What do you think of when you hear the words “social media?” If the only thing that comes to mind is a platform for your teen sister to gossip about celebrities and your aunt to share 3-month old cat memes, then you’ve got the wrong impression, and you’re ignoring a severely underutilized component of a good PR strategy.
Social media has come a long way from its adolescent days, and it can do more than just keep people in touch. In the hands of skilled public relation specialists, it can be a powerful tool for crafting and propagating your message. You just need to know the right strategies to run on your various social platforms.
Rule Number 1: Content Is Key
You’ve probably heard the phrase a million times before. It’s just as pertinent now as it was the first time it graced your ears. When you put out content through social media, you need to make sure that it is engaging, helpful, or newsworthy to draw eyeballs. Weave your message into something like that, and you’re sure to get more shares, followers, likes, whatever kind of engagement you’re after.
For example, you can use your social media accounts to offer your “expert take” on current events that are unfolding throughout the day. If you’re quick with getting your views out there and your insight is sharp enough, you will steadily gain an audience that you can start engaging with.
Twitter is an excellent platform to use for rapid-fire, up to the minute analysis, while Facebook or LinkedIn might be what you’d use to share your long-form thoughts on a specific matter. As with any opinion based content, you won’t be able to please all the people all the time, but if enough like what you have to say you’ll start to see your reach expand steadily.
Alternatively, you can get superstars and thought leaders in your industry to publish guest content from your accounts, expanding the reach of your audience by intermingling it with theirs. These guest posts can have internal links to your landing page. That way, the incoming traffic would be redirected to your desired content.
Rule Number 2: You Can Use Social Media To Get Coverage
You and your audience aren’t the only ones on social media platforms. Journalists, the publications they write for, and their audiences are also on many of the same social media platforms. You can propagate a message through them to boost your signal range.
Let’s say you are promoting a release of a new tool for developers.
One method would be reaching out directly to reporters with information about features that you want them to share to your tech niche, a press release for example. Another would be to release a drip feed of newsworthy details about a campaign for a 20% off for first-minute purchases you’re doing through social media.
Journalists are constantly trawling platforms like Twitter, looking for tidbits they can use to enhance the narratives of their stories. You can exert some control over that by choosing what information you want to let out there.
This is, of course, all contingent upon the fact that you’re doing something newsworthy. You won’t get any coverage if you’re just sticking to the same old run-of-the-mill routine, so make sure you have an idea for shaking things up before you go trying to court the press.
Rule Number 3: Engage Your Audience
Social media isn’t a one-way street. You have the power to get in touch with a large audience, but they have the power to reach out to you in return. What do you do when one of your followers tweets at you? When you’re getting interactions on your social media accounts, the best strategy is to engage.
Do so in a manner that is witty, concise, and informative. This will allow you to build a rapport with your followers, and make your brand seem much more interesting, comparative to companies who stay dormant on social media for months on end.
Remember, social media is a tool, and it only works if you’re willing to use it. Hopefully, some of our tips will help you do it the right way!
