out so well that for a while he became a regular on the show.

Those opportunities can build and build, and build some more!

Just maybe, 2019 will be your best year for publicity ever!

Let the fireworks begin!

Marsha!

~Please visit Marsha and her team of PR Experts at “Experts & News Today”
I am taking her Rich Website Advice Into the New Year and expanding from not only Literary services but also Social Media and Media Branding and Promoting Events too on my coming soon new website beginning in JAN 2019 here “Lyon Media Services!”

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Social Media War and Blunders! How Do You Handle a Rude Person on Social Media? Be Careful …

August 3, 2018 Catherine Lyon - Literary Marketing Expert A Writer's Thoughts, Featured Guest, Marketing and More, News Around The Web, Posts Be Professional, Don't Be a Fool on SM, Down Side To The Internet, Marsha Friedman, Media Marketing, News Experts, PR Insider, Respect One Another, Rude Commenters, Social Media Bullying, Social Media Rules

My dear friend Marsha is back from “News & Experts” and her PR Insider post with some real solid advice on how to handle “rude” people on social media while keeping your Professionalism intact …

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How To Respond When The Social Media World Gets Unpleasant

Most of you are fully aware by now that social media plays a significant role in building your authority as a thought leader and expert in your field.

One of social media’s great advantages over traditional media is that you get to control your message to an extent you can’t when you’re being interviewed by a print journalist, a talk radio host or a TV show host. With social media, there is no media “gatekeeper” standing between you and your audience.

That’s the good news!

But, as wonderful as social media is for promoting your brand, it does present its own treacherous pitfalls. A particularly onerous drawback is that your social media followers can post responses to your posts that are, shall we say, less than ideal!

That happened just this week to one of our clients when one of her Twitter followers suggested quite publicly and forcefully that she quit posting about one subject (business culture) and write about a different subject (blockchain) he cared about instead! (This is the polite version. I will refrain from injuring your ears with the sailor’s language he actually used.)

It was, to say the least, quite an aggressive response to a fairly innocuous post.

Luckily for all of us, there are lessons to be learned from how this situation played out. Jay York, our senior social media strategist who manages our client’s social media platforms, says there were a few options he considered.

On behalf of the client, Jay could have directly challenged the person’s comment. He could have also tagged the blockchain community, who likely would have brought down their wrath on the errant poster.

But the option Jay chose was to send a private message to the poster, politely requesting that the comment please be removed because it didn’t help a mutual objective they both had of bridging the gap between business and blockchain people.

A few hours later, the very contrite poster replied, apologizing and removing the post.

Image result for copy free images quotes about rude people on social media

So, in case you ever find yourself in a similar distasteful situation with one of your social media accounts, let’s break down how you can try to duplicate what Jay did:

Find common ground. “In marketing, sometimes you can turn threats into opportunities,” Jay says. Let’s face it, social media has plenty of trolls who post objectionable things just to be jerks, and there’s no reasoning with people like that. But Jay says he surmised this wasn’t the case in this situation. After all, this person chose to follow our client on Twitter and seemed to respect her. By finding common ground (their shared interest in blockchain) they were able to come to a mutual understanding.
Be respectful. When someone is rude to you (and this post was exceptionally rude with foul language to match) there’s a natural temptation to respond in kind. You want to just let them have it! Resist that temptation. Maybe you’ve heard the old saying “you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.” I think Jay proved that saying has merit because the disagreeable person became agreeable in the end, doing exactly what Jay wanted to happen for our client. A hostile response might have escalated the situation rather than resolved it.
Look beyond the face of what’s occurring. Everything isn’t black and white, and sometimes you have to dive below the surface and explore what’s really going on. Yes, this person had come off as critical to an almost irrational degree, but he also had raised a point about the kind of social media content he was looking for from our client. Once you worked your way through the vitriol, his post really was a request for her to share more content about a subject he cared about.

What’s interesting here, I think, is that while social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and others are largely a product of the 21st century, the human beings who use them are still fundamentally the same way human beings always have been.

Just like in face-to-face business dealings, good manners are still important and can help smooth the way through those less-than-desirable situations.