Holding Events and Social Media as Tools for Media Relations
Holding an event is an excellent excuse for your relations with media.
For reporters, an event has news values and you can be confident that they will embrace it.
You should invite media in the events that you hold on your own and consider a seat for them. Have a place specified for them called "media/press gallery" or "reporters' gallery". This place is extremely efficient and good for press conference. It is necessary for media and press which will cover your events and business to be in that space.
The level of media and press coverage on you is one of the items increasing the value of your business.
In your events, consider as high a capacity as possible for media attendance. This is important to avoid embarrassment.
Press gallery is not just a special place to sit. You should also put certain resources such as internet connection, desk and required instruments such as pen, paper, microphone, recorder, desk and other writing pads at your press gallery.
Social media is not just your media tool but a sideline for media relations.
As long as you update your social media pages using various contents relevant to your business, you, in fact, expose yourself to media activists.
You may have provided a great deal of content without sending any of them to media. However, you need to refer the medium you work with to your social media pages so your provided content can be a part of sources they use.
Put notifications about updating your social media page, so the media get accustomed to using your pages as an information source. In this way, without putting much effort, you will manage to establish a relation with media so they would indirectly use your assets.
Follow the 20-80 strategy in social media. You need to dedicate 20% of your content to talking about yourself, and 80% of your content must be interesting and valuable content relevant to your business which can be used by media.
In this case, whether they intend to do it or not, they will use that 20% personal content. It's even possible to hire professionals to provide content for you. In this way, your content will have 100% news value. Therefore, media uses your valuable content, relates indirectly to your materials, and checking your social media pages becomes a part of their routine To-Do list.