Muck Rack is a PR platform, launched in June 2020. It is designed to allow PR firms to connect with journalists, and improve targeting of press releases. You may be wondering why this might be of interest to subject matter experts. The only way to provide an effective PR platform is to have a comprehensive database of journalists and writers. PR companies need to know who is writing and tweeting about what subjects at any given time. To attract journalists, Muck Rack offers some features that may be extremely useful to subject matter experts writing about their chosen topic.
Muck Rack provides an automatically updated portfolio for writers
Both journalists and subject matter experts tend to write for a range of publications, and it can be hard to keep track. Muck Rack creates a profile for each writer, and this is automatically updated on a regular basis. Provided the links are live, your social media profiles and blogs can be automatically scanned. This means that you can see and browse all your work from one place, making it much easier to see how your views have changed over time, or where there are gaps in your arguments. This can therefore help you to plan your future posts. Of course, if you only ever write for one publication, this may not help very much.
Muck Rack’s daily newsletter could help to increase your audience and exposure
Muck Rack’s daily newsletter is described as ‘a digest of journalism, written by journalists’. It is a summary of trending topics and tweets by journalists, focusing on the stories of the day. If you are talking about the big subjects of the day, you may well feature. However, anyone with a profile on Muck Rack is eligible for Twitter ‘shout-outs’ and profile spotlights. The newsletter can also help you to stay abreast of who else is talking about your subjects, and to interact with their social media and articles, extending your network.
Muck Rack provides information to help you quantify your impact
One of the most useful aspects of Muck Rack for journalists and subject matter experts alike is that it allows you to see who else is sharing your articles. You can therefore see who else is interested in your work, and quantify your reach more easily—both important for thought leadership. You can even create and export reports in either spreadsheet or pdf form, helping you to demonstrate your worth to managers, marketing teams and potential employers.
Muck Rack is also building links to other platforms and networks
Muck Rack is keenly aware that one of the most important trends in business software is that customers want to use the most effective platform for each function—and expect those platforms to allow seamless integration. In August 2020, Muck Rack and Business Wire announced a partnership that would improve the availability of information about who was writing about key topics. It seems likely that it will be a matter of ‘watch this space’ to see what new partnerships may develop.
Muck Rack allows you to monitor the news, including in your subject
Muck Rack offers an option to create alerts, a bit like Google Alerts. You can, for example, track stories about particular companies or topics, or even a particular angle on a story. You can also see immediately when someone else picks up, tweets or shares one of your articles. You can be alerted once a day, or more often, depending on your needs. The tailoring of both timing and topic is particularly helpful to writers in fast-moving fields, or when there is a crisis and you need to stay abreast of the situation.
Registering with Muck Rack could just help to stop you being spammed by PR companies
One of the benefits of Muck Rack for PR companies and journalists alike is that it allows much more targeted sending of press releases. By completing your profile, you will be able to make clear that you only write on selected topics, and for selected publications—and may therefore help to prevent you being spammed.
The bottom line
Registering on Muck Rack is free for journalists and writers—it is PR companies who pay to use the service. If you are regularly writing and active on social media, there is a reasonable chance you already have a profile. It makes sense to complete it and get some use out of the site.