Effective PR is essential for business growth and long-term success. A robust approach to public relations can improve your brand reputation, expand your consumer base, and increase customer loyalty.
In today’s digital age, effective PR is about more than press releases and monthly newsletters. You have to lean on web-based strategies like search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, and influencers if you want to help your company succeed.
Types of Digital PR
Digital PR is an ever-changing field. Today, digital PR professionals leverage a range of strategies to boost their business’ brand. You improve your company’s online presence by:
- Partnering with influencers to highlight your goods or service;
- Optimizing press releases by including relevant keywords and high-quality backlinks;
- Organizing and vetting online reviews;
- Running strategized social media accounts that boost reach and engagement.
Each of these approaches to digital PR requires a coordinated approach. You’ll need a clear PR strategy in place before you reach out to influencers, and should research keywords before bidding on them.
Effective digital PR is worth is well worth the effort. After investing in digital PR, you can expect to see generate more leads and sales as more traffic comes to your website. You can retain greater control over your brand reputation, too, which is critical in the age of social media.
Reputation Management
Social media can be a real headache if you work in PR. No matter how much you spend on digital marketing, you can’t control the conversation that happens about your business. You have to cover multiple bases online if you want to ensure that your reputation remains strong.
Use reputation management techniques to protect your brand and boost your visibility. Respond to the reviews left on sites like Yelp and Google — even if those reviews are negative. Showing that you care about negative reviews and the reputation of your business is a great way to boost your PR and strengthen your brand.
Utilize a social listening program to “hear” when your brand is being mentioned online. Set up Google Alerts for your business name and explore hashtags related to your business, service, or product. You don’t have to respond to every comment or mention, but you should be aware of the conversation that is happening about your company.
Use SEO auditing software if you suspect that your business has been on the receiving end of a “reputation attack”. Reputation attacks occur when a competitor uses underhand tactics to degrade your digital presence and undermine your SEO efforts. Google’s Search Console is a great place to start, but you can use paid tools like those offered by HootSuite and Semrush, too.
Storytelling
Digital PR looks different from traditional PR but follows many of the same rules. You still need to craft a strong brand story if you want to boost your online presence and strengthen your company’s brand.
Improve your corporate storytelling strategies by adopting a newsroom-like approach. Stay up to date on current trends and topics to ensure you’re always relevant. Be accountable for your role in society and focus on the positive impact that your brand has on folks from around the world.
The way you tell your story will vary between platforms. What lands on TikTok probably won’t work on Facebook. Change up the techniques and test new types of content to see how they impact your reach and engagement. That said, try to keep the central themes and ideas the same across platforms to ensure that your brand is instantly recognizable.
SEM Strategies
Search engine marketing (SEM) is all about placing ads and paying for the traffic that comes to your site. To get a good return on your SEM, you’ll need a coordinated approach to digital PR.
Start by utilizing Pay-Per-Click (PPC) marketing to grow your brand. PPC marketing yields quick results and can help you overtake competitors. Consider placing Google Ads based on the keyword research you completed for your SEO strategy.
Invest in long-term solutions, too. Invite guest posts on your own site and build a catalog of evergreen content. You can also write on other folks’ sites to build rapport and trade high-quality links. Make the most of your SEM strategies by highlighting positive reviews to boost your SEO.
Social Proof
“Social proof” is the idea that humans intrinsically follow one another and copy the actions of others. As a PR professional, you can take advantage of this trait by crafting digital PR that creates community and build a buzz around your business.
Work with trusted influencers who have a strong following online. Influencer marketing is one of the fastest-growing methods of digital PR and can meaningfully improve your brand identity. Reach out to a few influencers that align with your niche and represent your core values. Influencers won’t “hard sell” for you, but they can improve your brand presence if you allow them to create the content that their followers love.
Consider a referral program if you’re struggling to build a loyal following. Friends who share a love of your business are more likely to stick with you in the long term. A referral program can create a buzz online, too, as folks will be keen to share their savings with others.
Try to align yourself with similar brands. Cozying up to other brands is the oldest trick in the PR book, but still works effectively today. The key is to choose similar brands that are well thought of and sell to a similar audience as yourself. This is something that big brands like Apple and Nike do well, as they know that they share similar customers and will benefit from brand partnerships. Reach out to a few similar businesses, and consider creating digital content together to improve your company’s online presence.
Conclusion
Digital PR is a cost-effective way to boost your brand and build your company’s online presence. Start by completing an SEO audit to spot areas for improvement and address any negative reviews. Improve your visibility by partnering with trusted influencers and similar brands. You can use SEM strategies like PPC ads to further improve your online presence and bring more leads to your company.
