Using Social Media to Optimise Your Digital PR

The collective knowledge and skills base across any given digital agency can be immense. And yet, without proper company processes and strong collaborate efforts, it can be difficult to get those award-winning pieces in the bag.

Here at Parallax, many of our projects begin with our developers and designers creating beautiful websites. These accounts usually find their way to our marketing department, where we work to deliver digital marketing and PR campaigns aimed at increasing web rankings, building online brand awareness, reaching new demographics and so on.

For most of our clients, we use the full mix of Content marketing, Digital PR and Search in order to fulfil these objectives and maximise their reach. We also apply social media to up our digital marketing game. Here’s how – and why – we do it.

Blurred lines: PR and Marketing on the same road to digital success

Businesses and brands are prioritising their digital presence more and more. As they do this, we’ve seen the line between PR and Marketing increasingly blur. When correctly aligned the two can dovetail nicely, positively supporting one another in creative ways.

Public relations is all about the communication between a brand, company or organisation and the wider public. Marketing, on the other hand, pertains more to the direct action of promotion; the selling of products and services. Today, some of the greatest PR and Marketing initiatives take place in the online space together. Social media is then brought in to optimise their collective strategies and reach new heights.

Integrating social media into your Digital PR strategy

Social media can amplify the voice of your brand or business. Over the past few years, it’s evolved into an incredibly useful set of communication tools that can be used to express your company values and beliefs.

Remember to offer your target audience a measured amount of transparency. Social media allows you to reveal the personality behind your brand and simultaneously develop a level of trust with your customers. What’s more, you’ll see the results of your actions immediately

Paired with a well-defined PR and Marketing strategy, social media has the power to steer a company’s reputation, often improving it immeasurably. Needless to say, when handled incorrectly, it can all too easily ruin it.

“Because social media encompasses many activities — from content strategy to customer support to campaign analysis — that require different skills, it’s often beneficial for multiple departments to work closely together in order to leverage strengths and encourage ongoing collaboration.” Diane Domeyer, executive director of The Creative Group.”

How we use social media to influence our PR efforts at Parallax

In a study conducted by the Institute of Public Relations, 65% of company’s PR and Marketing departments are entrusted with social media. As a team we very much sit inside this percentage, and we like to think we have a few tricks up our sleeves for maximising the tools and channels we’ve been given.

At Parallax, we have our favourite methods of combining social media with our Digital PR and Marketing campaigns. Here’s a quick breakdown.

1. Research, Planning & Relationship-building

• At the start of any campaign or project launch, identify clear objectives.
• Begin a detailed influencer and media search online.
• Create influencer/media lists, and categorise by:
  - popular social media accounts with highest engagement rates
  - domain authority
  - biggest followers
  - popular hashtags
  - favourite emojis (yes, this is important!)
• Monitor and join in conversations across social media and third party sites.
• Make lists of key influencers and media to follow online. Interact with them. Keep as up-to-date as possible.

2. Pitching & Outreach

• Once you’ve established trust with the influencers/media via social platforms, move the conversation to email.
• Send information about the brand, making proper use of social media stats, images and any conversations happening online.
• Gain coverage by leveraging a brand’s online presence to attract the influencers or journalists you want to work with.
• When coverage or partnership is secured, be sure to keep up your interactions with the journalist, blogger or influencer through all the social media platforms available throughout all stages of the campaign.
• Repost coverage from the brand’s own social media account. If available, add advertising budget.

3. Monitor and Review

• Use trackable links to share with your influencers.
• Request social media stats from influencers on the content they’ve posted.
• Monitor conversations and track their engagement and reach.
• Compare influencer social media stats with the brand’s social media stats.
• Create an infographic to highlight stats and achievements. Share them with your influencers and followers.

Working in digital, it’s important to keep an open mind. Always seek out ways of increasing synergy between departments and blending areas of expertise. Having a solid team in place that understands the value of working collaboratively – bridging the gap between all forms of marketing – means you have a greater chance of winning over clients, smashing targets and collecting those shiny digital medals.