Public Relations and Marketing Blog & Resources

Using Social Media To Drive Your Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Social media can be a great way to take your message directly to your target audience. Using various social media tools, you can build your online profile and reputation, create more backlinks and drive people back to your Web site. Below are the various tools PRMG uses to get clients maximum exposure on the Web: … Continue reading “Using Social Media To Drive Your Search Engine Optimization (SEO)”

Below are the various tools PRMG uses to get clients maximum exposure on the Web:

Blogs: Blogs are Web journals that contain opinions on different subjects. Often described as the “front door” to social media, the authors of blogs can read, comment and exchange links on other blogs. Since blogs can be updated more frequently, search engines looking for fresh content will rank it higher and make it more searchable.

Besides this, blogs can be a great way for you to build your organization’s reputation, showcase its expertise, highlight a product or service, and help improve your Search Engine Optimization by drawing audiences back to your website and including backlinks to internal pages in blog entries. They also provide a more personal way of communicating with your customers or other target audiences, giving you an opportunity to obtain constant feedback from them.

Social Networking: Social networking sites operate on the simple premise of building a profile and connecting, interacting and sharing information with “friends” over the network.

Facebook, which has more than 200 million users worldwide, allows you to build your own business fan page and create your own targeted ads, applications or platforms, which can serve as a great marketing tool. Using Facebook, you can share links, latest company news, start discussions, list events and post videos and pictures.

LinkedIn, another popular site, is particularly known for professional networking, where you can create a profile, and also display recommendations or testimonials from clients or former employers, ask and answer questions on business-related topics and create or join a professional networking group.

Microblogs: Twitter, the most popular microblogging tool, is a free service that allows members to send short messages or updates that are 140 characters or less. The message is sent to people’s “followers” or people who are interested in what the person has to say or share. Twitter can be a useful tool to drive people to your blog, Web site or Facebook profile by posting a URL every time you update them or want to inform people of latest events, promotions, press releases or company news. By posting your Web site URL to your Twitter profile or including your Web site link in a direct message to new followers, you would also be helping to boost traffic to your Web site.

Since it only consists of short updates, Twitter can often be easier to keep up with, as compared with blogging, and still help you connect and network with current or prospective customers. Many organizations use Twitter for customer service and as a quick way to monitor what others are saying about their brand.

How PRMG Can Help You Tap Into Social Media

The vast array of social media tools available can often be confusing. To help you cut through the social media clutter, we begin by first identifying your business and communication goals. Based on your target audience, we devise a marketing and communication strategy, and select social media tools that can help you best achieve your goals and reach your target audience most effectively.

Whether you need help with starting a blog, setting up a Facebook page or a Twitter profile, PRMG will always adopt an integrated approach to social media and ensure that it complements your traditional public relations and marketing efforts.

Using Public Relations To Drive Your Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

The Web can be a great place to showcase your product or service and get out your message directly to your customers. However, with the evolution of the Web into a crowded marketplace, being found easily by your target audience can often be a challenge. By strengthening your online presence and improving your rankings in … Continue reading “Using Public Relations To Drive Your Search Engine Optimization (SEO)”

The Web can be a great place to showcase your product or service and get out your message directly to your customers. However, with the evolution of the Web into a crowded marketplace, being found easily by your target audience can often be a challenge. By strengthening your online presence and improving your rankings in search engines, you can enable consumers and media to find you at the precise moment that they are looking for information or need a particular product or service that you can provide.

Wikipedia defines Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a Web site from search engines through search results. Usually, the higher a site ranks in search results, the more traffic it receives from search engines.

In simple words, SEO is mostly based on three steps:

• Identifying a profitable key phrase
• Creating content around the key phrase
• Building backlinks around the key phrase and other relevant content

Backlinks are clickable words, phrases or images that take a user from one Web page to another. While quality and not just quantity of the links is important, more and more backlinks to your site can help improve your search engine rankings.

