I was recently featured in a national newspaper and people keep asking me how – and I’ll tell you, because it was so easy!
I searched #journorequest on Twitter, found a tweet from a journalist and replied. That’s it!
She was looking for people who were going on holiday in the next few weeks and were up for being scanned before and after – and so I replied, started a conversation, we got on the phone and we had it all booked up within about two days. What I didn’t know, was that I’d also spend a Saturday afternoon with a make-up artist, stylist and photographer being treated like a celebrity!
It was so brilliant and we all had such a laugh doing it – with my poor husband watching on! He was fascinated by it all though and mainly got involved with the photographer…it’s his big passion!
Anyway… all I did to set that up was to search #journorequest, as I did a few weeks ago when I found an opportunity for a travel agent friend and she was interviewed by a blogger and writer for a piece on women travelling solo, using her vast travel experience and career to give some great top tips.
Whatever your business, you can use twitter to find PR opportunities, because requests are put out daily for a variety of help using the following hashtags:
#prrequest
#journorequest
#blogrequest
People using these hashtags are looking for:
Case studies – people to interview about their experience or to try a new one (like my holiday scans above) – some do give you a nice freebie!
Experts – requests for experts to help the journalist to delve a little deeper into a subject. Most times you will get a mention in the piece – they will tell you if you’re going to be a ‘silent’ expert!
Products – bloggers often put out requests for products but before you rush in, check out if they have a fee and how big their reach is. How many twitter followers do they have, have they got other well-followed social media timelines, have they got a big database and ask other businesses who have been featured how successful it was for them.
Seasonal – The next one coming up is Christmas and for the last few weeks, I’ve seen the shout-outs for the Xmas guides. Search #xmasgiftguide and #christmasgiftguide and #christmascountdown to find relevant tweets.
But beware – there are a lot of bloggers out there looking for a freebie, so check them out before you offer anything…see how many people follow them on their social media and pop onto their websites too – see if it’s a blogger you want to work with who can help you to achieve their aims and reach your target market. You will have to send them your product so don’t waste your time if they’re just someone looking for a freebie.
Happy searching!
P.S. If you’re looking for a more bespoke PR approach, talk to me about building you a media list…it will have all the relevant titles and journalists on it for us to gain you some brilliant PR in front of your target audience.
