Slingshot Accelerator Mentor presentation

2

Using Press Releases, SEO & Social Media to Get Your Name Out There

Jessica Sullivan, Media & Public Relations, Vice-Chancellor’s Office

Contact:– [email protected]– Twitter @sullivanje01LinkedIn – au.linkedin.com/pub/jessica-sullivan

April 7, 2023www.newcastle.edu.au

mailto:[email protected]

In 2013, I…..• Supported a researchers stars program at UON which was part of an

integrated communications campaign www.newcastle.edu.au/innovate

– Developing core content on our researchers, using this to manage their online reputation (content marketing)

– Manage their social media profiles

– Monitoring conversations related to their areas of research to identify influencers and opportunities to publicize their research

– Sparking national and global conversations – we have the expertise to do this, the channels, and we are developing the content

April 7, 2023

Slingshot UON 2014| www.newcastle.edu.au

3

My biggest news story last year Bushfire Drones

My biggest success in social media

Uni_Newcastle retweeted the most at #DiGFestival

We shaped the agenda and reached 413,720 people

Agenda• Introductions – what makes you unique and how will this help you lead

your business?

• Workshop: do you agree/disagree with these statements about media

• The changing nature of media releases

• Dealing with the media

• Reputation management

LUNCH

• Building your personal and company brand using social media

• Workshop: Setting your media goals and objectives

April 7, 2023


7

Statements

April 7, 2023


8

Media has a positive impact on your business

You need a big network to be successful on social media

SEO is dead

Debate over the press release

• According to Wikipedia, "A press release, news release, media release, press statement or video release is a written or recorded communication directed at members of the news media for the purpose of announcing something ostensibly newsworthy.“

• Bill Stoller, @PublicityGuru on Twitter, gives us a simplified definition on his site, the Publicity Insider, "A press release is pseudo-news story, written in third person, that seeks to demonstrate to an editor or reporter the newsworthiness of a particular person, event, service or product.“

• PR News, in a blog post for small business, breaks it down further by writing, "A press release is really just another term for (hopefully intriguing) content, and as a small business communicator, it's your job to make every word count."

April 7, 2023

Slingshot UON 2014 | www.newcastle.edu.au

9

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_release

https://twitter.com/PublicityGuru

Writing a media release

• Start strong • Identify yourself• Write professionally• Answer the tough questions – why would anyone care?• Pick an angle – good news hook• Use Anchor Text and Features• Illustrate the Solution• Don't Be Afraid to Toot Your Own Horn• Don’t Give Away All the Secrets• Stick to the Facts• Use Active Voice• Economize Your Words and NO JARGON

April 7, 2023


10

Write a media release

Making it pop•Headlines - Make it pop, needs a grabber, bold, keywords•The body – date and city, first sentence tells what is happening, the next expand on the lead, don’t use long sentences, strive for simplicity, stick to facts•The 5 Ws (and the H clearly) – Who, what, when, where, why and HOW•Clean, crisp and applicable to your audience and send in the AM•Tie it together

April 7, 2023


11

Writing a media release

Mastering formatCut it to length, no longer than a page.FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (left hand side margin) OR

If EMBARGOES UNTIL….with the date Headline in bold, centre First paragraph – most important information, starts with a date and where news is coming fromSecond and third – secondary information, facts and quotesBoilerplate information – who are you? Achievements and missionContact informationMultimedia Online copy of release

April 7, 2023


12

Tips

• Always be upbeat and positive• Know your target audience• Research – other related examples and know your keywords• Include a ‘call to action’• Write the headline last• Target specific markets• Must be recent news, not too old or distant• No jargon or specialised technical words• Send via email then use formatting sparingly • Make sure the company name is highly visible • Use headline as subject in email• Follow up with a call• Remember editorial teams are overworked

April 7, 2023


13

SEO & Reputation Management

• Media releases – make them available on your website and optimised– A different version for email is okay

