PUBLIC RELATIONS
Digital Content Is The
New PR Spin
By Irene Mbonge
T
he foundational pillar for building
lasting business relationships is
based on the success of a firm’s
Public Relations. In the 20th Century,
brands relied on great public relations
strategies to outshine competition and
create awareness. However, in the current
environment, digital content has placed
businesses at the center and in control of
their messages. Gone are the days when
legacy media ruled the roost - newspapers,
radio, and television have all taken a
serious hit with the emergence and indeed
mainstreaming of digital content.
Enter Digital Public
Relations
Digital public relations is more than
simply applying traditional public relations
strategies to the digital world. The toolkit
for digital PR varies substantially from
traditional PR; and contains additional
tactics, such as direct lead generation,
attracting referral traffic, and Search
Engine Optimization among others.
Traditional public relations primarily
involved communicating through print
media, television, and radio. Digital
public relations, including outreach to
bloggers, influencers, and other content
creators, emphasizes three core elements:
Building a strong online presence to
improve SEO and generate referral traffic;
Establishing brand authority through
reputation-building, awareness-raising,
and establishing trust; and Developing a
measurable strategy, with defined goals,
objectives, and KPIs.
Why Business Should Pay
Attention to Digital PR
Digital PR has many benefits for
businesses: It’s a highly effective way to
expand customer base; It can build strong
An effective link-building strategy works
because search engines like Google prior-
itize sites which demonstrate authority.
One of the critical indicators that Goo-
gle uses is the number of links from rep-
utable sites back to your site. Link build-
ing involves outreach to reputable online
publications, blogs, and other websites
to place articles containing backlinks to
your site.
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relationships with customers and/or a
wider audience, increases brand awareness,
and helps establish a market niche; And it
contributes to driving sales, which means
more revenue, more profits, and a more
successful business.
Clearly Defined Goals and
Objectives
In a digital public relations strategy, you
need to clearly define your goals and
objectives. This critical area needs to
have a comprehensive, effective strategy
to drive it, rather than merely rolling out
tactics on an ad hoc basis.
Your goals are the end point of your
campaign, and the big picture of what
you are trying to achieve through digital
PR. This could include increasing brand
awareness, or building trust with existing
customers. Your objectives are the smaller,
more actionable chunks which help you
to achieve each goal. To establish digital
PR goals and objectives, conduct a formal
planning process, and build in measurable
elements, such as KPIs.
Develop a Link Building
Strategy
Link building is another key element of
digital PR. Building a high number of
quality links that point back to your site is
one of the most effective ways to improve
SEO. Every day 3.5 billion searches are
conducted on Google alone. This means
search engine traffic represents lots of