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INTRODUCTION
Dear reader,
Thank you for downloading this e-book. It was written especially for you, having in
mind your goals and challenges as an online marketer.
You see, in the last months, we have understood that the world of online marketing and
PR is in a sort of a crisis: so much content is being created, that getting the attention of
readers is harder than ever. From researches and talks weve had with marketers and PR
specialists, generation and maintenance of traffic for branded content turned out to be one
of the most challenging tasks.
That is why weve put together a collection of guides, researches and commentaries, with
a single goal: to help you understand and overcome the problems related to increasing
growth hacking of traffic.
The keyword for this e-book is content. Content is the fundamental element in generating
traffic and brand awareness online. In this e-book, you will learn everything you need to
know about creating, monitoring, distributing and promoting online content.
We hope you find this e-book informative and useful, and we look forward to your feedback.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
Fight for your right to visibility: a guide to creating content that spreads
Release me: 5 tips for writing the perfect press release .......................................................................................6
A checklist for every occasion: The Boost the News cheat sheet for content creation ..........................9
Content, not only text: an experts guide to the perfect infographic ..............................................................11
CHAPTER II
Pitch perfect. Pitching tips that will get your news to the right publisher
13 Tips to pitch the media for the win ....................................................................................................................18
Everything you need to know to pitch bloggers and online influencers ....................................................24
CHAPTER III
If content is king, distribution is queen: an extensive guide to content distribution
Creating content is not enough: 5 strategies for content distribution ........................................................30
50+ tools that will make your content bomb the internet ................................................................................34
CHAPTER IV
Put the final stamp on success: measure the impact of your news
Monitoring your brand online? Likes are not enough! .....................................................................................44
7 questions about media monitoring. Ask yourself these essential questions while monitoring media
about your brand .................................................................................................................................................................47
Boost the News is a media monitoring tool that allows users to monitor news
according to selected topics and keywords, to estimate the traffic of particular
articles, and to promote articles that are important for them.
CHAPTER I
Fight for your right to visibility:
a guide to creating content that spreads
RELEASE ME:
So what is
a good
headline?
Writing a short
article means...
Keep it short
you
provide
your
story
(including
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Be concrete
What makes something newsworthy are facts. Nobody writes news about general claims,
philosophical debates, or your own opinions. If you want to give a chance to be published,
stick to the facts and hit with the numbers. Theyre a journalists best friend.
Press releases are a bilateral kind of content. You need the reporters to make your news
reach the world, and at the same time, they need you as their source of information.
Therefore, make sure to be available to give more information: dont forget to put your
contact details in the press release, and include links to all sources that may help a reporter
with background information, facts, etc.
When writing a press release, pay attention to these five things, and increase the chances
of having your press release published. In the next chapter we will also discuss creative
ways of pitching journalists and bloggers with press releases, so just scroll down!
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Headline
How long is the headline? Is it optimal for sharing and searching?
Is it catchy and shareable?
What kind of headline is it? A question, a list, a clickbait?
Does it include the relevant keywords?
Content
What type of content is it (essay, case study, interview, list, how-to, infographic, etc.)?
Does your content solve a problem? If so, is it mentioned in the first paragraph?
Does your content evoke any emotions?
How long is your content?
Is your content divided into relevant subheadings?
Does your content include strong calls to action (share, download, buy, join)?
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A checklist for every occasion: The Boost the News cheat sheet for content creation
SEO
Does the URL of your content include keywords?
Does the SEO title of your content include keywords?
Does the meta description of your content include keywords and the most
relevant information?
Visuals
Does your content contain relevant visual elements?
Are the visual elements in your content original (not stock photos that appear
in hundreds of other websites)?
Distribution
Have you shared this article on relevant social networks?
Have you shared it on relevant forums and groups?
Have you considered other forms in which this article can be reused (films,
presentations)?
Have you pitched to influencers that could be interested in sharing this article?
Have you pitched to brands that would be interested in promoting it?
A good infographic has a determined goal: to make a point, to pass a message, to demonstrate
a phenomenon. Make sure you determine your message clearly. A bad infographic leaves
the reader with one big question mark what was that all about??
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11
Deriving from the main message is the headline of the infographic. The headline makes
sure the reader understands what is going to be presented. It needs to be big, prominent
and bold, otherwise the reader wont know what the infographic is about.
