Journalists and content creators are the ultimate influencers, but their time is valuable and highly sought after. This means that targeting the right people is critical to pitching and converting earned media coverage. To succeed, we must start by performing adequate media research and intentionally developing relationships with members of the press, including journalists.
Research helps you identify who wants your pitches, so you send Outreach to the right people. This is undoubtedly hard work, but research says it pays off. Graduate from spray-and-pray and stand out from the crowd. Connect and build relationships with the most relevant people, protect your reputation, and earn more coverage by following these guiding principles.
This article will cover:
Finding Journalists or Publications by Topic
Unless you are looking for a specific person or publication, we recommend starting your research with a topic relevant to your media campaign or pitching initiative. Media contacts who have written extensively on topics central to your pitch are likely to be much more receptive.
To use Search:
Go to Media Relations via the left-hand side navigation bar
Select Search from the top tabs
When you first land in Media Relations | Search, the default Search Type is set to Contacts. Use the drop-down to toggle to Sources, if desired.
The Keyword Type defaults to 'Named,' but you can toggle it to 'Writing about' if you're searching for results that published certain keywords.
Use the search bar to look for contacts by name or a topic they write about.
When typing in the search bar, you can also choose "All Contacts named" or "All Contacts writing about" from the dropdown menu, depending on your search.
The results provide detailed information on the people or sources that match your search. It is possible to see the name, profile type, title, location, source, beats, lists, and social media profiles for each result. If desired, you can sort the results by first name, last name, or primary source name.
To find people or sources writing about a specific topic, follow these steps:
In the search bar drop-down, select All contacts (or sources) writing about
By default, results from the last 14 Days will populate. Click the drop-down to adjust the date range to 30 or 90 days
Reviewing Journalists
Click the journalist's name in the results to open their profile preview.
Review their profile details using information organized in the Overview, Social and Content tabs. Information ranges from beats, recent articles, social media footprint, contact information and all media lists to which they may belong.
If you know you're ready to interact, click 'Email' in the profile preview header to open the email composer.
Optionally, open the full journalist profile to personalize the profile or engage via email integration.
Reviewing Sources
Click the name of the source in the results to open their profile preview
Review their profile details using information organized in the Overview, Audience and Content tabs. Information ranges from beats, recent articles, social media audience statistics, contact information and all media lists to which they may belong.
If you know you're ready to interact, click 'Email' in the profile preview header to open the email composer.
Review additional source details like contacts on staff (known to Meltwater) on the full profile, as well.
Finding Journalists or Publications by Name
If you are looking for a specific person or publication, follow these steps:
Click the Media Relations drop-down in the left-hand side navigation bar
Select Search from the top tabs
Type the contact or source name in the search bar
If you don't find the right result in the Top results preview, click either All contacts named or All sources named in the drop-down
Apply filters to further refine your search.
Tip: The Top Results preview will display the journalist’s profile type, location, source, and email address.
In a Source search, we display the editions that match your search query. An edition is the main publication; all journalists will be listed for that publication, regardless of the writer's location. On source profiles, you can learn who works at that source via the Staff tab.
The bureau is a smaller, local office and will only list the journalists for that specific office. For example, the New York Times is a very large international publication. In addition to the main New York office, there are also bureaus in cities such as Atlanta and Chicago. In the database, the edition will typically have circulation numbers, unique visitor numbers, and beats, while the bureau will typically be labeled as such in the publication name. You can learn more about the bureaus associated with an edition on the source profile via the Bureaus tab.
Refining Your Search Using Filters and Sorting Options
Filters
Filter by helps you narrow your focus. For example, if your pitch is regionally focused, the Location filter will likely be relevant. If reaching a large audience is part of your objective, try the Reach filter. If you’re only interested in seeing your private contacts, you’d use the Profile type filter.
Different filters are available to assist your media research. Consider your goals when making your selections. Details for each filter can be found by hovering over the information icon.
Sorting Options
Sort your contact search results by first name, last name, and primary source name to quickly filter and identify the most relevant journalists.
Click the Media Relations drop-down in the left-hand navigation bar
Select Search
Type in your search in the search bar
Navigate to Sort by
Select the Default drop-down
Sort by:
First Name
Last Name
Primary Source Name (the main source associated with the contact)
Use the arrows to the right of the Sort by options to sort into Ascending or Descending order
Using the AI Journalist Search in Media Relations
We've improved Media Relations Search by adding a new type of search, Suggested journalist search, which will take a prompt comprised of any key messages, drafted emails, articles & press releases, or any other text and produce relevant journalists based on the unique context of that prompt.
