Related Content:

• Online Reputation Management
• Digital PR Services

Now, many years after that, I look back and am grateful for getting that then-frustrating task. It was the foundation for a career that started in .XLSX, and I use this file type daily at Go Fish Digital. On our content marketing team, we often leverage data for our clients’ campaigns. This allows us to produce compelling material for journalists to use in their stories, and consequently earn backlinks and news coverage for our clients.

Even if you aren’t in a data-heavy field like marketing or SEO, a general understanding of spreadsheets has become essential for any working professional. Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets are the two major tools you’ll encounter and are structured very similarly. Below is a guide to five functions of either tool you can use to successfully manage data.

What Are The 5 Basic Excel Functions?

These are the 5 basic Excel functions that everyone should know:

1. The VLookup Function
2. The Concatenate Function
3. Text to Columns
4. Remove Duplicates
5. Pivot Tables

VLookup Excel Function

Example:

You have a spreadsheet of burger shops, and each individual one is listed out in column A, with their street address, city, state, owner name, annual sales, and other information in adjacent columns.

Among your long list of burger shops, there are only a handful you need information about. You could theoretically scroll through the spreadsheet or try to sort/filter the list, or you could use a Vlookup function to pull out the exact pieces of information you need. There are many use cases for this formula, and the more you become familiar with it, the more often you’ll find ways to use it to save yourself some time.

How To Set It Up:

• Create a new table in another tab if you don’t have one created already.

• In the first column, you’ll have the “lookup value,” which is the piece of information you’re telling the formula to look for in your main spreadsheet. This information will need to be in the left-most column of the table you’re telling the formula to look at, as it is in the first screenshot above.
• Then add the formula to the adjacent cell as follows:

=VLOOKUP(lookup_value,table_array,col_index_num,[range_lookup])

lookup_value: The cell where the formula can find the information that it needs to look up in your primary table. In this case, when putting the formula in cell B2, this value would be A2.

table_array: The table the formula should search and pull information from. Since my table of burger shops is on the tab named “Burger Shops” and I have data in columns up to column H, this value would be ‘Burger Shops’!A:H.

col_index_num: This is your way of telling the formula what information you want it to bring back for you. In this example, I’m looking for the phone number, which is in column F in my main table. F is the 6th letter in the alphabet, and so this value in the formula will be 6.

[range_lookup]: This is a logical section of the formula, where the options are TRUE or FALSE. If you put TRUE, the formula will return a value based on the closest match to your lookup value, even if it’s not the exact one. If you put FALSE, then it’ll only return a value if it finds the exact lookup value you referenced. In most cases, and in this burger shop example, we’ll want to put FALSE

Final formula:

=VLOOKUP(A2,’Burger Shops’!A:H,3,FALSE)

Concatenate Formula

Example:

Continuing the burger shop example, let’s say you want to have the city and state in one column. Perhaps you want to analyze the data by city, but there are cities with the same name in different states so you need them combined. The concatenate function is an incredibly easy formula that you can use to combine the contents of different cells.

How To Set It Up:

• First, you’ll need to add a new column to your table, which is where the new combined data will live

• Next, you’ll add the formula as follows:

=CONCATENATE(text1,text2,…)

You can type text and/or reference cells in this formula, which makes it very versatile. To add text, you’ll just type in what you want and add quotation marks around it. In this example, we’ll want to add a comma and space between the city and state.

Final formula:

=CONCATENATE(C2,”, “,D2)

Text to Columns Excel Function

Example:

Let’s say you have the opposite problem as the previous example – you have city and state combined for each burger shop, but you’d like them in separate columns. The “Text to Columns” function is a simple way of breaking data into multiple columns based on certain criteria. It can separate text based on a space or a certain delimiter, such as a dash or comma.

