Online PR Masterclass

Merging Old Traditions

& New Technologies

Joanne Sweeney-Burke

Welcome & Introductions “The former journalist who has embraced Digital. The trainer and mentor, a keen eye

for campaigns, life-long learner & writer. Business owner, blogger and ambassador for

new media. It’s all about the social conversation.” Joanne Sweeney-Burke, CEO, Digital Training Institute & Media Box

What’s Your Story?

The Foundations

Online PR Masterclass 1.  Know your niche & stay informed

2.  What’s the Story? 3.  Newsmaker – the 3 ways 4.  The News Release – Traditional & Online 5.  Media Databasing & Distribution

The Digital Revolution – Social, Media, Web, Technology

It’s all about the social conversation. News is broken on social media. Families hear news first on social media. News outlets continue the story on social media. Google is ranking brands based on the social conversation. There are now jobs in social media that didn’t exist 5 years ago. How social are you? How social is your business – web, social, content, sharing, curating?

The PR Revolution

PR & Social are inextricably linked.

1. Know Your Niche & Stay Informed

•  What is your sector? Know the influencers, the bloggers, the feature writers, the reporters, know the trends, the trend setters.

•  So connect with those people – NOW!

•  Have you introduced yourself to your local media?

Most of all – KNOW YOUR SPACE!

1. Know Your Niche & Stay Informed

1. Know Your Niche & Stay Informed

1. Know Your Niche & Stay Informed

1. Know Your Niche & Stay Informed

Connecting with Influencers

Firstly ask yourself: Why will influencers connect with me? •  Am I interesting? •  Do we share similar interests? •  Do I sell or engage? (There is a difference) •  Am I a valuable source of knowledge / expertise in my

area? •  Am I credible source? •  Am I popular? No of followers/connections. •  Are people interested in me because of my work? •  Am I a friend of a friend?

Connecting with Influencers

1.  Journalists – Print, Broadcast & Online Find the journalists you need to connect with. How?   Irish Media Contacts Directory / PRII Media Sourcebook   MediaHQ – media database & press release distribution

service   Twitter: Twitter Search / Twitter Advanced Search

Connecting with Influencers

Connecting with Influencers

Connecting with Influencers

2. Bloggers Blogger Outreach:

“Bloggers are in the top 5 sources of reliable information. 81% of the online population trusts bloggers and 61% of the population has made

a purchase based on a blogger recommendation.”.

Blogger Outreach 1.  Form relationships with Bloggers in your niche. Remember they are one click away

from your target audience. 2.  Start by an introduction of you, your brand, product or service 3.  Offer to let them ‘road test it’ 4.  Offer to lend a hand or an insight – don't beg 5.  Subscribe to their blog, connect with them on Twitter, review other social media

channels also and decide how best to connect with them 6.  Don't hound, offer value and insights 7.  Be friendly 8.  Make an announcement and send a personalised email and outline what’s in it for

both of you

9.  Create brand awareness – create a blogger event and invite them along – your restaurant, your shop, a PR event

10.  Do you or can you solve a problem or answer a question? Your knowledge, your product or your software – e.g. Technology, finance, healthcare, beauty – you have to establish how you add value. Remember NICHE!

11.  Provide rich content – infographics are now an effective way to outreach to a blogger – lots of information nicely designed into a quirky graphic.

Finding Bloggers

blogawardsireland.com

Connecting with Influencers

3. How to find people on Twitter? Search using the person’s real name.

Connecting with Influencers

2. What’s the Story?

Do you have a breaking news story? Probably not? Maybe? Definitely! Either way, don’t miss a good PR opportunity. You must also be realistic about what you can achieve.

2. What’s the Story?

Content Marketing Your Online PR Value starts right here….

1.  What content are you sharing from your sector? 2.  eBooks, Video, Posts, Tweets, Presentations, Blogs,

White Papers? 3.  Watch your SEO, your following, your digital footprint

and your online PR soar!

2. What’s the Story? Festive Case Study: Sharing Knowledge When the Whole World has more time to surf online!

2. What’s the Story? Festive Case Study: Sharing Knowledge When the Whole World has more time to surf online!

2. What’s the Story? Taking a Look Back at 2013: Donal Skehan Food Blogger

2. What’s the Story? Expert Knowledge: The Sociable – What to buy for Christmas?

2. What’s the Story? Birthday Celebrations: Video

http://youtu.be/k8aWwqkyZtY

CONTENT MARKETING

Push. Don’t Pull! Can you engage with content your followers want to read and share? Write down your next 5 content projects from the list below. DEMONSTRATIONS THREATS QUOTES COMPARISONS FINDINGS INFOGRAPHIC MISTAKES PROBLEM-SOLVERS VIDEO INSTRUCTIONS HOW TO GUIDE STATS INTERVIEWS LISTS LOCAL KNOWLEDGE STORIES HUMOUR TECH TIPS REASONS OPINION EXCLUSIVE CONFESSIONS NEWS GIVEAWAY

3. Newsmaker – The 3 Ways

So when you don’t have a breaking story but need to build brand profile what can you do? 1.  News-hacker 2.  Trending Stories 3.  Research

3. Newsmaker – The 3 Ways

1.  News-hacker

3. Newsmaker – The 3 Ways News-hacker

3. Newsmaker – The 3 Ways

2. Trending Stories

3. Newsmaker – The 3 Ways 2. Trending Stories

3. Newsmaker – The 3 Ways

3. Research

3. Newsmaker – The 3 Ways

3. Research

4. The Traditional Press Release

Hard News and Soft news

–  Hard News has a vital urgent element, the story is very important and the media will want to cover it. It is not usually issued by press release e.g. a company closes and makes 200 people redundant.