It's similar to PR Assistant's Suggested journalists feature, and we will provide up to 200 results. To get started, follow these steps:
Click the Media Relations drop-down in the left-hand navigation bar
Select Search
Navigate to the I’m looking for section at the top of your screen and select the drop-down
Click Contacts
Click on the 'AI Search' tab
Type or paste your prompt and click 'Update results'
You will need to provide a minimum of 100 characters to perform the search
Note: We can only apply filters once you have run the search, so start with your prompt before adding the filters.
Note: Our model is trained on millions of articles, and we use a proprietary machine-learning process in order to quantify relevance. The results are always ordered in descending relevance, and we only offer up to 200 recommendations at a time. We suggest vetting all recommendations for outreach excellence.
Switching Between Contacts and Sources
To switch between Contacts and Sources, follow these steps:
Click the Media Relations drop-down in the left-hand navigation bar
Select Search
Under the search bar, select the Search type dropdown and select either 'Contacts' or 'Sources'
Alternatively, you may select your search and keyword type after typing your query.
Vetting Journalists and Sources
As you refine your search and start to identify contacts you are potentially interested in, you will want to vet them further before adding them to your lists.
Click on a contact's name to open their mini-profile on the right-hand side of the screen. In the mini-profile, you will see the following details:
Name and location
Profile type
Open rate, if applicable
Media Lists, if applicable
Biography
Source Affiliations and sources Also seen in
Recent Articles
Covered Entities, if applicable
Beats
Contact Information
Social and Content tabs, used to research more deeply the social footprint and content coming from this author.
There are similar profiles for Sources
There are similar profiles for Social Authors, when there is no applicable contact profile in the Media Relations Database
To manage media lists, send a direct email, or View the full profile, there are buttons dedicated for this purpose.
Additionally, you might choose to email the person directly from their profile or profile preview. If that is the case, click Email
Next, let's take a look at the full Contact Profile:
On the full contact profile, you will have more details to view, including:
Profile header
Contact name
Profile image
Default email address
Interactions record
Open Rate from your Outreach Emails
Sources
Also seen in (clicking here will open a side panel showing all publications the contact's work has appeared in, but they may not be directly employed or affiliated with the Source).
Overview tab
Articles and X posts (broken down by Writing about and Beats - you can toggle between the two)
Content stream with recent articles and X posts
Date filter going back 1 year
All published content (articles and tweets)
Ability to run Keyword searches
Actions you can take - tag them, share,
Metrics on the documents themselves (reach, social echo, sentiment)
X posts - reach, engagement, and sentiment
Sentiment of articles or X posts
X profile summary
Authority score, followers, following and # posts
Bio (or contact description if an X handle is not known)
Contact information panel
Action button
Contact’s language(s)
Contact’s aliases
Contact’s social media handles (when available)
Media lists the contact is in
Interactions tab
See outreach that has been sent to the journalist or contact
See email threads between you (and even your team) and the journalist using Email Integration.
Source Profile Preview
Easily evaluate sources with a quick profile preview in Search, showcasing their covered beats, recent articles, and whether they're already included in your media lists.
Click the Media Relations drop-down in the left-hand navigation bar
Click Search
Select the Contacts drop-down at the top of your screen
Click Sources
Enter a source name
Click Enter on your keyboard
Click on a source name in your results to open a profile preview on the right-hand side of your screen
The preview will include:
Location
Source Type
Beats
Recent Articles
Whether the source is already in one of your media lists
Click View Full Profile to see the additional details about the source
Once vetted, take action;
Add the source to a media list
Click Email in the profile preview to contact the source’s newsdesk directly
Note: If you have NewsGuard in your Meltwater subscription will see a NewsGuard card on the right-hand side of the sources profile. If you are unsure if you have NewsGuard in your Meltwater subscription, ask the Platform Assistant. Learn more about the Platform Assistant.
Using Explore to find Journalists and other Media Contacts
You can also find contacts of interest directly in Explore.
Click Explore in the left-hand navigation bar
Open an existing search or create a new one
Click the Media Contacts tab
Using Analyze and Monitor to Find Journalists and Other Media Contacts
Outside of using Explore to find journalists and media contacts, you can also use Analyze and Monitor. Learn more about Using Explore to Find Journalists and Other Media Contacts.
Using Analyze
Click Analyze in the left-hand navigation bar
Open an existing dashboard or create a new one
Navigate to an input that returns journalists' names in its results
Examples: Top Editorial Journalists by Mentions, Top Editorial Journalists by Reach.
Click within the graph to open the right-hand slide out
Hover over the result
Select Open Author Profile
Using Monitor
Click Monitor in the left-hand navigation bar
Open an existing content stream or create a new one
Hover over a result
Select Open Author Profile
Following People of Interest in Monitor
You can also power Monitor’s content streams with media and author lists. Learn more about Media and Author Lists in Monitor.
💡 Tip
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