One of my missions in my work and speaking is to help experts understand that there are valuable and actionable ways to reach the media directly through your online content.
As a longtime journalist turned online visibility strategist I’ve seen many of my clients apply the power of their social media content to connect directly with journalists and secure media coverage.
The days of just having a traditional PR person pitching you as an expert are long passed. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the old mass pitching methods via fax, spam mail and phone do not see the uptake they once did.
When over 50% of the journalists, bloggers, and media are freelancers it’s vitally important to remember they are actively on the hunt for the next great story because that is how they will in turn get paid for a story.
That next great story could be YOU.
Over the next few weeks I’m going to share insights on how to use your content to “be the expert that shines online” to the media. I’ll also share some client wins that have come through using the processes I’m writing about.
The tips today focus around how you can use your blog content to garner media attention as well as new opportunities for contributing to larger online sites like the Huffington Post or BasilandSpice.com that feed out to many online channels.
Remember your blog content can be repurposed into all your other online channels. (Note: If you’re concerned about copyright of your blog content, then make sure you’ve registered it under the Creative Common License.)
Here are five tips you can use today to attract the media to your blog:
1. Set up google news alerts that match your expertise and and respond to at least major media article that comes through those alerts on a weekly basis. Link to the article in a blog post, and give additional insight (from your perspective) to the article’s topic. Don’t be snarky. Give actionable insight.
2. Subscribe to three enewsletters from publications that cover your topic. When you get those enewsletters make sure you read through them and see if there is a wonderful article you can cite in your own blog and again give your take on the article. Make sure to explain why it’s a useful article to your blog readership and add a couple of your own insights as well. (Extra tip: Go to the actual site the article is running on after you’ve made your blog post and comment on the article itself on the site. Always comment authentically and don’t comment just to get a link back to your site!)
3. Be a news breaker on your blog. Just like a PR person offline spends hours reading the news in your arena and trying to determine how you can comment on breaking news – you can do the same yourself and use your blog to do so. If you’re a fiction writer for instance, you might keep up with the latest sales in fiction and share your insights with your readers first!
4. Don’t leave out the local and regional! Too often we’re focused only on national blogs, media and coverage. If you start with your local coverage, articles, etc. to link to you can begin to catch the local media’s attention through your blog. Once in awhile blog “close to home” sharing some local insight or linking to your local paper. Imagine if your local paper is The Washington Post and the editor is scanning blogs for local folks to comment on business stories!
5. Stop waiting for just the right blog-bite! The longer you wait to start sharing your insight in your arena on your blog, the more the competition will outpace you. Take 30 minutes today and write up ten things you know you could effectively comment on in the news or media world. Start building some content around those on your blog.
You will succeed!
As anyone knows who hears me speak at events, I’m a giant fan of Linkedin.com and feel it’s an incredible tool for visibility, networking and connecting with new potential partners, customers and even journalists.
The stats on Linkedin.com usage continue to climb and it really is your virtual corporate boardroom. Every talk I give I make sure to underline this message because so many people are just using Facebook as a way to stay connected. Linkedin.com should be a primary tool for you no matter what your business vertical.
Did you know that Linkedin.com has over 70 million members spanning 200 countries? Did you know almost all the Fortune 1000 companies have a company page on Linkedin.com? Linkedin.com is the tool that helps you connect to them.
If you’re an author, entrepreneur, non-profit, for profit or private school, B2B or B2C business you should be on Linkedin.com and using it effectively to connect to a larger network of people.
Five Ways To Ensure Visibility on Linkedin.com:
1. Make sure that your profile is at 100% on your personal profile.
2. Make sure that you have filled out the Summary paragraph on your profile with actionable keywords and your best and specific description of your expertise.
3. Make sure that you have claimed your VANITY URL under your profile name on Linkedin.com. You can go into your profile and do this by clicking on EDIT profile and change your Linkedin.com link from numbers to your full name.
4. Make sure you have joined all your college alumni groups, your Linkedin.com city group (if there is one) and a couple of business groups in your profession.
5. Start the process of sending out invites to your co-workers, business partners, etc. to make sure you build up your network. Continue to accept invitations on the platform as well.
Bonus Tip: Make sure you have listed your email in your profile so that people can contact you directly.
Today I flew out from San Francisco after speaking to the Northern California Book Publicity and Marketing Association luncheon yesterday on ”Online PR and Social Media,” and spent the flight listening to the Dead on my iPhone.
This was shortly after having coffee in Sausilito this morning with my friend Ann Matranga at The Depot. We sat outside and watched the kids play in Lytton Square which Bill Graham helped create and we talked about the Dead.
So it seems synchronistic, speaking of the Dead that David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan today announced, Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from The Most Iconic Band in History (Wiley, 2010).
There are so many reasons why this book is cool, but I have to be honest and say I love Chapter 8: Encourage Eccentricity and the whole focus on the fans and marketing.
I love it because it reveals how a company or band or individual can tap into the power of differentiation and eccentricity to make their way in the world. Not only can this bring you success, but it’s the right thing to do!
To quote from that chapter, “The Grateful Dead teaches us that we are all eccentric in some ways. Smart companies understand eccentricities and create a market from them.”
I also like this from the book, ”Deadheads are your neighbors, coworkers and friends.” As a dancing bear tattooed Deadhead I’ll have to confess, I know the deadheads, the deadheads are friends of mine, and I am proud to still be one!
As Bill Walton says in the foreword of the book, “Like other daring visionaries The Grateful Dead rejected conventional wisdom.”
That’s why we are still dancing – and that’s really how you can build a fan base that even after all these years is still trading Dead stories, tapes, t-shirts and mementos of their time drifting with the Dead.
So any marketing lesson that Scott and Halligan share in this book you definitely should tune into.
Go see David’s post all about the book tour at his site.
And check out his new tie-dye pic on the site too. Wonderful.
Meanwhile, me and my dancing bear will be digging the marketing nuggets of this extraordinary and timely book on marketing!
- Image via Wikipedia
If you’re ready to truly have independence and thrive both online and offline, then you need to also declare your independence from naysayers.
You know who they are and you have to compassionately say goodbye to them. They are not only the people in your life that are always the first to say no to a new idea, but also your own negative beliefs about your brand, your offerings or your value to the world.
Does this mean once you say goodbye to them you don’t have to do any more work? That things will just happen? Absolutely not. To make anything happen in this world, you absolutely must be scrappy, persistent and unyielding in your desire to attain your dream.
If you want to attain the dream of being more visible online then you should:
1. Stop listening to people who say social media tools like Twitter and Linkedin.com are useless.
2. Stop listening to viral marketing agencies and PR firms who tell you the only way to get your message out is through bait and switch content and endless affiliate marketing spam techniques.
3. Build your thought leadership online by sharing your insights freely, honestly and often. Stop waiting for people to give you permission to share your expert knowledge. Start providing your community a way to freely access your content on your blog/website in conjunction with other social media networks.
4. Stop listening to people who promise a quick method way to gaining thousands of followers on social network communities with very little real work or effort on your part. There is no quick, easy way to community-building, start one click at a time and keep going.
5. Stop buying into the idea that only a giant PR or marketing firm can do conversational sweeps, define social media touchpoints, or find relevant communities for you to participate in. You can do alot of this work on your own and you can collaborate with the agencies if you do determine to work with them.
6. Stop letting the fear of social media and all those folks who say it can’t be used effectively keep you from you USING it. If you choose not to let your voice be heard through online channels, then you’re missing out on the opportunity to truly effect change in the world.
No go and be vibrantly independent!
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