You or your PR team have managed to land a premium interview or article in a highly valued online journal or print magazine. First…. congratulations, let’s have a dance party…
(insert Whoo hoo here!)
Next, while the heady feeling of accomplishment will last for a short time, what happens after that initial sharing of your news coverage? For some clients, ensuring that the article gets posted on their own social media channels is enough. Maybe going so far as to link it to the website’s media page. Check! But is that enough?
It isn’t.
There are a few extra steps you can take that will ensure your coverage is outliving the initial hype and reaching the maximum amount of eyes.
But, here is where most clients are dropping the ball:
They don’t say thank you.
Acknowledging the relationship between the publication and the client publicly is like an extra shot of ‘street cred’ to your brand. They know you, they trusted you, they published you - so saying thank you is always a good idea.
Further, in the cases where clients have access to a personal contact or email of the editor or journalist - sending a quick follow up thank you post-interview is always a courtesy that is far too often overlooked. *Let your PR team bug them for publication date and copies - but you can certainly offer a classy ‘Merci’.
They don’t tag the publication.
Please please please be sure to mention the publication (and apply the proper handle, tag) into your social media post. This not only alerts the publication and builds engagement with their/your followers, but you may gain an additional share, like, or other acknowledgement online.
They only post about it…. once.
If you’ve just landed a feature in Globe & Mail or Entrepreneur magazine you’re probably going to mention it a few times to different groups of people, networking events, or even put it into you ‘pitch deck’ as a win. So therefore, feel free to mention high level media coverage more than once over the course of your monthly posting calendar.
This does, however, depend on two factors, the frequency of your pages posts and the quality of the content. If the frequency is less, then you may want to space out mentioning the same article 2 or 3 times in a week - but if you have an active Twitter or Facebook page, then try making the most out of it and reference the article in different ways — Highlighting the CEO (author or quoted client), use it in a #TBT post, revisit it in light of a recent issue raised in the news.
They link to a third party share.
If you happen to catch someone posting your article, great! Retweets all around. But don’t consider that as your own announcement. Liking and retweets for others can share the love and can be appropriate in showing appreciation for their support.
They don’t share the original publication’s post.
This is the big one. Most often, if it’s a noteworthy article, the publication or journal will announce or share your article/interview through their own media and social news feeds - SHARE THEIR ORIGINAL POST! This gives preference to the publisher for ‘first share’. If the publication has a large following it is in the client’s best interest to have them (the publisher) share it, thereby increasing the visibility of the post. They will also automatically be tagged in your post - further ensuring good relations.
There are many more ways to make your client media coverage live on and WORK FOR YOU! And remember, it doesn’t have to end with your social media feeds either.
Til next time. Happy sharing!