Generating earned media for your brand is a great way to promote your products and services without investing anything in traditional advertising. Earned media, which includes free publicity on TV shows, newspaper articles, magazines, official websites of organizations or brands, is also known as public relations (PR).
Although PR can be expensive to generate, there are several different ways that companies can successfully generate earned media for their brands. Amplifying earned media is another way brands can create successful campaigns to increase product sales.
This technique allows marketers the ability to expand the reach of their campaigns through paid advertisements while using earned media content. After obtaining an article or video featuring its products or services through PR efforts, a firm should amplify the related content by posting it on its website and paid ads on social media. Here are three ways you can generate earned media for your brand.
I. Finding out What the Competition is Doing
Companies interested in generating earned media for their brands can begin by researching how similar businesses use PR campaigns to promote themselves. This step allows marketers the ability to determine what techniques they should use that will make them stand out among competitors, ensuring more positive coverage from journalists. A company may also find it helpful to invest time into building relationships with journalists to be able to cover news about the brand regularly.
II. Receiving Media Coverage on Major Publications
Another way companies can generate earned media for their brands is through leveraging connections at major publications. Reporters are often more interested in what they have to say about a story than the brand itself. For example, if a company’s product was involved in the event that led to positive press, it should find ways to get coverage of the story in major publications. This way, journalists can put their spin on the story while highlighting the company for its involvement in the newsworthy occasion.
III. Hiring Publicists
Public relations experts specialize in developing successful campaigns to generate earned media for brands. They will be able to identify opportunities where earned media coverage will be likely and create an effective strategy around each opportunity before implementing PR efforts, resulting in more positive results from earned media. Employing publicists is also beneficial because they are well-connected with many journalists and know which ones are most likely to cover certain newsworthy stories.
Amplifying Earned Media. Different ways to Amplify Earned Media
Amplifying earned media for brands is an effective way to expand the reach of PR campaigns that journalists have already covered through paid advertising channels. After generating earned media, marketers should amplify the related content by posting it on their website and using paid social media ads. This strategy can be beneficial because it allows companies to leverage their earned media coverage without having to invest additional resources into generating PR opportunities. Here is a summary of five ways you can amplify earned media
· Paid Advertising on Social Media Sites
After receiving earned media for a campaign, brands can amplify the content they received through post-campaign ad placements on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. For example, if a company was able to receive coverage in a major news publication for its new product, it should consider amplifying the article by buying ads on Facebook. The content will remain the same, but paid ads on social media sites allow marketers to distribute their campaigns even further than would be possible without amplification efforts.
· Paid Promotions of Social Media Content
Social media influencers have relevant expertise or knowledge about certain topics and generate large social media followings because of their popularity. These individuals often post information related to an influencer’s area of expertise on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter multiple times per day. Marketers can amplify the content they give these influencers by promoting this material across different channels, including email newsletters and company websites. This allows companies to simplify the process of amplifying content by having one campaign they can promote through multiple channels.
· Social Media Influencer Sourcing Campaigns
In addition to amplifying earned media content, social media influencers are also an excellent source for creating new PR opportunities. Companies looking to generate additional press coverage should consider building relationships with relevant individuals across different industries with large social media followings. These influencers will be able to optimize your brand on social media by sharing stories about a brand with their audiences and assist in helping these companies receive additional free press coverage from major publications
· Newsletter Promotions of Earned Media Content
Email newsletters are a type of communication method used by many businesses today. They stand out as one of the most effective channel for promoting earned media campaigns due to the high Returns on Investments (ROI) they promise. Ideally, for every single dollar you pump into email marketing, you can expect $42 in average returns. Marketers should consider promoting their earned media content across email newsletters they regularly send to leads and customers. While this is a simple strategy that does not require any additional effort beyond what the marketer would be doing already, it can still help amplify campaigns through re-engagement marketing efforts
· Social Media Content Upgrades
Finally, marketers should consider upgrading social media posts and articles once they have been published online. This means marketers should try and gather as much data about each campaign as possible and use it to create different types of custom ads that appear alongside the content. For example, if a company could generate press coverage for its new product launch on Facebook, social media managers can then take all of the related posts they’ve made within this campaign and use them to create a variety of ads for the brand. This approach allows marketers to promote existing earned media content across multiple channels, increasing the likelihood of receiving additional press coverage in major publications.
The Bottom Line: What You Gain from Generating and Amplifying Earned Media
There are several ways marketers can amplify existing earned media campaigns and generate additional press opportunities. Implementing one or more of these tactics will help businesses gain even more benefits, such as building relationships with influencers, re-engaging leads and customers through email newsletters, driving traffic to website content upgrades, finding new social media influencers that can assist with future PR efforts.
Author Bio
Sherri Carrier is a skilled writer who is also an active member of several writing clubs in New York. She works with one of the best essay writing service and writes her own poems during her free times. Sherri is inspired by her favorite writers and people close to her.
