Over the past few years, traditional journalism has changed drastically and social media has come to the forefront of the news industry. These mediums are now somewhat complimentary, as they can be used together to share stories and news in a new way. Journalists can use social media to spread the word, reach sources and aggregate feelings, while social media professionals can share journalistic content, reach media outlets and extend influence.
So how can these two disciplines be used in conjunction in a digital marketing strategy? Through social media journalism. That’s where I come in.
But, what is social media journalism?
As a social media journalist myself, I get asked this question all the time. I am a social media practitioner and journalist. I cover client news – live events, company updates, industry news, etc. – and distribute it over social media channels as it happens. I use social media to get the word out, and then aggregate the smaller bits of content I share and repurpose it for larger content pieces.
For example, I’ll attend an industry event on behalf of a client. Once there, I work as a journalist, covering news as it happens. I will simultaneously update Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and any other social network the client is active on. I’ll post interesting facts presented, photos, and videos – any content that is relevant and useful to the client’s audience.
While I’m there, I will take some time out to video interview key event attendees, like speakers, sponsors, volunteers, etc. I’ll take photos, notes, sound bites – whatever content is available to me at the event. At the end of the day I’ll organize my thoughts and content findings as well as possible before returning to the office. I bring back all the content I collected to the d50 team. Together we organize, edit and put together high-quality content pieces ready to distribute on various social networks.
Once content is created, I develop a publishing schedule for content promotion. With client messaging in mind, I will craft tweets, status updates, blog posts and more containing the content I collected at the event. And when that content has been promoted, we repurpose and redistribute the content in a new and exciting way.
Have you experimented with social journalism for your brand?
What has been the outcome? Let us know in the comments below.
We think we should experiement with this! We think we have a few clients that could absolutely benefit from this! Thank you for the great blog post, look forward to reading more.
You should definitely experiment – it is an opportunity that many clients miss out on because they just don’t try it. Good luck!
Great post Abby. Brands MUST self-publish these days and it’s folks like us that can help create brand stories that can reach thousands across a variety of channels. So, while brands are seeking the attention of traditional news outlets, they should be looking in the mirror and thinking, “hey, we should be creating content on our own.” Good post, looking forward to reading more about social scribes and your POV.
Thanks, for the comment, Don! Self publishing is certainly a “must,” as journalism has evolved and people don’t wait for the daily paper to get their news anymore. I’ve always been a believer that if you have a website, you are a publisher – so make sure you utilize that power to the fullest extent!
One thing, at least, is clear. There is no single definition for a journalist or journalism today. I really enjoyed being told by the Denver Center for the Performing Arts that after I retired I was no longer a “working journalist.” That was even though I was frequently writing for major Websites. I told the center that the Society of Professional Journalists, of which I am a paying member, had pondered this question and decided that news sources don’t get to decide who is a journalist and who isn’t.