Traditionally, SEO has only been associated with marketing and Web development, with a focus on Web site usability and architecture. While optimizing Web copy, graphics and multimedia files for search engines is important, most organizations ignore the importance of public relations in driving SEO results.

Here are a few PR tips and techniques that can be used to achieve better SEO results:

News Releases
With most journalists increasingly looking online for information, e-mail pitches alone are not very effective. By posting the latest news releases about your company on online news distribution services and your Web site, you can ensure that journalists can easily access newsworthy information about your company.

Besides journalists, most consumers and other target audiences use the Web as their primary source of information. This has changed the traditional public relations practice of distributing press releases exclusively to the media. Press releases can now serve as a great tool to directly reach your target audience with the latest news and information about your company or organization, and direct them to your product or service.

PRMG uses free online press release services like PRlog.org to ensure that your latest announcement reaches not just the media, but also your target audience when they look for you or a relevant phrase associated with you online. PRLog distributes press releases to search engines, including Google News. So when someone searches for your company or organization, the latest information about you can be easily found within the first three search result pages.

Using tools like Wordtracker, we can identify keywords and phrases that can be included in the headline and copy of the news release. However, it is important to strike a balance between including keywords and content relevant to your audience. If keywords are overused, search engines will reject your press release. By including links to your Web site in the body of the press release, we create additional backlinks that help optimize your site better and contribute to improving its rankings.

Submitting Articles
Submitting bylined articles to relevant online publications and Web sites can be a great way to not just strengthen your online presence and SEO, but also help to display your organization’s expertise and thought leadership, when someone searches for you online.

Again, the quality of links is important; getting placed in a top-tier publication will boost your search engine optimization much more. Creating profiles for your organization and listing your Web site URL on article directory sites such as Ezine Articles, Article Base and Scribd.com, will help optimize your site and establish your credibility as an expert in your field.

While submitting the article, be sure to include information about yourself and your business (including a hyperlink to your Web site in the ‘author’s resource box.’ This will help drive traffic to your Web site and expand your presence online.

Articles should also contain relevant keywords in the body of the article with hyperlinks that go back to your site. For example, an article on refinancing can include a hyperlink to the keyword ‘refinancing’ which takes the reader back to a page on the company’s Web site that talks about their refinancing services. It is important not to include too many keywords and to include links relevant to the keyword, or the article directories may reject your article, depending on their editorial submission guidelines. When people go to these sites looking for content, they will find your article. If they find your content useful and engaging, they will be more likely to follow through and visit your Web site.

Making The Most Of Your Facebook Page

Every business today needs to take its message where its customers are. Facebook, one of the largest social media networks with over 350 million active users, has grown beyond its role in personal networking and emerged as a powerful marketing tool for businesses. Facebook “fan” pages are now an essential branding tool for all organizations, … Continue reading “Making The Most Of Your Facebook Page”

Every business today needs to take its message where its customers are. Facebook, one of the largest social media networks with over 350 million active users, has grown beyond its role in personal networking and emerged as a powerful marketing tool for businesses. Facebook “fan” pages are now an essential branding tool for all organizations, helping businesses or non-profit organizations of all sizes interact and engage directly with customers or the community in a way that’s least interruptive.

Facebook pages enable you to create your own unique presence where customers can interact with you and keep in touch with your brand, product or service. By becoming a “fan” of your page, customers can access the latest updates on your “wall,” read your latest blog entry or event, and view videos or photos you may post on your profile. They can also participate in discussions and post comments or give feedback on information you may post.

When someone becomes a fan of your page, posts a comment or interacts with your page, their activity is visible to their friends through the “News Feed.” The social nature of Facebook gives your page greater exposure, allowing you to attract more fans and draw attention to your company or organization.

Besides these benefits, Facebook pages usually rank high in search engines, helping potential customers find you easily and own more “real estate” in the first few search pages. By sharing links with company-related news or other information on your Web site, you can drive more clicks and better optimize your site for improved search engine results.

