Obtaining media coverage for your organization is an exciting achievement.
When the publication goes online or goes to print, many people consider the task complete and job well done. While there should be a pat on the back, there should also be quick steps toward phase two for your placement: maximizing your media coverage.
Consider this – you’ve just received a third-party endorsement of your organization (we call this media coverage). Now is the time to continue to share this endorsement with your stakeholders, not allow it to go away when readers click off the link or close the publication. Odds are, many long hours of planning, monitoring, pitching, scheduling, prepping and reviewing have gone into this piece of coverage, so it would be a shame (and damaging to your return on investment) to see it come and go so quickly.
Here are five simple ways you can maximize your top media placements to ensure you get the most bang for your media relations buck:
Add to your website: Make sure you have a specific spot for news on your website and continually add your media coverage and press releases there. This not only increases your ability to share news but will help with SEO as well.
Share via email: If you are regularly emailing members, volunteers, donors and other stakeholders, work media coverage into your email campaigns. People want to know the missions in which they are invested are garnering attention. This is a quick, easy and low budget way to let them know the organization they are a part of is making news.
Order reprints: If the piece of coverage is high level enough (i.e., published in top-tier outlet or just a really excellent story), consider purchasing reprints. These reprints can be worked into fundraising materials and used at events and trade shows. And, if the coverage is ‘wall worthy’ have the reprint framed and displayed in your lobby or meeting room for visitors to see.
Share internally: One of the most easily forgotten audiences (more on that later) is your internal audience – your staff. Don’t forget to keep these champions for your cause completely in the loop about media coverage; they will want to celebrate with you. Consistently share the coverage with employees and ensure they know if and how you would like them to share with volunteers or their own personal networks. Remember, if you are asking staff to share something, make it easy: give them content for social media or some email text to share with their volunteers.
Share via social media and your blog: Of course, media coverage should be pushed out via the appropriate social media channels. Additionally, make sure you include social sharing options on your website and in email campaigns so those who you share the coverage with can pass it along to their networks with the click of a button. Finally, if you want to really stretch the ROI and usability of a great piece of coverage, use it in a blog. Just write a bit of original copy (make sure you don’t plagiarize the original article) that adds to the angle of the article itself and then link to the article online. A best practice with this is to reach out to the publication to seek permission to link to the article. They will most likely say yes (as linking is just as good for their SEO as it is for yours!), but it is good form to ask.
There you have it – five quick and easy ways to ensure your media coverage lives well beyond the initial publication date. If you take a bit of time up front to set a quick plan for how and when you share media coverage, these efforts will become second nature.
Want to keep these tips hand, check out our infographic.
Let’s collaborate! We all know there are more than five ways to share media coverage and get the most bang for your media relations buck. How else do you like to share good news?
