Yes, we live in a digital world, email and text social media all important. But don't overlook the possibility of actual real life human interaction with people in the media to help you gain access. More than 20 years ago, I was doing a tremendous amount of punditry commentary about what's going on the news, having a lot of success with a couple of the major news networks in the United States. But there was this one network, I would call I would fax at the time I would email, never could get on the air. Until one day, and that day was I did a summer share. I rented a house with a dozen other at the time relatively young people in Fire Island, New York.
And one of my housemates was a woman who was a producer for one of the Primetime shows at this network. And we didn't become best friends. Friends but newer socially and went to lunch one day in the city. I then politely said, hey, how can I get my foot in the door here. And she just kind of put me at the top of the list, looked at my video saw that I was credible. I was on other TV networks.
She wasn't bending over backwards to force people to use me. But she opened the door, got me on, and wasn't even her show. But she got me on daytime shows less prestigious, less audience. But that opened up the opportunity to get on another day part and then another show and another show. Before you know it, I was on that network more than 100 times within the first two years. And over the next decade, probably on that network about three or 400 times it would not have happened or certainly not as quickly is if I hadn't had that personal connection.
Now. You might not be able to do summer vacations with people who are Booker's at major TV networks. I understand that isn't always possible. My point is, get out in the real world, you've got a network, you've got to socialize. If you see in your own town, media organizations, they get together, even if it just seems like low level bloggers that aren't even in your field, get out there and meet them, socialize with them, exchange cards with them, or exchange electronic business. You never know where it's going to lead in so many aspects of life.
If you are a writer, a journalist, someone in the media looking for an expert, you're kind of overwhelmed with so many choices. You go Google expert on an for design, you'll probably find 10 billion people who claim to be experts on fork design. Do you want to start contacting all 10 million? No. So it's only human nature to feel more comfortable. emailing or calling someone you've already met, someone you've talked to where you say, Okay, this person seemed credible, they didn't drool, they didn't follow over, they didn't slur and you're already essentially pre screened.
Now, just because you met someone doesn't mean they're going to be your best friend and get you on all the time. But it is a start. So, advanced tip. I'm not saying you got to go to five events a night. But every once in a while, look for social opportunities where you can network with people who work in the media you care about