Journalists become community managers in the digital age

July 21, 2011 - PRLog -- Community management has become an essential journalist skill according to the third Broadgate Mainland Digital Trends Survey conducted among 100 UK financial and business journalists.

A total of 81%of respondents, including editors, reporters and columnists, engage with their online audiences and manage these communities within their own online sites and other external channels and forums.

Twitter has grown in popularity over the past year, from one third to half of all journalists using this tool, confirming the importance of this channel for media relations in the sector. Fifty six percent of respondents said they listened in on conversations on Twitter, with researching stories and chatting with friends and colleagues following as the second and third most popular uses. However, while audience´s feedback is important, only 2% said online super influencers impacted on who was quoted in their articles suggesting you cannot rely on social media to raise your profile.

The number of hits a story receives has become the most popular measure of journalist success, followed by how an article is shared online. However, the attitude to search engine optimisation (SEO) remains largely unchanged to what it was a year ago, with just over half (55% compared to 56% in 2010) of all respondents optimising their stories for search engines.

For the second year in a row, email is the preferred method of being pitched to by PRs (81%). Just under a fifth of journalists prefer speaking on the telephone and welcome the personal touch. Not one journalist said they would prefer to be pitched at through Twitter or LinkedIn.

The survey also shows that company websites are still the primary source of information when researching stories, with an overwhelming 97% of respondents naming them as the preferred source.

Further progress has been made in improving financial services company websites with 62% of respondents stating that they could find what they were looking for compared with 50% last year.

Sarah Evans-Toyne, Digital Strategist at Broadgate Mainland, says: “Our survey confirms that social media channels are good ways for PRs to ‘bond’ and chat with journalists, but when it comes to the PR pitch, financial journalists prefer old fashioned channels.  The financial services sector has traditionally been way behind tech and consumer colleagues when it comes to the use of digital communications, but companies need to respond to this emerging enthusiasm by adapting their approach to engagement and understanding the new rules in a multi-channel environment.

“Having virtual friends is an increasingly important PR and networking tool, but in most cases these interactions supplement existing offline relationships – offline PR relationships are still absolutely vital.”

Ends

For a full copy of the report, including a sample of respondents’ comments, please email digitaltrends@broadgatemainland.com

For further information, please contact: Mark Knight / Sarah Evans-Toyne / Tania Vie Riba on 020 7726 6111

Notes to editors:

1.   The 2011 Digital Trends Survey is the third survey carried out by Broadgate Mainland to gauge the perceptions of digital media amongst the UK’s top financial journalists. The data was collated via a questionnaire emailed to a database of financial journalists across trade, consumer, online and broadcast titles. A total of 100 financial journalists completed the questionnaire between March 10 and April 7, 2011.
2.   More than half of respondents classed themselves as journalists or writers; with 46% this year stating they have the title of Editor/Editorial. About 10% classed themselves as a correspondent/columnist.
3.   The majority of respondents work on a trade newspaper or magazine (57%); 27% worked for an online service, 12% work for a daily newspaper and 11% work at a weekly newspaper, providing a good sample of different types of journalists across the financial services media.
4.   Of the respondents in this year’s survey, 57% described themselves as City/business journalists, 37% consumer affairs/personal finance and 6% management/industrial relations/HR journalists. There was a slight increase in consumer affairs/personal finance journalist participating in this year’s survey, up by 7%.

About Broadgate Mainland

Broadgate Mainland is a leading PR agency that specialises in the financial and professional services industries. We forge close working relationships with our clients to help enhance their reputations and achieve business objectives. Combining media relations, corporate communications and digital PR, we deliver results that drive growth and build credibility. Sectors we have specialist expertise in are: Alternatives, asset management (retail and institutional), financial services, professional services, professional development and education, enterprise and innovation, life and pensions and property.

Web: http://www.broadgatemainland.com
Twitter: @BM_PRNews

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Founded in 1994, Broadgate Mainland is an award-winning company that specialises in financial services public relations.