How to use keyword search in your PR plan

Creating a stellar media list is the first piece of a great PR plan or media relations strategy. Finding the people who have the audience you are trying to reach and knowing how to contact them is the first step in getting the media on your side. So, how do you create this media list? Let’s start at the beginning: keywords.

Create your keywords list

Identify the significant key words or phrases that center around your topic, event or cause. If you don’t know your keywords, you’ll have one heck of a time identifying who your online influencers or potential media support are.

Determining key words can be done organically through a brainstorming sessions or by using online tools. Try an online keyword analysis tool like find-keyword.com to help you establish what words in your text are repeated often. This tool will only show you what words are most used in your text; it will not suggest good ways to promote your topic if you have not already stumbled upon keywords. This online tool would be a good one to use once you have written your press release or have your written pitch ready to analyze.

If you have already established your keywords, another great tool is Google Adwords which helps you find additional key words to support your cause. Just type in a word or phrase in the Keyword Tool and Google will then pull up related terms and statistics on how many times those key words and phrases are searched locally and globally.

Find online influencers

Once you have established your keywords you need to find the people for your media list who are having conversations around your topic areas. Klout and Wefollow are two such online tools to help you find online influencers.

Klout: Klout is a tool that monitors social media accounts. It allows you to search for top influencers on specific topics. Use your keywords in the Klout search to find top influencers.

Wefollow: Wefollow is a searchable Twitter directory that anyone can add his or her profile to and include keywords. That means the directory is also searchable by keywords. It is also broken out into categories such as bloggers, news and celebrities. Wefollow also allows you to narrow searchers by other criteria, like city, industry, most influential or number of followers.

And don’t forget your own organic search. Utilize search engines or Twitter and Facebook searches to look up key words and online influencers. Tools are helpful, but sometimes a quick search organically is just as beneficial.

Don’t forget the bloggers

Bloggers can be big time when it comes to spreading the word about your brand, cause or events. There are a number of blog directories out there that you can use as resources to find people blogging on your topics. You can use your keywords or search by their categories. Some directories are free and others you can pay to subscribe to. Examples include Technorati and Globe of Blogs.

No matter what you are trying to promote, there is probably someone out there blogging about or reporting on it. The first step in finding those people is narrowing down your keywords and using them to search online. I’ve given you my take—what other online tools do you find useful when using key words to build your media lists?

Shannon is a content specialist at Allée.

How a content marketing consultant can benefit your small businesses

It starts with an idea, a need. Products and services satisfy needs. Clients begin identifying brands with their need.

The Challenge: reaching consumers and convincing them that it’s YOUR product or service they need.

What strategy should small businesses use? In-house experts and staff? A content marketing consultant? It’s a great question.

I recently read Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs. Apple products are created by the best innovators and programmers. Experts. The A Players. Jobs had an inate ability of knowing what consumers needed, often before they even knew they needed it. He wasn’t the chief engineer or programmer. He didn’t build the product. He left that to his experts. Jobs himself excelled at visualizing his products and captivating the audience with his product roll-out campaigns.

How did he do this? By enlisting the best in advertising: the experts of content, strategy and message delivery. He knew who to bring to the table and he built a partnership.

Why use a content marketing consultant?

Not everyone is a skilled writer.

Experts become just that through practice, time, focus. Writing is a talent that is honed, just like remodeling homes, understanding rules and regulations in companies and programming websites. In fact, the passion of someone’s role in a company may far supercede their desire to write about it. Leave the writing to those who enjoy it most!

Not all students are great teachers.

Consider Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory. He is genius with cognitive recall, theory and scientific evidence. How would he describe building a storage shed for the average DIYer? My point: Intellectual levels differ. Content writers must identify and provide content that relates to all consumer experiences. They are able to put themselves into the novice’s shoes.

Who has the time?

Some organizations not only have experts, but they can also write fluently and relate to all consumer levels. Do they have the TIME to write weekly blogs, research content, post daily tweets, engage the customer? Your team excels because they dedicate time to the company’s objectives. A consultant establishes customer engagement and loyalty.

Benefits small businesses have seen with content marketing consultants

Management and navigation of content distribution

Consultants navigate the many avenues of social media to engage your audience and create a connection. They bring the expertise of today’s marketing trends and tools to propel a brand’s identity. In a survey conducted by the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, businesses use an average of eight different content marketing tactics and allocate over a quarter of their marketing budget to achieve their marketing objectives through this content.

