Strategies for success
How to Master the Digital Communications Landscape
Participation in the digital world has become integral to a well-rounded communications strategy, but if you or your organisation is a newbie in this space, it can be hard to know how and where to start. Effective digital PR and communications should encompass a variety of strategies that work together to enhance your organisation’s reputation, visibility and credibility.
Why is effective search engine optimisation (SEO) important?
Search engine optimisation is about improving the odds of would-be customers finding and engaging positively with your brand, whether it’s via a search engine such as Google or, increasingly, via social media platforms.
The science and art of SEO can be divided into three areas of optimisation: technical, on-site and off-site optimisation. If your online presence was a house, technical optimisation would relate to its architecture. Is it well constructed and easy to move around, and does it provide a good user experience?
On-site optimisation is about the quality of your content – in other words, what’s visible to customers and to search engines after the house is built. To create high quality content, you need to consider readability, relevance and originality, as well as incorporating appropriate keywords, meta descriptions and images or video.
Off-site optimisation comes from the activities which help build your brand organically via third-party engagement – aka earned media. When another digital entity (such as a website, online news media or social media account) links to your site, it creates a backlink for your site. From an SEO perspective, backlinks improve your credibility with search engines, and in doing so, boost your visibility in search results.
Why is ‘earned media’ critical to the overall effectiveness of your digital strategy?
Media (both traditional and digital) is comprised of three key areas:
owned media (digital property created and controlled by you, such as websites, blog sites, and your social media presence)
paid media (paid digital content and advertising, including influencer collaborations, pay per click advertising and investment in social media boosting)
earned media (visibility from unpaid, third-party coverage ranging from press and TV coverage to social media mentions and testimonials).
When your organisation is mentioned in earned news articles, blogs or social media posts, the resulting high-value backlinks serve to improve your search engine ranking and visibility. What’s more, because it comes from independent sources, earned media is a useful and cost-effective method of building that all-important credibility and loyalty for your brand.
Given the rapidly evolving nature of the digital media landscape, it’s a good idea to partner with someone who knows their SEO from their SERP. From content creation to social media management and the pitfalls and potential of AI, the Sayso team can help you to navigate the digital communications landscape effectively. This looks different for every organisation, but can include:
Creating and distributing of high-quality, shareable, optimised content including blogs, thought leadership articles, videos and social media posts
Creating a content hub that sits on your own channels and speaks to your core pillars
Building relationships with online journalists, influencers, and industry experts
Pitching ideas and expert commentary to digital media outlets and monitoring online media coverage
Using social media platforms to engage with your audience, amplify your message and manage your reputation
Collaborating with influencers and content creators
Developing tools and strategies for digital crisis management issues and negative publicity
Using analytics to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of your digital communications strategy
Get in touch if you’d like to discuss how Sayso can guide your organisation’s digital PR strategy.