Joanne Sweeney-Burke of Digital Training Institute presents a masterclass on Online Public Relations. From drafting an online press release to blogger outreach, social media sharing and pitching a journalist.

1. Online PR
Masterclass
Merging Old Traditions
& New Technologies
Joanne Sweeney-Burke

2. Welcome & Introductions
“The former journalist who has embraced Digital. The trainer and mentor, a keen eye
for campaigns, life-long learner & writer. Business owner, blogger and ambassador for
new media. It’s all about the social conversation.
”
Joanne Sweeney-Burke, CEO, Digital Training Institute & Media Box

3. What’s Your Story?

4. The Foundations
Online PR Masterclass
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Know your niche & stay informed
What’s the Story?
Newsmaker – the 3 ways
The News Release – Traditional & Online
Media Databasing & Distribution

5. The Digital Revolution
– Social, Media, Web, Technology
It’s all about the social conversation.
News is broken on social media.
Families hear news first on social media.
News outlets continue the story on social media.
Google is ranking brands based on the social conversation.
There are now jobs in social media that didn’t exist 5 years ago.
How social are you?
How social is your business – web, social, content, sharing,
curating?

6. The PR Revolution
PR & Social are inextricably linked.

7. 1. Know Your Niche & Stay Informed
• What is your sector? Know the influencers, the
bloggers, the feature writers, the reporters, know the
trends, the trend setters.
• So connect with those people – NOW!
• Have you introduced yourself to your local media?
Most of all – KNOW YOUR SPACE!

8. 1. Know Your Niche & Stay Informed

9. 1. Know Your Niche & Stay Informed

10. 1. Know Your Niche & Stay Informed

11. 1. Know Your Niche & Stay Informed

12. Connecting with Influencers
Firstly ask yourself:
Why will influencers connect with me?
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Am I interesting?
Do we share similar interests?
Do I sell or engage? (There is a difference)
Am I a valuable source of knowledge / expertise in my
area?
Am I credible source?
Am I popular? No of followers/connections.
Are people interested in me because of my work?
Am I a friend of a friend?

13. Connecting with Influencers
1. Journalists – Print, Broadcast & Online
Find the journalists you need to connect with.
How?
 Irish Media Contacts Directory / PRII Media Sourcebook
 MediaHQ – media database & press release distribution
service
 Twitter: Twitter Search / Twitter Advanced Search

14. Connecting with Influencers

15. Connecting with Influencers

16. Connecting with Influencers
2. Bloggers
Blogger Outreach:
“Bloggers are in the top 5 sources of reliable information. 81% of the
online population trusts bloggers and 61% of the population has made
a purchase based on a blogger recommendation.”.

17. Blogger Outreach
1.
Form relationships with Bloggers in your niche. Remember they are one click away
from your target audience.
2. Start by an introduction of you, your brand, product or service
3. Offer to let them ‘road test it’
4. Offer to lend a hand or an insight – don't beg
5. Subscribe to their blog, connect with them on Twitter, review other social media
channels also and decide how best to connect with them
6. Don't hound, offer value and insights
7. Be friendly
8. Make an announcement and send a personalised email and outline what’s in it for
both of you
9. Create brand awareness – create a blogger event and invite them along – your
restaurant, your shop, a PR event
10. Do you or can you solve a problem or answer a question? Your knowledge, your
product or your software – e.g. Technology, finance, healthcare, beauty – you have to
establish how you add value. Remember NICHE!
11. Provide rich content – infographics are now an effective way to outreach to a blogger
– lots of information nicely designed into a quirky graphic.

18. Finding Bloggers
blogawardsireland.com

19. Connecting with Influencers
3. How to find people on Twitter?
Search using the person’s real name.

20. Connecting with Influencers

21. 2. What’s the Story?
Do you have a breaking news story?
Probably not?
Maybe?
Definitely!
Either way, don’t miss a good PR opportunity.
You must also be realistic about what you can achieve.

22. 2. What’s the Story?
Content Marketing
Your Online PR Value starts right here….
1. What content are you sharing from your sector?
2. eBooks, Video, Posts, Tweets, Presentations, Blogs,
White Papers?
3. Watch your SEO, your following, your digital footprint
and your online PR soar!

23. 2. What’s the Story?
Festive Case Study: Sharing Knowledge When the Whole World has
more time to surf online!

24. 2. What’s the Story?
Festive Case Study: Sharing Knowledge When the Whole World has
more time to surf online!

25. 2. What’s the Story?
Taking a Look Back at 2013: Donal Skehan Food Blogger

26. 2. What’s the Story?
Expert Knowledge: The Sociable – What to buy for Christmas?

27. 2. What’s the Story?
Birthday Celebrations: Video
http://youtu.be/k8aWwqkyZtY

28. CONTENT MARKETING
Push. Don’t Pull!
Can you engage with content your followers want to read and share?
Write down your next 5 content projects from the list below.
DEMONSTRATIONS
COMPARISONS
MISTAKES
INSTRUCTIONS
INTERVIEWS
STORIES
REASONS
CONFESSIONS
THREATS
FINDINGS
PROBLEM-SOLVERS
HOW TO GUIDE
LISTS
HUMOUR
OPINION
NEWS
QUOTES
INFOGRAPHIC
VIDEO
STATS
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
TECH TIPS
EXCLUSIVE
GIVEAWAY

29. 3. Newsmaker – The 3 Ways
So when you don’t have a breaking story but need to
build brand profile what can you do?
1. News-hacker
2. Trending Stories
3. Research

30. 3. Newsmaker – The 3 Ways
1. News-hacker

31. 3. Newsmaker – The 3 Ways
News-hacker

32. 3. Newsmaker – The 3 Ways
2. Trending Stories

33. 3. Newsmaker – The 3 Ways
2. Trending Stories

34. 3. Newsmaker – The 3 Ways
3. Research

35. 3. Newsmaker – The 3 Ways
3. Research

36. 4. The Traditional Press Release
Hard News and Soft news
– Hard News has a vital urgent element, the story is
very important and the media will want to cover it. It
is not usually issued by press release e.g. a
company closes and makes 200 people redundant.
– Most soft news is issued by press release, it is news
of interest but without the same urgency. e.g. MD
has been appointed to a prestigous committee

37. 4. The Traditional Press Release
• 5 W’s and H
– Who is the story about?
– What happened?
– Where did it happen?
– When did it happen?
– How did it happen?
– Why did it happen?
And A Killer Headline!

