Digital PR is a way to promote your brand in the online sphere and draw more business. In this article, we explore Digital PR in detail and discuss why it is more important than traditional forms of PR. We then lay out the different Digital PR strategies and all the things that you should know. Read on to find more.
Before the internet became a common part of our lives, public relations used to be about long and monotonous monologues that were presented in press releases to thousands of journalists, one event at a time. That used to be the most effective way to get information to as many people as possible. There was no way to be certain that the message in a press release would get to all of the people who would otherwise be interested in watching it.
The advent of the age of information technology changed the way communication was shared and received by most people. Starting from about two decades ago, the disruptions and social changes caused by new technologies accelerated by leaps and bounds. At that time, the internet started to become a common part of ordinary people’s lives, which led to massive changes in the way people would communicate with one another. Then messaging apps and social media came along, and the rest is history. It changed everyone’s lives to such an extent that our current way of life would seem to be alien and fantastical to someone from even a hundred years ago. If a person from 1890 heard someone talking about cryptocurrencies and missions to Mars, it would make no sense to them at all; such is the extent of change we’ve witnessed.
One of the biggest changes caused by new technologies like the internet and social media platforms was in the ways businesses had for marketing their brand to as many people as they could. Prior to the rise of the internet, advertising used to be confined to television, radio, newspapers, billboards, and other methods, which were not guaranteed to be seen by every potential customer. Digital PR changed everything.
What is Digital PR?
Digital PR is done with a combination of digital strategies, such as content marketing, social media marketing and search engine optimisation.
Digital PR (Digital Public Relations) is defined as a strategy that is used by businesses to market their brand and grow and evolve while building an online presence. The internet has made managing public relations drastically different from the way public relations used to be handled prior to the internet becoming a commonplace utility. Today, Digital PR is done with a combination of digital strategies, such as content marketing, social media marketing and search engine optimisation. It is not enough to just use print media or television advertisements and hope that potential consumers notice your brand. Businesses today have to be proactive and develop an online presence to reach their target audience.
Social media is one of the main tools of any Digital PR campaign, as social media is used on a daily basis by the majority of consumers, particularly younger people. Therefore, a good PR campaign will make use of social media posts that will be relatable and easily understood by readers, such as using memes and infographics to get your message across.
The Essence of Digital PR
Aside from making communication faster and easier than ever before, the internet also gave rise to an increased level of transparency. Today, it has become harder for companies to cover up or hide their mistakes as the public has eyes and ears everywhere, and anyone can share any piece of information and be sure that other people will receive it. This has really put the ‘public’ in public relations, and the PR industry is now more about making people feel that the brand cares for them and has their best interest at heart. As a result, businesses today put a lot of work into making their customers feel more than just customers.
The Purpose of Digital PR
While making people feel important is an important quality for companies to have, the primary purpose of any business is to earn profits. Good PR can help with that by attracting new customers, which is why so many companies today work so hard to maintain a good image in the public eye. This involves more than just treating people well. Companies can also advertise their stance over issues like saving the environment, animal rights, or other issues that are of concern to the public. Digital PR allows companies to express their stance on any issues in a short amount of time and have it reach as many people as possible. This is important in situations where false information or rumours can result in loss of revenue if the company doesn’t react quickly.
An Edge Over Traditional PR
Digital PR offers a wider reach than traditional PR and requires fewer resources, which makes it a better form of PR.
While making people feel important is an important quality for companies to have, the primary purpose of any business is to earn profits. Good PR can help with that by attracting new customers, which is why so many companies today work so hard to maintain a good image in the public eye. This involves more than just treating people well. Companies can also advertise their stance over issues like saving the environment, animal rights, or other issues that are of concern to the public. Digital PR allows companies to express their stance on any issues in a short amount of time and have it reach as many people as possible. This is important in situations where false information or rumours can result in loss of revenue if the company doesn’t react quickly.
Evolution from traditional PR to Digital PR
Although public relations were always a priority for businesses throughout history, the first officially devoted company to PR began in 1900. That can be considered to be the advent of traditional PR. The early days of PR were focused on print media, such as newspapers and magazines. Those were the primary ways for people to consume information. New channels for managing public relations came some years later with the rise of commercial radio and later with television. Radio allowed companies to put on a friendly and caring tone in radio broadcasts to complement the words being said, and television added a friendly face to marketing and PR efforts. Since then, PR did not change until the internet began to be used commercially in the 1990s and really took off after the mass adoption of computers and the internet at the start of the 21st century. With so many people using the internet, PR changed and adapted to this new technology. With so many social media websites, blogs, podcasts, and other digital media being used and consumed by the entire world, PR became a more effective and targeted tool that companies could use to advertise or do PR to a large audience.
How is Digital PR More Impactful?
The core purpose of both digital and traditional PR encompasses reputation management, brand awareness, advocacy, outreach and crisis handling.