Write a narrative
A bad infographic is just a gathering of random data and numbers. A good infographic
creates a narrative, a storyline: it starts in the headline, and then builds a set of arguments
that slowly lead the reader to understand the main idea
An infographic that presents wrong or partial information jeopardizes the credibility of its
creator. Make sure to double check the information you present and provide sources and
references. Remember: to edit an infographic after it has been published is much harder
than to edit text.
Be creative
An infographic is not a mere repetition of the text, but an amplifier of its message. Use the
infographic wisely and creatively to look at the data from a different angle. Dont be afraid
to use metaphors, symbols, and other artistic means.
The former point reminds us that an infographic is not an article it shouldnt be loaded
with text. Focus rather on the visual.
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The medium is the message, and the infographic is a visual medium. A good infographic
expresses the text and communicates the message through its form. If something is bigger
in numbers, it should be bigger in form; if something is shocking, its appearance should be
shocking.
Make sure the most important elements of the infographic are emphasized, so that the
reader gets them straight away. Enlarge and bold keywords and numbers to clarify your
point.
Keep it clean
Make the infographic uniform and coherent. Bad infographics look like a pastiche of
different graphics and create confusion and visual rejection.
10
Make sure you choose one simple palette and go with it throughout the whole infographic.
Too many colors will also create confusion and take away the attention from the data.
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Infographic #1 - BAD
Wow! What a mess! I need to give my eyes
a moment to adjust! Joking aside, here is what
our panel of experts sees as problematic
in this infographic:
There is no uniformity of colors and
fonts. There are 5 different colors and 4
different fonts appearing interchangeably
in this infographic. This causes a feeling of
visual chaos and prevents the reader from
concentrating on the information.
The headline is unclear and does not stand
out from all the text.
The text is sometimes really small and
unreadable. Main facts drown in the sea of
text and are left unnoticed.
Terms used in the infographic are not
explained (does everybody know what
above the fold means?).
There is no coherent narrative, and
numbers appear randomly.
The use of graphic elements is poor and
does not contribute to the understanding
of the data.
The key takeaways should be presented
more graphically and clearly.
Where are the sources?! How do we know
where the information came from?
Now lets have a look at the good infographic, and see what we can learn from it:
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Infographic #2 - GOOD
This infographic gives a feeling of harmony
and order. It is reader-friendly, and there is
a coherent flow of information. Here is what
we like about it:
The headline is clear, prominent and
oversees the whole piece.
There are only three colors and two fonts,
used systematically in repeated patterns.
The flow of information is clear. There is
a sequence in the text, which is even
further strengthened by the presence of
dotted boxes and lines.
Important numbers and keywords are
bolded in the text, and draw attention to
what is really crucial. Without even reading
the whole infographic, you immediately
notice that it is about: our attention span,
the percentage of the text read online,
importance of visuals etc. Combining with
the knowledge from the headline, you can
conclude: by using visuals, highlighting
important information and inserting it
above the fold I can increase the chances
of the article being read from A to Z. Bingo!
A rich use of graphic elements supports
the main message and enriches it, without
overwhelming the main message.
The key takeaways are instantly visible
and presented coherently.
Do I want to learn more? Thats easy all
the sources are listed below
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These two infographics showcase how the same information can be presented in two
distinct ways. In one, the infographic fulfills its role and supplements the text with interesting
insights and compelling form. In the other, its gives no added value but confusion. Follow
our 10 rules to keep on the winning side of infographic creation.
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16
CHAPTER II
Pitch perfect.
Pitching tips that will get your news
to the right publisher
Press releases are like Kenny from South Park. Over the last decade, they have been killed
and brought back to life a million times. Today, the debate is still heated: should you, or
should you not, go out to the media with a press release about your brand? Well, the rules
of the game have changed. Press releases have lost their power as news sources in the era
of digital and social media, and its getting harder and harder to make a successful news
pitch to journalists, bloggers or influencers. But this does not mean, that the press release
died. Like anything else in the history of communication it has evolved. The question is not
if, but how to present it. Yes, the old habit of writing a dry press release and sending it to
thousands of journalists probably doesnt hold water any longer, but a bit of creativity can
make it work for you. Here are 13 tips that will pimp your pitch:
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Choosing the right reporter to hit with your press release is not an easy task, but its possible.
