This is a guest post from Yvette Pistorio of Cision.
Two shifts have dramatically changed the way media and public relations professionals interact over the past few years: the move away from email in favor of online social channels, and the emergence of versatile, freelance content creators who are as comfortable writing magazine articles as they are blogging for brands.
For PR pros, that means media outreach will soon be more likely to take the form of a Twitter conversation with a freelance writer than an email exchange with a full-time reporter. With these shifts in mind, Cision has created a space for today’s content creator…journalists, bloggers, and PR and marketing professionals.
For those wearing multiple hats, we don’t force you to choose your role.
True Community Takes the Lead
In mid-April, Cision launched Seek or Shout, a new online community for media and PR professionals.
We built it to help journalists, bloggers, public relations, marketing professionals and other professional communicators research and promote their content while connecting with each other in a productive, relevant way. It allows you to connect directly on what is most valuable to you whether it be a story, blog post, video, podcast, etc.
You don’t have to choose a role, you can be both. The site isn’t just a listserv or dashboard, but an interactive community with photos, live comments and direct collaboration. It appeals to social and real-time sensibilities.
Inside Seek or Shout you can…
- Seek products for review, experts to interview, and research materials for an upcoming news article or blog post. Choose to make your requests anonymously, or syndicate them to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for maximum response.
- Shout about your latest content, campaign or product. Users who follow you or the tags you place on your Shout will see them in their News Feed.
- Communicate privately with other users about exclusive inquiries and offers.
- Define your interests and find relevant messages from other users in your News Feed.
- Maintain a profile outlining your roles and background.
- Search editorial calendars, like CisionWire and PitchEngine, to spark content ideas.
Seek or Shout the Anti-Spam?
We hope the site helps alleviate the deluge of email pitches for journalists and bloggers. The “anti-spam” if you will.
Receiving pitches through the site provides a more manageable environment to work in allowing you to see pitches easily without other correspondence cluttering your view.
Since you choose the tags you’re interested in, you are deciding what you want to see on your homepage. They can be modified to narrow or broaden your feed. They can represent the industry you cover or just the news you want to read.
“As a freelance reporter covering health, caregiving, antiques, and other topics, I’m inundated each day with pitches from PR professionals who want me to incorporate their client’s product, service, expert, or angle into a story,” says Elizabeth Hanes, freelance writer and a sponsored Ambassador for Seek or Shout.
To help clear out her inbox, she began requesting that PR professionals only pitch her through Seek or Shout.
Gini Dietrich, CEO of Arment Dietrich and author of Spin Sucks, agrees. “I also really love that I can push pitches to come through there instead of to my inbox.”
More Than Just a PR and Blogger Tool
It’s been really great to see how members find new ways to use Seek or Shout and engage in ways we didn’t necessarily anticipate. There’s a diversity of users including book publishers and literary agents seeking experts and other writers.
We’ve also seen more universities and students signing up which is great since they are coming into the field and will be the new content creators. They need a tool like this because the marketplace is evolving, expects versatility from communication jobs, and helps craft a wide content experience to stay competitive.
“We’re fostering a relevant exchange between public relations professionals, journalists, and influencers who need to find sources and information quickly on deadline,” says Jay Krall, business development manager for Cision.
We want Seek or Shout to become a community, a valuable space for everyone to interact, build relationships and collaborate directly on stories, blog posts and any other project members are working on.
“It’s a lot easier to find an expert source to interview on short notice when you leverage the power of a strong community, rather than a few friends or colleagues on an email thread,” adds Krall.
About the author:
Yvette Pistorio is the social media manager for Cision, and a blogger for CisionBlog. She is a lover of cupcakes and HGTV, and enjoys a good laugh. You can find Yvette on Twitter tweeting on behalf of Cision.
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