Your PR Strategy Is Probably Ignoring the Most Important People in the Room

So here's something that nobody warned me about when I started paying attention to the media world: the person running a brand's TikTok account might actually have more power than the editor-in-chief. I know. Wild, right? But it's 2025, and if you're still exclusively pitching traditional journalists while completely bypassing social media editors, you're basically trying to pay for coffee with a checkbook.

The whole media situation has gotten wonderfully weird. Social media has now overtaken television as Americans' primary news source. People are getting their news from Instagram and TikTok more than they're watching the evening broadcast. Which means the folks curating those feeds aren't just hitting "post" anymore—they're essentially deciding what millions of people talk about over dinner.

WHEN DID THE SOCIAL TEAM BECOME THE COOL KIDS?

A few years ago, social media editors were basically the people who formatted content that someone else created. They were important, sure, but they weren't exactly sitting at the strategy table.

Now? Vogue just promoted their former social editor to head of editorial content—basically the top editorial job at one of the most influential fashion magazines in the world. That's not just a nice promotion. That's a signal that social-first thinking is now running the show from the top down.

Social media professionals have become these fascinating hybrids. They're sitting in editorial meetings talking about cultural trends. They're suggesting story angles based on what's actually performing with real humans online. They're the translators between "here's what we think matters" and "here's what people are actually clicking on at 2 AM while eating leftover pizza."

These are the people with a direct line to what audiences care about. They know what's getting shared, what's sparking conversations, and what's making people stop scrolling long enough to actually engage. In a world where attention is the most valuable currency, that's basically having superpowers.

WHY YOUR OLD PR PLAYBOOK NEEDS SOME UPDATES

Social media editors have become incredible connectors within media organizations. They're working with editorial teams, event planners, the sales department, product development. They touch basically everything. Which means even if your pitch isn't perfect for a social post, they probably know exactly who would be interested.

But here's where people mess up. A lot of PR folks are treating social media teams like they're just another box to check on the media list. Same generic pitch, same spray-and-pray approach. And social editors can tell when you've clearly sent the same email to 47 people without bothering to see if it actually fits their audience.

Social media professionals have real influence now. They're helping shape editorial calendars. They're weighing in on which stories get resources. Treating them like an afterthought is like ignoring the person who has the WiFi password at a coffee shop. Technically, you can still work, but why would you make things harder for yourself?

WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS WHEN YOU'RE REACHING OUT

The biggest complaint social editors have about pitches? When people reach out with absolutely no clarity about what they actually want. Are you hoping for a social post? An event partnership? A full feature story? Just say it upfront. Nobody has time to play guessing games.

Here's what works better: building actual relationships instead of just sending pitches into the void. Coffee chats. Event invites. Brief exchanges that aren't immediately asking for something. Social media folks are busy—they're juggling a million things across multiple platforms—so the goal isn't to bombard them with unrelated ideas. It's to build enough of a connection that when something relevant actually comes up, you're already on their radar.

Sometimes it's not about coverage at all. It's about meeting people, understanding their work, and keeping that relationship warm. That's often where the best collaborations eventually come from—not from the perfect cold email, but from actually knowing someone well enough to understand what might genuinely interest them.

THE BIG PICTURE NOBODY'S TALKING ABOUT ENOUGH

Here's what's really happening: the lines between traditional journalism, marketing, and content creation have gotten completely blurred. Social media editors at major publications are producing their own video content, conducting interviews, and creating original stories in formats that work for how people actually consume information now.

For brands trying to reach audiences, this means there are way more entry points than there used to be. But it also means you need to understand how all these teams work together. Social teams often guide pitches to the right departments or suggest creative angles that fit their strategy.

Social media editors aren't just at the end of the content process anymore. They're part of the story from the beginning. They're helping shape what gets covered, what audiences care about, and ultimately what gets seen.

If you want your message to resonate, you need to be talking to the people who live online all day. They already know what the audience wants. They understand the difference between a story that looks good on paper and one that will actually get people talking. And increasingly, they have the influence to make things happen.

The newsroom is changing. The people with power are changing. And if you're in PR or communications and you haven't adjusted your strategy to account for social media editors? Well, good luck with that. Just don't blame me when your competitor's story is trending on three platforms because they actually understood who holds influence.

Ready to update your PR strategy for the modern media world? At Winsome Marketing, we help brands understand how to connect with audiences where they actually are—not where they used to be. Let's talk about building relationships with the people who really matter in today's media world. Contact us today.