Ask yourself the following questions:
What publications does my audience usually read?
Out of these publications, where would I most like news about my brand to appear?
Once Ive chosen my preferred publication what reporter usually writes articles about
topics similar to the ones Id like to proposal?
Once youve found the reporter youd like to target with your press release, go over his/her
previous publications. What similar patterns do you recognize? What is usually emphasized
in the articles? What excites him / her? This will give you a hint on what is important for
him/her, and what type of information may increase the chances of your press release
turning into an article.
Youve put so much effort into finding the right person to pitch make sure the reporter
sees your effort. Dont write a message that looks like it has been sent to a million reporters:
put in the reporters name, explain shortly why you chose him / her and why, of all reporters,
you think this piece will be most relevant for him / her.
Personalization starts already before the first e-mail. If you just send your press release to
a reporter whos never heard of you before, the chances he/she will read it are smaller. Start
cultivating contact with the reporter even before: follow on Twitter and LinkedIn, comment
and share articles, make sure the reporter recognizes your name and your interest in his/
her work.
Part of the reason why mass press releases are no longer working so well is that they dont
have the element of exclusivity. Why would the reporter want to report on something that
is published on hundreds of other platforms?
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If you care about the quality more than the quantity and want to score an article on
a top-level publication, take into consideration that many reporters will require exclusivity.
If its important enough for you, you should give it to them. This will contribute a lot to the
mutual trust between you, and increase the chances of your press release (and future ones)
turning into real articles.
Your brand is the biggest news of the world for you, no doubt about that. For you, your
brand or product deserves to be on the cover of Time, Forbes, and WSJ magazines, at the
same time. But do other people also think so?
General news about your brand (youre launching, you exist, youre starting a new project,
you do stuff) usually wont make the news (unless you are Apple, Google, or the like). Dont
write general information about your brand to a reporter, and expect theyll make news
out of it. What you have to do to increase your chances of making headlines, is to find the
newsworthy angle of what you want to say:
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Surprise
Be brief
Aint nobody got time for that says the legendary meme, and its right. As much as the
story of your brand is fascinating to you, reporters, bloggers and other influential people
probably dont have time to read about it. If they want, they will later get deeper into it but
in the beginning, you have to be brief, to the point, and sharp as a knife. Cut to the heart of
the story in the quickest possible way avoid boring the recipient with long introductions,
and get fast to the most interesting parts.
Making it easy for the reporter to report about your story will increase the chances of your
story being told. Not because reporters are lazy just because having all tools for work
makes thing easier, faster, and more probable.
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If you just throw one word to the journalist, expecting him/her to do all the rest of the
research work, even the most interesting story will require a couple of days, if not weeks,
to be completed. But if you already provide with all the necessary numbers, background,
links, and even a roughly drafted text and a potential headline, this process will be shorter.
Remember: a good pitch is already a raw article.
And not only the numbers. If youre going to give all the information the reporter needs,
itd better be correct! Otherwise, you will both be feeling very uncomfortable when people
start noticing your mistakes. Help mutual trust grow by providing accurate and reliable
information!
10
A press release, as we are used to it, is a piece of text with information. But does it have to
be like this? Absolutely not! For example how is a reporter supposed to write about your
product, if he/she hasnt even seen or experienced it yet?
Consider what added items can you attach to your pitch (even if it means you have to send
it by regular mail or give it personally, rather than by mail) samples of a product, pictures,
access to additional information. This is not to bribe the reporter, of course, but again, just
to provide with optimal conditions for the reporter to write about the topic.
11
To make it easier for you to provide reporters, bloggers or influencers with the necessary
information to write about your story, it is common to prepare a media kit. A media kit
includes all the necessary information that anyone from the media could possibly ask for
while writing about your brand. All the relevant numbers, stories, graphics, pictures, all
gathered in one place.
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Make sure to include in this media kit not only the information about your brand, but also all
the necessary information about the story you are trying to publish: all relevant statistics,
research and background. Again, its all about making it faster and easier for the reporters
to access information
12
Review
When in a hurry, its easy to make mistakes. But a stupid typo or misspell can hurt your first
image, and discourage the reporter from following up on our story. Be a professional; avoid
faux-pas by checking, re-checking and re-re-checking your message and press release.