How To Get Started

The first step is to set up your profile. If you already have a personal profile, just log in to your account and click on the applications tab on the bottom left. Select “Ads and Pages” and click on “Create a Page.”

Select an appropriate business category for your page and enter your company information. List your Web site’s URL and links to your blog or Twitter profile, along with other contact information. While creating a profile, think about how you want to project your company to your fans and what keywords you want to include in your profile and business description. Once you set up your page, click on “Publish your page” to make it public.

You can then invite your “friends” on your personal profile to become fans of your business page. If you don’t have a personal profile, it is recommended that you set one up first before creating a business page. Having a personal Facebook profile will make it easier to promote your Facebook page among your existing network.

What Should You Post On Your Facebook Page?
Keeping your profile active is important if you want to retain your existing fans and attract new ones. You can post regular updates on new projects your company may be working on, links to the latest company news, press releases or your latest blog post. You can also post events and pictures and start discussions with your fans, inviting their ideas or soliciting their feedback.

Using applications such as Facebook polls, you can gauge what your customers think about a particular product or new service you want to introduce.

How To Attract Fans To Your Facebook Page
To attract fans to your Facebook page, the first step should be to become a fan of your own page. This will ensure that your Facebook friends learn about your page through the News Feed. You can then also invite your own Facebook friends to become fans of the page by using the “Suggest to Friends” feature that shows up below your profile picture on the top left.

To publicize your Facebook page, add links to it on your Web site, e-newsletter and blog. You can even add a clickable Facebook badge or icon to your e-mail signature that points to your Facebook page. If you wish to try paid options, you can use Facebook ads to publicize your fan page to a select target audience based on demographic or geographic criteria or other criteria, such as profession or interests.

Visit PRMG’s Facebook page and become a fan to stay connected with us.

Are You LinkedIn?

Whether you are the CEO of a large organization or the owner of a small business start-up, you are certainly well aware of the benefits of professional networking or “knowing the right people.” Not only can it help you win new business, it can also help you stay up-to-date with the latest trends in … Continue reading “Are You LinkedIn?”

PRMG’s LinkedIn profile

In today’s uncertain economic times, building and sustaining a professional network becomes even more important. Though nothing can replace the authenticity and effectiveness of face-to-face networking, for small business owners who don’t have the time to attend conferences or other business networking events, LinkedIn can be a great way to connect and build professional contacts virtually.

What is LinkedIn and How Do You Get Started?

LinkedIn is a professional network with over 50 million members worldwide. LinkedIn allows you to build your resume online and to connect with colleagues, friends and other professionals in your industry. LinkedIn profiles rank high in search results, which allows you to control one of the first impressions that people get when they search for you online.

You can create a profile by entering your name and e-mail address on the LinkedIn registration page. Once you have created a LinkedIn account, you can start creating your professional profile by entering your work experience, education and other accomplishments. LinkedIn now allows you to add your Web site or a link to an online portfolio and even your blog or Twitter profile. You can also update your status and tell others in your network what you are working on. Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn status updates are usually work-related rather than personal.

While creating a profile, use appropriate keywords that will help optimize your profile and ensure that you can be found easily by potential customers or contacts when they search for you online. Next, start searching for people you know and would like to add in your professional network by typing their name in the search box. You can also upload your e-mail contacts to invite people to connect or use Web Mail imports to automatically find those whom you know on LinkedIn’s network. For more information on getting started, see LinkedIn’s new user guide.

How Do You Grow Your Network On LinkedIn and Make The Most Of Your Profile?

Introductions: Once you’ve set up your profile and connected with those who you already know, use your existing network to get virtual introductions to those who are in your friends’ networks and whom you would like to connect or interact with for business purposes.

Groups: You can also join groups relevant to your industry or in your geographic location. For instance, if you are a communications professional, you can join The International Association of Business Communicators Group, The Public Relations and Communications Professionals or the NYC Public Relations Group. Joining a group on LinkedIn helps you discover connections in your geographic area and industry, participate in online discussions on various topics and also keep an eye out for latest job postings.

