SoMe Guide: Getting Extra Value Out of Press Releases
Once you get press coverage about your company, don’t sit back and wait for the article to find your target audience. Here are five simple tips for getting the word out to relevant readers via social media.
You can create extra value from a press release by sharing it on social media where your customers are: e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. It takes a maximum of one hour to follow these tips from Martin Bengaard, social media expert and owner of Bengaard+co.
1. Press coverage cut through the noise on social media …
… because they don’t look like sales tactics. Viewers of the press coverage don’t perceive it as an advertisement for your company, and they are more likely to interact with the post. Therefore: Remember to share press mentions from your company’s social media profiles.
2. Use your private profile too…
…to share the press coverage. Share the post from the business profil from your private profile to reach more people and get more interaction. You can tell your network whether you are happy, proud or something else to read about your company and your customers in the newspaper. And your colleagues should do the same.
3. Write personally …
… when you share the post – both from the company profile and privately. Social media marketing is all about creating a relationship with your target audience, so it’s important that you leave a personal comment when you share the mention.
Don’t make your communications professional write 10 “personal” texts for the employees who will share the mention. By doing so, you risk the comments becoming artificial and impersonal. You should be able to tell from the post that it’s written by the sender – so let the person write the post themselves. Provide inspiration for what they can write and then help with proofreading (or leave spelling mistakes for authenticity).
4. You can choose to boost …
… if your press coverage is particularly good. This involves paying to have the mention appear in other users’ feeds.
Press reviews are generally good material for a boosted post because (as per point 1) they are not received as sales. And a Facebook view costs around DKK0.04, so you get 2,500 views if you boost for just DKK100 ($14.5).
5) Remember to segment…
… when you’ve thought about who the mention is relevant to. By segmenting, you can choose which user groups should have the mention displayed on their feed. You can segment by e.g. hobbies, age or industry – depending on what’s relevant to your coverage.
By segmenting, you avoid paying for irrelevant impressions. It’s therefore important to think through your target audience before you boost and segment.
See SENSE Marketing’s blog post about advertising on LinkedIn and guide to the Facebook Audience Insights tool.
Share old press reviews…
…if you haven’t shared them yet. A press release doesn’t have to be new to be interesting on social media.
You can also reuse old mentions by, for example, celebrating the one-year anniversary of the press mention with a reunion, commemorating the day with a #tbt or simply posting it with a delay.
Sharing press mentions on social media starts with a good story in the media. Write to Mark or Jakob H if you have a good story that needs to be published.
Many thanks to Martin Bengaard for the great advice. If you have questions about your company’s marketing strategy, contact Martin here.
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