13
Follow up
These 13 tips have shown that there is actually a lot of space for creativity beyond the
classic press release. The world of news and communications has moved on, and so should
we. Using a creative, professional and surprising pitch can actually increase your brand
visibility.
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Bloggers and online influencers can have a powerful impact on the brand
image. However, many brands, have failed to build constructive relations with
them mostly because they are stuck on old formats and practices. These six tips
will help you understand the new rules of the game and avoid those mistakes that
others in the industry have made.
One of the most noticeable phenomena in online publishing is the rise of the power of
bloggers and online influencers. In the last decade, the industry fiercely debates whether
bloggers are replacing traditional journalists and bringing to the slow death of known media
outlets. This discussion has a strong presence in the world of online PR and marketing, as
brands and companies ask themselves whether they should abandon traditional PR for the
new blogger outreach and influencer marketing trends.
Fortunately enough for you, you dont have to choose between the two; investing in your
online presence is not a zero-sum game. What you have to do, however, is to realize the
immense influence that bloggers currently have on the online marketing and PR industry,
and to learn how to properly engage in interaction with them, so they can help your brand
visibility.
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The king is dead, long live the king! Everything you need to know to pitch bloggers and online influencers
For many brands, working with bloggers and online influencers is not obvious. Despite
the fact that influencer marketing and blogger outreach have been recognized as the
most important online marketing trends for 2015, many businesses still fail to build
constructive contacts with bloggers. This happens mainly because they fail to understand
what blogging is all about, and stick to their working routines that were good for traditional
PR and journalism. Our experience in cooperating with bloggers has taught us six lessons,
which we share here with you. When pitching to work with a blogger or online influencer,
remembering these lessons will increase your chances of succeeding.
The first step when choosing to work with a blogger / online influencer is choosing the
right partner. Though it may sound easy, the task is actually tricky. When it comes to
online influence, its easy to be misled by the numbers. Bloggers and influencers who brag
with huge numbers of followers make it tempting to work with them, especially if we are
beginners in the field and think we just look for online celebrities.
But when we talk about big and small blogs, we have to be careful in the way we measure
them. Numbers can impress, but they can also lie; some blogs are not as big and influential
as they may initially seem. What we are aiming to avoid here are so-called vanity metrics.
Vanity metrics are statistics that measure irrelevant things, can be easily manipulated,
and may not contribute anything to your brand.
Even if at first sight a blog seems big and popular, its important that you dont get blinded
by the numbers, and focus on the truly relevant metrics for you. Focus on engagement and
conversation. If a blog is influential, you will see it not only in the numbers of followers it
has or in the traffic statistics, but first and foremost in the level of engagement it sparks.
If a blogs Twitter account has thousands of followers but no engagement (re-tweets, replies,
etc.), thats a warning sign. The same goes for comments on the blog. Look to see if readers
are interested, react with the blogger, engage in discussions. You might be surprised to see
that a smaller blog can perform better in this field than a bigger blog.
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The king is dead, long live the king! Everything you need to know to pitch bloggers and online influencers
Moreover, you dont always necessarily need a blogger with a huge network of followers. What
you need is an influencer with a network of followers that suits your brand. For example, if
the brand is local, you dont need a huge influencer on the national or international level.
Having a strong local influencer is of extreme value. The key word is targeting: whether
a blog has higher or lower traffic is less important, what is important is that it reaches out
to your target audience. It will save you loads of money, and make your campaign much
more effective.
This is another place where brands and businesses get it wrong from the very beginning.
Old-school marketers and PR specialists still treat blogging as that cute hobby their
12-year old niece has. They fail to realize that bloggers nowadays are full-time celebrities
with a busy schedule and a crowd of thousands (if not millions) of followers a huge
potential for your brand awareness efforts. When they fail to understand the potential of
bloggers, they fail to treat them with the proper respect. Dont be that person show that
you respect the time and the work of the blogger, and start building a healthy relationship.
This lesson is a continuation of the first one, and is a very sensitive issue. Bloggers with
whom weve talked report that most of the offers they receive are unpaid. Not surprisingly
marketers who dont take the work of a blogger seriously tend to think they will do it just
for fun, which is, of course, not true. Just like any other PR or marketing campaign, if you
dont invest any budget, how can you expect any good results? Remember, if you want to
work with a blogger with a big audience, who can have true impact on your online brand
visibility, you have to be prepared to pay. Think about it in advance, study the market, and
determine a budget. Otherwise, you will hear a lot of doors slamming.