Creation of effective, relevant and compelling content

The greatest challenge of content marketing was “producing the kind of content that engages prospects and customers.” Outsourcing a portion of marketing strategies is resulting in effectiveness:

• Blogs: 45% increase
• Case studies: 32% increase
• Videos: 36% increase

What are your marketing goals? Brand awareness, customer acquisition, lead generation, sales? You may find a partnership with a content marketing consultant is a dollar well earned.

Kris Adkins is a social media and community engagement intern at Allée.

5 ways to generate a media list

At the beginning of this month, in my industry article for Allée’s e-news, I wrote a piece called PR is more than a press release about the importance of relationship building when it comes to developing your public relations strategy. I’m a huge advocate of networking, connecting and fostering relationships with others in the community.

So, how do you figure out how to make those connections? When it comes to a public relations strategy, where do you go to build your initial media list and start those connections?

First, determine who you deem as part of the “media.” Is it a blogger? An anchor? An avid Twitter user with exceptional reach? Once you have your definition of media down, use the following to build your media list:

1. Twitter

Twitter is a very search-friendly social media platform and many traditional media personalities hang out there. Use hashtags to search for information on a particular topic or search for a specific person by name. Caution: Don’t pitch reporters on Twitter. It’s a space used best for listening and learning. Follow your favorite media contacts on this space and learn what they write about, their likes, dislikes and future needs for stories.

2. Websites

They may not always be front-and-center, but most media websites list contact information (e.g. email addresses) for reporters and journalists. Take your time researching these sites not only for contacts but also to learn about what subjects are covered and ideas for follow-up articles. Take the time to read the articles posted and click on the by lines (author names) to find out specifics about the writer’s “beat”.

3. Good ol’ fashioned newspapers

It’s in your best interest to invest in a few subscriptions to the newspapers or magazines you’re thinking about pitching. Again, it’s all about research. Get to know the writers and topics. Check out the inside front cover or letter from the editor for specific information about guest writers, staff writers and you guessed it, contact information. Keep a file of articles you liked from a particular source so you can comment on them later or relate them to your own subject matter when pitching reporters.

4. Word of mouth

Ask around. Keep tabs on who is successfully mentioned in the media and pay attention to how that happened. If you don’t have a personal connection somewhere, find out who does. Use your social media networks to ask questions (and give kudos) when appropriate about who the right contacts might be. NOTE: This does not mean tweet your favorite reporter for the inside email address of the morning news producer. Use tact.

5. Key words and search

Set aside time (a month or two) and monitor key words you’ve defined as important to your cause or organization. Set up Google Alerts or use Social Mention to listen to conversations already happening online. Make notes as to who is talking about your topics and how that can be relevant to your campaign. Use search engines to search for key phrases related to your goals in order to find relevant articles or other media professionals writing/broadcasting about these topics.

And remember: Your list is for naught if you don’t determine your measurable outcomes and goals. Ultimately, you need to have a vision for why these connections are being made and what you’ll do with them (including being able to provide your own value to them).

Social media and PR: New State of the Media affects your brand

The State of the News Media 2012 was released this week by Pew Research Center and the findings prove a needed change in the way most companies communicate. And although you may not be in the business of generating news in the traditional sense, as a business, it’s imperative to keep tabs on the pulse of consumers’ consumption of information. The fact of the matter is, your audience’s use and dependence on smartphones, tablets and social media are worth noting when it comes to maintaining your business.

Statistics from the 2012 report:

• 4 in 10 American adults own a smartphone
• 1 in 5 American adults own a tablet
• 25 percent of American’s get their news from a mobile device
• 8 in 10 people who get their news on smartphones or tablets also get news on conventional computers

And if you’re in the market for a new car, you may just purchase one with built-in Internet, another trend noted in the 2012 report.

Social media affects your brand’s reach

According to the report, Facebook users spent an average of 423 minutes each on the site in December 2011. Contrastingly, the average time on a top 25 news site was just under 12 minutes per month. If we think about this in a broad sense, consumers are spending a heck of a lot more time on their social media networks than on traditional websites (including your company’s website). It’s equally important to note who consumers are paying attention to when they are on Facebook and Twitter–the two social media platforms that, for the moment, dominate consumer’s time online.

A whopping 70% of active Facebook users are getting their news links from family and friends. It’s the new word-of-mouth marketing and it’s something that companies must pay attention to. It doesn’t matter if you’re a news outlet, a shoe company or a candy store–you need to create news and information that is share-worthy by others in their social networks. It is not enough to blast out your message online in hopes that someone will see it direct from the source on which you posted.

Although the report concluded that social media is merely a path to news and that a very large percentage of the population reads their news directly from the news source, the fact of the matter is that the reason people know about the news in general and have an option to read further on the original news site is because they are seeing the links from their friends and family online. This is important for all companies to realize: social media is a path to information.

