Social media has become an integral part of digital marketing campaigns, but did you know that it can also become an important cog in the wheel of your personal relations. As per the words of Berry Tramel, the core purpose of PR is to paint a positive picture of your brand. You don’t always have to write press releases to achieve that goal. You can also do that by using social media and brand ambassador software.
Why Use Social Media for Public Relations?
According to social media statistics,
- 77% of consumers say that they are more likely to buy from a brand they follow on social media as compared to brands they don’t.
- 67% of consumers are more likely to increase their spending with a brand they follow on social media.
- 50% of users follow brands on social media to learn more about new products and services.
- 45% of consumers are more likely to research a product or service by using the brand’s employees post about that product or service.
Despite this, most businesses fail to take full advantage of social media for PR, as they use it the wrong way. They tend to bombard their followers with promotional and sales messages which frustrate them, and they end up unfollowing that brand. How can brands use social media the right way for their PR stunts? That is exactly what you will learn in this article.
In this article, you will learn about seven ways in which you can use social media for personal relations.
1. Guest Posting
People like to buy products from brands they trust. The best way to build trust is to establish an authority in your niche. The best way to do that is to contribute and publish guest posts on other authoritative websites. It gives you an opportunity to share your expertise with a new audience and get a backlink in return. This can increase your credibility and brand exposure and cement your place as an industry expert. When your target audience starts to see you as a trusted brand, they are more likely to buy from you.
2. Partner with Journalists
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you must get more exposure for your products and services? Journalists and popular publications. Unfortunately, reaching out to journalists and popular publications might not be easy. You can not just cold pitch journalists on Twitter or just send an email to pitch a famous publication.
First, you need to know about their interests and what topics they like to write about. Start a conversation and try to build a long-term relationship with journalists. You can build good rapport by:
- Retweeting their articles on twitter and other social networking websites
- Help reporters and journalists by giving ideas and sources for news stories.
- Avoid being promotional and try to interact with journalists.
3. Leverage Influencer Marketing
Harness the power of influencer marketing to enhance your PR efforts just like a digital marketing agency. Rope in the right influencers in your niche and co-create content that your audience will love. You can pay celebrities and influencers to post about your products. These influencers have a large fan following and when they talk about your brand, products, or services, your brand exposure and awareness will grow exponentially.
If you cannot afford to pay these celebrities, you can opt for micro-influencers. Micro-influencers might not have a large fan base as celebrities, but it costs less and delivers a higher return on your influencer marketing investment as compared to celebrities. You can also send free products to popular influencers in your industry in exchange for an honest review. Brands can also use it as a testimonial to attract new customers.
4. Brand Ambassadors and Brand Ambassador Programs
Take influencer marketing efforts to the next level by investing in brand ambassador programs. Brands pass brand ambassadors through a strict vetting process before choosing the right one. A brand ambassador is given different types of incentives by brands such as money, products, company perks or more to talk about a product.
Spotify’s brand ambassador program is a perfect example. This program focuses on college and university students and encourages them to host parties with Spotify playlists. This adds a fun element to the whole experience and persuades them to share their great experience with others.
5. Ask Your CEO To Post On LinkedIn
If you are working in a business-to-business company, you should divert all your energies towards LinkedIn. You can request your CEO or co-founder of your company to write and publish a post on LinkedIn. Just like guest posting, this allows you to reach out to a different audience, which increases your chances of attracting new customers. When a CEO publishes a post on LinkedIn, it sends a positive message and also helps in personalizing the message.
6. Social Media Ready Press Releases
One of the biggest mistakes most brands make is that their press release is not social media-ready. When you are publishing a press release, make it easy for readers to share it on social media platforms. Include social sharing buttons and add other sharing options so it can get more eyeballs. Additionally, brands can also extract sentences from your press release and share it on Twitter. Brands can include images, infographics, or videos in your press release. In fact, you can also insert a social media post in your press release to extend the life of your social media posts.
7. Create a Crisis Management Plan
Social media and PR share one thing in common. Both put your brand reputation on the line and if you are not careful, it can destroy your brand reputation within minutes. You don’t want your brand to earn a bad reputation and press. That is why it is important to have a reputation management and crisis management plan at your disposal so you can overcome these issues. Handle crisis situations through official press releases and social media responses.
Instead of deleting negative comments from angry customers, identify whether the issue is genuine or not. If it is real, then you should apologize and try to fix the problem as soon as possible. Keep your users updated about the progress and how long it will take to fix that problem instead of keeping them in the dark.
Do you use social media for personal relations? If yes, what ways do you use? Let us know in the comments section below.
Irfan Ak is a marketing strategist at Branex, a digital marketing agency. He is also a writer & guest blogger on various websites. He has worked with various other brands and created value for them.
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