For the past decade, X (formerly known as Twitter) has been the central hub for reporters seeking and sharing inquiries for sources around their news stories on social media. The hashtag #journorequest became a highly coveted space, garnering 42.8K total mentions over the last 90 days (Meltwater: X, Reddit), and recognized by PR professionals and journalists alike as the digital town hall where sources and stories would come together via X.?
?However, due to the platform's ongoing volatility, journalists are beginning to shift their focus to other platforms – in search of a new hub for their sources and news promotion – with LinkedIn emerging as a notable alternative. This shift is underscored by findings from Muck Rack’s latest State of Journalism Study, which surveyed 1,000 journalists and revealed that 44% of journalists plan to increase their time on LinkedIn. At the same time, the survey also noted that 32% of journalists are planning to reduce their presence on X this coming year.??
With LinkedIn poised to overtake X as the preferred platform for reporters, the question becomes: How can PR professionals leverage LinkedIn’s unique myriad features, functions, and content strategies to catch the attention of reporters? The Media Quake team has three recommendations to help you get started:?
- Secure Editor’s Picks: LinkedIn has over 188+ journalists curating the LinkedIn Trending News section on a day-to-day basis. To get on reporters' radars, PR professionals should pitch the LinkedIn editorial team to get their clients’ or personal content placed in these timelines. Once placed, it is likely that other reporters who cover that news, or beat, will be included in the timeline, offering a great opportunity to engage with those fellow reporters whose commentary you share the timeline with. Additionally, getting placed in these timelines offers you or your clients a window to be seen by potential reporters looking to write follow-up stories on said news. Additionally, Trending News placements greatly increase the reach of your content, amplifying it to broader audiences.?
- Pitch LinkedIn Newsletter Editors: LinkedIn newsletters have experienced a remarkable surge in popularity, with sign-ups surpassing increasing visibility and engagement. If your page has a substantial following, launching your own newsletter could be the most effective way to share your insights and attract journalists. Additionally, consider pitching your clients to newsletters run by media outlets, such as Forbes' “Forbes Edge” or The Wall Street Journal’s “WSJ Careers & Leadership.” This approach opens a new avenue for gaining earned coverage. Ultimately, the aim for PR professionals is to use LinkedIn newsletters as a strategic tool to gain visibility in journalists' radars and inboxes organically. By either curating your own content or earning coverage in a newsletter followed by key journalists, you position yourself or your client as an influencer of the inbox, helping drive greater brand and name recognition among key reporters.?
- Utilize? Thought Leaders Ads to Get in Front of Key Reporters: This past month marked an exciting development on LinkedIn with the expansion of its Thought Leader Ads capabilities. Advertisers can now sponsor content from any member, not just employees, on any Page they manage. This opens a new avenue for PR professionals aiming to present their clients' messages to reporters in a manner that feels more organic and less intrusive. Thought leadership ads are designed to increase credibility via trusted individuals, build industry authority and grow an actively engaged community of brand advocates.?
If you want to talk more about your LinkedIn strategy and how best to use this platform for your media relations goals, reach out to Megan Hueter at [email protected]!??
Quick Hits: Platforms??
- TikTok has expanded its "Sounds for Business" audio library by incorporating audio clips from various TikTok influencers, now accessible for advertisers in the app's "Commercial Audio Library." These new additions, featuring voices from notable creators like Anania, Matt Buechele, and Very Gay Paint, aim to enrich brand content with recognizable and engaging audio for trend-ready campaigns. This update facilitates easier brand-creator collaboration, enhancing the auditory element of TikTok advertisements, a crucial aspect given that most users find sound pivotal to their app experience.?
- LinkedIn is expanding into gaming to enhance user engagement on its platform. The initiative will introduce puzzle-based games, drawing inspiration from the popularity of simple, viral games like Wordle. Initial game titles include “Queens,” “Inference,” and “Crossclimb,” with a unique feature that may organize player scores by their workplace, potentially ranking companies based on these scores. While confirming the development of gaming features, LinkedIn has yet to announce a launch date, aiming to add a fun element to the professional networking experience and keep users on the platform for longer periods of time.?
- LinkedIn is introducing a short-form video feature, marking its venture into TikTok-style content.. This move is part of LinkedIn's broader strategy to become more creator-friendly, including initiatives like the LinkedIn Creator Accelerator and a dedicated creator relations team.?
