Internet Marketing Digital_marketing_for_dummies | Page 229

Networking That Moves the Needle
You’ve probably heard the old adage, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” which,
of course, means that you have to engage in networking. Networking is all about the public
relations side of your business. In traditional public relations (PR) endeavors, you seek out
third parties such as newspaper journalists who can amplify your marketing message.
Social networking accomplishes this same goal by finding and associating with
authoritative and influential individuals and brands on the social web.
Although social influencing is about distributing your own content such as blog posts,
podcasts, and videos to establish authority, you can connect with others via social
networking by sharing other people’s content with your audience. As with person-to-
person networking, in social networking you use social media to look for and to establish
connections in the hopes of creating mutually beneficial partnerships with an individual or
a brand. This mutually beneficial partnership can involve writing guest posts for each
other ’s respective blogs or gaining a speaker for an event that your company is putting on.
You can use social networking to reach out to journalists, bloggers, and podcasters who
hang out on social media channels. Brands that have authority in print publications or
radio stations also fall into this category. Social networking is a high-impact activity that
can move the needle for your business in leaps and bounds.
Tapping into niche media
Consider a startup software company with a great product and a desire to earn media
mentions to grow awareness for the business. This company could target big players like
the NBC network, with the potential to reach millions. Or it could target mid-sized blogs
that specialize in startups like TechCrunch, an online publisher that primarily covers
businesses ranging from startups to established firms. The reach on TechCrunch is lower
than that of NBC, but still significant. It would be wonderful to be featured in outlets that
have enormous reach; however, as a general rule, the difficulty of earning a media
mention on a platform increases as the amount of reach increases.
The good news is that thousands of niche media players are running blogs, podcasts,
YouTube channels, and more. Although you sacrifice the amount of reach you can attain
with any one niche media outlet, securing media mentions on these niche properties is
much easier than on the large outlets. Enough niche media mentions can, in the aggregate,
exceed the reach of even major networks like NBC, however.
Reaching niche media
Niche media companies are small- to medium-sized firms that also focus on and publish
content on a specific topic. These small publishers may be creating great content but often
aren’t well-known nationally or even within their field. To reach niche media properties en
masse, you have to understand what these properties want. That’s not difficult, though,