Earned Media: Maximizing Value for Growth
You get quoted in an article that’s published in your target media outlet. You’re excited and hope that it will generate a large amount of traffic to your corporate website and that the phone will ring off the hook. You’re disappointed when the phone doesn’t ring and new clients are not lining up at your door. You start to ask yourself, “What happened? Why are there no new clients?” Unfortunately, even if you’ve earned the media, news stories cycle out fast. Here are crucial tips and tricks to extend the life of your media and maintain traffic for weeks, even months after the story has published:
- Make News Work Harder
Just being mentioned in an article may not generate new business. You need to take advantage of this opportunity by posting to an online newsroom with links to the media outlet and then highlighting the coverage on your company homepage with a hyperlink to the article. In addition, you can send an email blast to your clients, prospects, and friends with the link and asking them to share it in kind. Rather than hoping for traffic, you will be generating it yourself and increasing the total exposure.
- Get Social
On average, people spend about two hours every day surfing through social media. Use this to your advantage by posting across all social media channels. Encourage sharing and engagement with your content by commenting on your post and asking the viewers for feedback. The customers’ opinions are vital to the success of your company and this is an easy, seamless way to get responses. In addition, you can set up a schedule to repeat posts on your social media outlets multiple times a day to stay prominent on your followers’ feeds. This will ensure that while people jump on and off their social feeds, they won’t miss your post.
- Keep Momentum Going
Once your company and the article have gained prominence, you don’t want it to fade. Keep reminding viewers of the benefits your company can offer. To do so, spotlight recent press coverage within the company boilerplate and email signatures so your intended audience can easily find the article. Tweet out quotes from published articles and ask all employees to share the article link on Twitter and LinkedIn. This allows people outside of your immediate network to engage with your company and develop a connection.
- Supplement Earned Media with Paid Media
By using two different categories of media, you can gain greater reach for your company. To amplify your content, use tools (i.e. Outbrain or Taboola), to promote your tweets or targeted Facebook ads, and set up sponsored campaigns on your social media channels. By involving multiple platforms, you may attain additional reach and gain new clients.
By following these steps, you’ll be making your PR dollars work harder:
Greater Top of Mind + Increased Awareness + More Prospects = Growth!