Q&A: LinkedIn’s Q&A feature allows you to post questions to those in your existing network, group or anyone else on LinkedIn, giving you a chance to solicit expert opinions on various topics and also to connect with others and share resources and knowledge.

Recommendations: LinkedIn recommendations are a great way to add strength to your professional resume and have people vouch for your skills or your ability to work as a team player. Invite former or present colleagues and supervisors to write you a short recommendation you can post on your profile.

Business Meetings: Before going for an important business meeting, you can use LinkedIn to quickly learn about your client’s background and even find out if you have any common connections over LinkedIn.

Jobs & Other Applications: Many companies advertise jobs on LinkedIn to take advantage of referrals by their employees or others in their network. Other great applications you can use on LinkedIn include Slideshare, where you can share PowerPoint presentations with the rest of your network. You can also update your reading list, post events to share with your network or stream your blog posts to your LinkedIn profile using the BlogLink or WordPress LinkedIn application.

View PRMG’s company profile on LinkedIn. Click here to connect with PRMG’s President and CEO, John Zaher, on LinkedIn.

Making The Most Of Your Twitter Profile

Over the past year, Twitter has emerged as one of the most popular social media tools to be used by individuals and companies, evolving as an important tool in brand marketing. Cable service provider Comcast uses Twitter to engage directly with its customers and solve customer complaints in real time. Besides direct brand engagement and … Continue reading “Making The Most Of Your Twitter Profile”

PRMG’s Twitter Profile

Over the past year, Twitter has emerged as one of the most popular social media tools to be used by individuals and companies, evolving as an important tool in brand marketing. Cable service provider Comcast uses Twitter to engage directly with its customers and solve customer complaints in real time. Besides direct brand engagement and customer service, companies like Dell have directly generated over $3 million in sales through Twitter, offering exclusive discounts and deals to their “followers.”

Yet, it’s not just the big corporates that can successfully tap into Twitter; small businesses can also utilize this tool to build their brand, increase sales and engage better with their customers. Twitter.com offers this example: When an employee working in the Empire State Building tweeted that he was craving Tasty D-Lite ice cream, Tasty D-Lite offered to deliver it right to his office. Houston-based café Coffee Groundz allows customers to order their beverages and food through Twitter – which the café says has helped it double its customer base and discover a completely new way to engage and build a community of loyal customers.

As a local business, how can you tap into Twitter’s potential and achieve the same results? Read on to learn about our tips for understanding Twitter and making the most of your Twitter profile.

What is Twitter?
Twitter is a free “microblogging” service that allows members to send short messages or updates (called “tweets”) that are 140 characters or less. The message, which can be sent or viewed from your computer or mobile device, is sent to a person’s “followers” or those who are interested in what you may have to say or share. The quick, short updates and the ability to send or receive them anywhere, make Twitter a useful tool for communicating in real time.

How can you use Twitter for your business?
Many organizations use Twitter for customer service and as a quick way to monitor what others are saying about their brand. Besides this, Twitter can be used to stay connected with customers by sharing the latest company news or other information about your products and services and drive traffic to your Web site or blog. It can also be used to obtain real-time feedback or ideas from customers. Since it only consists of short updates, Twitter can often be easier to keep up with, as compared with blogging, and still help you stay connected with current or prospective customers.

Getting started with Twitter
The first step should be to create a Twitter account; signing up for one is quite quick and easy. For more information on how to get started with Twitter, read the Twitter Help Guide. If you are setting up a Twitter account for your business, enter the name of your business or brand in the profile information section with a short description and a link to your Web site.

Select a username also known as a “Twitter handle,” which is displayed as a ‘@’ sign followed by your username (For example @ThePRMG.) Usernames are limited to 15 characters, so you may need to abbreviate your company name. Upload a small profile picture, which could be your logo or your own picture (if you want to add a more personal touch to your business profile.)

