The Difference Between Social Media and PR
You need to know the difference between PR and social media.
You can use social media to get media mentions, consistently put your content out there.
When you create exposure for your brand, you’re going to get picked up by the media.
So that would be an example of me using social media to get PR. However, the PR part comes in where you land the interview.
Utilizing Your Network for Free PR
Many of you may not have millions of followers, but you have enough of a network to utilize for PR. You most likely have access to connections. If you’re not using your networks, you’re missing out on PR opportunities! Are you leveraging your contacts? That is a significant way to get PR!
I hired a PR company a couple of years ago, and they were putting me in these obscure ass places where I’m like, no one sees this. No one cares. Now I actually have a set of criteria to be on another show to focus my efforts on reaching followers on other platforms that are a similar demographic to my platform. Whichever form of PR you use, it’s only effective if the time you’ve spent moves the needle.
How to Get Major Media Attention for Free
Companies that you may want to work with and writers you work with don’t want to hear from another person – they want to hear from you. They want to be able to get a straight connection from you to them! Your followers want to listen to your message straight from the horse’s mouth.
Why? Hearing it from you holds much more value if you’re personally sending content and giving your followers the angle. Because they have a direct line of contact with you, they will be more inclined to respond.
Research Your Media Options
Number one, do your research. Find verticals that are missing and pitch your offer based on what the platform doesn’t have.
Check out my previous episode to find out how I landed a column in a major magazine using this tactic.
Learn How to Pitch
Number two, learn how to pitch. This is so important, and I promise you that if you learn how to pitch correctly, which we cover in Persuade to Profit, module four, I promise you’ll get ahead of the game.
When looking for PR and Media opportunities, search for them the way you would prospect for clients. Who you want to work with? Present your offer and follow up with your media kit. Remember, you are selling yourself. This is sales for media placements. With that being said, make sure to follow up, follow up, follow up!
The Importance of Follow-Up
Following up is extra important when you’re dealing with the media because you’re dealing with people on super tight deadlines. You have to get attention in their inbox. Also, although your story may be good, it may not be a good story for now. However, that doesn’t mean it won’t be a good story for later. It’s the same as sales.
Once your efforts turn into work and your work starts to snowball, your name will pop up when people are looking for experts in a particular field. I’m number two when people are looking for business coaches for millennials on Google. All my media mentions are snowballing into one extensive Google search promotional.
When you’ve been mentioned in all these other places, people realize that you are the real deal, and they’ll reach out to you. That’s exactly what happened with the docu-series. They found my YouTube video; then they went to Google me. And they’re like, damn, this girl has been in many media, and they emailed me immediately. We had that interview sorted out in a week.
This is a strategy that I want you guys to start thinking about implementing as it’s way cheaper than ads. I know many of you have been told to spend money on ads, and you’re just not ready to do that yet.