Boosting earned media is about enhancing your brand’s visibility, credibility, and the organic promotion that comes from satisfied customers, influencers, and the broader public. Here are some effective strategies to help your small business increase earned media:
Deliver Exceptional Products and Services
Quality First: The foundation of earned media is the quality of your product or service. Satisfied customers are more likely to recommend your business, leave positive reviews, and share their experiences.
Customer Experience: Focus on providing an outstanding customer experience. Prompt and helpful customer service, personalised interactions, and exceeding customer expectations can lead to word-of-mouth referrals.
Encourage Customer Reviews and Testimonials
Request Feedback: Encourage your customers to leave reviews on platforms like Google and industry-specific review sites. Make it easy for them by sending follow-up emails with direct links to review pages.
Respond to Reviews: Engage with all reviews, positive or negative. Responding to reviews shows that you value customer feedback and are committed to improving their experience.
Showcase Testimonials: Highlight customer testimonials on your website, social media, and marketing materials. This not only builds trust with potential customers but also encourages more people to share their positive experiences.
Leverage Social Media
Create Shareable Content: Produce content that is engaging, valuable, and shareable. This can include infographics, tips, tutorials, and behind-the-scenes content that resonates with your audience.
Engage with Your Audience: Actively participate in conversations on social media. Reply to comments, share user-generated content (UGC), and engage in discussions relevant to your industry. This increases your brand’s visibility and encourages others to mention or tag your business.
Run Social Media Contests: Encourage followers to create and share content related to your brand through contests and challenges. For example, ask them to post photos using your product with a branded hashtag for a chance to win a prize. This not only boosts engagement but also generates organic promotion.
Build Relationships with Influencers and Bloggers
Identify Relevant Influencers: Look for influencers or bloggers in your niche who align with your brand values and have an engaged audience. Influencers can amplify your reach and bring credibility to your brand through authentic endorsements.
Offer Collaboration Opportunities: Reach out to influencers with collaboration ideas, such as product reviews, sponsored posts, or giveaways. Make sure the collaboration feels organic and beneficial for both parties.
Foster Long-Term Relationships: Rather than one-off collaborations, aim to build long-term relationships with influencers. Consistent partnerships can lead to ongoing earned media as influencers continue to advocate for your brand.
Utilise Public Relations (PR)
Create Newsworthy Stories: Develop compelling stories about your brand, such as new product launches, community involvement, or unique company milestones. Newsworthy stories are more likely to be picked up by media outlets.
Pitch to Media Outlets: Send press releases or pitch your stories to journalists, bloggers, and local news outlets. Tailor your pitch to each outlet, highlighting why your story is relevant to their audience.
Leverage Media Coverage: When your business receives media coverage, share it across your owned media channels (website, social media, newsletters). This not only extends the reach of the coverage but also boosts your credibility.
Participate in Industry Events and Community Activities
Attend Industry Conferences and Trade Shows: Participate in industry events, either as a speaker, exhibitor, or attendee. Networking at these events can lead to valuable connections, media coverage, and word-of-mouth promotion.
Support Local Causes: Engage in community activities or sponsor local events. This positions your brand as a community-focused business and can lead to local media coverage and increased word-of-mouth referrals.
Host Events or Webinars: Organise events, workshops, or webinars that offer value to your audience. These events can attract media attention and generate buzz in your industry.
Create Viral-Worthy Content
Tap into Trends: Stay on top of social media trends and create content that taps into what’s popular. This could be a meme, a viral challenge, or a hot topic in your industry.
Be Authentic and Relatable: Content that resonates emotionally or humorously with people is more likely to be shared. Authenticity and relatability are key drivers of viral content.
Encourage Sharing: Prompt your audience to share your content by including shareable links, social share buttons, or direct calls to action in your posts.
Monitor and Respond to Mentions
Use Social Listening Tools: Implement social listening tools to track mentions of your brand across social media, blogs, forums, and news sites. This allows you to engage with users talking about your brand, whether it’s responding to a positive mention or addressing a concern.
Acknowledge Positive Mentions: Publicly acknowledge and thank users who mention or praise your brand. This not only shows appreciation but also encourages others to share their positive experiences.
Incorporate User-Generated Content (UGC)
Promote UGC Campaigns: Encourage your customers to create content featuring your products and share it on social media with a specific hashtag. Reposting UGC on your official channels amplifies the content and strengthens community ties.
Feature UGC in Marketing: Use the best user-generated content in your marketing materials, such as on your website, in advertisements, or in newsletters. This not only boosts the creators’ interest but also serves as authentic endorsements for your brand.
Be Consistent and Persistent
Stay Consistent with Content: Consistency is key to keeping your audience engaged and maintaining a steady stream of earned media. Regularly update your blog, social media profiles, and other owned media channels with fresh content.
Be Patient: Earned media often takes time to build. Focus on maintaining quality in your products, services, and content, and over time, the positive mentions and organic exposure will grow.
Earned media is a powerful tool for small businesses, offering credibility and organic promotion that money can’t buy. While it requires effort and persistence, the rewards of increased visibility, trust, and customer loyalty make earned media an essential component of your marketing strategy.
If you are looking for someone to help you build a great small business website, to direct your potential customers to, then contact us now.
