If the traditional media outlets haven’t responded to your pitches recently, there’s a good reason for that. They’ve been focused on politics and the pandemic. If they’ve veered off those topics, it’s been mostly to cover catastrophic weather events, fires, and other news. That’s their job, and right now, we need for the media to do it faithfully and fearlessly.
So maybe now is not the ideal time to convince the morning television talk show or your local all-talk radio station to have you on as a guest.
But that doesn’t mean you have to sit back and wait until it all blows over. It may not. The media’s focus on politics, the pandemic, and cataclysmic events may be the new normal. Playing Monday morning quarterback–analyzing out how we got here and how to prevent this from ever happening again–will, hopefully, be the next media’s next task.
Social Networking to Build Your Audience
But there’s still an opportunity to make your voice heard about other topics and to deliver other messages. Because you are the message. And the media isn’t your gatekeeper. You can speak directly to your audience. You use the internet to spread your messages and network with those who need to hear you.
You’ve heard that social networking is the way to build an audience, but how can you do that without a base? Everyone starts out in the same place. Twitter awards you no followers just for signing up for an account, and that’s also true of LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and other social networks. So you have to build your tribe. And you do that through letting your target audience know that you’re a reliable purveyor of information.
Content Creation
That brings us to content creation.
Your social media accounts, metaphorically, are the blank screen you stare at while you’re waiting for the words to come. Or they’re the blank pages that you put into your printer or typewriter, depending on your generation. Social networks are the highways that can carry your messages. You are tasked with creating the content. And then creating more content. And then, when you’re finished with that, creating even more content than that.
Content creation is the way you build and maintain your platform. It is how you establish your credibility and your worth, and it is how you connect with those who need to hear your messages.
Your job is to create a steady flow of social media posts, blog entries, and articles. You can post them to your social networks, offer them to other websites and blogs, and even pitch them to traditional print outlets.
Provide Search Engines with What They Need
Provide search engines with what they need to help people find your content. Decide on your keywords, and use them in your headlines, subheads, image alt-tags, and text.
Keep your content fresh and dynamic. A short burst of energy — writing a blog every day and tweeting a few times a day for a week — is a nice start. But maintaining that level of effort is important, too. Using social networking effectively to spread your messages and to promote yourself is a long-term effort, not a short-term endeavor.
If that sounds overwhelming, just think of the benefits of creating that much content. The search engines will find you. Followers will gravitate to you. And you’ll be in a position to influence, inform, or entertain — or all three — the people you need to reach. The opportunity is yours, and you can leverage it immediately. Remember: you are the message.
Stacey J. Miller, founder of S. J. Miller Communications, provides content creation and social network management services. Contact her for more information.