The core purpose of both digital and traditional PR encompasses reputation management, brand awareness, advocacy, outreach and crisis handling. Depending on your brand and target audience, both traditional and digital PR have their pros and cons. If your target audience consists of older people, then print media will be your best option. On the other hand, if you intend to target younger and more tech-literate people, or just want to reach a wider audience, then digital media is a much better option.
Visibility is an important element of PR. With digital PR, you will be competing against the rest of the internet, and with an ever-increasing number of online content and publications, it is important to have a unique hook to attract people to your content.
Longevity is another advantage of digital PR over traditional PR. With print media, the readership of a certain piece of content is limited to a very short time before it gets forgotten by the masses. No one goes back to read promotional material in old newspaper editions. Digital media has the benefit of allowing you to create content that will be easily accessible to anyone at any time, especially if the content remains relevant. Thus, you can continue to reap the benefits from Digital PR for a much longer time.
Digital PR allows you to get valuable feedback and insights about how well your content is doing in real-time, which is in sharp contrast to traditional PR. With tools like Google Analytics and other analytic tools, you can track the entirety of the consumer’s journey, from the initial discovery of your content all the way to how they are responding to it.
Digital PR allows you to get valuable feedback and insights about how well your content is doing in real-time.
These benefits of Digital PR make it a worthwhile investment for any online business.
Deep Dive into Digital PR
Digital PR can be invaluable for small businesses. A good Digital PR campaign will improve your SEO rankings, grow your website traffic and build a reputation for your brand. With increased traffic to your website, the number of leads will increase, which in turn will draw more business.
Types of Digital PR
A large variety of different techniques can be employed in a digital PR strategy to achieve results. Some of the common types of digital PR techniques are:
Guest Posts: These are articles that your content team has written but get published on someone else’s website. This increases the clicks on backlinks to your website from these guest posts.
Unlinked mentions: These are mentions of your brand and company, but without any links back to your website. This works to develop the reputation of your brand.
Influencer marketing: Popular social media accounts are paid to mention your brand in a positive light. This provides brand exposure to all of the fans of those accounts.
Press releases: This involves sharing newsworthy announcements, which will secure mentions of your brand in various press features.
Digital PR Strategies
A digital PR strategy is a broad plan for improving a business’s SEO rankings. The core elements of a good Digital PR strategy are:
Target anchor text: These are the words or sentences on other websites that are clickable and link back to pages on your website.
Target URLs: Target URLs are the web pages on your website that you want to promote.
Media list: This includes a list of bloggers, influencers and journalists that you can potentially work with to get influencer mentions.
Pitch: This is a script laid out as an open-ended template that you can share with the aforementioned bloggers, influencers and journalists.
Content ideas: These are topics for your content that have a good chance of being received positively by other websites that you hope to use for backlinks. This content should be written by someone in your own business.
Tools for Digital PR
There are so many digital PR tools available on the internet that it can be hard to decide which ones to use in your digital PR campaign. The following is a selection of five of the best Digital PR tools that you can use for an effective PR campaign.
Google Analytics: This tool is used to measure the increase in traffic to your website, and it also provides insights into how many leads have turned into sales.
Google Search Console: This tool is used to measure the increase or decrease in the number of brand mentions, impressions and clicks for your brand.
Google Reverse Image Search: This tool can be used to find out where your visual content, such as logos and images or infographics, are used on other websites.
Ahrefs: This SEO tool is used to measure Domain Ratings, do backlink analysis and identify mentions of your brand that don’t include a link.
LinkedIn: This is a social network for businesses and professionals. You can use this to remain connected to all of your business contacts.
By now, you should have a better understanding of the importance of having a good Digital PR campaign and how your business can navigate the digital landscape to maintain good public relations. However, if you feel that having a comprehensive Digital PR campaign is too much work to manage by yourself, there is no need to worry. You don’t have to navigate the ocean of digital marketing all by yourself. At Apex Pro Media, our team of Digital Marketing experts do the heavy lifting and stand ready to meet all your Digital PR needs.
Leave a mark with Apex Digital Marketing Services and watch your business reach new heights of success.
Summary:
Social media is a core aspect of all Digital PR strategies. It lets you reach your target audience directly and vice-versa, making it an invaluable tool.
The internet changed the entire landscape for marketing and public relations. Digital PR and Traditional PR have the same goal, but the scope of Digital PR is much broader.
There are several types of Digital PR:
Guest posts – Publishing your content on other online venues to increase the clicks to backlinks to your website.
Unlinked mention – Mentioning your brand on other online venues without linking back to your website, which builds brand reputation.
Influencer marketing – Paying popular social media figures to mention your brand, giving it exposure to a wide audience.
Press releases – Sharing updates and announcements about your brand to build a reputation and be considered a reliable source within your industry.
There are a wide variety of tools that can help you in Digital PR efforts. These include analytics tools and SEO tools, as well as various online platforms.