It’s all about optimising content. Watch my video about the press release that got over 30k unique visitors here.
If my video is about effective engagement, this blog is about opportunities missed.
What opportunities do corporate PRs forgo if they fail to optimise content?
What risks do corporate PRs run if they remain wedded to comms practises that are no longer aligned to the environment in which they operate?
So here’s my top three list of lost opportunities:
- Journalist-only focus: Here’s what a global VP of marketing told me last week. He said two years ago it was all about journalists and corporate stakeholders. Now that no longer adds up. Most people that come to his website are not mainstream media or investors. So the newsroom is not just for journalists; it’s for current and future employees, customers, bloggers, investors, sustainability advocates, and community leaders. The lesson here is we ignore our expanded roster of stakeholders at our peril. Not a risk worth taking.
- Not providing options to share on social networks (tweet this, Facebook like, Stumbleupon etc): Yesterday I had a session with a comms director for a major retailer. He told me a critical objective for him is to “make more noise”. I asked him how many employees the company had. Turns out they employ over 130,000 people and the majority of those people are from the “Facebook generation”. So he recognises he has an untapped asset that can communicate his core messages (“make more noise”). Of course the content has to be composed and packaged appropriately so that it can be shared and re-shared easily. Imagine this company has a campaign around organic fresh food. Let’s say they communicate this with their own employees and one in ten like the campaign enough to share it with their family and friends on Facebook. On average people have 130 friends on Facebook so that’s potentially a personal recommendation of your story to over 1 million people – that hasn’t cost you anything. And that is just one group of stakeholders. As an ex-journalist himself he noted that journalists share content with each other via twitter. So it makes sense to make it easy for them to do so. Point made.
- Not linking to relevant content: So let’s say a blogger has read an article about your CEO and sustainability that a friend shared with them via twitter. The article has got a link back to the original post on your site. So now what do you do? If your story is about sustainability then why not have a list of related stories on the same subject alongside the article? Now this blogger can find out more about your initiatives in this area and has access to additional content. He’s able to write his own story and add something new to the discussion rather than just repeating what’s already been said. The blogger is happy, the PR is effective and the CEO’s message has increased exposure. Job done.
This list is not exhaustive. These are just three quick wins. Please feel free to add to the list.
Alistair