38. 4. The Traditional Press Release
• A killer headline
• 7 words or less
• Key message in first paragraph – get straight to the
point
• Make it newsy – start reading news to understand what
news is
• Include a quote
• Provide background information
• Notes to Editor
• Photo with caption
• Further information / media enquiries

39. 4. The Traditional Press Release
EXAMPLE:
Soft news – chocolate company attends meet the buyer event.
Want to promote meet the buyer event.
Requirements:
What’s the News? The event? No.
The Chocolate Maker? Maybe.
Talk to the Chocolate Maker. Aha! She’s putting famous Irish
landmarks on chocolate and tested the idea on buyers.
What’s the story? Once upon a time a mum of two on maternity
leave was bored at home and signed up for a 10-week chocolate
making course.
And then…she tastes the sweet success of online retailing.
How? At the Meet the Buyer event.
And now we have a story.

40. 4. The Traditional Press Release

41. 4. The Traditional Press Release

42. The Online Press Release
• Rich Content – Video, Links, Photos
• Copy into body of email as opposed to attachment –
newsdesks get hundreds of emails daily – even clicking to
open an attachment may take too long
• Make it ready for social sharing – hyperlinks, social
media links, blog links, video embedded, photos and
caption in file info and in the body of the email
• Have a spokesperson ready and available
• The New Rules – Media Is Social

43. The Online Press Release

44. The Online Press Release
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45. Traditional Press Coverage

46. Traditional Press Coverage

47. News is Social

48. News is Social

49. News is Social

50. News is Social

51. News is Social

52. 5. Media Databasing
& Distribution
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Media Contacts Directory (PRII or Mediacontact.ie)
Don’t send everything to everyone
Be specific, be relevant
Who are influencers in your space?
MediaHQ – distribution service
Social Media Newsroom - hosted on your website or
on a third party paid for site e.g. MediaHQ

53. 5. Media Databasing
& Distribution

54. 5. Media Databasing
& Distribution

55. Online PR
Managing, Moderating & Monitoring
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Media Relations – The Rules of Engagement
Preparing your story for online outreach
Measuring story success
Case study
Your Online PR Strategy

56. 1. Media Relations
The Rules of Engagement
How to annoy a journalist…what not to do! (Ref Handbook)
1. Sending a lengthy press release
2. Listing an elusive contact person
3. Not having an online presence for the brand
4. Using bad grammar
5. Having a boring news angle
6. Force-feeding information
7. Sending poor visuals

57. 2. Preparing Your Story
for Online Reach
Use the right keywords
No jargon
Use 1-2 Keywords in your Headline and subhead.
Rich content/multi-media: Hyperlink but don’t over
hyper link – e.g. 2-3 links for a 400-word press release.
• Don’t forget to social share the press release and the
multi-media content
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58. 2. Preparing Your Story
for Online Reach

59. PR & SEO
SEO and PR go hand-in-hand. Here’s some top tips to
optimising your news release and your PR value.
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Building Links
Meta Text
Search your Ranking
Get Social
The Photo
Stay within the Google Rules
Keyword Searching

60. 3. Measuring
Impact & Success
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Actual Media Coverage
Figures on readership/listeners/viewers/traffic
New awareness amongst stakeholders
Office traffic - calls/emails
WOM - Word of Mouth traffic
Brand Awareness

61. 3. Measuring Impact & Success

62. Monitoring Tools
 Google Alerts
 Media Monitoring e.g. Kantar
 Podcasts from radio stations
 Search Engine Optimisation
 Social Media Insights
 Google Analytics
 Radian6

63. Monitoring Tools

64. Monitoring Tools

65. Monitoring Tools

66. Monitoring Tools

67. Monitoring Tools
 Podcasts

68. Monitoring Tools
 SEO

69. Monitoring Tools
 Social Media Insights

70. Monitoring Tools
 Google Analytics

71. Monitoring Tools
 Google Analytics
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Set up a Google Analytics Account
Set up your Tracking Code (web not mobile)
You may need your web developer to do this
It will take up to 24-hours to activate
Access Google Analytics here:
https://www.google.com/analytics/web
6. Click: Show Metrics
7. Review the statistics and set targets

72. Monitoring Tools

73. Monitoring Tools

74. Monitoring Tools
 Radian6 – monitor conversations about your brand,
competitors. Route insights to sales, customer service, PR

75. 5. Case Study
!

76. 5. Case Study
Client: Alcohol Forum
Campaign Aim: Build brand awareness of advocacy
group Alcohol Forum. Launch to national audience. Profile
only in NW.
Campaign Strategy: Host Ireland’s First National Alcohol
Awareness Week with a national conference, sideline
events nationwide and a multi-media campaign.

77. Measuring ROI – Case Study

78. Measuring ROI

79. 5. Case Study

80. Your Online PR Strategy

81. Framing Your Story
& Online PR Strategy
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What’s the trending/breaking story in your sector?
What’s your news angle?
Draft the news release
Who are the influencers?
Media Distribution list
Let’s work on it.