Blair Broussard, Vice President @blairab

@ar_ _ pr #IDEAinstitute

How to #makenews and

Lead Your Industry:

Tested PR and Social Media Strategies for Early Stage Companies

Value of PR

@ar_ _pr #makenews

REACH / BRAND AWARENESS• Mashable

• 36.8 million unique monthly views• 4.4 million Twitter followers

• TechCrunch• 13.7 million unique monthly views• 3.39 million Twitter followers

• Trade Journals• 300 publications reaching hundreds of thousands of

professionals

IMPACT / ROI• Credibility, credibility, credibility.

• 80% of business decision-makers prefer to get company info from articles vs. ads.

• Ward off competition by increasing your industry authority & leadership.

• Content marketing costs 62% less per lead than outbound marketing.

• Increase your chances for VC funding!• “The day after our startup was featured in The Next

Web, we had two VC firms from Boston call us to begin discussions.” – AR|PR client and Atlanta-based startup founder

What’s your dream headline?

@ar_ _ pr #NOEW2014

Overview• Prepare. Plan. Repeat.

• Getting Your Feet Wet

• Changing your PR approach

• Developing shareable content

• Don’t DIY Alone

• Let’s Chat

@ar_ _ pr #NOEW2014

prepare. plan. repeat.

Topic Press Release

Social Media Byline Blog Webinar Case

Study Video E-Blast

MAY

500 Customer Milestone

X X X X X

JUNE

Product Update X X X X X

The Game Plan

getting your feet wet

start with your personal brand…

80% of a new company’s value is its CEO.

Make sure your brand’s leadership is active and authentic on Twitter &

LinkedIn.

Draft compelling leadership bios and snap on-brand headshots.

Begin planning how to showcase yourself as a thought leader (speaking opps, blog posts, etc.)

Why LinkedIn?

• Every second, two new professionals join LinkedIn

• Largest professional network with 259 million users from 200 countries

• More than 3 million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages

• Every Fortune 500 executive has a LinkedIn profile

• 90% of Fortune 100 companies use LinkedIn’s corporate talent solutions

• In 2012, over 5.7 billion professionally-oriented searches were conducted on LinkedIn

Completing Your Personal Profile• Put your value proposition in your headline, not your title (e.g.

HealthIT entrepreneur and veteran mobile app developer)

• Add a professional headshot

• Include relevant keywords in your job description (i.e., Healthcare, HealthIT, Mobile Health, etc.)

• Ensure your privacy settings are set to public

• Put your most shareable content first (you can drag & drop each module)

Employee Listing

• Ensure each employee lists your company as his/her employer and hyperlinks to the page.

• Add articles, slide presentations, videos, etc. to add visuals and engagement to your profile.

• See who’s viewed your profile and send a follow up note

• Update your status (at least weekly) with useful articles and resources to show up more frequently in news feeds of your contacts

• Add your LinkedIn URL to your email signature, business card, etc.

Profile Engagement

Profile Engagement (cont’d)• Audit your contact list & follow all clients, prospects and their

companies

• When you enter a new contact into your CRM, also follow them on LinkedIn

• Ask for & give recommendations and endorsements to increase your exposure on others’ profiles

• Participate in group discussion posts (incl., tradeshows & thought leadership)

Profile Engagement (cont’d)• Audit your contact list & follow all clients, prospects and their

companies

• When you enter a new contact into your CRM, also follow them on LinkedIn

• Ask for & give recommendations and endorsements to increase your exposure on others’ profiles

• Participate in group discussion posts (incl., tradeshows & thought leadership)

• Twitter is the 2nd most popular social network in the US

• 42% of Twitter users learn about products and services via Twitter. (via Convince and Convert)

• 51% of active Twitter users follow companies, brands or products on social networks. (via Edison)

• 67% of Twitter users are far more likely to buy from the brands they follow on Twitter. (via MediaBistro)

• 70% of small businesses are on Twitter. (via MediaBistro)

• 85% of followers feel more connected with a small business after following them. (via Twitter)

Why Twitter?

Identifying & Engaging Key Influencers

• Use Klout to identify top influencers for certain keywords (e.g. ecommerce, retail, makeup etc.)

