Proven Tactics in PR and Social Media

CMA's PR Manager Kaitlin Friedmann was recently invited to contribute another guest blog for e-Xplorations, a blog that aims to help small to mid-sized businesses adapt to digital marketing strategies. Check out the excerpt below....

I grew up in the MTV generation so when I hear social media experts predict the death of the press release, it makes me think of the panic SEO Marketing that must have stricken radio stations across the country when “Video Killed the Radio Star” was popular.

Rather than making predictions for one thing eclipsing the other, PR pros should embrace the many tools available to them. A mix of classic media relations skills and web-savvy strategies are essential now more than ever to raising awareness and proving ROI.  

To maximize your social strategy, increase the reach of your content and stay as relevant as you can to your target audience, PR professionals should take the necessary steps to optimize their next press release distribution or overall social media strategy.

The Role of the Press Release

Past – The only eyes on a press release were that of a reporter, editor or other member of the media (setting aside investor relations). Its purpose was purely informational and was rarely taken verbatim.

Present – Press releases are seen by a larger audience—they are blasted out to far-reaching lists of media and the general public optimized press releasethrough PRNewswire, PRWeb and other distribution sites. In the age of Google Alerts and RSS feeds, mass distribution is as crucial as ever. Press releases are additionally posted on company websites, sent in customer e-newsletters and linked to social networks.

While I can’t speak about the pre-Internet days of PR, I can make an educated assumption that the most proven public relations tactic has always been flexibility. What this analysis says is that PR pros don’t rely on any one method of communication and the press release must simply be newsworthy for the media and, more broadly, for the end user. The above-mentioned wire services will take care of the release’s optimized delivery, but it’s up to the PR pro to use keywords, anchor text and key messages that resonate with the target audience. The press release in the “classic sense” must also still have a real-live voice behind it (the PR pro’s follow-up calls) to increase the chance of media placement. 

The Gatekeeper-Free World of Social Media

Social media content has the power to bypass the media as the “gatekeepers” of information and go straight to your target audience. This is not just an awareness-raising tactic—there are sales to be made directly from social media working in concert with SEO. According to a comScore study, buyers “who purchase or convert online are almost as likely to use a combination of search and social resources (48 percent) as they are to use just search (51 percent) along the path to purchase.”

It’s nearly impossible to not mention social media in the discussion of the “future” of public relations, so let’s examine the future of the press release in this context.

Future – As attention spans shrink, experts say the press release could be phased out and replaced by viral infographics (visual representations of announcements that particularly involve statistical data used most prominently by FourSquare) or social media posts (Tweets, Status Updates, Discussion Points, etc).

To these predictions, again, my answer is to diversify. Why does one have to replace the other? Some of CMA’s most successful PR campaigns have been those that utilize the full arsenal of PR, SEO and social media tactics.

We recently used a healthy mix of classic PR practices, SEO and social media to “scare” up awareness for an association of haunted attractions. The first foray into our Halloween PR campaign started earlier this month with the keyword-riddled press release describing haunted attractions’ ability to compete for young adults’ attention. Distributed via PRNewswire, the release was also posted on 10 free press release distribution websites.

We also recruited the social media savvy of the association member base to further widen thepress release distribution reach of the press release to industry insiders, while following up directly with phone calls to a variety of consumer media covering the Millennial generation’s behavior. The results—placement on over 200 news websites, a feature article secured in an industry magazine and an in-depth feature article in the works on 10 haunted attractions for a major consumer magazine with more than 10 million circulation.

The bottom line here—SEO gets you on the right pages, but it’s up to you to make the most of your opportunity once you’re there.

SEO: A PR Change Agent

CMA's PR manager, Kaitlin Friedmann, recently became a guest blogger on e-Xplorations.com, a marketing blog designed to help business owners become more savvy to new trends. The excerpt below was posted this week...