What are you doing to create ambassadors of your brand and information? How are you ensuring that your path is being shared online?

Public relations strategies must change

The media landscape has been changing for awhile. It’s not all about scoring an article above the fold on the front page of the newspaper anymore. If we’ve learned anything from this report and others over the years, it’s that people are constantly moving and looking for information in their back pockets, their laps and their computers. Your strategy for PR and media reach needs to be inline with where your audience is. It doesn’t matter if you’re frustrated that no one can sit down with their cup of coffee for an hour and read the newspaper anymore. Get over the notion of traditional being the only way to go and incorporate a mix of communication strategies to communicate your brand’s message. Traditional must be mixed with new. It is the only way to generate a larger reach.

Do not overlook mobile

As reported by Mark Rogowsky on Quora.com, Apple sold almost 25 million iPads worldwide in 2011 and, according to Nielsen, the adoption of smartphones has nearly doubled since 2009. My point with these stats is that if you haven’t yet thought about your own mobile marketing strategy, it’s time to start. Whether or not your message is received by consumers can even depend on the time of day. For instance, many consumers are using smartphones and tablets in the early morning hours and late evening–before and after work. During the day is when they’re most likely to view content on a traditional computer.

I get it. Sometimes it just seems like statistical information overload. Here’s my take:

If you want to expand brand reach and remain viable for the long-haul, develop a communication strategy that engages the most amount of your consumers where they live…on their smartphones, tablets and social media networks. Sprinkle in a good dose of traditional communication and PR strategies and you have a good recipe for continued growth and success.

Consumers are mobile and want their information wherever they are. It’s all about easy access. Are you in the game?

How much influence does the media have?

PR professionals use social media every day to promote clients, to communicate and engage with audiences and to respond to questions or issues. It’s no secret that Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media sites have become important tools in a PR pro’s comprehensive tool box. I like to call this new tool box, PR 2.0.

So what’s the difference between PR 1.0 and PR 2.0? PR 1.0 can be thought of as traditional PR using traditional media (TV, radio, print) to get the word out.

PR 1.0 (traditional)

• Focus on presentation and content dissemination
• Controlled messages
• Feedback is a linear process
• Eloquence is vital

PR 2.0 (social)

• Focus on conversation
• Dialogue
• Feedback is 24/7
• Truth and transparency

Social media is the use of technology combined with social interaction to create value and it has permanently transformed the way people connect and share information. Sharing is caring with social media. This many-to-many form of communication welcomes discussion and enhances conversation. It pushes for networking and builds a sense of community in a way that traditional media cannot. As a PR professional, this means that more and more people are participating in the media they consume. The primary audience in PR 2.0 is no longer a handful of journalists. Your audience is more directly the people you want to reach and create connections with.

Social PR is about having a presence online. Many times this includes Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, maybe even blogging and YouTube. But social PR can encompass much more. Think about what you see when you’re online. Have you Google searched your own brand or company? Search engine optimization can be considered another facet of social PR.

Social PR has also alerted the rules of pitching. A PR Newswire Study found that:

The prevalence of social and consumer-generated media has led to several changes in the way that PR practitioners view and engage the press. While PR professionals still consider email to be the most effective means for pitching journalists (74%), 43% of journalists report having being pitched through social networks compared to 31% in 2009. Higher success rates may be a reason behind the increase. In both the US and Canada, pitches through a social network resulted in coverage approximately 70% of the time. In contrast, the standard pitch to a US or Canadian journalist rarely leads to coverage, with 66% pegging the success rate at 0-20%.

Source: PR Newswire Study: Journalists Tap Social Media; More Bloggers Associate Work as Journalism; PR Practitioners Increasingly Leverage Online Opportunities. Qualifier: Results based on survey of a total of 1,568 traditional and non-traditional media and, for the first time, 1,670 PR practitioners in 2010.

These stats bring up many questions. Are these results surprising to you? How do you pitch your stories? What have you found successful in the past?

It can seem like the options for social PR are endless. However, it’s important to be careful of creating a lot of noise without receiving results. It’s all about engagement, so build a roadmap and decide what works best for your company.

And in the end, the one thing that seems to remain the same is that the most effective form of advertising is still word of mouth. People trust the people they know and are likely to take their friends’ recommendations to heart. Social PR helps create and drive conversation, so use it to build trust and loyalty with your audience. Engage with consumers to spark this word of mouth advertising.

Jodi Osmond recently graduated summa cum laude from UW-Milwaukee with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism and media communication and certification in digital arts and culture. As a social media and community engagement intern at Allée, she is eager to continue growing professionally while embracing her passion for public relations and social media.