• Find the Twitter handles for your key media outlets and bloggers

• Search hashtags of keywords your potential audience may use & follow those users

• Create lists to organize and showcase influencers

• Engage with the people on those lists: reply, retweet & share

changing your pr approach

@ar_ _ pr #NOEW2014

• Distribute releases via a wire service (e.g., PRWeb).

• Include keywords in the heading and subtitle that are relevant to your business.

• Keep your headline at ~100 characters.

• Bring out the underlying value of your announcement with your title.

• Link to everything! Your website, social media accounts and other pages that boost the “newsworthiness” of your announcement.

@ar_ _ pr #NOEW2014

Search-friendly Press Releases

Search-friendly Press Releases

• 80% of Internet browsers prefer videos over images and text in press releases. (source: Real Effect)

• Including photos in your press release increases engagement by about 18% and video by 55%.

• Images expand your audience up to 180% and a custom mix of photos, videos and multimedia content increases it up to 970%. (source: HubSpot)

@ar_ _ pr #NOEW2014

Have a Kick Ass Videoand always share it with

reporters

Media outlets are looking to engage readers and keep them on their sites for longer periods of time to increase ad revenue.

As a result, they’ll often place YOUR video on THEIR site alongside editorial content.

@ar_ _ pr #NOEW2014

The Connected Journalist• 59% of journalists use Twitter, compared to

47% in 2012 (source: Weber Shandwick)

• 92% of journalists are on LinkedIn, making it the most used social media platform by journalists (source: PRNews)

• 6% of journalists’ first option for researching a story is to consult a brand’s website (source: Weber Shandwick)

• On average, journalists visit 2.6 social media channels for each article they research (source: PRDaily)

@ar_ _ pr #NOEW2014

Start with a Media Database

• Your media list should

include:– Reporter email addresses– Reporter Twitter handles– Media outlet Twitter handles– Reporter LinkedIn URL’s

• Start your engagement with a personal touch– Follow target reporters and media outlets on Twitter– Connect with target journalists on LinkedIn and send a

quick, personal note

@ar_ _ pr #NOEW2014

Pitch Reporters on Social Media

As reporters flock to social media for story sources, cut through the inbox clutter - reach out to them on Twitter and LinkedIn! (Hint: A lot of them prefer this method)

@ar_ _ pr #NOEW2014

Make PR Reach Further• Cross-post press releases and media placements on

your social media, blog & website

• Tag outlets/reporters on social media

• Share news stories in your email marketing

• Ask employees to share news articles to LinkedIn and Twitter networks

• Hang media placements in your office@ar_ _ pr #NOEW2014

developing shareable content

@ar_ _ pr #NOEW2014

Creating Strategic Content

• Create Content Categories• This will help you identify what users are

responding to• Percentage of each category will vary

from network to network

• Establish a Content Calendar• Helps you PLAN AHEAD• Think about holidays, awareness months

etc. • Can be weekly, bi-monthly or monthly or

whatever works best for you.• Tie in real time postings as well

Community Management Best Practices

• Tie your page to your brand: Picture, Bio, Background

• Remember anything you post can be seen by your followers as well those as outside of your community.

• Use plain English/avoid jargon

• Create and identify your own unique hashtag

• Create a customer service strategy and social media policy to minimize liability and retain your reputation

Community Management Best Practices

• Be Consistent and Respectful• Have a strategy when it comes to

responding to all tweets• Only delete a member’s post if it is

abusive

• Engage with your followers• Say thank you, ask & answer

questions, respond to mentions• Fill posts with pictures and videos

that will catch your followers’ attention (they show up in the feed)

• Identify and follow keywords that relate to your brand

don’t DIY alone!

@ar_ _ pr #NOEW2014

annaruthpr.com/startupPRStartup

Packages

@ar_ _pr #makenews

• Affordable

• Media lists of your target reporters

• Social media strategies

• Press how-to video

• Press release & wire distribution

• 1-on-1 consultation

Startup Packages

@ar_ _pr #makenews

The Launch Rocket package provided us with the consultation and tips we needed to engage with reporters on the phone, via email and even through Twitter. The day our press release was distributed, we received 8,000 app downloads within 24 hours - our biggest day yet. The package even helped us land a feature in TechCrunch!

Questions? Let’s Chat!

Contact:Offices in Atlanta Tech Village

and Launch Pad New Orleans

855.300.8209 | arpr.coannaruth@arpr.co

linkedin.com/company/arpr

facebook.com/annaruthpr

@ar__pr