Next, search for those in your industry or community by entering search keywords in the search box or the “Find People” tab and start following them and their tweets. You can also invite those in your e-mail contact list to connect with you over Twitter. A final word of advice: Don’t post too many updates over Twitter and if you are using Twitter for business, have something relevant to say.

Cracking the Twitter Code – Your Guide To Twitter Lingo

•Tweets = Messages/Updates over Twitter
•Twitter Handle = Your unique identity on Twitter – @ followed by your user-name
•Following = When you “follow” someone over Twitter, you add them to your list of followers (think of them as friends you add on Facebook.) Once you follow someone, their tweets appear on your home page.
•Retweet = You can repost or “retweet” any interesting update posted by those you follow that you want to share with others. This can be done by adding the letters RT before the message and giving proper credit to the original author.
•DM = Direct messages sent by one Twitter user directly to another that can only be seen by the recipient (think of it as messages sent to your inbox over Facebook.) DMs also cannot exceed more than 140 characters and you can only DM people who follow you.
•Hashtag = # symbol followed by a specific keyword. This helps you find other users who have used the same word in their tweets, helping you categorize tweets and see what others may be saying about a particular subject.

PRMG is on Twitter! Find us and connect with us here.

New FTC Guidelines For Endorsements and Testimonials In Advertising

As media has evolved, so has advertising. In recent years, the rise of social media and the Internet has created new mediums or channels for reaching consumers, leading to new forms of advertising and marketing. The FTC, an independent agency of the U.S. government that enforces federal antitrust and consumer protection laws by eliminating unfair … Continue reading “New FTC Guidelines For Endorsements and Testimonials In Advertising”

The FTC, an independent agency of the U.S. government that enforces federal antitrust and consumer protection laws by eliminating unfair or deceptive practices, has changed these guidelines for the first time since 1980.

The new guidelines will become effective on December 1 and though they are not laws, they help businesses or organizations avoid being investigated by the commission for deceptive advertising. The guidelines are also unique for being the first to address bloggers and other social media.

Read on to learn about the key features of the new guidelines every business should be aware of:

Disclosure Requirements For Bloggers and Other Endorsers

•Advertisers are now liable for failing to disclose a material connection between themselves and those who endorse them. This includes bloggers who are paid to promote or review a product.

•The FTC does not intend to investigate individual bloggers or tweeters who accept cash or gifts in exchange for a positive review or for promoting the company, but it will enforce the guidelines on advertisers or sponsor companies, who are liable for claims made by bloggers paid to endorse them.

•Bloggers who write reviews about products they have purchased will not be considered as endorsers. The guidelines also do not apply to customers who receive a coupon for a free product and who decide to review the product on their personal blog.

• The disclosure requirement does not apply to celebrities who appear in ads. But if celebrities talk about the products they have endorsed in an ad on other media such as talk shows or blogs, they must disclose material connections.

Claims or Testimonials

•Any claims made in advertisements will now require substantiation and must clearly express the typical results consumers can expect. It is no longer enough to use best-case scenario testimonial claims accompanied by a disclaimer that says “results may vary.”

•The disclaimers should be noticeable so that an average consumer who is reading or watching the ad can read the disclaimer.

•According to the guidelines, the advertiser could limit the scope of the disclosure by narrowing the scope of the circumstances shown in the advertisement. For example, if all the testimonials in the advertisement are clearly identified as people who have been members of a weight loss clinic for at least a year, the disclosure can be based on the performance of that group.

•The disclosure must include facts that may affect the credibility of an endorsement or testimonial such as research being funded by the company, and whether those providing testimonials received or were expecting to receive any compensation.

•Experts such as doctors who offer testimonials in advertisements should have expertise relevant to the product.