–  Most soft news is issued by press release, it is news of interest but without the same urgency. e.g. MD has been appointed to a prestigous committee

4. The Traditional Press Release

•  5 W’s and H –  Who is the story about? –  What happened? –  Where did it happen? –  When did it happen? –  How did it happen? –  Why did it happen?

And A Killer Headline!

4. The Traditional Press Release

•  A killer headline •  7 words or less •  Key message in first paragraph – get straight to the

point •  Make it newsy – start reading news to understand what

news is •  Include a quote •  Provide background information •  Notes to Editor •  Photo with caption •  Further information / media enquiries

4. The Traditional Press Release

EXAMPLE: Soft news – chocolate company attends meet the buyer event. Want to promote meet the buyer event. Requirements: What’s the News? The event? No. The Chocolate Maker? Maybe. Talk to the Chocolate Maker. Aha! She’s putting famous Irish landmarks on chocolate and tested the idea on buyers. What’s the story? Once upon a time a mum of two on maternity leave was bored at home and signed up for a 10-week chocolate making course. And then…she tastes the sweet success of online retailing. How? At the Meet the Buyer event. And now we have a story.

4. The Traditional Press Release

4. The Traditional Press Release

The Online Press Release

•  Rich Content – Video, Links, Photos •  Copy into body of email as opposed to attachment –

newsdesks get hundreds of emails daily – even clicking to open an attachment may take too long

•  Make it ready for social sharing – hyperlinks, social media links, blog links, video embedded, photos and caption in file info and in the body of the email

•  Have a spokesperson ready and available •  The New Rules – Media Is Social

The Online Press Release

The Online Press Release The image cannot be displayed. Your computer may not have enough memory to open the image, or the image may have been corrupted. Restart your computer, and then open the file again. If the red x still appears, you may have to delete the image and then insert it again.

Traditional Press Coverage

Traditional Press Coverage

News is Social

News is Social

News is Social

News is Social

News is Social

5. Media Databasing & Distribution

•  Media Contacts Directory (PRII or Mediacontact.ie) •  Don’t send everything to everyone •  Be specific, be relevant •  Who are influencers in your space? •  MediaHQ – distribution service •  Social Media Newsroom - hosted on your website or

on a third party paid for site e.g. MediaHQ

5. Media Databasing & Distribution

5. Media Databasing & Distribution

Online PR Managing, Moderating & Monitoring

1.  Media Relations – The Rules of Engagement 2.  Preparing your story for online outreach 3.  Measuring story success 4.  Case study 5.  Your Online PR Strategy

1. Media Relations The Rules of Engagement

How to annoy a journalist…what not to do! (Ref Handbook)

1. Sending a lengthy press release 2. Listing an elusive contact person  3. Not having an online presence for the brand 4. Using bad grammar 5. Having a boring news angle  6. Force-feeding information 7. Sending poor visuals

2. Preparing Your Story for Online Reach

•  Use the right keywords •  No jargon •  Use 1-2 Keywords in your Headline and subhead. •  Rich content/multi-media: Hyperlink but don’t over

hyper link – e.g. 2-3 links for a 400-word press release. •  Don’t forget to social share the press release and the

multi-media content

2. Preparing Your Story for Online Reach

PR & SEO

SEO and PR go hand-in-hand. Here’s some top tips to optimising your news release and your PR value. •  Building Links •  Meta Text •  Search your Ranking •  Get Social •  The Photo •  Stay within the Google Rules •  Keyword Searching

3. Measuring Impact & Success

•  Actual Media Coverage •  Figures on readership/listeners/viewers/traffic •  New awareness amongst stakeholders •  Office traffic - calls/emails •  WOM - Word of Mouth traffic •  Brand Awareness

3. Measuring Impact & Success

Monitoring Tools

  Google Alerts   Media Monitoring e.g. Kantar   Podcasts from radio stations   Search Engine Optimisation

  Social Media Insights   Google Analytics   Radian6

Monitoring Tools

Monitoring Tools

Monitoring Tools

Monitoring Tools

Monitoring Tools

  Podcasts

Monitoring Tools

  SEO

Monitoring Tools

  Social Media Insights

Monitoring Tools

  Google Analytics

Monitoring Tools

  Google Analytics 1.  Set up a Google Analytics Account 2.  Set up your Tracking Code (web not mobile) 3.  You may need your web developer to do this 4.  It will take up to 24-hours to activate 5.  Access Google Analytics here:

https://www.google.com/analytics/web 6.  Click: Show Metrics 7.  Review the statistics and set targets

Monitoring Tools

Monitoring Tools

Monitoring Tools

  Radian6 – monitor conversations about your brand, competitors. Route insights to sales, customer service, PR

5. Case Study

!

5. Case Study

Client: Alcohol Forum Campaign Aim: Build brand awareness of advocacy group Alcohol Forum. Launch to national audience. Profile only in NW. Campaign Strategy: Host Ireland’s First National Alcohol Awareness Week with a national conference, sideline events nationwide and a multi-media campaign.

Measuring ROI – Case Study

Measuring ROI

5. Case Study

Your Online PR Strategy

Framing Your Story & Online PR Strategy

1.  What’s the trending/breaking story in your sector? 2.  What’s your news angle? 3.  Draft the news release 4.  Who are the influencers? 5.  Media Distribution list

Let’s work on it.