Successful digital PR is one part time-tested strategy borrowed from traditional PR and one part targeted SEO involving quality backlinks, social media mentions, and shared content. One of the primary focuses of digital PR is finding and attracting customers by connecting with them where they are online and using terms and ideas that will appeal to them. The goal, then, is to promote the brand’s websites, pages, and forums, increasing their visibility, ranking, and reach.
Fortunately, digital media and social media both offer tremendous tools that help marketers learn more about prospects, collate them into proper cohorts, and give them only the messages that will appeal more to them. When successful, digital PR not only results in a sale, it encourages the buyer to leave positive reviews and to share their happiness with friends and family online. In this way, one successful add can generate exponential positive results for a brand.
Before launching any kind of digital PR campaign, be sure to set goals, identify benchmarks, and make a list of metrics to track the success of the campaign. Here are a few ideas to consider:
SEO and Rankings
one of the best ways to quickly improve SEO is to earn publication and mentions on high-authority websites that include backlinks to the main site, which should result in moving higher up in the rankings.
Views and Visitors
when more people are interacting with a brand’s content, more people are going to be encouraged to check it out. It can be a slow cycle to get started, and it might take some time, but patience and consistency, along with crisp, targeted content, almost always pays off.
Brand Reputation
This is one of the most important digital PR metrics to consider. Brand reputation is a combination of what people are saying about a brand, who is interacting with it, and what sort of reviews are being posted on third-party review sites and digital marketplaces. This is vital, because many times these review sites rank very high in search results, which means they may be the first – or the only – thing a prospect sees when making a buying decision.
Lead Generation
A well-developed, successful digital PR campaign will bring new people into the prospect pool. These people might come across the brand’s online resources organically, or they might be recommended by a friend online or on social media. The working question is: How many more people know about a brand after the campaign who were unaware or uninterested before?
Sales – if sales are up, something is working. If sales, engagement, and new visitors are all up, something is working in digital PR.
In addition to these metrics all brands should consider, businesses operating locally should also work on earning media in local online publications or in videos or webinars featuring local celebrities or social media personalities. Being connected to their online presence will also positively impact SEO and a brand’s overall digital PR results.
Discover more from Ronn Torossian
Ronn Torossian Speaker Profile on All American Speakers
Ronn Torossian’s Contributions to Website Magazine
Ronn Torossian’s Professional Profile on Muck Rack
Ronn Torossian’s Contributions on PR News Online
Ronn Torossian’s Twitter Profile