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The king is dead, long live the king! Everything you need to know to pitch bloggers and online influencers
The main reason why bloggers are so successful is trust. Readers trust the opinions
of bloggers and online influencers more than they trust ads and brands, and this trust is
a bloggers biggest capital. If the blog turns into one big advertisement, the audience will
quickly lose trust and interest, and go somewhere else. Both you and the blogger will lose
from it. So take into consideration the formats limitations, and dont expect something
that looks like an advertisement campaign. The message on a blog campaign should be
subtle, trustworthy and honest, and above all in line with the blogs identity. Dont try to
force yourself. Which brings us to the next lesson.
Bloggers are professionals. There is a good reason why they have achieved their current
status. They know what their audience wants and expects, and they know how to deliver
it. If you start being too pushy and forcing your own formats and rules, you will end up
creating a product that is incompatible with what the blogs audience is looking for, and is
therefore completely uninteresting for them. Result: no impact for your content.
You have to trust the bloggers that they will create something that is right for you, and will
work for your brand. If you dont trust them, go create a blog of your own.
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The king is dead, long live the king! Everything you need to know to pitch bloggers and online influencers
So, youve learned all the previous lessons, made a great offer, gained the trust of the blogger,
and youre about to start cooperation. But you need everything NOW.
No, it doesnt work like this. The final product that you see in the blog is the result of several
days of work. Here is what the blogger needs to do to for your post to be ready: plan the post,
write it, edit it, edit it one more time, optimize it for SEO, take pictures, edit the pictures,
upload the post, distribute it on social networks, answer comments of readersall of this,
and we havent yet spoken about the bloggers regular content calendar (dont forget theyre
not only writing your post, but dozens of other ones), previous commitments, and other
time constraints. To avoid misunderstandings, set in advance the expected deadlines of
your branded publications, and dont sit on the bloggers neck.
To sum-up, working with bloggers is a whole new world for many marketers and PR
specialists. The rules of the game are slightly different, but with these six lessons, you
can make it.
A
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CHAPTER III
If content is king, distribution is queen:
an extensive guide to content distribution
The previous chapter focused on tips to create great content that will be easily
shared online and generate lots of traffic. But, as we have learned in the first
chapters, creating content is far from enough. Over are the days of spray and
pray, in which you could create great content and just wait for the readers to start
coming. If content is king, distribution is queen, said Jonathan Perelman, VP at
BuzzFeed to succeed in generating traffic, you need to come up with a strong and
sustainable content distribution strategy. In this section, we provide 5 strategies
for content distribution that you simply must take into consideration:
Social media
Some eyebrows may be rising right now. Yes, of course everybody knows social media, and
everybody uses them as platforms for distributing content. But are you up to date with all
the available channels?
To ensure you are making proper use of each network, follow several rules:
Social media is not only Facebook. Move around and see what else the world has got to
offer.
Be where your audience is. Distributing your content on social media does not mean you
have to be everywhere all the time. You have to learn where your audience is and focus
most of your efforts there. The average Joe might seem to be hanging out on Facebook,
but if youre looking for a more professional audience, you will more probably
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tweet!
tweet!
faceb
ook
YouTube
Linkedin
Google +
Influencer outreach
Influencer outreach has become one of the most popular content marketing practices in
the last year, and will continue to dominate the field in the upcoming years. Why do all the
job of creating and distributing content, when you can turn to someone who is already an
expert in the field, and already has a network of thousands of devoted readers? Marketers
realize that the trust that bloggers and influencers enjoy produces much better results.
These stats might help you understand why:
90% of consumers trust peer recommendations. Only 33% trust ads1
81% of U.S. consumers trust advice and information from blogs2
Consumers are 71% more likely to make a purchase based on social media referrals3
User generated content is 50% more trusted by internet users than traditional media4
Sources: www.nielsen.com1, www.convinceandconvert.com2, www.blog.hubspot.com3, www.adweek.com4
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Years of misuse and spammy practices have given e-mail marketing a bad reputation
and caused marketers to underestimate its efficiency. But the practice is experiencing
a comeback and is now considered one of the most important strategies for content
distribution. According to the Salesforce 2015 State of Marketing report, 80% of marketers
say e-mail operations are extremely important for their business: 20% say its directly
linked to their primary revenue source, and 60% say its a critical enabler of their products
and services.
