Yes, social media is great. Yes, it’s quick and cheap.
Yes, it’s a great way to bypass journalists and talk to (and often, with) your audience directly.
But that doesn’t mean it’s the right tool for the job all of the time.
While one of the positives of social media is that you can get round dealing with journalists, it’s also one of the things that make social media a bit more like advertising than media relations.
Why? Well, when you put a story through a journalist it gives what you are trying to say credence and credibility.
In theory, if a journalist has taken your press release and turned it into a story, that probably (and hopefully usually) means that they think it is (a) true and (b) of interest to their readers.
What you don’t get with social media is it getting to your audience via a third party, who should scrutinise and, if necessary, moderate it.
A message sent on social media is sent exactly as you want it to be. No scrutiny. No question; a bit like when you pay for an advert.
So when you’re tweeting and saying how brilliant you are, make sure you or a colleague is trying to convince a journalist that it is true as well. Get a third party to say it.
Charlotte Stamper is Communications Manager at the London Borough of Hillingdon
