Online PR Tactics to Get Your News on the Front Page…of Google!FEATURING ABBY GILMORE, ELISE-REDLIN COOK, ANN-MARIE JANCOVICH AND SARAH MORAES

Online PR Tactics to Get Your News on the Front Page…of Google!

THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA PARTICIPATION

featuring @abbygilmore

CONNECTING WITH SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS

featuring @annmariej

PRESS RELEASE OPTIMIZATION BEST PRACTICES

featuring @redlincook

MAXIMIZING PRESS RELEASE VISIBILITY featuring

@running4it

TODAY’S AGENDA

The Importance of Social Media Participation for PR

@abbygilmore

Have a Goal

• Have a goal or main focus in mind

• Develop a strategy

• Benchmark

• Without goals and benchmarking, measuring ROI is impossible

• Track results along the way

Identifying Channels

• Identify appropriate channels to participate on

• Complete market research

• Consider social listening

• Focus on channels where your target market is active

Photo credit: Matt Hamm

Be a Resource

• Create compelling content including free guides, whitepapers, videos, articles and more

• Think of every blog post as a resource

• Promote these pieces of content through social media to help your online PR with the SERPs and with your customers

Conversational Marketing

• Answer questions on Twitter, Quora, Yahoo Answers & forums to increase brand awareness

• Share resources and stories

• Participate in conversation wherever you can

Photo credit: bensonkua

Conversational Marketing

Why does it work?

• People care about themselves! Help them help themselves with your resources

• People love talking! (Seriously, they do)

• Brands active on social media are remembered. Be memorable!

Empowering Customers

• Give customers a sense of community by participating in social

• Encourage user generated content to get others involved and help your online PR efforts and reputation

Photo credit: bensonkua

Building Brand Loyalty

• Get the conversation going

• Utilize social media accounts for promotions, monitoring conversations and brand mentions

• Target specific users

Photo credit: bensonkua

Be Authentic

• People will see right through you if you are not authentic, and they will tear you apart

• Respond to questions, comments and concerns (and NOT by setting up auto-responses)

• Encourage feedback and recognize your customers are being heard

Photo credit: bensonkua

Connecting with Social Media Influencers

@ajancovich

1. Targeting Bloggers/Media

2. Monitor/Listen

3. Engage

4. Pitch

5. Start today by…

Making the Connection

Importance of Blogger & Media Outreach

• Reaching an audience where credibility/trust has been established

• Garner unbiased reviews of your products

• Introduce your brand, generate interest and drive visitors to your site

• Has the potential to go viral.

Where my bloggers & reporters at?Find niche blogs• Technorati• AllTop• Top Blog Lists• Google Blog Search

Locate Journalists by beat/topic• Twitter • Journalist Tweets• MuckRack• HARO• Vocus• Linkedin/Facebook

Tracking the Tiger

The Rules of Engagement

• Become familiar with their body of work• Monitor and listen• Ask how they feel about a particular

topic• Contribute your resources or

experience• Tweet any relevant information to your

audience

Monitoring Tools• Bloglines• Google Reader

Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics

We will seek to present you with a range of opportunities to work together around a campaign, so that you can create the best experience possible for your audience. We acknowledge that, when it comes to knowing your audience, you are the expert.

http://bit.ly/dLVGQt

Pitching the Social Media Release

• Find right audience + proper message• Stay targeted• Personalize• Keep it brief• Focus on authenticity• Have something interesting to offer

DON’T• Use a blanket pitch• Send attachments• Sell your product/services

Start Outreach Today By…

• Following people and organizations of interest

• Browsing blog directories for hot topics• Subscribing to blogs & Following tweets• Joining the community: Forums

Press Release Optimization Best Practices

@redlincook

What’s the Difference?

The Search Engines ARE Watching…

The SEO- Friendly Press Release

What’s in a Headline?

• Pick the most relevant keyword

• Place the keyword as near to the beginning of the headline as possible

• Try not to exceeds 8 words• Ensure that the headline

accurately summarizes the content of the release

Keywords, Keywords, Keywords

Include the Primary Keyword:

• Headline• Subtitle• First Sentence, or first Paragraph if

possible• No more than 2-3 Times throughout

the body• In the last paragraph• If you can customize the press release

URL, include that keyword.

Anchor Text & Hyperlinks

DO• Use anchor test hyperlink that are your

keywords and URLs or similar phrases

DON’T• Overuse hyperlinks- No more than 1

per 100 words.

Rich Media Content

• Add Images and Video- AND DON’T FORGET THE TAGS!

Categories and Additional Tags

• In the world of SEO, the rule is to make sure that you include as much information in the available categories and tags section of the release!

Tools to Maximize Your Press Release Visibility

You’ve distributed

your news to the

media, so what’s

next?@running4it

Have a Limited Budget?Not all press releases have to cost $500…

really!

• FreePressIndex

• Free Press Release

• PR Leap

• ClickPress24-7

• Press ReleasePR.com

• Pitch Engine

The Social Media ReleaseWhat’s the difference?

The Social Media

release does not

replace the traditional

release, but

complements it.

Get Social with It!You’ve distributed your news to the media, but

what about your own audience?

Social Bookmarking and News Sites

DiggYahoo BuzzStumbleUponMixxRedditPropeller

Have a Press Room!

• Post press releases…most recent up top• Create a visually appealing press kit…ditch the boring

fact sheets and get creative• Make it easy for them to get a hold of you• You know your brand guidelines, but do they?• You spent a lot of time creating that logo, don’t let

them screw it up

One-stop shopping for all your news, events and other cool stuff….

The Results! Increased: • Search engine visibility• Media visibility • Website traffic• Credibility• Referral opportunities• Accessibility• Top of mind awareness

• Newspapers • Magazines • Trade Publications • Television • Radio • Internet • Blogs • Online News Sites • Online Magazines • Social Media Sites • News Aggregators • Search Engines

@charliesheen

Q & A

Contact: Patty Adamspattya@verticalmeasures.com

602-314-3467 (direct)www.VerticalMeasures.com