The importance of a social media crisis plan

You know what a traditional crisis plan is. Your company has one and you understand why it’s important. However, does your company have protocol to handle an online crisis? The digital world has changed the way we receive and discuss information. I has also alerted the way people communicate about your brand. Why is it important to employ a social media crisis plan and how do you go about implementing one?

What’s the first step?

Create a presence online. Use social media to engage in conversation with or offer support to customers. Utilize Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, a blog and/or another social media outlet to create discussions. Engage customers by answering questions or concerns, addressing rumors and correcting misinformation. This engagement creates credibility and approachability. Should a crisis arise in the future, this already-established presence will allow you to handle issues with a familiar voice on a familiar medium.

Listening is key.

Create a responsive social media plan through listening. This means setting up a monitoring system on the social media sites your company uses. Take advantage of social media organizers like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to better control your social media presence. Search keywords and hashtags via Twitter to track discussions. Sign up for Google Alerts or subscribe to Radian6 or another similar monitoring software. It’s also important to make it someone’s job to pay attention and be aware of the online conversation that surrounds your brand, whether good or bad. If something unfavorable occurs to your brand in the digital world, who in your company is in charge of identifying a potential crisis and alerting others? Is someone listening at all times? If online content is being monitored in real-time then it will be easier to respond to a crisis in real-time. Develop these procedures and treat them as seriously as offline protocol.

Be ready.

The ever-shifting nature of social media conversations requires companies to be on a constant state of readiness. An online crisis plan is more than listening and monitoring. An organization must also be ready to respond quickly and efficiently. Social media management requires you to be ready to create multi-media content. Which social media platforms need the most attention? What is the best outlet to respond with? If there is a potential crisis developing on Twitter, then its most likely that Twitter is where you need to respond. To ensure your response is relevant, it’s important to go to the source of the negative attention and engage with people there.

Follow up.

Responding to an online crisis quickly and efficiently is not necessarily the end-all-fix-all solution. Address the cause of the crisis, whether it be a negative comment, misinformation or even employee error (remember Domino’s social media crisis?). Depending on the extent of the crisis, you may not be able to fix the problem in just a day or two. Even if the solution isn’t clear, it’s still important to let people know how you are handling the issue. Update the digital world by tweeting or posting about what steps will be taken to correct the problem. Share your plan for handling the crisis. Communicate that plan, and then follow through with it. Even when the initial crisis is done, continue to monitor and react as needed.

Reward.

Not everything in the digital world has to be a threat to your brand or company image. That being said, a successful brand should also reward good conversation. Twitter, in particular, makes it so easy for customers to have direct conversations with brands and companies. Show these people that you are listening and appreciate their business, loyalty and positive attention.

In the end, many of the principles of a traditional crisis plan hold true for an online crisis plan. Manage issues quickly, accurately and with care.

Jodi Osmond recently graduated summa cum laude from UW-Milwaukee with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism and media communication and certification in digital arts and culture. As a social media and community engagement intern at Allée, she is eager to continue growing professionally while embracing her passion for public relations and social media.

The new class of PR

For many, our interest and passion for PR developed in college. As a recent graduate, those who I have learned from and have been influenced by are fresh in my mind. So I wanted to pick the brain of Rachael Jurek, one of my PR instructors from UW-Milwaukee, to see how she uses her experience and knowledge to teach future generations of PR pros.

What do you hope to instill in students each semester about the PR world and how to succeed in it?

I hope students see PR as something more than an agency resource used by businesses to promote their brand. I want them to see PR beyond a publicist or a full-service marketing agency. They need to understand that the job of a PR practitioner is to be mindful of all affected publics, not simply the ones that may purchase or use a product or service. PR professionals should also know how to report back to the company about how the outside world perceives their brand, good or bad.

What has changed in the industry over the years, and how do you change your teaching material as the industry changes?

The primary change is the way we communicate and the public’s need for instant information. Twitter and blogging allow anyone to “spread the word.” PR practitioners need to be more proactive than ever. More importantly, though, is being honest and upfront. When something happens, whether good or bad, the PR practitioner of today must be available to provide a statement for the company.

In addition, the PR team needs to stay abreast of how the company is being represented, not only in the media but also on the Internet. Monitoring Twitter mentions and blog accounts are now as important as tracking and analyzing media attention. Building on this, two-way communication is key. The Internet is a fabulous tool to better connect and communicate with the various publics involved with your brand or company.

What has stayed the same over time is that PR practitioners are needed to provide a sense of community for all involved publics. The ways in which we can do this, however, have changed as social media and the Internet continue to become useful tools.

