When you think of PR, you might think of getting mentions on media outlets, industry associations such as CEDIA, AVIXA and CTA, sending out press releases, or even giving press conferences – and you’re right. But nowadays, the tools used to get recognition have evolved, putting aside traditional distribution methods in favor of digital ones.

Digital PR is in essence traditional PR using digital methods and strategies to reach audiences. It includes things like social media campaigns, press releases, and pitches sent to digital outlets as well as mentions and interviews, live video and video campaigns, digital experiential campaigns, and influencer outreach.

Advantages of Digital PR in the Consumer Electronics Space

Just like advertising and other elements of the marketing mix, digital PR has some well-marked advantages over traditional PR. Here are a few of the most noted ones:

Reach

A great PR campaign can spread like wildfire online thanks to social media. A well-timed, influential social media post can have even more reach than a Super Bowl commercial. One example is Dippin Dots’ “Open Letter to Sean Spicer” campaign, which “garnered over 10 million views, a potential combined total reach of 1.4 billion, and more than a dozen tier 1 media articles, not to mention dozens more in smaller publications,” according to Zen Media, the agency responsible for the campaign.

Also, imagine what you can achieve by live streaming your press conferences and sharing videos of your interviews, or through a well-thought-out influencer campaign.

Targeting

You can slice and dice an audience any which way you want online. With laser-focus targeting, you can make sure you connect your message with the right people. On Facebook, for example, you can target people by location, demographics, interests, behavior, and connections. This means that you can basically target men between the ages of 25-55 that live in your town and have an interest in AV. Imagine what you can accomplish by getting your press release in front of your specific target audience. In addition to increased engagement, you will also cut down on unnecessary spending.

SEO

As mentioned before, you can use PR as part of your SEO strategy. In essence, your presence on search engines is determined by your popularity online. Search engine optimization (SEO) basically helps your brand get more exposure on Google and other search engines. By making sure that you employ good SEO practices on your PR efforts (such as optimizing for the most relevant and specific keyword), you can increase your search engine placement and get additional views on your PR content, such as press releases.

Digital PR is great for link building. Press mentions and other website publications help you increase the links to your website, thus earning you higher placement on search engines (just make sure to always include a link to your website in your digital PR). Another way to build your SEO is through social media mentions and popular posts; these can also appear on search results.

Traditional PR is far from dead, but in order to capitalize on your PR efforts, make sure to take advantage of all the new tools digital PR offers. We will cover these in an upcoming blog post.