•Since the guidelines do not exclude professional services firms, many experts advise that law firms and other professional services firms that participate in social media should have guidelines in place, particularly if they make references to their clients or promote them on their blogs or other sites.

Making The Most Of Your Blog

In 2008, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research conducted a study, which established that fast-growing small businesses are adopting social media at a faster rate than larger corporations. This may largely be due to the fact that for small businesses, social media can be a useful communications channel, allowing them to directly … Continue reading “Making The Most Of Your Blog”

In 2008, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research conducted a study, which established that fast-growing small businesses are adopting social media at a faster rate than larger corporations. This may largely be due to the fact that for small businesses, social media can be a useful communications channel, allowing them to directly engage in a conversation with their customers and obtain feedback.

Beginning with this issue, PRMG will be writing a series of articles that provide in-depth information and tips that can help you understand and utilize social media effectively for your business.

If you have read or at least heard of blogs but don’t exactly understand how it can help promote your business or how it may fit into your overall marketing and communication plan, read on for our first article on blogs.

What is a blog?

Blogs are Web-based journals that contain opinions on different subjects. These can include plain text, links and audio/video elements. The authors of blogs read and comment on other blogs and also exchange links. This creates relationships between different bloggers and forms what is collectively called the blogosphere. Readers can directly subscribe to blogs using RSS or e-mail, or engage with bloggers by leaving comments on their posts.

Why launch a blog?

Business or corporate blogs can be used to demonstrate your expertise and leadership in your field or industry, helping to attract attention of the media or potential customers. They can also be used to continuously build a dialogue with existing customers in a more personalized way and share important updates with them on your products or services.

In the past, the only way most businesses could get their message out was through media coverage or advertising. With blogs and other social media tools, it is now possible to directly present your story to your target audience using your own words and in your own voice. This can be especially useful in times of crisis, when you want to present your side of the story. Apart from this, blogs can also be an additional channel for potential customers to find you and learn more about you, creating more access points and links in search engines.

How do you start a blog?

Before starting a blog, it is important to consider your objectives and target audience. If the market or target audience you cater to, does not engage in social media, blogging may not be the best channel for you. The best way to understand how blogs work and develop your own blog content is to read other blogs and participate in the blogosphere by commenting on posts.

Next, secure a unique and memorable URL that reflects the nature of your blog and can be optimized for search engines. Choose an appropriate blogging software like WordPress or Blogger, both of which are free and easy to use. Post a few trial entries before launching your blog, and promote it to your existing contacts through e-mail newsletters or links from your Web site.

Before launching your blog, you should consider if you want to allow your readers to directly post comments or if you want to moderate and approve them before posting. If you want to engage and build a two-way dialogue with your readers you should take some time to respond to comments on each post.

What should you post on your blog?

While planning your own blog posts, think about what type of information your target audience is seeking and how you may be able to answer their questions or solve their problems by delivering relevant, useful content. This will give your readers enough reason to keep returning to your blog if they find it to be a useful resource or channel that is worth reading regularly.

A great way to generate content is to write short posts on newsworthy events relating to your industry and offering your opinion on how it may affect your business or customers. You could also provide links on your blog to important news articles you have recently read, which you think may be of interest to your blog readers. Posting audio and video content can be a fun, interactive way of demonstrating your products or services or posting informative interviews with influencers in your field.

How do you become a part of the blogosphere?

To make it easy for potential readers to find your blog, register your blog on blog directories and catalogs (such as, Technorati and Blog Catalog) that will list your blog in a relevant category and create more backlinks to your blog. You can also create a blogroll, where you link to other relevant blogs in your field or industry, which helps you become known in the blogosphere and encourages other bloggers to link back to you, creating more backlinks and improving your search results.

Got a Video? Take It Viral

Anyone who has watched the videos of two geeky-looking scientists tossing Mentos mints into Diet Coke bottles would attest to the viral power of video marketing. In three weeks alone, four million people viewed the video produced by Fritz Globe and Stephen Voltz, showing them combine 200 liters of Diet Coke with over 500 Mentos mints. While the videos were not created by either Mentos or Diet Coke, it certainly led to a lot of free publicity for both brands, which would have otherwise cost the two companies millions of dollars in traditional marketing and advertising.