Because you have a lot of valuable experience working in the industry, what have you found is difficult to teach versus experience in real life?

Students need to understand that there is not a textbook to life. No two experiences are alike even within the same organization. Hopefully students can take the broad concepts and theories discussed in class and think critically about how to apply them to future tasks and positions.

I encourage students to participate in as many internships and volunteer opportunities as they can while in school. Internships are a valuable learning experience where students are able to employ some of the ideas we discuss in class and transfer them to a real world setting. Students who are able to apply the concepts, strategies and skills that they are learning excel beyond students who do not.

Students do need to understand that learning is up to them. Instructors can provide tools to learn, but a student must connect the dots on how particular lessons relate to the real world. Being a strong writer, thinker, problem solver and communicator are extremely important in this industry.

What should veteran PR pros consider, even though they’ve been in the biz for years?

I’m lucky in that research is part of my job so I am able to explore some of the industry’s new trends. I also have the liberty to play around with social media at work. PR practitioners are expected to understand the world of social media. As the internship coordinator at UW-Milwaukee, it appears that the practitioners who are not knowledgeable in these new forms of communication are either scared to use them or do not fully understand the power these tools can and should have in this industry.

I can’t imagine I would have the time to learn about all of the emerging technologies and trends if I held a full-time PR position. Any PR practitioner knows there are not enough hours in the day and staying connected can be very overwhelming (social media fatigue comes into play here). I’d encourage any practitioner to continue learning, reading and connecting. Do a little research on the top blogs and Tweeters in the industry. Read the many, many emails from PRSA. Establish a LinkedIn and/or Google+ profile. But if you do, check it daily. Set aside 30 minutes at the start or end of the day dedicated to research and social media. Remember quality of information over quantity. Select the social media that works best for you and your business and stay true to your publics.

This is an industry that is always growing and evolving, so practitioners must always be learning.

Jodi Osmond recently graduated summa cum laude from UW-Milwaukee with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism and media communication and certification in digital arts and culture. As a social media and community engagement intern at Allée, she is eager to continue growing professionally while embracing her passion for public relations and social media.

A List: 5 things you can’t control in public relations

A List: Pitching tips from the pros

We’ve all been there: Writing a press release and figuring out where and how to pitch it to receive the best coverage for your client. Adding in and taking out information to most effectively grab a journalist’s attention. Well, we got in touch with Star Tribune reporter Jeff Strickler and Sacramento Bee journalist Dale Kasler, who offer their expertise about pitching to the pros.

Here are some tips on how to craft your releases in a way that increases the odds of them getting noticed by the media:

Do a little homework: Before pitching your story, figure out what the journalist covers and double-check that your release offers relevant information to his/her beat. Jeff Strickler advises to first check the newspaper’s website to figure out the reporter’s beat. Dale Kasler adds that local papers rarely have time to cover national business trend stories. If there isn’t a local angle, your release may not be applicable. Doing your homework first will help you to tailor the release to a specific target.

Think like a reporter: Remember the inverted pyramid? Make sure you’re using it in your writing. Start with the big stuff and then work your way down by filling in the details. “If the main point grabs my attention,” says Strickler, “I’ll wade through all the details.” You risk losing the attention of the reporter if they have to work through small particulars before being able to understand the big picture.

Speak English: We all want to be creative in an attempt to differentiate our pitch from the dozens of others but sometimes, as Kasler explains, “press releases are too clever for their own good.” Avoid jargon and make sure your release is easy to understand.

Get to the point: No frills. Enough said.

Make your release mutually beneficial: Journalists care about the paper’s readers; bringing publicity to your client is not their priority. Strickler urges: “Help me find a way to help my readers and we can help each other.” They want to know how your pitch will hold interest for their readers or viewers, so don’t make the release too advertise-y. Focus the release on the newsiest element of your client. This way, everybody wins.

Don’t be a bother: As Strickler explains, “There’s a fine line between being persistent and being a pest.” Many reporters get dozens of pitches a day and following up on all of them is usually impossible. And Kasler warns to be careful of sending an endless stream of inefficient pitches or the entire PR firm may end up in the good ol’ spam filter.

What about social media? Although social media outlets like Twitter are changing how we contact and engage with others in the industry, many reporters (both Kasler and Strickler included) prefer receiving pitches via email. And take caution when picking up the phone to pitch. “Phone calls too often interrupt other things,” says Strickler.

Happy pitching!

Jodi Osmond recently graduated summa cum laude from UW-Milwaukee with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism and media communication and certification in digital arts and culture. As a social media and community engagement intern at Allée, she is eager to continue growing professionally while embracing her passion for public relations and social media.