You’ve seen the reports—2010 is shaping up to potentially be the year where all marketing and public relations departments truly step up their Web 2.0 budgets. This means increased time and energy devoted to blog development, social media marketing and other user-generated content overall, and all together, a new way of thinking about integrated marketing.

With all of these exciting interactive communication developments happening at once, perhaps the topic on most business owners’ and executives’ minds is search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is valuable to any promotional campaign because the very aim of this practice is to create awareness, raise interest and desire, and move a consumer to take action all in one place—the search engine.
In the public relations profession, SEO has been a major change agent. Gone are the PR strategies that ignore the power of online media and rely only on traditional print and broadcast outlets.

Most SEO seekers’ main objective is to drive traffic to a specific website—now also a common goal for the PR professional, whose usual directive “get ink,” has been fully transitioned to an equal or greater desire for website hits. While Business Wire, Marketwire, PrimeNewswire, PR Newswire and PRWeb have been valuable tools for press release distribution for decades, (to both media and directly to the consumer) PR professionals need to utilize these services to their fullest extent by providing more optimized and tailored content to make their announcement stand out.

To increase the chances of an announcement reaching the individual it was intended for, a few simple practices can be integrated during the writing of the press release:

1) Make headlines – Your headline is still your first opportunity to make a good impression on your target audience. Craft a headline chock full of keywords that speak to your audience’s main concerns and greatly increase your chances of them moving on to learn more.

2) Drop your anchor – Using targeted words for anchor text that links back to specific pages of the company’s website, or to other useful pages such as a company blog, can determine the ranking that the page will receive by search engines. Make sure your linked text is relevant to the landing page and include your actual URL in as many appropriate areas as possible—not just the boilerplate.

3) Use words from your customers’ mouths – In order to increase word of mouth among your target customers, wouldn’t it make sense to ask them what their needs are first? Compile a list of top search terms and key issues by putting in some extra time to survey your market or compile market research ahead of time. This will ensure you aren’t using misunderstood jargon or buzzwords they consider overused.

4) Do it yourself – Many online news outlets have areas where you can post press releases yourself. These areas offer an opportunity for you increase your SEO ranking by having your company or client’s name mentioned on websites other than your own.

A lot has changed about PR in the last five years, but one thing that will remain timeless is the value of good copywriting. A press release that is vague, too opinionated or just poorly written will get you nowhere—with or without SEO. By relying on your instincts and approaching SEO in an organized way, you can upgrade your PR approach and adapt appropriately without seeming like you’re rushing to jump on an SEO band wagon.

Kaitlin Friedmann
PR Manager
kfriedmann@cmasolutions.com

Designing a Website Built to Last

If a website refresh is what your company needs to start anew in 2010, it’s imperative that you work with your designer to create something that is built to last. Using outdated techniques can force a prospective customer to click the “x” in the corner and cross you off the list of potential business partners as quick as the click of a mouse.

We’ve seen so many website trends come and go. Consider these points while you’re in the planning stage.

Put yourself in the website visitors’ shoes. Your website is now almost the equivalent of the first greeting, handshake and business card exchange in the early stages of a real, live meeting. Within the first few seconds, the visitor needs to feel engaged but also in control. While the organization of your website is important to share information, the design elements must make them feel comfortable enough to want to stay.

A website should accurately represent your brand. Since your website might be the first place a customer is introduced to your brand, make sure visitors are able to immediately understand who the business is and what you do. A cluttered homepage with disorganized photos and clickables can be confusing, so keep it simple.

Utilize white space for a more professional feel. Dated websites are easy to spot—they have bright colors, perhaps a patterned background and lots of text to scroll through. According to Business Week, 62% of those online are researching products and services. Maintaining a good ratio of white space to images and text allows the visitor to concentrate better on the information they are seeking.

Websites are an essential piece of a company’s full brand. Before you decide to launch a website project, spend some time shopping around to other websites to browse for ideas and accurately gauge the trends in your own industry. Let CMA apply our expertise to deliver a website that truly represents you.

Diane Webster,
Associate Creative Director
Dwebster@cmasolutions.com