What is Digital PR (digital public relations)?
Digital PR involves employing public relations strategies to secure backlinks that bolster your SEO efforts.
This entails producing exceptional content and pitching it to journalists and pertinent publications to persuade them to cover your material and link back to it.
The success of Digital PR consists of having great ideas that journalists want to cover and, at the same time, creating attractive content that can serve large media to add editorial value to an article.
The role of a Digital PR professional consists of two phases:
- Craft compelling narratives that captivate journalists, prompting them to cover and link to your content.
- Contact journalists and large digital media to “sell” our content as references for their articles.
Characteristics of links with PR Digital:
- Links are placed editorially, meaning that a journalist made the editorial decision to link to your content.
- The goal is for journalists to utilize links to your content to enhance the editorial quality of their articles or to cite a reliable source. They are obtained due to quality content, not because money is involved.
- Links usually come from relevant content on high-authority domains such as top-line digital media. These entities are typically major newspapers or leading players within the industry relevant to your content.
- Given the nature of this tactic, competitors cannot easily replicate the links obtained with Digital PR.
- Links and mentions from third-party sites tend to be more influential, as consumers look for unbiased information and trust more external content that talks about your brand.
Digital PR and Link Building
Digital PR is the most powerful link-building strategy, significantly enhancing SEO rankings. However, it will only give results if you can fulfill two functions: create quality content and know how to sell that content to giants in the sector. If you meet these two requirements, you will obtain several advantages.
Advantages of getting links with PR Digital
1. Earn authority links from top-tier publications: There is no better way to get links that improve domain authority than with top-tier publications based on public relations.
2. Obtain a competitive advantage with links that the competition cannot copy: Due to the methodology that Digital PR requires, it is very difficult for the competition to copy your link sources.
3. Get links that actually click and get referral traffic (and sales): Many link building tactics result in links that need to be clicked. Google gives greater authority to links that generate interactions than those no one clicks on. Referral traffic is also important as that means your website has more users.
4. Position yourself as an industry expert and build trust: Top-level publications in your industry that link you as an expert on a specific topic are a clear sign that you are a voice worth listening to, especially regarding a large scale. Additionally, Digital PR can help you get top-notch coverage that will allow you to share listings of where you’ve been featured.
5. Digital PR and Social Networks: Searches and social networks are normally considered different marketing channels, but in reality, both can work together to increase the results of SEO and Social Media campaigns thanks to Digital PR. When you create and share content with the press, you must communicate it through your social media channels. Do you talk about a brand or a person in your campaign? Tag them on social networks and generate conversations with them to seek new contacts and business relationships. This is one of the strategies for publishing on social networks that can bring us the best results.
Digital PR Tactics
There are different Digital PR tactics, so it is important to know which one to use and when to do it since not all of them are suitable for all companies:
1. Data-driven research studies
Journalists often seek data-based research studies, making this tactic the most used within Digital PR. You can create campaigns around your own data (if you have it) or third-party data (such as social data, the Census Bureau, or similar). Journalists want new, unique stories, and data-driven investigative campaigns are the perfect way to deliver them.
2. Creative campaigns
While data can be a good way to create a hook for journalists, creative campaigns are also an effective way to get something journalists want to cover. It’s about having a great idea that stands out from the crowd, such as a novel infographic or creative tricks.
3. Newsjacking
Newsjacking consists of following current events and reacting to breaking news with opinions, comments, and expert advice. This is an effective tactic that does not require complex content. However, for this tactic to be effective, three factors must be met:
A compelling story has to emerge, and journalists will need expert information to use in their articles.
You must contact the journalists who cover the news and provide comments or points of view from an expert spokesperson. This has to add value to the topic, not just regurgitate what happened.
You have to be quick. You can’t sit back and submit comments 24 hours later. The sooner you get a good comment into a journalist’s inbox, the better your chances of success.
4. PR with experts and thought leadership
Your knowledge and experience can be an effective way to approach journalists. Journalists look for experts in their field to offer them advice and guidance on how to reach their readers.
