Top ten actions for online PR

Posted by Debbie Hindle on 2 April 2009 | 0 Comments

First audit your online PR presence. How easy is it for people to find your site, your news and stories? What can you do to improve it?

Second - maximise what's already out there. All the PR work you've already done should have created lots of online coverage and links. The online PR audit will throw up incidents where you may be mentioned, but there's no link attached, the link is inactive, or directs people to the wrong page (or even the wrong site). Get those corrected and working.

Third  -  audit your current online influencers. Take stock of what is already being said about you in the online world. What are the opportunities and issues out there? Track your social media reputation and respond to what's already happening online.

Four  - make sure your press releases are search-engine-optimised with your keywords and that your press office or agency is able to publish them on PR hub services. These sites are "crawled" or checked by search engines regularly which means that news about your company is quickly made available on the web.

Five -  publish your releases on your own website and on your PR agency's website if possible. Press releases add content, encourage search engines to crawl your site more regularly and improve natural SEO. This is now available for all bgb clients from 2 April 2009.

Six- please have a wide variety of lifestyle, newsworthy downloadable images available fast  - not a 24-hour request service, or six beautiful brand shots that have limited use. There's a huge opportunity to create photo-led stories with "gallery guides" on websites which can all link back to your site.

Seven  -  please have a good variety of editorial broadcasting packages that will illustrate your news. Many opportunities are being wasted if companies don't have this essential piece of kit in their PR armoury. Websites increasingly want to feature a short video item in their editorial to bring stories to life - whether that's a website for a radio station or a blog. Video packages are as essential for online PR now, as pictures are for glossy magazine stories.

Eight - commission your agency to drive links to your website from trusted sites which will include mainstream media, bloggers and other key influencers you identify in your online audits. Don't waste time asking your marketing agencies to get your site listed in obscure directories, because the Googles of this world don't rank them highly. Similarly don't buy or sell links. Do target links where there is an existing relationship between yourselves and other suppliers. Can PR help this process?

Nine -develop a Social Media News Release and even a Social Media press office website- this is tailoring content and information into an easy package for media and bloggers to use your resources.  Look at www.shiftcomm.com for example templates.

Ten - evaluate - give your agency access to your analytics data so they can track and report back on links and results. Audit and monitor on a regular basis.

 Debbie Hindle, bgb managing director

Tel: 44 207 902 2990.

Our online  PR services include:

• Online PR audit and strategic recommendations for change
• Online maximisation of existing content
• Social media monitoring and management
• Search engine optimisation of press material
• Online publishing of editorial content
• Creation of online gallery guides and promotions
• Creation and distribution of editorially newsworthy web TV footage
• Link building campaigns
• Online evaluation, audits, monitoring and reporting

Our online sales and marketing services include:

• Online advertising and marketing strategy
• Online customer research and analysis
• Website development
• Media buying
• Creative development
• Search engine optimisation - natural and PPC
• Online newsletter design and distribution
• Online travel trade training website packages
• Social media analysis and recommendations

 

• del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• reddit
• StumbleUpon
• Twitter

---