If selling a product is the primary goal of any digital marketing campaign, selling the brand itself comes a close second. This is the essence of digital public relations: monitoring what is said about a brand and then directing the conversations around it in order to maintain the brand’s public image.
The power of digital PR
Digital PR is a massive worldwide industry and any company with a public profile needs to take part in it to some degree. In addition, the Internet has introduced several new challenges and opportunities that traditional PR practitioners ned to understand.
An excellent example of digital PR in action is how clothing brand LOFT turned a negative sentiment around to their benefit.
In July 2010, the company posted some pictures of a skinny model wearing their new cargo pants on their Facebook profile. Even though the photos were pretty typical of the brand’s previous promotions, fans complained that the pants wouldn’t look good on normal-sized “real “women. They demanded proof that the pants were suited to all body types.
In response, LOFT’s own manager of digital programmes, a woman named Julie, posed for photos wearing the pants and uploaded them to the Facebook page the next day. Other women of different sizes from the company did the same. The fan response was extremely positive and the product was affirmed and customers became more supportive of the brand.
The focus of digital PR
Digital PR is an advanced form of PR. Instead of focusing on only print publications, Digital PR focuses on online publications as well as increasing brand awareness. This includes:
- Publishing articles as well as press releases
- Working with bloggers in addition to influencers on product features as well as reviews
- Affiliate marketing
- Nurturing journalist and content writing contacts in order to secure press hits
- Utilising social media in order to gain exposure
- Developing brand trust through online reviews.
These digital PR strategies have an undeniably positive impact on a website’s Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) when it is done well. in order to make positive strides with digital PR requires an understanding of Google’s guidelines as well as ranking signals in order to improve a website’s visibility in the search results. This is the reason why many Digital PR campaigns are run by SEOs and Content Marketers who are familiar with the industry.
The distinction between digital and traditional PR
Traditional and digital PR are two branches of the same practice that have evolved to work in two totally distinct media. Both are essentially about creating engagement between people and the brand and neither can be entirely augmented by the other.
Traditional PR functions in the world of conventional, top-down media while digital PR negotiates the Internet, which is a democratic medium where anyone can create as well as influence content. The best way to see where the two types differ is to compare how the PR process works traditionally and online.
Fundamentally for PR to function as it should – be it traditional or digital – you have excellent writing skills.
Get in touch with the Digital School of Marketing
If you want to develop these then you need to do our Diploma of Copywriting. For more information, please follow this link.
