Getting value out of your PR campaigns is tricky. You’ve worked tirelessly to get as much attention as possible. Maybe you’ve created a few articles or blog posts, even been included in an external article or two, but how do you turn this attention into an even stronger producer for your personal efforts? Once your content starts to develop traction your job is not done yet, nor should it be. You’ve put too much time and energy into something to just hand it over to fate. Let’s take a look at how to turn an 80% effective return into 110% effective return.
There’s many ways to get true value from your PR Campaigns, but running your own Campaigns can be daunting if you’ve never done it before. The following are few simple steps and notes that can help you maximize your efforts.
- Optimize your organic search results with a little more SEO.
Assuming all goes to plan upon sending out your Press Release to your preferred media outlets your story should start gaining traction; hopefully then gaining more attention and additional media outlets interested in sharing your information. You may or may not expect this response but it is the reason you’re working hard to craft effective releases. To ensure you get the most coverage possible there’s a few places to check your performance. Fresh Web Explorer and Google News are two great places to start, and they come pre-built with numerous analytical tracking tools.
Starting with Fresh Web Explorer, this is a tool created by a popular SEO/SEM service hub known as MOZ. It lists recent pages that have mentions of specific keywords you may be wanting to track. It may not include every mention of your desired keywords; it is still a strong way of tracking how your information is being received online. It’s most effective when using several different keywords.
Once you’ve monitored your progress through Fresh Web Explorer you can find additional mentions using Google News. Using a timeline system, Google News pulls only from authoritative pages and can help show where there’s any additional steam, while cutting out any of the questioning of whether or not its reputable, and when the mentions may have occurred.
- Ask media contacts for a share.
It’s always a great idea to reach out to any media contacts, or just reach out to your general online audience and ask them to share your content. Ensure that your content has been optimized to be shared on your desired social media channels, if you can’t make it easy for others to share then they aren’t going to be inclined to share.
The most opportune time to ask for this additional support is at the time you release the content. Hopefully you’ve been able to track your own personal successful windows of posting to your respective audience, as this can also impact the amount of eyes visible to your plea.
- Share your successes through your company blog.
Does your brand have a blog? No?!? Well you may want to look at changing that first of all. If you do, or once you’ve begun establishing one, use it as pulpit to show off your accolades and external mentions. These accolades provide value to your brand, demonstrating that others see worth in what you’re producing. This helps show to new, and existing clients, that you are a strong company and a reputable source of information.
If you’re already blogging about your brand’s unique news, take a few minutes to write-up a little snippet about any coverage you want to highlight. Don’t forget to toss in an honorable mention to the writer and their host publication; a little thank you can go a long way. Your audience will be empowered that they rely on your brand for whatever services you’re providing, and any new customers will develop a link between your brand and the editorial authority of the new coverage.
- Turn Global Recognition Into Regional Coverage
Smaller regionally based news sources enjoy providing pride to their local communities, so if your business is making waves online reach out to local news sources to let them know, especially if they haven’t already picked up on it. Journalists are very busy individuals, they often have dozens of articles they’re working on at any one point, so help them out and make them aware of a story you believe your area may be interested in. Make sure to emphasize your local area connections, and if there’s a way you can demonstrate how your successes will have a positive rippling impact on the local scene make sure to include that tidbit too.
- Explore industry specific forums, and use new forums like Reddit!
If you’ve used Internet forums in the past things like Reddit! can feel a little outdated, but this is anything but true. Its barebones interface is intentional, and it continues to be one of the most visited websites on the Internet. Effectively navigating these sites can improve your site’s traffic, and your businesses success exponentially.
The trick here is to find the right “subreddit,” to utilize, and to make your posts seem authentic and sincere, while not coming off a shill marketing. So posting something along the lines of “Check out my awesome site to buy cool stuff” is most likely not going to get you anywhere. Whereas creating a post that freely offers information, education or advice will help you increase your visibility and authentic nature.
Forums like Reddit! are place populated by users that enjoy being in the “know,” and enjoy being able to say they saw something first. This can foster an elitist mindset and as such you can hurt your credibility if you don’t recognize the difference between shameless promotion and a desire for genuine connection. Though this is not a social channel that will often produce immediate return, through gentle fostering of relationships, and consistent building of authoritative posts you’ll quickly develop alpha consumers that will continue to sell for you for years to come.
- How to Experiment with Social Media Ad’s
Facebook Ads are a necessary tool whether you want to agree or not. Having a social advertising budget is vital in the success of your PR campaigns. Similar to the aforementioned power you can receive through effectively leveraging your company’s blog, Facebook Ads follow a similar strategy.
Now there are three ways to use Facebook Ads, each come with their own benefits and drawbacks. You can target people who already like your page, people who like your page and their friends, and people you choose through a specific demographic targeting system.
Focusing on people who like your page, and their friends will increase your authority and brand recognition to your current customer base. If you’re business operates primarily through return customers, and you have a large social media base, this is a highly effective model for you to try.
Targeting new customers based on specific demographics will allow you to approach new audiences, and potentially new customers. If you’re receiving glowing reviews for external sources and you promote that on your page your first impression to new customers is going to be one of authority and quality. This can go a long way in converting new readers to new customers. Make sure that if this is the process you take you have all your links, and call to action’s set up correctly.
With other social media channels such as Instagram, Twitter, and even Snapchat there are additional pay options for sponsoring ads. Your tactics with Facebook will likely not be as effective on other Social Channels. You’ll have to experiment with different content to see what’s effective for your brand, however all of these channels are great in building an online audience and increasing your potential for a strong client base.