Marketing Articles

What Makes an Effective Online PR Campaign?

Over the past several years we have witnessed a substantial shift in the business landscape from traditional marketing to businesses placing more and more resources into online strategies. With more of the public using the internet everyday it is important for businesses to take Public Relations just as seriously online as they do offline. But how does one measure the effectiveness of an online PR campaign? Only by establishing goals are we able to measure success. The first step in setting these goals is deciding what you want to accomplish online, then what metrics will be used to measure a campaign's "success." While some clients seek to expand their online brand identity, others measure success by page visits, and still others solely by conversion rates. The ability to measure all of these, and more, certainly sets ePR (electronic PR) apart from its traditional counterpart. The question of "What are the best strategies and tactics for running a successful online campaign?" hinges on what the client hopes to achieve. With that said, there are a few basic principles that could certainly be considered ePR "best practices."

Determining who the target audience is and where they visit is crucial. Whether on or off line, PR efforts are ineffective if the content being distributed does not reach the target audience.
All online PR should employ the use of SEO. Using keywords and their associated data to optimize content is an essential element of ePR.
It is best to create optimized landing pages that capture traffic responding to your targeted message. Expecting people to sift through websites to find information that caught their attention puts conversions at risk. Monitor online identity. Online Reputation Management (ORM) can often be overlooked but this is a key component of successful online PR campaigns.

The last point is worth expanding upon. What is unique about online messaging is the ability of the audience to comment directly on a topic. Traditional PR focuses on the creation and dissemination of information, making it largely one-directional. However, information shared online is subject to the immediate and usually uncensored opinions of the audience it reaches. Today, influencers who readily offer both positive and negative commentary can be found all over the online world. This is marked departure from traditional PR and worthy of close attention. Increasingly, our agency is seeing how online identities are affecting brands’ success and profitability. We are now watching some of the world’s largest companies being maligned via their competitors’ pay-per-click ads, consumer blogs and online articles. The results of an organization’s online identity affect everything from stock prices to overall performance. Companies failing to manage their corporate identities online are beginning to feel the very real consequences.

One last point worth mentioning is the increasing demand for integration of social media and social networking pages / applications as part of online PR campaigns. Although Facebook is among the gold standards for social networking, often times our clients are looking for a more custom / controllable approach. This emerging trend is moving quickly, and arenas such as Ning are rapidly becoming standard channels for messaging and/or developing custom social networking sites leveraging the built-in functionality of these sites. It is important to consider using these channels when appropriate. There are a number of solutions, so it is important that you do your homework on deciding what solution to go with. ORM becomes especially important when using social media and networking outlets.

Even with timely, attention-grabbing news, online PR practitioners should adjust their methods to account for shifts in the online landscape. In the end, the best online PR campaigns are those which combine clearly defined goals, targeted placements, optimized content and ongoing monitoring.