Yet, not every video can become a viral sensation and replicate the success of the Numa Numa Dance or even the Coke-Mentos videos. With thousands of videos being uploaded on YouTube and other video distribution sites every day, making a video go truly viral is no easy feat. But focusing on great content, sharing your video online and making it easily accessible, can be the first steps to creating a successful video. Injecting humor into a marketing video and presenting your message in an authentic voice (by avoiding “corporate speak”) can also be great ways to make your video popular with viewers.

To give you an example: KitchenArts, a small family-owned kitchen retail store in Boston, uses online videos to showcase its products and demonstrate how to best use them. Using these home-made videos, the store has been able to communicate with its target audience in a personal and engaging way, allowing it to compete with bigger brands like Williams-Sonoma, at very little cost. The main principle that KitchenArts follows is to communicate your story in an interesting and engaging way to your target audience.

Once you create your video, it is important to generate buzz by sharing your video online. Most organizations post video content on YouTube, the most popular video sharing site. To make the video easily searchable on the site, you must include an accurate description of the video along with relevant keywords and tags. If your company or organization creates and shares video content regularly, it may be a good idea to develop your own YouTube channel that can be used to create your own unique profile and drive audiences back to your organization’s Web site. You can also consider embedding the video on your blog or sharing them on social networks like Facebook and MySpace.

If you cannot create great content for your video, a great marketing strategy may be to take advantage of user-generated content to drive some buzz about your products and services. For example, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department announced a video contest in July, inviting the American public to submit videos on flu prevention and safety. The contest not only helped to create awareness about flu prevention but also helped generate press coverage about the Health Department’s efforts.

Similarly, you can launch a ‘Submit a Video’ contest, inviting customers to create and submit their own short video around a particular theme relating to your business. The best ones can be showcased on your company’s Web site or even used as a real advertisement, making your message seem more authentic and engaging.

View About.com’s list of top viral marketing videos of all time:

For more information on our video production and digital marketing services, contact us at johnzaher@theprmg.com.

Using Public Relations to Drive Your SEO

The Web can be a great place to showcase your product or service and get out your message directly to your customers. However, with the evolution of the Web into a crowded marketplace, being found easily by your target audience can often be a challenge. By strengthening your online presence and improving your rankings in search engines, you can enable consumers and media to find you at the precise moment that they are looking for information or need a particular product or service that you can provide.

• Identifying a profitable key phrase
• Creating content around the key phrase
• Building backlinks around the key phrase and other relevant content

Here are a few PR tips and techniques that can be used to achieve better SEO results:

News releases
With most journalists increasingly looking online for information, e-mail pitches alone are not very effective. By posting the latest news releases about your company on online news distribution services and your Web site, you can ensure that journalists can easily access newsworthy information about your company.

In The New Rules of Marketing and PR, David M. Scott offers a great example of how this can be done effectively. While researching on marketing programs that deliver revenue faster and help shorten the sales cycle, he googled the phrase “accelerate your sales cycle.” The highest-ranked result on Google was for a press release for a new product by WebEx, a company that provides online collaboration services. The press release, distributed through an online news release service, had direct links pointing to WebEx’s site with additional links to free trial offers for their services. The release had been optimized for relevant search terms and phrases, so that people searching for those phrases could find it easily.

Using tools like Wordtracker, you can identify keywords and phrases that can be included in the headline and copy of the news release. However, it is important to strike a balance between including keywords and content relevant to your audiences. If keywords are overused, search engines will reject your press release.

Submitting articles
Submitting bylined articles to relevant online publications and Web sites can be a great way to not just strengthen your online presence and SEO, but also help to display your organization’s expertise and thought leadership. Again, the quality of links is important; getting placed in a top-tier publication will boost your search engine optimization much more. Submitting blog articles or articles from your organization’s internal newsletter can also be a great way to generate additional clicks without creating new content.

