Media Training by Warren Weeks
Media training, communications and social media tips and advice from Toronto-based media trainer and communications consultant Warren Weeks.
Bad things happen. They can happen in any sector or industry. For the most part, the public will not judge your organization on the circumstances of your crisis. They are much more likely to judge you on the way you handle it.
One of the most basic oversights a lot of organizations are making is that they don’t include their social media links/icons on their websites. I know this because as I was preparing for an industry conference, I was checking out the social media pages of more than 100 associations and I noticed that about HALF of them either didn’t have these icons on their sites at all or they had one (e.g. Facebook) that was put there years ago and hadn’t updated them. It makes it SO much harder for people to find your YouTube account. Your Twitter page, etc. And it’s such an easy fix. Just ask your web people to include the links/icons in a prominent place on your home page AND your contact page.
When is your media interview over. That’s easy. It’s when they stop asking questions, right? Not so fast! There are a lot of things you can do or say after the last question that can derail your media relations plans. It’s never over until it’s really over. Here are a few things to consider on that note.
"Is there any way to make your association's good news story more appealing to journalists?" Someone asked me this question after my talk on media relations at the CSAE National Conference in Newfoundland. Here's my take on getting reporters to pay attention to your media pitches... FYI, I reference my sister a few times in this clip. Just for context, so you know who I'm referring to, my sister is Carly Weeks, a health reporter at The Globe and Mail.
Based in Toronto, Canada, Warren Weeks is one of North America's busiest and most trusted media training coaches. He has been providing media interview training tips, insights and strategies to clients in a wide range of industries and sectors for nearly two decades. He has helped thousands of individuals with the confidence and the tools they need to conduct more strategic interviews and improve the quality of their media coverage.