How to Use Social Media to Influence the Press
You are a member of the public, and thus, a member of the press. So, when I get terrible service, should I complain?
The levers of power have been tipping toward the public thanks to social media:
We resort to this only when we’ve exhausted our regular channels. Complaining on social media should be a last resort since it’s basically jumping the line. When you’re a journalist, blogger, or an influential person in other ways, you wield a megaphone. Even if you’re not one of those, running Facebook ads gives you that same power for a few dollars.
A lot of people will file a complaint or go to the Better Business Bureau when they need to voice their opinion.
Try that and let me know how it works a few weeks later, counting up how much time and money you spent chasing wild geese.
Then, run Facebook ads with workplace targeting (targeting folks who work at The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, or wherever folks need to see your message). Target executives at the offending company by following these easy steps.
Because you’re targeting just a few dozen or a few hundred people, it can be done for a few dollars in a few minutes. The next day, the general manager of the offending company calls to profusely apologize.
Of course, as members of the media, you and I have to be careful not to abuse our status. However, with Facebook ads targeted by the workplace, any consumer now has this lethal weapon.
At one point, you could get a message into Mark Zuckerberg’s mailbox for $100. Now, why not target employees at Facebook for far less and reach a few thousand people, too?
After a business customer tries to evade paying $4,450 for goods, this seller shared the story and used $1 a Day to leverage payment.
B2B firms target the press to get more coverage and show up in the Facebook News Feed.
Jim Williams of Influitive shared this with us:
“Xactly‘s advocate marketing program generated hundreds of recommendations, follows, and shares on LinkedIn, and a single advocate challenge resulted in nearly a hundred new Facebook fans and Twitter followers.”
Customers are already talking about the companies that they love or hate online, but advocate marketing programs allow marketers to better organize those customers, tying their activity to sales, marketing initiatives, and results.