Companies often recognize the importance of having a strong digital PR strategy. However, it is also not uncommon for organizations to find that their large investments yield little results. It can also be confusing, frustrating, and hard to know who you trust.
Still, it’s important to have an effective strategy in place. In the digital world, companies need to be found online. It also requires understanding what they are and being able to manage any news about them streaming on various platforms. Like traditional public relations, it’s not so much the language of sales or the subject of promotion. Therefore, the key to success is to develop an effective process to convey the message.
take away:
Everything included in PR has different definitions, and there are clear differences between digital PR and traditional PR. However, most digital PR guides have the same goal of delivering a clear, positive message about your company or client.
However, digital PR has one distinct benefit over traditional methods: speed. Using these tools to quickly transfer information into the online world gives companies greater control over what is said about them. It also enables quick pivots when the situation calls for it. This is much more difficult in the traditional PR world.
How to develop effective digital public relations
Many components make up a successful digital PR strategy. To create such a policy, consider the following steps.
define your goals
What is the end result? What would you like to see as a result of any activity you undertake? It’s important to think about this carefully. In some organizations, it’s about focusing on improving your rankings in search engines. Other times, it’s to get more or targeted traffic to a website. Other times, though, it’s to add to the brand’s image.
In general, the more specific your goals, the better. For example, your business needs to grow its online presence. One way is to build more backlinks to your website. You may need to do more of the heavy lifting in terms of branding to accomplish this by networking with other sites or complementary companies.
Clearly outline your target audience
Who do you want to communicate with or with? If you haven’t already done so, make an effort to define your roles. This should be a very specific process of who the ideal reader for any content you are considering is. Are you looking for someone to sell? If this is the case, your content needs to focus on the end customer’s needs. Who is this client?
Learn more about your brand. It’s important to do as much research as possible to understand who your customers are and what they’re doing online. Understand what they are interacting with and what makes them buy.
Create your content calendar
You know what you want to communicate and to whom. The next step is to create a calendar that allows you to create policies. An online calendar is a fluid tool and may change over time. However, it puts your plan into action by outlining what needs to be done and where. It also gives you a visual that you can use to better understand your content.
Your content calendar also provides some structure for your goals for the coming months. That is, it outlines what’s being released, what press releases are coming, and what you want to celebrate.
This is especially useful for seasonal content. For example, waiting until January <> to release information about a Veteran’s Day military deal could negatively impact its effectiveness. By scheduling content in a <> monthly calendar, you can ensure it gets published at the most ideal time.
take away:
A good focus of PR is to consider the four steps. The first is to understand and determine the goals of any campaign. Then, develop a plan detailed enough to drive the campaign toward its goals.
From there, it is necessary to execute the plan according to the goals set. The critical fourth step is to monitor, analyze and adjust as needed. No one solution fits all companies or activities.
build your content
You have a lot of ideas about where to go from here. So the key is to create content that will deliver the chosen message. Spend some time on this. Review your audience, goals, and brand voice to create content. You need to fill that content calendar.
A good place to start is with some interactive tools. For example, you might want to create an infographic that provides insights into your company. Or create a tool to break down some of the company’s more complex data. You might want to show some stories about your company. Don’t be afraid to do some storytelling to portray the company’s goals.
The next consideration is quality thought leadership. Most organizations need to differentiate themselves as experts in their industry, product or service. Thought leadership is an essential part of successful digital PR. It allows you to create articles, videos and other content published under your name. This is a great way to build credibility. Consider providing a review for your service. Gain insight into innovations in your industry.
take away:
If you don’t have a strategy in place, your organization is out of control. Relying on immediate events doesn’t allow your business to control the message, create positive opportunities, or make adjustments when needed.
A lack of strategy also means that any steps you take are likely to perform poorly and be ineffective. This is what often leads to PR overspending. However, taking steps now to create a plan can help your investment go further, yielding better results.
Publish, analyze and continue building
The next steps are where things get hectic and involved. If you’re working with an agency to help with your PR, you’ll want to rely on them for all of your outreach and media efforts. You’ll need to do some research yourself to figure out where your content is going. Check out some insights from competitors.
When you start launching your data, you need to monitor what’s happening with your data. What is the result of this move? What works better than another method or content type? The more data you have, the more effectively you can fine-tune and improve your content and outreach to meet your goals. It’s not common to hit 100% right out the door.
You need to make changes over time as factors change. This also helps create consistency. To engage your audience, you need to deliver your message consistently across multiple formats. More importantly, it takes time. When you’re consistent over time and invest in enough high-quality content, you’ll get impressive results. Without consistency, your organization may not see the desired results.
Why invest in digital PR?
When you consider all these steps, it can seem overwhelming. However, the results of this process are worth it. It enables you to build your brand and grow a company (and its online presence) to achieve your mission and goals. It can also make you a leader in your industry. For many organizations, this is critical for those looking to topple big brands or build long-term success.
