10 Yetis Insight Blog - How Social Seeding Can Lead To Media Coverage

Good PR coverage doesn't always come from well-targeted journalist outreach. In actual fact, social media can play a huge part in the success of a brand's campaign. Seeding content or a story on social media channels such as Reddit, Twitter and Facebook is now one of the quickest ways to make a story 'go viral'. These days, it's just as likely for something to spread like wildfire when the story originated on social media as it is when something is brought to light by a media outlet first.

First of all, there's no point trying to seed something on social media if the content is not shareable. Once you have your 'hero' content, social seeding is easy peasy (if you know how to do it right, that is).

But how exactly does social seeding lead to media coverage when using the tactic as part of your digital PR campaign? Well...

1.Getting in Front of Journalists - If you've been on Twitter lately and you work in PR, you'll know that there are A LOT of journalists on the social media platform. Previous studies have found that 51% of journalists use Twitter to source news stories and this type of social news gathering takes place day in, day out.By seeding something socially, you're increasing the chances of journalists seeing and using your story. Whilst the hashtag #prrequest is nowhere near as widely used as #journorequest, some PR people do use it to randomly pitch out stories with some success (e.g. 'Any journalists out there looking for expert comment about XYZ that's going on? #prrequest). You can also use other hashtags relevant to your story that might help to spread the message wider and increase the chances of journalists stumbling upon it (such as a location or keyword). If done right (i.e. without looking like you're desperate/pestering/a stalker) you can always tweet a journalist with something you think they might be interested in, if social seeding doesn't get it under their nose in the first place.

2.Reaching Influencers - Just as Twitter is packed to the brim with journalists, there are more bloggers and influencers on the social platform than you can shake a stick at. The value of a piece of coverage on a blog can be just as good, if not better, than something on a media outlet. With Twitter awash with these bloggers, celebrities and other social influencers, social seeding of your story will improve the possibility of it landing in their laps and keeping the chain going; subsequently increasing the chances of a media outlet seeing it and running with it.

3.Prompting a Public Reaction - Social seeding can occasionally lead to media coverage when the content being shared causes a reaction that pushes people to contact the press themselves. Perhaps they see something you've dropped out there in the social ocean and they are amused/angered/intrigued by it. It's not uncommon for members of the public to contact newsdesks asking if they've seen X, Y or Z... tipping the media off and prompting them to write something up.

4.The Viral Factor - If something is seeded properly and the shareable content is strong enough that it 'goes viral', the media cannot ignore it. They'll want to jump on the viral bandwagon too and have the chance to tell people about this video/picture/story that they might not have heard about yet (but probably have). Something that has gone viral becomes news because of its viral nature, so they can't choose not to report on it. If the masses are sharing it, people clearly will want to read about it, so everyone's a winner. Journalists want content that's going to keep people on their sites and give them a slice of the viral pie (i.e. from people sharing THEIR link, instead from the original site or social platform) so they won't just ignore something that's become huge on social.

So, there you have it ladies and gents. Four pointers going some way towards explaining how social seeding can lead to media coverage. By bearing these things in mind and building social seeding into your digital PR campaign, you'll be increasing the chances of that lovely online media coverage that everyone wants a piece of.