Five Ways to Maximize Earned Media Exposure
It’s something we advise our clients of all the time: Media coverage should never be “one and done.” While there’s no denying the power of earned media when it comes to third-party validation for your brand, the news will die in a matter of days without an extra push.
Here are five ways to extend the life and reach of media coverage about your organization:
Social Media
In today’s rapid fire news cycle, more consumers are getting their news updates from social media. This makes branded company pages the ideal location to further promote media coverage.
For platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, share links to online articles with an engaging description of what the story is about. For Instagram, use visually compelling graphics or photos of print coverage and put a shortened link in your profile bio for easy access. To extend your reach even further, consider turning the article into a social media ad or boosting your post. Even a $5 or $10 spend can dramatically increase the story’s visibility.
Be sure to tag the journalist who wrote and publication that published the piece – they appreciate the shout-out as much as you do!
E-blasts
Does your company regularly send out e-newsletters or e-blasts to a customer email list? Positive media coverage is always worthy of inclusion. Significant feature coverage can also be a standalone blast, if designed compellingly enough.
Email marketing is a great way to reach the customers and stakeholders who have already expressed an interest in your brand. When messaged appropriately, this is also an opportunity to ask your email lists to help you spread the word even further by forwarding the coverage to their contacts or sharing it on their personal social media channels.
Website
Your website should be the best source of information about your brand. As such, in addition to your own messaging and background information, your company website should serve as an aggregate of factual, third-party content about your organization.
Consider creating a dedicated press or news page on your website, while also making sure it is easily accessible from the site’s homepage. Include the headline, an image and brief summary for each article and link to the original story. Or, keep your website’s blog page updated with media coverage, in addition to the content your brand is already regularly posting.
Regardless of method (blog vs. news section), turning each piece of coverage into its own page on your website can help boost SEO. And, bonus: Links to these pages can also be shared on social media – instead of the original article links – which will increase traffic to your website and offer more opportunities for new viewers to learn about your brand.
New Business Proposals or Donor Packages
Because of consumer trust in earned media, news coverage items and feature stories can make great supplements to any new business proposals. These additions help legitimize and lend credibility to your brand, and build confidence in those to whom you’re trying to sell your product or service.
This also applies to nonprofit organizations hoping to bring in new donors. News coverage about ways your efforts are positively impacting the community can serve as evidence that donor funding is spent appropriately and that the organization operates effectively.
The Wall
Proud of a certain feature or review? Hang it up! Earned media coverage makes great wall art and can serve as conversation pieces for any commercial, office or retail location.
Earning positive media coverage about your brand isn’t easy! When a good story hits, you want to have it seen by as many qualified eyes as possible. Take advantage of the marketing tools already at your disposal to expand the article’s reach and increase its longevity.
