Why 2015 is the Year of Effective PR(and how to do it)

Presented by: Serena Ehrlich

Business Wire

2015

Coverage Converts!

Consumers who refer

friends spend 13%

more than the average

customer and refer

business equal to 45%

of spend >>84%of consumers trust

earned media

including WOM >>

67%of consumers trust

editorial content >>

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Impact of Expert Content

Source: Nielsen/inPowered MediaLab study 2013-2014

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Human Behavior Has Changed• In 1994, it took 7 touches to

convert a prospect

• Now? 20+ touch points

• Mobile increased reading, engaging and sharing

• PR generates impactful touch points

• PR + sharing (WOM) is highest converter

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Social and Search Have ChangedAnd they love news.

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Google Loves News Releases

• Punished SEO spammers

• News featured on mobile devices

• Releases found in Google News

• Embracing the knowledge graph

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Social Platforms are

ASPIRATIONAL

News travels the furthest on

social channels

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Social Success Tips

• Align social goals to business goals

• Align content to internal sales cycle

• Increase reach with multimedia

• Increase engagement with questions

• Increase affinity with “you” and “your”

• Drive readability with 8th grade writing

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LinkedIN

• Fill out your profile completely

• Link in with coworkers + share updates simultaneously

• Utilize long form content blogs

– 6 Ws, You, Your, lists, hacks

– Psychology, careers, talent

– Multimedia

• Create company pages

• Create showcase pages

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Twitter

• Headlines tell entire story

• Tweet regularly

• Identify/engage influencers

• Headline, Link, Commentary

• Feature statistics

• Include up to 4 images

• Use relevant hashtags (3)

• Join hashtag chats

• Use link shorteners

• Create RT DMs

• Share coverage (15x min)

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Facebook• FB parses content by type so test audience

• Increased focus on video

• Native video embedding

• Include your own multimedia

• No video in the morning

• 20% text or less on image

• Drive engagement with paid/unpaid tools

• Geography

• Demographic

• Interest

• Scheduled posts

• Long form bloggging - Notes

• Don’t forget “last actor”

• Facebook Livestreaming – Verified Pages

• Coming soon? New cover page artwork update, Shopping pages

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Google Plus

• Use YouTube log in

• Fill out your Google profile!

• Find influencers

• Able to email those in circles

• Engage and +1 others

• Join/Create groups

• Visual storytelling

• Use Google hangouts

• Use insights!

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Pinterest

• Most aspirational networks; building the smart board

• Visual representations of your brand

• Extremely high CTR

• Not just for women anymore

• Not just for B2C

• Be hyper-targeted

• Be descriptive

• Use hashtags

• Don’t forget “Last actor”

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Instagram

• Visual network

• All photo types accepted

• 15 second videos

• Hashtags heavy

• Must have good visuals

• Perfect for behind the scenes, physical products, physical locations

• Be descriptive

• Be engaging, like other images to increase interactivity

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YouTube + Vine

• 33% of YouTube searches are for news

• Vine is perfect for short attention spans

• Create content for all parts of the sales funnel

• Create video components of textual content

• Determine what your audience watches in long form, shorten it

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Media Has Changed

• 24/7 news cycle

• Fewer paid journalists than ever before

• Journalists must have multimedia

• 2015 revenue metrics

– views

– shares

– time on site

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Media Relations 101

Journalists Rely on Multimedia

1. AP media partners mostly ignore text only news

2. Reporters are wasting time looking for images

3. Multimedia releases get 3x more activity

4. Multimedia increases time on site and story views

5. Interactive assets result in 4-10 minutes of engagement

6. Multimedia adds feelings to facts

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The Science of Multimedia

• 63% of world are kinesthetic

• Humans process visuals 60,000 times faster than text. >> (Cisco, 2010)

• A minute of video is worth 1.8 million words. >> (OmniVideo, 2009)

• 6 billion hours of video are watched on YouTube monthly. >> (YouTube, 2013)

• 1.8+ billion photos are uploaded and/or shared daily (KCPB, Mary Meeker)

• Multimedia impacts SEO. >> (Search

Engine Watch, 2013)

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How to Boil Water

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Add Interesting Assets

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The Future: Interactivity

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• Content host

• Hyperspotted

• Embeddable

• Measureable

• Gamified

• Shortens sales funnel

• 4-10 minutes average engagement

Future of Content: Interactivity

23

OR

How To Craft a Press ReleaseThat media outlets will love

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2015 Press Release FunctionAids potential discovery by true brand fans

Discovery furthers the consideration process

Engage, write, read, share, buy

Share the news to their fans

Re-enters the funnel

Awareness!

Research Phase!

Take Action!

Advocate!

Loyalty!

Use Free Tools!

Helps determine key phrases used most by searchers

Allows you to track site visitors from start

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Helps you select most commonly used phrases

• Up to 70 characters

• First sentence is most important

• Highly targeted writing

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Add in Click-to-Tweet

• Encourage tweets of your news

• Add a Google URL Tracker

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Link to Marketing Channels

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Drive to Effective Channels

Links to owned media:

• @Twitter

• Corporate site

• Blog

• Newsroom

• Contacts

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Mophie at CESUtilizing Images to Stand Out

• Compelling content

• Great visuals

• Good links

• Well-timed

• Social sharing

• Major impact

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25,000+ Views!

It All Started With a Press Release

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Importance of Measurement

1. Who READ my release?

2. Did readers REACT to my news?

3. What was the IMPACT?

4. What did I LEARN?

5. How can I ACT?

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Coverage Has Changed

• Articles!

• Media outlets tweeting your press release

• Influencer and brand fan social shares

• Comments

• Newsletters

• Influencer blogs

• Video and photo shares

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Awareness: VisibilityNewsTrak Reports

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Engagement: Actions Taken

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What Was The Social Impact of Your News?

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Influencer Identification

• Showcases the reach and influence of each person who shared your news

• Perfect roadmap for influencer identification and activation

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Reader Reaction & Location

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The OverallConversation Prism• Breaks down conversations

about your brand

• Showcases keywords, hashtags and other termsusers associated with your news

• Use these terms, when relevant, in future news announcements

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Final Tips to Increase ROI

• Everyone is sharing news

• Write highly targeted releases

• Include photos/videos

• Include links to relevant and owned channels

• Utilize newswire distribution

• Help journalists meet metrics

• Share everything, everywhere

• Use measurement reports

• Identify Influencers + action items

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Questions?Thank You!

Twitter: @businesswire

@Serena#BWchat