Why is e-mail marketing so important?
Instead of fighting for attention it delivers your content directly to the readers inbox.
Readers have volunteered to read your content, which increases the chance of your
articles being read. There is no better-targeted audience than the one who deliberately
said it wants to read your articles. They are interested in your content.
With e-mail marketing, your content is more independent. Imagine if Facebook went
down or decided to block your page. What would happen to all your followers? Where
would you find your readers now? With e-mail, you can be sure you have unmediated
contact with your followers, all the time.
Native advertising
David Ogilvy, considered to be the father of advertisement, once said: The less an
advertisement looks like an advertisement and the more it looks like an editorial, the more
readers stop, look and read. Half a century later, and this quote serves as inspiration for
one of the biggest current trends in online advertising: native advertising.
Why does native advertising work so well?
You dont have to run after your audience. Native advertising finds it for you.
You target readers that are already reading similar content. This means they have
much higher chances of being interested in your content.
Native advertising promotes content in a form that does not resemble advertisement
and is more similar to regular content (that is why it is called native).
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Retargeting
Readers that read your content will most probably be interested in reading other articles by
you. The problem is that, as it happens in the era of content inundation, sometimes they
miss them, and some of the articles dont get read. Retargeting catches these readers after
they have already left and calls them back for another serving.
Retargeting your content works much better than other types of advertising, for two
main reasons:
1. You are advertising it to an audience that, has already showed interest in your content.
There is a much better chance this audience will click your ad and read your article.
2. You are advertising interesting content, not products. People are more interested in
content than ads, which also increases the chance of the ad being clicked.
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CONTENT BLITZ:
50+ tools that will make your content bomb the internet
Creating good content without distributing it properly is doing half the work
and doing half the work, as you know, is like doing no work at all. We have just
presented 5 prominent strategies to distribute your content. Now its time to assign
some tools for this task. In Content Blitz, we provide you with over 50 tools that
will ensure you dont miss a single spot in your content distribution efforts.
Content recommendation:
AddThis
E-mail: Mailchimp,
GetResponse, BenchMark
content.
sees it.
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Content blitz: 50+ tools that will make your content bomb the internet
Facebook: pages,
profiles, groups and ads
Social networks are the mother and the
audience!
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Content blitz: 50+ tools that will make your content bomb the internet
You
can
find
profiles,
pages,
and
Carpet-bombing content:
Buffer, Hootsuite, SocialPilot
Its not easy to coordinate a content blitz
LinkedIn: profiles,
groups, posts and ads
on
your
content
distribution.
Thats
social networks.
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Content blitz: 50+ tools that will make your content bomb the internet
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Content blitz: 50+ tools that will make your content bomb the internet
Show up on yourcompetitions
website (II): Sniply
38
Content blitz: 50+ tools that will make your content bomb the internet
Getting
your
content
published
on
39
Content blitz: 50+ tools that will make your content bomb the internet
Disqus
Wikipedia references
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Content blitz: 50+ tools that will make your content bomb the internet
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Content blitz: 50+ tools that will make your content bomb the internet
in search results, through search ads. You choose the search terms for which you want
your content to be promoted (lets say, for example, content distribution, like in this post),
and when someone searches content distribution, your content appears before the rest of
the unpaid search results.
Blogging platforms:
Medium, Tumblr
Medium and Tumblr are two of the most
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CHAPTER IV
Put the final stamp on success:
Measure the impact of your news
When you want to monitor the visibility of content about your brand, its tempting
to start counting the amount of times that given articles were liked, shared, or
retweeted. Unfortunately, reality shows that these metrics have little to do with
the real number of people who read the content. If youre counting likes, youre
probably wasting time and money.
One of the most prevalent ways to
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content.
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You are a professional marketer or PR specialist who cares about your brand. Media
monitoring is an inherent part of your work: you want to know who is talking about
your brand - when and where. But are you doing it right?
Most online media monitoring focuses on one task: to see where the brand is being
mentioned. But this is not enough. There is a plethora things you can do while monitoring
media about your brand which can give you a broader picture of your brands online visibility
and enable you to improve on it. At Boost the News, weve analyzed articles about dozens
of brands and came out with a list of important questions to ask yourself while monitoring
media:
Start with the most basic question (which is probably what you were doing anyway):
Where did the article about your brand appear?
