by Leo Wiles
20 May 2016
If you wouldn’t have a clue what RT means, think hashtags are ridiculous and happily live without the hairy clutches of Facebook trying to steal all your data and photos of your firstborn child, it’s safe to say that social media doesn’t do it for you.
But if you’re a journalist or author, it should.
As we watch print struggling and swathes of journos being made redundant, there’s never been a better time to take our online social networking as seriously as we do pitching and monitoring all our outstanding invoices.
And not just for its ability to help us receive, gather and distribute news, but to keep our finger on the trending pulse and find sources. Social media is also gold for connecting us with new and old colleagues, and acting as the professional, albeit virtual, community many of us sorely need right now. Especially those of us in the freelance trenches feeling a little isolated or stressed out thanks to the latest rounds of redundancies and the whisper of Australia’s first recession in 25 years around the corner.
When it comes to helping with our work, around 40 percent of journos in the US know the importance of a social media following, with a third spending between 30-60 minutes a day on various platforms, according to a 2014 Indiana study of journalists in the digital age. More than half of all US journos also admit they use Twitter for gathering information for stories.
And let’s not kid ourselves: a decent social media following is also important for making an impression on editors, clients and potential publishers. If you’re fortunate/busy/crazy enough to have close to a million followers and want to become an author, publishing insiders insist you’d be a shoe-in no matter what the subject matter – because you already have a ready-made audience for sales.
The same goes for for magazine publishers and, to a lesser degree, blue chip corporations who can’t help but be impressed by not only your following, but that you’re passionate and well-connected in your field. Would you promote the work you do for them across your channels? That, of course, is the hope and if you’ve got a great social media following, certainly part of the reason you’ll be commissioned in this day and age where clicks and reach are everything.
Of course, we remain a hard-bitten, cynical lot who still need a lot of persuading about why we should add yet another task to our already-busy day. And, that’s understandable given 56 percent of Rachel’s List members who took part in our 2016 Show Us The Money Survey revealed cold calling, pitching and word of mouth were still their most lucrative leads.
Most, however, admitted that social media had likely played an indirect part in their being found – or pre-vetted – at some point in their career. Of those members using it to find work, 77 percent are on Facebook, 76 percent tweet and a staggering 86 percent rock a LinkedIn profile – the three platforms experts say are the best ones for journos and writers to build a personal brand.
LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook also enable you to have a 24/7 presence, build authority in your field and shape the interaction with your audience. Used in the right way, social media can help you build trust, promote your best work, receive feedback (good or bad) and get hired again and again.
Around 46 percent of members felt LinkedIn generating them the most income. ‘It’s the accepted business networking platform, and the most appropriate [on which] to pitch for and look for work – and make new contacts through existing connections,’ commented one respondent.
But don’t forget Twitter, says Crikey’s deputy editor Jason Whittaker. ‘[It’s] the place to start to build your online reputation,” he said, in a speech he gave at The Walkley Foundation’s Media Pass Student Industry Day. “You need to be following interesting people, re-tweeting interesting things, posting interesting information. And always, always, it needs to make you look eminently employable. When nobody will employ you, when nobody will publish your work, everyone can self-publish. Use it to compile any student or freelance work.’
What’s your favourite social media platform and why?
