Find PR Opportunities for Your Business Online
Getting positive PR for your small business isn’t easy. Writing, distributing, and following up on press releases takes time, energy, and an awful lot of patience, especially if you’re pitching to a major publication or website. Luckily, social media has provided small business owners with a new platform for seeking out and interacting with journalist from all walks of life. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a fashion designer in New York or a salon stylist in Chatham-Kent, if you have a product or service that’s fantastic, social media can help you get your company the media coverage you deserve.
Three Ways to Get the Word Out Using Social Media
1) Tweet Breaking News
If you’re only distributing your press release to local media outlets you’re missing out on major marketing opportunities. The local paper might not understand or appreciate the impact of your new environmentally-friendly line of hair care products, but a specialty green magazine in Toronto will definitely want to learn more. To make the most of Twitter, start following important influencers in your industry. Engage with others, and eventually you’ll have some quality followers interested in learning and spreading your company news to potential media contacts. It also doesn’t hurt to tweet a hashtag keyword with a link to your press release – journalists monitor hashtags and trending topics to see what’s popular and/or unique right now.
2) Learn to Love LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the Facebook of professional networking. Here, you can connect with colleagues and business associates in order to grow your list of contacts. A closer investigation of your contact list could uncover some potentially useful connections. Small business owners can also join various groups on the networking site in order to meet new people and cultivate new relationships.
3) Have You Heard of HARO?
HARO, or Help A Report Out, is a great service for businesses in search of media coverage. The site, which was recently acquired by the Software-as-a-Service company, Vocus, is a service that connects reports with reliable story sources quickly and easily. The system, which began as a Facebook group, lets businesses sign up as “sources” for free. Once signed up, you’ll receive a handful of HARO emails every weekday, each overflowing with queries from deadline driven journalists. And we’re not talking about your local reporter – HARO has a database of more than 29,000 journalists, including writers from The New York Times, ABC News, and the HuffingtonPost. Think your company is a perfect match for one of the queries? Well, what are you waiting for, respond! HARO is 100% free for sources, so really, what have you go to lose by signing up? Businesses of all sizes are welcome on HARO, just beware – if you’re caught spamming a journalist you’re immediately booted from the system.
How do you spread company news to media sources? Do you have an alternative method to the traditional press release? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
