Emily White 
For most PR professionals, securing a media placement in a target publication that reaches your client’s audience is the cornerstone of any well-thought-out media relations strategy. However, the benefits of earned media coverage shouldn’t end with just the outlet’s audience potentially reading the article.
Whether it’s a B2B magazine, local newspaper or even The New York Times, you want to make sure you’re getting as much “bang for your buck” as possible. Earned content can be further leveraged to not only increase its value, but also reach new and different readers.
Outlined below are four tactics that are easily implemented and will help continue the shelf life of earned media coverage.
- Social media: It may seem like an obvious step, but promoting recent media coverage across social channels is the easiest way to get the word out to those already interested in your brand. In addition to sharing on the company’s platforms, it can be helpful to simply let all relevant employees know that the article has been published. More often than not, these individuals wouldn’t have known otherwise. You can then also take this opportunity to encourage them to share the news with their social networks as well. If you’re wondering what to do if the coverage is behind a paywall, read this post.
- Marketing collateral: Depending on the type of article, a great story about your organization can be turned into marketing collateral or a promotional piece. Whether it’s incorporated into a company brochure, case study or made into a “leave-behind” for the sales department, the shared content can create increased awareness to the work your organization is doing and serve as a positive testament to the benefits of working with you.
- Newsletter: Does your organization send an internal or external newsletter? If so, incorporating recent news coverage or even a roundup of recent company coverage is an excellent way to maximize media mentions. Adding clickable material can also be useful in breaking up more lengthy newsletters and allows you to add visuals or increase material that wasn’t drafted by your organization.
- Website: While almost every organization has a news section on its site to aggregate earned media placements and announcements, steps can be taken to further employ this feature. For example, functionality can be added that allows users to sign up for a notification when a new article is added. This also makes the content easily shareable if an individual would like to pass it along to someone else who might be interested.
Posted In Public Relations