When it comes to Twitter it is important to become a regular and not just post from time to time. In order to achieve the mail goal – attract as many journalists as possible – it is important to have them on Twitter. For starters Muckrack should help (it is possible to find all the reporters there), find their twitter names, compliment a story that reporter had written, retweet their tweets, thank them (via twitter) for covering an event you attended and extend the relationship to other social networks.
Most people, including journalists, use social media to connect with friends and family, so unless you know a journalist personally, you should avoid pitching him/her on Facebook. Make sure you follow them, and share their stories to catch their attention. Only pitch the media person once you’ve established a good relationship. Avoid Facebook messaging to pitch stories; they’ll probably end up in the “other” message folder.
Facebook has now a tool called Facebook Signal, which helps journalists discovering information and knowing what’s trending. To draw attention from the journalists you should create content that is capable of trending and you may start with a compelling headline. Having an element of human interest involved also attracts journalists. Have good photos (that appeal to the public) to best make use of the Instagram aspects of Facebook Signal. Make sure you have all the facts right.
Add journalists to your connection and get their contact information from their profiles, check their interests and groups to understand if your pitches will interest them. Message them privately.
Instagram is focused on visual content but it is useful to build relationships, too. It is important to share pictures of the products you want to pitch so that journalists can see and start growing interest.
For all the above to work you need to complete your social profile, share, comment or reply to similar stories shared by the journalists, keep in mind that email pitches are the best option and that following up is alright, but don’t exaggerate.