Combining Digital PR with Social Media Strategies for Maximum Impact

Digital PR and social organic are a match made in heaven, yet too often the two channels are kept separate. With an already established audience across social platforms, its likely if a follower has chosen to engage with your content, they will be interested in your news stories too.

Yet this isn’t where the impact of combining the two channels ends, by harnessing the power of both PR and social media through cross-channel collaboration, you can maximise impact in a variety of ways.

What are the benefits of a combined approach?

There are several benefits to aligning PR and social activity, though possibly one of the most significant is that taking this approach will make both strategies stronger and more impactful.

Teamwork makes the dream work in this situation. We know that journalists are being tasked with ensuring their articles can generate social media engagement – so it’s worthwhile taking this into consideration at the brainstorming phase.

Similarly, we also know that Digital PR campaigns can be amplified greatly by being shared on social platforms, ultimately resulting in helping lengthen the lifespan of your content.

How do you go about doing this?

1. Create supporting social posts

When working on a Digital PR campaign, you’re likely already pulling together creative materials for your press pack and outreach approach, so it’s the perfect opportunity to reuse that work and create social media posts alongside it.

A lot of Digital PR campaigns are primed to be turned into social media content, which can go on to create even more engagement and potential interactions with your audience. The type of social media content you should create will depend on the style of Digital PR campaign, as different approaches will benefit from different visualisations.

Our Social Media Manager, Eve Lowdon, suggests for data-led campaigns, creating reels with videos that help visualise the data you’re referring to is the most effective approach. For example, with a “Top 10 best beaches in the UK” for summer campaign, you could create a video highlighting each of the beaches, counting down to number 1.

For expert-led campaigns, Eve suggests carousel posts showcasing each tip. For example, an expert-led campaign revealing tips to help babies fall asleep could be turned into a carousel with a tip on each page (page 1 dress for the temperature, page 2 white noise machines, etc).

2. Tag other accounts

When it comes to sharing your campaign on social media, don’t get tunnel-vision and stop at your brand – think about which other brands this story aligns with. By tagging other brands in your posts, you will increase your reach and engagement, so try to find ways you can tag other accounts in your posts.

For example, if you’re ranking attractions, tag each of those accounts who feature. This may prompt them to re-share your post with their followers on their story, widening your campaign’s reach and getting your brand in front of new but highly relevant audiences. Be mindful of this, however, and ensure you are only tagging accounts who are actually relevant.

3. Share PR coverage on social media

When you gain a piece of coverage, you can and should push this wider to your audience on social media.

The way you do this will look different depending on which platform you choose to share it on:

• You can share the link directly to the article in a Twitter / X post, Facebook post, LinkedIn post or an Instagram story.
• You can include a screenshot of the coverage on Instagram stories. This is best if a specific product has been included in a roundup feature because then you can even link to the product alongside the visual in your Instagram story!
• You can post the coverage in relevant Reddit pages and Facebook groups to people who would be interested in hearing the story.
• And you need to remember to check the publication’s social media to see if they have already shared the feature and see the reactions to it! You can even comment on the publication’s post and/or reshare it to your own pages too which might encourage more conversations.

Repurpose social content for PR

It’s not just PR content that can be repurposed for social media; it can work the other way around too. Publications love trending TikTok content.

Take advantage of any trending conversations about your brand or products and use that to create a story for the press. Expert tips shared online can also be repurposed for press angles and are a great way to add a human element to your brand – “I’m an X expert and this is what you need to know…” stories work especially well with national press and are a great way to repurpose your existing content.

If you’re wanting to share more expert tips, take a look at what is already being shared on social media and make a response to it, whether that’s praising the tips or warning against some of the dangerous ‘hacks’ we all see circulating. This response style of story helps to show your expertise and is an angle that the press tends to favour at the moment.

You should also be keeping an eye on your comments as it can be a goldmine for more content and inspiration. Are people praising your products or advice you’ve shared on your TikTok videos? That could be a story: “TikTok users are obsessed with this simple hack”.

Remember, even if you don’t manage the social organic strategy personally, you can still make suggestions to the team that does and work together to create a combined strategy that works for both channels.

Effective communication is key when working on multichannel strategies, so make sure you’re staying up to date with each other’s upcoming activity and plans.

If you want help aligning your Digital PR and Social Media strategies, then make sure to reach out today and we can help you make the most of your content.