The PR Circle of Life

I’m probably not blogging anything that hasn’t been blogged before when I type this, but I’ll type it anyhow: There are more tools available to the PR professional now than at any point in the industry’s history.  You probably think I’m referencing social media and social networking.  I am, but there’s so much more to it.  And, it all connects in a way that precious few public relations pros seems to realize.

If you look on the EndGame PR services page, you’ll see a pretty long list.  There’s a reason for that.  I want to be able to do everything I can to help my clients.  I’m talking about not only social media, social networking and traditional PR tactics such as media relations, but also search engine optimization (SEO), web content creation, and even web design.  Imagine these skills and tactics as part of a never-ending “circle of life”.  Quality media relations campaigns can equal links back to a web site, which helps search rankings, which in turn can help a social media audience find you, which in turn can help you promote your quality web content, which can add links back to a web site, which can help SEO …. lather, rinse, repeat.  All of these strategies and tactics work well together, and should not be stuck in silos, as they are in so many organizations.

Perhaps the best part of thinking about PR in this way is that you’re not reliant upon one single tactic. If your media relations campaign isn’t going as well as expected, perhaps another portion of the “circle of life” will kick in and help you.

While I’m not suggesting that all PR professionals should know what a 301 redirect is or what to do with the .htaccess file (I do, but I’m a geek), they should know the basics of SEO.  They should also know how (or have access to someone who does) to create a basic web video.  They should also have the writing skills to be able to write an entertaining and thoughtful blog post.  Feel free to judge whether I possess that last one or not .. I won’t assume.

I am going to assume, however, that most everyone reading this knows at least a little bit about social media.  You ARE reading a blog, after all.  Not near as many have knowledge of the SEO basics.  Here are a few, with an example at the end of how the circle of life works:

  • Keywords: The basic strategy for figuring out which keywords to use is to think of what words you WANT web searchers to use on Google in order to find your content.  Then, work those words into your title and copy (in a natural way, please .. no keyword stuffing).  If you want to get more precise about which keywords to use, try playing with the Google Keyword Tool.  Most important, however, is that you include those keywords in the headlines and copy of your news releases and other online content.
  • Backlinks are king: One of the most important things you can do to improve your site’s search ranking WITHOUT digging into web site code, is increase the number of other sites linking to your site.  From a PR perspective, this can be done two ways.  First, create original content that people will want to link to.  In other words, people will enjoy it and want to blog about it or post about it on Twitter or Facebook.  Another tool in the SEO PR toolbox is online news release distribution.  Check out my sort-of-annual review of online release distribution sites for more information about this.
  • Promote your content on social networking sites: Obviously this isn’t ALL you should be doing on Twitter, Facebook, Buzz and all of the others, but it’s one of the things you should be doing.  Obviously, the more people who know about your unique content, the more people who could potentially link back to it from their sites.  See?!  Circle of life!

What it comes down to is that PR pros need to learn everything they can about these tools, even to the point of teaching themselves a little bit of HTML and even how to use CSS.  These skills come in handy much more than you would expect, and can improve the service provided to clients or employers.

And, don’t blame me if you walk away from this blog post humming an Elton John song from a certain Disney movie.  That’s your problem, and I accept no responsibility for it.  It’s less annoying than Hakuna Matata, at least!

4 Responses on “The PR Circle of Life

  1. Worob says:

    Good post!

    @Worob
    PR at Sunrise – worob.com

  2. Couldn’t agree more! I graduated from college last year and wanted a career in PR, but ended up in SEO. I think of it as a digital PR industry and I agree with your points about all the tools available to PR practitioners.

  3. Andrea says:

    This post hit me right on the head. I’ve commented on several PR blogs recently, and now that I think about it, all of them directly relate to social networking. It is the most talked about aspect of PR right now, but as you reminded us, there is more to it!
    It is just so easy to get caught up in the social networking aspect of PR because many companies are focused solely on social networking and they forget about several other tactics available.
    Now that I think about it, a lot of blogs all say the same thing. How many times can you really say it? We shouldn’t forget that there are other tools available for PR professionals! Social networking is huge in PR, but as you pointed out, it is not the only aspect!

  4. Steve Mullen says:

    Thanks for your kind comments, Andrea. I’m glad you liked the post!

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