It’s no secret that social media has revolutionized today’s world. Social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat have transformed the way our entire society functions including the way we interact with our family, friends and colleagues. The power of social media is no different in the realm of public relations.
In order to take this social media driven society by storm, join Lisa Buyer in her business book, How to Optimize, Socialize and Publicize Your Brand Social PR Secrets, as she provides actionable tips on combining the power of social media and PR. This inside guide is packed with content that explores a host of topics including newsjacking, media relations, content planning, creation and distribution, visual communication, SEO, visual reporting, podcasting and more.
Through her own experiences and with valuable examples, Buyer illustrates the concepts she details. Each chapter demonstrates the impact social media has had on the practice of PR and how professionals in the field need to adapt to these changes in order to thrive.
From the standpoint of a content creator who blends art with digital media, below are several excerpts from the book that are poised to assist with the development of an online strategy:
Stay fresh, find inspiration
To keep your inspiration fresh, you’ll have to find various unique ways to get inspired. One way I try to generate new ideas is to put aside time each week where I get in touch with my dreams. I put myself in places when I’m likely to draw inspiration, such as spending time watching TED talks, attending informational events, reading articles and books or trolling successful people on social media. This allows me to develop some rhythms and habits to stay creative and relevant.
Create materials and content that addresses the needs of your audience
As a PR professional, knowing your target audience allows you to customize your marketing materials to relate with your customer. You can spend all the time and money in the world producing the content, but it all goes to waste if it fails to reach the right person. Before you invest all that time, effort and resources on your tactics, it’s a good idea to determine your target audience, find out how to reach them and figure out if they find your content appealing to begin with.
Skip self-promotion and find your passion points
Another key takeaway to point out for creatives is to limit self-promotion. For instance, Red Bull rarely talks about their drink, but rather emphasises the passion that connects the brand to its audience and living life to the extreme. Try not to get so caught up in the act of promoting your services and accomplishments that you overshadow what your brand represents.
Make your message real and authentic
The more virtual our lives get, the more we hunger after something genuine. Give people what they really want, not just a product or service – an experience. Craft a message that is honest and transparent that speaks more to your brand’s purpose than its profit.
Use visuals to illustrate your message
Whether you are a PR specialist, a social media coordinator, a SEO expert, or someone who works in advertising, visuals need to be one of your key communication strategies. Visual elements can have an enormous impact on the success of your content. As a social media admin for my brand, I can say from experience that image and video posts on social media receive more engagement than text updates. If you want to deliver a well-tailored message to your audience it is vital that you incorporate visual communication.
Offer a clear next step or call to action
A clear CTA is crucial in a stressful and fast-paced environment. These conversion elements need to get to the point and be easy to find and understand. How you craft and design your CTA depends on your goals and also where you decide to place it. I would highly recommend that you test and adjust your calls to action to different emails, landing pages, blogs and social media.
Manage content with an editorial calendar
In today’s era of content marketing and social PR, managing your content can seem like a daunting task. Think of the editorial calendar as the blueprint for your content responsibilities and it will help guide you where you need to go and how to get there. For example, my team uses this calendar to plan ahead for upcoming material, allowing time to create, repurpose or curate relevant content as it fits into our publishing schedule.
Leading the way from traditional to Social PR, Buyer informs readers of the evolution of social and PR in a modern, clear and understandable way. Overall, Social PR Secrets by Lisa Buyer is a great resource that offers classic tips of the trade that can be helpful to any PR Practitioner. If you are looking to expand your skills and learn new valuable tools give it a read!
Emily Senski-Taylor 