- LinkedIn is expanding its thought leadership ads approach and allowing businesses to promote posts from any user on the platform, not just their own employees. This expansion of the Thought Leader ads format is designed to leverage the trustworthiness and influence of a wider range of human voices, (as people tend to trust other people more than organizations), including customers and industry experts, enhancing the brand's ability to reach target audiences with authentic endorsements and testimonials. The update includes dedicated search tools in LinkedIn Campaign Manager to help facilitate these promotions, although currently, post creators do not receive compensation for their content being used in these campaigns.?
- Meta has unveiled a series of advertising updates aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of retailers' ads across its platforms, with a particular focus on automated Advantage+ campaigns and shopping ads. These updates include the introduction of Advantage+ creative optimizations for better video ad performance on Reels and other Meta formats, new features for Advantage+ catalog ads like the use of branded videos and expanded eCommerce ad options integrating with Magento and Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Additionally, Meta plans to introduce more analytic tools for Collaborative ads and explore omnichannel reporting for Advantage+ Catalog ads to improve sales tracking both online and in-store.?
- Instagram is developing a "Friend Map" feature, enabling users to opt-in and see their friends' real-time locations, akin to Snapchat's Snap Map and Apple's "Find My" feature. This feature, still an internal prototype, aims to encourage users to spend more time on Instagram by allowing location sharing with selected friends or going invisible using a "Ghost Mode." Additionally, Instagram is enhancing its in-app map functionalities, following its searchable map experience launch in 2022, positioning itself as a competitor to both Snapchat and Google in location-based services.?
- Threads has introduced a bookmarking feature, allowing users to save posts privately, a move that aligns it closer to its competitor, X (formerly Twitter), which also offers a similar functionality.??
- Threads is rolling out a "trending now" feature to provide insights into popular conversations among US users, showcasing trends determined by AI in the search page and the For You feeds.?
- YouTube is introducing a new feature in Creator Studio that mandates creators to disclose to viewers when their content is altered or synthetic, especially if it realistically depicts people, places, events, or scenes, to enhance transparency and trust. This requirement does not extend to content that is clearly unrealistic, uses special effects, or employs generative AI for productivity purposes like scriptwriting. The initiative aims to foster greater transparency surrounding digital content, with YouTube rolling out labels on videos and participating in industry-wide efforts to promote content authenticity.?
- Discord is opening its platform to all developers to create games and apps that can be embedded directly in its chat app, leveraging a new Embedded App SDK. This expansion, coupled with experiments for cross-server app functionalities and funding for innovative app ideas, aims to enhance user engagement and foster a broader creative ecosystem within Discord.?
Quick Hits: Podcasts??
- Lamar Odom and Caitlyn Jenner, both formerly? of? "Keeping Up With the Kardashians," are collaborating on a new podcast titled "Keeping Up With Sports." Heralded as the ultimate sports show, will feature the duo alongside co-host Zach Hirsch, diving into various sports topics with their distinct perspectives. The podcast is set to welcome an array of guests, including Sugar Ray Leonard, Steve-O, and Amber Rose, among others, and will be available on platforms like Spotify and Apple.??
- The BBC has partnered with Amazon Music to distribute its podcasts globally, allowing Prime and Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers to access over 50 of the BBC's most popular podcasts ad-free for the first time outside the U.K. Titles such as “Americast,” “BBC Global News Podcast,” and “Dua Lipa: At Your Service” are included, with the entire BBC podcast catalog available on Amazon Music's ad-supported free tier as well. This move is aimed at expanding the reach of the BBC's audio storytelling to new audiences worldwide, leveraging Amazon Music's platform to introduce listeners to a range of premium British programming without advertisements.?
Quick Hits: Campaigns That Inspired Us??
- CoorDown's "Assume I Can" campaign, launched for World Down Syndrome Day, dismantles stereotypes about people with Down syndrome by advocating for recognition of their potential and encourages everyone to assume they “can” rather than assuming they cannot do something. Highlighting the power of positive assumptions through a hero film, the campaign demonstrates how supportive beliefs can enable individuals with Down syndrome to achieve unexpected goals. Inspired by the self-fulfilling prophecy concept, "Assume I Can" seeks to change perceptions and encourage a more inclusive society.
