Digital PR is one of the most effective ways to get great links to your website from quality online platforms and publications.
When your press release, blog or article is written with the right key words, contains links and is published on other sites, Google automatically chooses you over other websites.
The more times this happens, the more search engines will consider you as a reliable source of information. As a result, your brand will rank higher in the search engine result pages and will get more recognition.
But, getting back links is not the only reason why digital PR is useful. Here are 6 more:
Get your brand in front of your audience
Boost website traffic
Generate social media engagement
Improve brand reputation and trust
Crisis management
Turn into leads or sales
1. Get your brand in front of your audience
Part of an effective digital PR campaign is knowing where your audience live online, and when you get this part right, you’ll likely see results in coverage in publications or websites aligned with your target audience.
Whether you’re issuing a press release or pitching for a blog, if the story gets picked up by multiple media, then the reach of a brand mention can go far. As well as your target audience, digital PR can put your brand in front of a new audience of readers and potential customers too.
2. Boost website traffic
It’s not only links that can get you increased traffic to your website. Your company will also benefit from more website visitors when your brand is mentioned in many places, on a frequent basis. Mentions on the web or shares on social media make it easier for people to travel directly to your website – and it can lead to more organic (google) searches.
Plus, from there you have the ability to track activity and re-target visitors with future digital PR campaigns.
3. Generate social media engagement
A good digital PR campaign can be used to drive engagement on social media and facilitate conversations between your brand and its audience. Essentially, it all comes down to knowing your audience and sharing campaigns which attract their interest. A campaign that generates discussions amongst followers is a great way to drive long-term engagement.
When this is done well, social media becomes another route to drive people back to your website.
4. Improve brand reputation and trust
With any type of PR, part of what you’re gaining when you secure press coverage is an increase in brand awareness.
The more exposure you get, the more people will be able get to know your business, and its values. Digital PR can also help your target audience find your site in a more organic way.
Also, having interesting and authentic content often builds brand reputation and genuine trust with the media, their readers, and key customers. In this case people will be reading, engaging, and supporting the content.
In a similar way, content that is shared on social media and is generating engagement from audiences who care and are interested in your brand, will lead to more and more good things being said about it.
5. Crisis management
One important benefit of a digital PR strategy is that online initiatives can help keep a crisis situation under control and save your brand image.
When something does go wrong, there is a serious risk that your reputation could be affected – people searching for your company online might find a large amount of information about an old or single incident. Having a good relationship with online media and a strong online presence gives you a chance to offset or replace negative information and tackle crises as they come up.
6. Turn into leads or sales
In short, digital PR helps you to create a good brand image in front of your target audience, and when you are established as a trusted brand, people are more likely to go to you for your services or products.
Using a digital PR strategy, your brand will be mentioned much more frequently in front of an interested target audience, which will generate leads from some of the people who visit your website.
There can be no doubt that links are an important part of building and boosting your brand’s online presence, but this is just one piece of the puzzle of digital PR. Working with a PR agency can help you focus on the bigger picture and determine how to use a PR campaign that adds value beyond.
Get in touch if we can help you build your digital PR strategy.