• Research your keywords – Scan the online environment – use Twitter, LinkedIn, Google

• Know which hashtags to use• What is topical? Use a hook • Research LinkedIn articles• Analyse what the competition looks like

• Regularly scan the online environment – Know what is topical, build your connections with influencers and

join or start conversations (like, comment and post other people’s content and your own)

• Manage your online reputation – free and paid tools/processes

April 7, 2023


14

15

Will help increase your

VisibilityInfluence Success

Social Media: Building your personal brand

April 7, 2023Slingshot UON 2014

16Be a good communicatorListenDiscoverUnderstandMake recommendations


17Remember:

Your company brand is your brand

April 7, 2023www.newcastle.edu.au

Past colleagues

Friends Business Contacts

Alumni

You’re leveraging your LinkedIn network

And managing a plethora of online properties

Website

Blogs

LinkedIn

Twitter Google +

Facebook

With so much at play what is the formula for success?

SOCIAL MEDIA

It starts with your personal brandBuild your profile through

22

1) Be lazy• In the context of re-purposing, reusing,

referencing and therefore reinforcing your existing content.

2) Repel people• You can’t be all things to all people.

Brandmasters have a point of view, own it, share it. Don’t be disagreeable but take a position you really believe in and express it openly.

5 unexpected ways to build your personal brand


Social MediaBuilding your personal brand requires nixing your conventional wisdom

23

4) Resist change• Strong brands are known for something –

not a 100 things and they deliver it with everything they do over long periods of time.

• This doesn’t mean being stagnant. If your research is about physical activity or nutrition, inject that into everything you do. From your meetings to conferences and not just sometimes all the time.




24

5) Flaunt your quirks• It’s the things that make us different –

sometimes things we don’t like about ourselves that makes us get noticed and endearing to others. Sit back and emphasise your natural quirks




25

5) Be promiscuous • Dictionary meaning: characterized by or

involving indiscriminate mingling or association.

• When it comes to online networking being promiscuous is a good thing

• You don’t know who might be looking for you, but you need to make it easy for them to find you.

• The LinkedIn search algorithm favours networks of connected people, groups and profiles with the same keywords.




How to amplify your brand

278 reasons to be on LinkedIn 250 million users and a great

personal branding platform

Increase visibility and credibility with members in your networks. Add video, and mages to your summary and experiences with a three dimensional view of your brand.

It shows up at the top of Google searches

When someone googles you LinkedIn ranks highly.

People are researching youControl what people discover about you. All kinds of people – you know and don’t know.

It’s packed with resources

Helps expand your success offering connections and expertise. Want to source talent? Need to open doors with partners? Cant solve a problem within your network?


288 reasons to be on LinkedIn You don’t know what you’re

missing out on

Someone is searching for your skills right now. You need to be highly visible. Create a complete profile, with all the right keywords related to your thought leadership.

You’ll stay currentFollowing thought leaders and companies helps you stay on top of what’s happening in your industry.

You’ll automatically remain connected

Staying on the radar of everyone is a challenge. Status updates instantly let everyone know what’s new in your world.

It’s an efficient way to manage your network

While allowing you to share information. Your contacts details will get updated automatically


Put your brand front and centreMake yourself more easily found on LinkedIn search with a crisp,

punchy headline describing what you do and where you work

Research what your keywords are online


Tell your brand story

Showcase your career, highlighting personaland UON accomplishmentsor merits in the Summary andExperience sections. You can use YouTube videos, Flipboard, images, SlideShare.


Connect your ColleaguesIncrease your company pages’ visibility on LinkedIn by

encouraging fellow employees to add their current position


Now you have a foundationTime to look at content and

build an audience

Establish goals and objectives

• Establish a rough idea of the topics on your radar that you would like to engage others with on social media

• Regularly scan the online environment (Twitter, Google, LinkedIn) for conversations you can join and be part of the information flow in social media.

