PR's Critical Role in Search and Social Media Marketing

Getting your brand noticed these days requires savvy digital marketing, so the brand shows up at the top of Google search results and finds its way to your audience's social media feeds. However, all too often brands don't understand what PR can contribute to these efforts. We're here to change that. PR can play a critical role in driving brand visibility in search and on social. Read on to find out how. For a comprehensive guide on how PR can quantify the results of these efforts, read our comprehensive ebook on measuring PR and social media ROI

Digital marketing is a puzzle that brands continue trying to solve. Under that umbrella, they know they need to have a strong search marketing game—and of course, there’s social media marketing that always needs tending. They’re sinking more money into paid search and social isn’t always the answer. But all to often they’re ignoring their secret weapon to search and social media marketing—PR

“PR is, in youth speak, a search and social marketing hack,” says Chris Bartley, Managing Director of Havas Life Medicom, one of Europe’s biggest healthcare creative, medical education, and PR agencies, .

It’s no secret that much of search marketing equates to link building. It’s not enough for a public relations or search marketing pro to secure an earned media mention. To make a real impact on a brand’s SEO, a link has to accompany the media placement.

“While the benefit of a press mention boosts a brand, it may be short-lived. The spike in referral traffic may be brief,” says Andy Crestodina, co-founder and chief marketing officer, Orbit Media, .

“But, when you’re able to get a journalist or blogger to link to a piece of content on your site, that link is likely to last. It’s rare that sites delete pages and links. And, this will increase your SEO.”

“Links to your website equal authority,” says Crestodina. “Authority increases the likelihood that anything on your domain will rank. This is why PR professionals have such a huge ability to affect search rankings. The key is to understand the value of links and capture the opportunities of press mentions.” The key here is to not just get your brand mentioned, but to ask journalists and reporters to link to key brand content.

Why do we see PR and social media teams working more closely together than ever? Because brands are finally figuring out that these two should be tightly aligned.

“PR is so much more effective today because it merges, rather than separates, marketing and media channels,” says Bartley.

“Only the PR team can tell a story and in one day have it shared consistently through the communities that are most interested in that specific topic,” Bartley says. “Only the PR team can package your promotional message into a format that friends, peers and colleagues will  share naturally just as part of what they do each day.”      

When a company makes an announcement, industry news sites are often the first to cover the news. When they cover it, they usually share it on social media. Then, the brand will also share it, and chances are that a few partners or other fans of the brand will share it, too.

“If you now search Google on the specific product phrases in the press release, you’ll see you’re controlling the narrative with a good presence in the first few pages,” continued Bartley. “Achieving that feat through traditional search marketing would take months, significant spend, and tons of hours.”

The impact is even greater if a story has real news value.  

“Now swap out the dullest corporate non-story for something genuinely remarkable. You get the same search marketing result. However, you’ll suddenly find social media shares go crazy. That can have huge commercial impact in a very short span of time.”

Finally, don’t forget about paid social. Once you’ve got your brand out there, you’ll want to boost this earned media with a just a little bit of budget.

There’s a reason 60% of content strategies are PR-focused.

“I think if you’re not as successful as you want to be online, you have to be thinking about creating content that someone’s actually searching for,” says Arnie Kuenn, CEO of digital marketing agency Vertical Measures, . “There are ways to figure that out.”

PR teams play a role in creating what Kuenn calls “educational content”—something public relations practitioners frequently do as part of their work with clients. 

“Generally, what we’ve done is pitch a series of educational articles,” says Kuenn. “We’ll write contributed content. Sometimes it’s just a mention or citation. We’ve had great success doing that.” 

The value of public relations is increasing, as PR pros continue to prove their worth as storytellers who can write and place stories, building links in the process and getting the word out on social media which further enhances a brand’s SEO.

For a deep dive into PR’s SEO superpowers, watch our webinar with Andy Crestodina with his step-by-step guide on how PR can get the brand to the top of Google’s search results. And if you’re still not convinced that PR and social media go hand in hand, watch our webinar on what you’re missing out by not aligning team goals.

Source: Meltwater.com

Powered by NewsAPI.org

Keywords:

Public relations • Social media marketing • Brand • Digital marketing • Brand • Google Search • Web search engine • Audience • Social media • Public relations • Public relations • Web search engine • Public relations • E-book • Public relations • Social media • Digital marketing • Search engine marketing • Social media marketing • Contextual advertising • Social media marketing • Public relations • Public relations • Web search engine • Social marketing • Chris Bartley (rower) • Havas • Chloramphenicol • Europe • Public relations • It's No Secret • Search engine marketing • Link building • Public relations • Search engine marketing • Earned media • Social influence • Brand • Search engine optimization • Product placement • News media • Brand • Referral marketing • Chief marketing officer • Mass media • Journalism • Blog • Web page • Search engine optimization • Website • Domain name • Public relations • Journalism • Brand • Public relations • Social media • Public relations • Marketing • Company • Social media • Brand • Brand • Google • Product (business) • Press release • The Real News • Social media • Earned media • Budget • Content management • Strategic management • Public relations • Internet • Content management • Chief executive officer • Digital marketing • Public relations • Public relations • Education • Writing • Content (media) • Value (ethics) • Public relations • Public relations • Narrative • Social media • Brand • Search engine optimization • Public relations • Search engine optimization • Web conferencing • Public relations • Brand • Google • Public relations • Social media • Media Go • Web conferencing •