The 2008 PRWeek/PRNewswire Media Survey reveals some interesting results about the way journalists do their jobs.
When they hunt for sources and do research before writing, many of them use three popular social networking sites to save time: LinedIn, MySpace and Facebook.
PRWeek surveyed more than 1,200 journalists and bloggers. One out of four say they have a profile on MySpace. About one-third have a profile on Facebook, and one-third are on LinkedIn.
More than 57 percent of those surveyed report using blogs to measure sentiment. About half of the respondents use blogs to find what other mainstream publications are writing about. Almost one-third use blogs to find industry experts.
The results have interesting implications for people who want to promote a product, service, cause or issue:
—If you aren’t blogging, start today. You can have a blog up and running in less than 10 minutes at Blogger.com. Or use a more stable, flexible platform like WordPress, Typepad or MovableType.
—Post comments at blogs that your target audience reads. Comments give you a backlink to your own blog or website and positions you as an expert.
—Pitch bloggers, but don’t just send press releases. Most bloggers want a customized pitch, and they want to know you read their blogs. See “How to Pitch the Best Bloggers & Create a Publicity Explosion.”
—Create a profile on MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn and use relevant tags, or keywords, so journalists can find you easily when searching these sites.
Those three sites, by the way, are among the seven social media marketing sites where social media marketing expert Don Crowther says you must have a presence. Don was one of my guest experts when I presented the teleseminar series “How to Create a Media Plan” last year.