• Discover what your perspective is on these topics

• Establish thought leadership on topics associated with your area of expertise


Search: Scanning the online environment


Twitter: Scanning the online environment


April 7, 2023


36

LinkedIn: Scanning the online environment

Find and JoinLinkedIn Groups

Do a search and find the groupsthat are talking about the thingsthat matter to you and the University. Join those groups andcontribute.

Type your topics into this search bar on LinkedIn


Move in the right circles: use LinkedIn’s profiling data to find people with similar interests



Engage in content and post your own




LinkedIn and Twitter share icons

Sharing content from the source

• Look for these icons circled • Make sure you are logged in to

Twitter and LinkedIn on the device you are using (PC or Mobile)


Now that you’re posting astream of quality content,

promote through the network

Leverage your ColleaguesPrompt co-workers to share updates through their personalnetworks, and drive increased exposure and engagement


Leverage other channels


Connections and followers

Develop an engaged audience

•Are they from my community?•Do we belong to the same group(s)?•Are they connected to someone I know?•Do we or have we worked in the same industry?•Do we share common hobbies, interests or causes?•Have they read or spread my content?•Have they included a personal note with the invitation?

Tips on Twitter

Tweet Tips

• Always use a URL shortener

• 140 characters but ideally under 100 so people can retweet

• # are used to affiliate a tweet with a topic. Use # to try and promote a viral following for a specific topic

• Engage followers and influencers by including @mention in your tweets that resonate with the influencer. Tweet + link + @mention + #topic

LinkedIn and Twitter share icons

Sharing content

Did the source Tweet so you can Retweet

Shortening URLs

Visit your Twitter accountClick on the composition icon Paste the URL from Google Shortener: ‘Comment + URL + #topic’ (no tag chosen here)Fifth: click Tweet

Retweeting When you follow a content source, their content will appear in your newsfeed. When you retweet you are passing this content onto your followers

• It is good to have a mix of tweets, replies and retweets (4-1-1 rule helps you do this)– See example interactions and mentions in the twitter.com/Uni_Newcastle

• Create a contest which asks followers to contribute– Popular Twitter chat examples - Blogging @MackCollier Sundays 9pm

#blogchat and Trending business topics @samfiorella Wednesday 8pm

• Learn who your influencers are and engage with them (retweet or share their content).

• Reach out to top sharers and be their guest blogger. The more you engage with your top influencers, the more they will continue to promote your content.

Tweet Tips

Messaging

• Make sure you are contributing to conversations?

• Build relationships, reciprocate

• Engage and be engaged

• Be part of the flow of information

• Don’t be repetitive

• Know what your influencers are tweeting about and respond accordingly

• Create VALUE, retweet material to be helpful to your network, but write your own material too

• Tweets can be a mixture of educational and entertaining and soft/hard promotion

Following Tips

• Import your contact databases • Follow people your competitors are following• Follow those your followers are following• Search for experts in the field tweeting • Establish a set of subjects you might be tweeting about and key terms

used online – Scan Twitter or Google to find out the key terms being used use these as

#topics • Spend some time trying out different searches and # that are relevant.

When you find the people contributing most to the conversation, follow them.

• Find people talking about your company, industry or subjects you are interested in

• Try and follow back those following you • Read the tweets of those following you and search for keywords relevant

to you

Followers

• Becoming someone’s follower accomplishes four goals: – You are identifying accounts that will be relevant and interesting

to you, the Uni and the sector

– You let people know you are on Twitter, and encourage them to follow you back

– You associate yourself with a specific group of industry experts and thought leaders, demonstrate your interest in the space

– You are getting to know influencers and they are getting to know you

• Easier than starting a conversation at a cocktail party but remember the relationship can be paper thin.

– Don’t clutter your newsfeed if you don’t like someone’s content unfollow them

Thank you

CRICOS Provider 00109J | www.newcastle.edu.au

DISCUSSION & WORKSHOP

Marketing

Slingshot Accelerator Mentor presentation