No Media Relations = Less Credibility for Your Campaigns

Maury Tobin, President, Tobin Communications, Inc.Let’s me say it clearly. I believe in the power of social media because I’ve seen how it can propel our clients’ campaigns.But as traditional outreach (media relations) gets left out of many communications plans and discussions, I’m convinced that a social media-only strategy can be a big problem for organizations that want their messages to be taken seriously. In many cases, social media-only campaigns tend to look, for lack of a better term, “fake,” because these efforts are often self-serving and they lack the authenticity of independent stories produced by journalists.Since creating believable content is so crucial today, it’s worth considering a tried and true tactic such as a Radio Media Tour (RMT) to gain credibility. An RMT is a series of phone interviews conducted by radio journalists with an organization’s spokesperson. The news coverage generated from interviews is usually more valuable than focusing solely on self-produced content. After an RMT campaign is completed, we glean audio soundbites from the interviews so our clients can share them through their social media channels.I’ll Leave You with This:Despite all of the new tactics that are available to PR pros, we continue to believe that fostering a dialogue between journalists and the clients we serve is important, not only to our industry and clients, but also to our democracy.[author]About the Author: Maury Tobin has produced hundreds of media campaigns for trade associations, non-profit organizations, corporations and government agencies. He is known for having an insider’s knowledge of the news media and a keen sense of what journalists want. Through the years, Tobin has worked with a range of high-profile organizations and companies, including AOL, Nissan, pharmaceutical company Novartis, the American College of Gastroenterology, The Humane Society of the United States, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the National Wildlife Federation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and PR firms Ketchum, FleishmanHillard and Edelman.[/author]