This is important for a number of reasons:
If the website on which the article appeared is big and known, you can quote this article
and use the websites logo on a media about us or as seen on section on your website
to increase trust and credibility.
What is the target audience of the publication on which the article about your brand
appeared? Have you considered this target audience before? If the article appears on
this certain website, it means that it is of interest to its audience, so think why are they
suddenly interested in your brand, and whether you have explored enough this audience.
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7 questions you must ask yourself while monitoring media about your brand
Step II after you know the article has appeared, what is its actual impact? How many
people are actually reading it? Pay attention to this parameter you can have an
article about your brand published on a major website, but research by Boost the News
shows that a few days after publication, the traffic of online articles drops by over 90%!
What is worth an article that nobody reads?
Social networks are the big bosses of online content distribution. After an article about
your brand has appeared online, follow the conversation.
Heres what you should check:
How many people shared / liked the article?
In which social networks was the article most popular? (Its important to know, because
it might hint something about where your biggest potential audience is, and where you
should focus your social media efforts).
Who shared / liked your article? Get deeper insights about the audience that is talking
about your brand. What is their age, profession, interest, background? This will help you
to improve your communication efforts later.
Who are the biggest influencers who shared the article? Find out who shared the article
and generated the biggest amounts of other likes and shares from their profile keep
them in mind when future content comes up, you might want to have them sharing it
again!
Its great that your brand hit the headlinesif the context is positive. You need to know
what the context of your brands appearance is, and whether its a positive mention or
a negative mention. If its negative, you should take immediate action to fix the crisis. If its
positive, learn what your brand did that made the news, and how you can repeat it to gain
more visibility!
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7 questions you must ask yourself while monitoring media about your brand
Not less important than the article itself, is how it was perceived by the audience. What
discussion followed the article? Do readers agree with it? Do they support the brand? Are
they curious for more information? There is a lot you can learn about your brand from
listening to what people say in the commentaries to the article and in conversations on
social media.
If an article mentions your brand, the best would be if it would also put a link to your website.
Otherwise, it makes it harder for readers to follow-up and check more about your brand.
Look for a link to your website in the article, and if there isnt, dont be afraid to request one
(see more below).
This is the most important part of your monitoring. An article about your brand does little,
if you cant take it forward and make the best out of it. Here are different considerations on
how to follow up on the article:
How should you react to the article?
The first and most obvious question. If the article mentions your brand negatively, develop
a response in which you address the problems brought up by the article. Of course, journalistic
ethic would demand the reporter to ask for your comment before the article is published,
but not all writers follow this rule, so you should be ready to react after the publication. You
can react by addressing the criticism either on the article itself (comments, or by sending
your answer to the website), or on your own website / social media accounts. Of course,
crisis management is a whole world of PR in itself, so make sure you do it wisely.
Increase the reach and impact of the article
If the article mentions your brand positively, make everything you can to increase the
number of people who are reading it. Help by sharing it on your website and social media
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7 questions you must ask yourself while monitoring media about your brand
accounts, and by increasing the buzz around it. Interact with users who shared and liked
the article, and join the conversation. Are there more places in which the article could be
shared? Consider who else could be interested in reading the article share the article
with prominent influencers, on relevant social networks, groups and forums.
Follow up with the reporter
A reporter that wrote about your brand once is more likely to do it again in the future. If you
didnt have any prior contact with the reporter, make sure to establish it. Congratulate the
article, and offer to stay in touch for more information, updates or questions. If you play it
right, this could be the beginning of a great friendship!
You can also get in contact with the editors of the publishing website regarding future
promotion of the article if you want to increase the reach of the article, offer them to
promote the article by posting it more often on the websites social media profiles or by
keeping it on the home page for a longer while.
Media monitoring is much more than checking where your brand appeared online. Ask
yourself these 7 questions to be sure that youre covering all the necessary aspects of your
media monitoring in the most professional way. And dont forget the mention itself is
not what matters, but the IMPACT of the article.
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Boost the News is a media monitoring tool that allows users to monitor news
according to selected topics and keywords, estimate the traffic of particular
articles and promote articles that are important for them.