One of the crucial factors in your digital reputation management is that link building has become extremely challenging. Before, improving your online authority was as simple as leaving a backlink on your comment. Nowadays, it has become trickier. More people have devised a questionable method when making backlinks. Perhaps the best way to do it is through an Online PR strategy. Google place a heavy impact on backlinks that are organically made.
What is Online PR?
Online or digital PR is a marketing campaign that combines traditional media relations with today’s online marketing strategies such as SEO, influencer marketing, social media marketing, content development, etc. Online PR campaign helps the company develop its relationship with renowned channels and media outlets, improving its online presence, authority, and reputation in the process.
If you notice, the world is slowly moving away from traditional media. Brands will have to develop a new method that will allow them to dominate the online realm. Depending on the brand’s goal, the purpose of your digital PR can differ. Some companies may choose to build a partnership with a social media influencer, while others may think that a website with high authority will be better. While the most common goal of online PR is to build backlinks, it is also effective in repairing the company’s online reputation.
You will have to do many things to gather these types of backlinks on your end. You will have to maintain open communication with the journalist or an influential person to determine the kind of content that you want to develop. Perhaps you are looking for content that can capture attention and is newsworthy. Most of the time, you will have to submit a couple of pitches before you reach the desired output. While this may appear overwhelming, the result will be worth it.
What Are the Different Types of Online PR
If you want to use Online PR to receive coverage, data-driven campaigns will give you the best result. Focusing on analytics will help you create content that people will be interested in. An approach heavily based on data can be used as a recurring model. It will help you be consistent with your effort and create newsworthy content. While a data-driven campaign is not your only solution, it is still the most effective.
Data Campaign
In a Data Online PR Campaign, you will need to identify your sources of information to gather interesting analytics and insights that will serve as the basis for your content development. Ensuring it will be relevant, interesting, and engaging will help negotiate with the journalist or influential person more effectively. For instance, if you are in the real estate field and want to curate a list that features the best places for Millennials, you will most probably look at the job opportunities, median income, average home cost, crime rate, etc. Since this will be a data campaign, it is easier for you to capture the interest of big agencies and popular websites like Reader’s Digest, Yahoo, and The New York Times.
Many data sources are available to the public. For instance, if you want to develop content that features the best place to start your financial career, Linked Salary provides the public with access to the median salary of every city. Google Trend may also help you figure out the current interest of the people. Other mines of accurate information would be Census.gov and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Remember to use only websites that have accurate figures to ensure that accuracy. Otherwise, this will hurt your online reputation.
Survey Campaign
Another type of content that can easily capture the attention of journalists and influencers would be survey results. Launching a survey Online PR strategy is a smart way to gather data that you will develop into content if you don’t have access to readily-available information. Google Survey presents an easier survey method, and you can get an average of 2,500-3,000 participants, which would be enough to develop a unique set of data.
Let’s say you want to create content about dental fixes. However, there may not be updated data about the preferred solution of the public regarding tooth decay. You should create a survey and ask the people about their favored method. For instance, you can ask, ‘How Likely are You to Choose Root Canal?’ Once the survey is done, you should have an insight into prevailing trends based on the result. You can now draw engaging insights from the available data that authorized websites and journalists could use.
When picking the right question to ask, look for the questions that will produce interesting answers. Avoid information that will be predictable since it will be difficult for you to launch your Online PR campaign using that strategy. The goal of using a survey is to produce a data set that did not exist before or to update a piece of outdated information.
Map Campaign
Based on its name, this is a type of campaign used by Online PR Specialist to lay out data information into a map. The map campaign can be made from data that are already existing or from a survey result. This type works pretty well and will give you the desired result. Using this, the data will show localized results, making it more relevant and personalized. Based on the latest report, many journalists prefer using this campaign since it is easier for people to understand.
What Are the Different Steps of Online PR Campaign?
Now that we have enumerated the different data sets you can use to build an Online PR campaign, let us check what goes behind the process. Hopefully, this will make the process a little less overwhelming for everyone.
The Ideation Phase
At this stage, you will form an idea from about 3-5 options. You will need enough options that you can compare with others. With this, you will better understand which Online PR strategy will produce your desired result. Remember that your goal here is to create backlinks and improve your online presence and reputation. To do this, you want to ensure that you will provide essential insights. Here are some of the rules that you should keep in mind.