Suppose you can organize a meeting between your company’s experts and journalists. In that case, you can talk to them about what their audience needs to know, the most frequently asked questions they might ask, or the hot topics to keep in mind. By sharing tips and advice with journalists, you can establish a good relationship with them. You can consistently gain links and coverage, as they will likely return to you when they write articles on similar topics within their field.
5. Product PR
Product links often generate significant revenue due to their commercial nature. After all, if someone talks about your products in an article and those links are clicked, it stands to reason that some of these users will buy.
However, it is important to remember that products alone are not usually stories capable of attracting the attention of journalists or users, something that changes if there are large discounts in the latest sales.
Avoid merely showcasing your products in isolation. Take the time to consider what would compel a journalist to cover your product and why it would capture someone’s interest. Step into the reader’s perspective and seek creative approaches to spark curiosity about your offerings.
How to find and contact relevant journalists
Targeting the right journalists and publications is essential. Otherwise, your entire Digital PR strategy will be useless, no matter how interesting your content is.
Public relations tools can be used to find and contact relevant journalists. The best-known is HARO, but there are others, like Prowly from Semrush.
When writing the proposal for the media, it is recommended to use the same techniques used in the sales department and for normal email contact. Make the subject interesting, personalize the message, and ensure it offers real value to the journalist.
Contacting journalists can be an arduous task, but it is highly satisfying when the company finally achieves positive results.
Measuring digital public relations success
The effectiveness of digital public relations (Digital PR) as a link-building tactic is undeniable, but how can the success of campaigns be measured to demonstrate impact and truly justify greater investment?
To do this, it is advisable to track the main metrics of digital public relations:
1. Links Earned: Maintain constant monitoring of links earned through the campaign and DA and DR (Domain Authority) progress.
2. Referral traffic and sales: You should always analyze the referral traffic (and associated sales) linked content sent to campaign assets. It is advisable to utilize Google Analytics to measure and report this data.
3. Analysis of other metrics: More metrics can be followed to demonstrate the performance of a Digital PR campaign. Indeed, earned links, coverage, and referral traffic are perhaps the easiest to demonstrate, but they are not the only metrics:
- The proportion of follow links versus nofollow.
- Engagement and interactions with the company on social media.
- Growth in brand-related searches.
How to start a digital PR strategy with SEO?
To start a digital public relations (PR) strategy with SEO, several steps and resources are required:
1. Objectives: The initial step is to establish the goals of the digital PR strategy. What do you want to achieve with your digital PR strategy, and how does it relate to your overall business goals? Are you aiming to boost brand awareness, enhance your reputation, drive more traffic to your website, or increase sales? Identifying your objectives helps establish clear metrics and measure the campaign’s success.
2. Keyword research: Extensive research should be conducted on keywords related to your company, industry, and target audience. This aids in pinpointing keywords that should be incorporated into your content to boost search engine visibility and draw more organic traffic to your website.
3. Identify the appropriate media and journalists: Digital PR involves reaching the appropriate journalists and media to make them aware of your content, just as a salesperson would do when exposing their products to potential clients. You should research the media and journalists who cover your business sector and ensure your press releases and content are relevant to them. You can utilize media monitoring tools to spot PR opportunities and keep abreast of industry news.
4. Quality content: Creating high-quality content is essential for a successful digital PR strategy. Develop pertinent and valuable content for your target audience, such as press releases, blog posts, infographics, and social media updates. Ensure your content incorporates appropriate keywords to enhance its search engine visibility.
5. Distribution: Success in Digital PR hinges on distributing your content through the appropriate channels. In addition to sending press releases to the appropriate media, you can publish your content on your website, blog, and social networks. Employ SEO tactics in your content and ensure it is mobile-friendly to enhance its visibility on search engines.
6. Monitoring and analysis: Lastly, tracking and evaluating the outcomes of your digital PR efforts is crucial. Use analytics tools to measure traffic, conversions, and the impact of your digital PR strategy. With this information, you can refine your strategy and enhance its effectiveness as time progresses.