Participating in blogs, online forums and microblogs
Starting your own blog with content that includes relevant keywords and internal links to your Web site can be a great way to optimize your Web site. Since blogs can be updated more frequently, search engines looking for fresh content will rank it higher and make it more searchable. Participating in forums relevant to your industry or field, you can drive your message to a highly targeted group. A good way to contribute to online forums is to post questions or comments with a link to your site. Posting your Web site URL to your Twitter profile or including your Web site link in a direct message to new followers can also help boost traffic to your Web site.

For more information on our social media and digital marketing services, contact PRMG at johnzaher@theprmg.com.

Whose Brand Is It Anyway? A brand is defined by its customers

Imagine this scenario: Your company decides to rebrand its logo by changing its font. No big deal, right? Wrong. Or at least not if you are IKEA. Last week, a Swedish resident was reading an IKEA print advertisement in a local newspaper when he noticed the IKEA typeface looked different. He sent out a message … Continue reading “Whose Brand Is It Anyway? A brand is defined by its customers”

Imagine this scenario: Your company decides to rebrand its logo by changing its font. No big deal, right?

Wrong. Or at least not if you are IKEA. Last week, a Swedish resident was reading an IKEA print advertisement in a local newspaper when he noticed the IKEA typeface looked different. He sent out a message over Twitter and learned from IKEA’s advertising agency that IKEA had recently adopted a new font. As Time magazine reported in its recent article, very soon customers from Tokyo to Dublin to Melbourne were tweeting about how they thought the new font was “just plain ugly” and how disgusted they were with the font change. The IKEA font issue soon became a trending topic on Twitter, with fans across the globe talking about it, drawing even more tweets than Senator Edward Kennedy.

IKEA’s font furor proves yet again what many brand theorists have always asserted: A brand is defined by its customers, not the company that creates it. The book Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, quotes Ricardo Guimaraes, founder of Thymus Branding in Brazil. According to him, “the value of a brand belongs to the market, and not to the company and the company is, in a way, only a tool to create value for the brand.”

With brands being defined by your customers, it becomes even more important to pay close attention to what they have to say. Because, whether you like it or not, customers can talk and connect with each other over social networks and exchange reviews and opinions about you and your product or service. Instead of avoiding participation in these conversations out of fear of criticism or a backlash, companies are better off jumping in and leveraging the buzz to crowdsource ideas and better improve their product or brand.

Take Dell for example. In 2006, “Dell Hell” became a popular phrase over the Internet – with online bloggers and customers complaining about Dell’s poor customer service. The company learned its lessons quickly, and soon launched its blog, Direct2Dell, to listen and engage directly with customers. Soon after, Dell launched IdeaStorm, a site where customers could brainstorm, discuss and submit ideas relating to Dell and its products, allowing them to directly participate in shaping the Dell brand. Since its launch, Dell has implemented 366 ideas submitted by customers.

Many companies spend heavily on costly market research to glean consumer insights. Though all your customers or audiences may not necessarily be online, social media allows you to obtain these insights for free by monitoring blogs, microblogs and social networks in real time, often allowing you to spot trends, test ideas, identify influencers or to respond quickly to what could brew into a potential PR crisis. Using tools like Google Alerts, Technorati, Google Reader, GoogleBlogSearch and Twitter search, you can easily monitor and listen to what’s being said about you. Hiring an agency may be a good idea if you do not have the time or the resources to keep an ear to the ground for you.

In the end, no matter whom the brand belongs to – customers or your company – listening more closely to your customers will make them feel valued, creating more brand loyalty and better engagement. The positive word-of-mouth publicity this will generate will give your brand a tremendous boost.

For more information on our social media and digital marketing services, contact PRMG at johnzaher@theprmg.com.

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