How to Get the Most Out of PR Coverage

By: Jamie Hooker

Since you’re an awesome PR professional, you just got a huge placement in a magazine for your client that you have been working on for weeks. You’re client is happy, you’re happy, and all that following-up wasn’t for nothing. But, the process doesn’t stop at simply having the placement published. You want to get the most out of that placement and want as many people as possible see it. That’s the goal isn’t it? Kind of like “If a placement falls in the woods but no one was there to see it, did you really get a placement?” or something like that…

So, here are some ideas to get the most out of your PR coverage.

Share your placement on social media

Here at Snackbox, after we’re done celebrating placements in the office, we love to share them on our Facebook page to show people the work we’re doing. It’s more coverage for our client and more coverage for us as an organization, too.  When you’re using Twitter to share an online placement, remember to shorten the URL using free services like bitly to keep it under 140 characters. Also, you can track how many people clicked on your link through bitly, which can be helpful to figure out how much extra reach your placement got through your post.

Display your placement

This is a really good thing to do for bigger placements your organization gets, like the Austin American Statesman or even a larger outlet. Get a picture frame and have your client show it off in their store, lobby or whatever applies.  It’s nice decoration and customers can look at it long after the news has passed.

Let the reporter know you’re sharing their story

Let’s not forget about the reporter’s success, because they’re doing you a favor by writing about you or your client. Building relationships with reporters is very important in PR, and it’s easier to do when you’re scratching each other’s backs. By letting them know you’re driving traffic to a story they wrote, they will be more willing to talk to you in the future, therefore you might get more placements in the long run.

Getting a big placement in the first place is a big deal, but don’t let that be enough. Get as much reach as you can with each placement, and it will go a lot further.