Choose a Topic Related to Your Business
The topic you choose must be closely associated with the nature of your business. For instance, there is no way that you will reach out to your target influencer if you are a gardening business and you are talking about dental equipment. Perhaps the Online PR specialist will recommend a campaign that tackles the kind of vegetables that yield a higher production in a specific city or state will give you a better result. While the topic is not required to be exactly the same (for instance, a gardener could talk about the top flower retailer in the areas), you still want to ensure that the content will resonate with your target market. Never limit your content to the core function of your business. With this, you can widen your reach and improve the possibility of receiving coverage.
Topic Must be Newsworthy
To ensure that your Online PR Campaign will succeed, you want to guarantee that your content will be newsworthy. Otherwise, it would be difficult for you to capture a journalist’s or influencer’s interest. You will never get the shares and click that you need. The content will remain buried deep in the web. Choosing newsworthy content will be difficult. Here are some tips to ensure that your content will stand out.
- Identify your target publication. Look at the past content that this publication cover. There should be specific topics that they will usually cover. For example, if you want to be published in Vogue, visit their website frequently and create a note on the type of content they feature.
- Choose a Campaign That Will Be Hot At the Date of Publication. For instance, if you pitch your article in December, you might want to relate your article to the Holiday season to ensure that it will be relevant.
- Search for Keywords. Since you want it to appear on top of the search engine result, you want to ensure that it has the right set of keywords. Use different tools for your keyword research.
- Use Reddits, Quora, Google Trend, and Social Media Channels. You want to know what topic they are discussing. Look for content that will help you receive the highest shares and likes.
- Invite your people for brainstorming. Keep yourself open to some suggestions.
Are There Similar Campaigns?
Before you start creating your online PR, you want to check if this has been done before. It doesn’t make sense to create a campaign similar to what was done a year ago. After choosing a topic, you want to curate, check similar PR campaigns online, and analyze how well they develop it. If it is well-made, it is best to choose another topic. No journalist would want to cover a topic that has been done recently.
Publishing the Online PR Campaign
After choosing the topic, it is time to transform this data into something people can easily consume. You want to ensure this will be eye-catching before it goes live on your website. It is better to publish this as a blog post. Make sure that it will be customized in a manner that will highlight your data set. The copy should also highlight more information about your research.
Consider working with a professional graphic designer. When talking to them, be sure that you will be very specific in telling them the kind of graphics that you need for your Online PR campaign. This will ensure that you and the designer are on the same page. You don’t want them to do the analysis, which will ensure that the desired result can be immediately achieved. If you don’t have a designer on your team, it is easy to look for a freelancer at Upwork.
Now that it is done, it is time to create a copy that will further highlight the information of your research and data. This does not necessarily have to be a lengthy post, but you must ensure that it offers value. However, if your aim is for this to land on top of the first page of the search result, the average length would be around 1,200-1,500 words. After this, it is now to publish your content.
Create an Outreach List
Once you have created your Online PR Strategy, you will need to reach out to several journalists who could be interested in your copy. Perhaps the simplest way to find a journalist or an influencer whom you can pitch in your work would be through an online media database. Cision would be a perfect source of journalist information. It comes with a search feature that lets you personalize your search result. You can choose from the different categories such as name, keyword, subject, location, and many more. For instance, if you have created a PR campaign that Cosmopolitan often covers, you can easily change the outlet name to Cosmopolitan. Don’t hesitate to send your pitch to as many journalists that match your needs. Use a spreadsheet to collect all their information into a single document, making it easier for you to keep track of the progress.
Pitching the PR Campaign
The final step of your Online PR Campaign is to pitch it, wherein you will collect the information of the journalists and influencers to pitch in. There are different things that you must consider when pitching in your campaign. Remember that journalists will receive hundreds of pitches and messages per day. They will not have the time to go through all these. They will need to immediately reach a decision on which of them would garner the highest level of engagement. Try to make it easier for them to reach the decision. For instance, create a message that is easier for them to read. Be polite in your greetings and immediately get to your purpose. You should also use a bullet point to make it easier for them to digest your message.
Finally, you should consider building a connection with a journalist. The online PR is not a one-time procedure. You will have to spread your brand everywhere to improve your SERP and repair your reputation.
Tags: link building, reputation management