How To Set It Up:

• Add a column to the right of the column you’re separating (or multiple columns if you’re separating the data into more than two sections) like in the screenshot below

• Highlight the entire column with your text to be separated (in this case it’s column C)
• Click the “Data” tab in the toolbar
• Click “Text to Columns”
• Confirm that “Delimited” is selected
• Click “Next”
• Then select the delimiter that applies

In the burger shop example, the delimiter that applies is a comma, so I’d make sure that only the “Comma” checkbox is selected. At this point with a simple Text to Columns operation, you can click “Finish” and you will find your data split. You may have to update the column titles.

Remove Duplicates

Example:

In this burger shop spreadsheet, it may be the case that the same burger shop is listed multiple times. If you’re planning to analyze this data in a pivot table in the form of counts or averages, then you definitely don’t want any duplicate values in the dataset.

In this example, each burger shop has a unique name so any two rows with the same shop name indicate a duplicate that should be removed. If you’re using a spreadsheet where there are multiple items with the same title in a certain cell, though they are different based on their street address or city or otherwise, then you can use a simple Concatenate formula (see above) to create a unique “name” for each item in your table, then remove duplicates based on that.

How To Set It Up:

• First, you’ll highlight all of the columns in your table by clicking the first column (column A) and dragging your mouse over to the last relevant one.

• Next, you’ll click “Data” from the toolbar then “Remove Duplicates.” A window will appear and you’ll uncheck every column except for the one with the values that should be unique. In this example, it’s column A because it has the burger shop names.

• Lastly, click “OK” and Excel will notify you of how many duplicates, if any, were removed. That means that Excel deleted all data in the row where a duplicate was found.

Pivot Tables

Example:

Let’s say you want to see how annual sales compare across states. Pivot tables allow you to take a dataset and summarize it in a variety of ways. It’s one of the most useful functions of Excel or Sheets.

How To Set It Up:

• Navigate to your table of data and click anywhere within it
  • There’s no need to manually highlight all of your relevant cells unless you aim to exclude certain rows or columns from your pivot table – the pivot table function will automatically pull in all data within a complete table that does have any breaks
• Under the “Insert” section in Excel or “Data” section in Sheets, click “PivotTable”
• In Excel, a window will appear, and you’ll click “OK.” You’ll now be able to set up your pivot table to summarize your data how you’d like

• To get the average annual sales by state example, drag “State” from the Field Name list to the section titled “Rows”
• Drag “Annual Sales” to the section titled  “Values”
• For this example, we want to see the average of these values, not the sum. To change that, click the “i” icon beside “SUM of Annual Sales” in the “Values” sections, then select “Average” from the list that appears

• You’ll then have the average annual sales by state

Other Use Cases:

There are endless ways to use pivot tables – it’ll just depend on the dataset you’re analyzing. In a spreadsheet of houses for sale, you could find the count of houses for sale by city or state. In a table of revenue by month for the past four years, you could find the average amount of revenue by month or quarter of the year. You can also set up more complex pivot tables that include calculated fields.

Closing Thoughts On Excel Functions

Admittedly, the first time you use one of these functions, it might be a frustrating experience of trying to make it work. I’d urge you to stick with it if this happens. A solid grasp of these essential functions is valuable in any industry that requires that you use data — which is nearly all of them. The more you practice, the easier and quicker you’ll get at using spreadsheets, and the more time you can save yourself when putting together analyses in the future.

5 Functions of Excel/Sheets That Every Professional Should Know is an original blog post first published on Go Fish Digital.

While writing the “perfect” PR blog may seem overwhelming, it can be a lot of fun. Rather than your usual structured service page or on-page optimization copy, you can let your creativity run the show. The biggest problem is keeping yourself from getting carried away, but how? Let’s dive into everything copywriters need to know to write effective PR blogs.

What Are PR Blogs?

PR blogs, or public relations blogs, are digital marketing tools companies use to earn backlinks, drive website traffic, and expand their reach beyond their traditional target audience. Think of them as a bridge between the brand and the general public, offering a way to communicate and build relationships. 

They take data from various sources (house-made surveys, Google Trends, etc.) to highlight interesting topics and trends using engaging copy. Although it differs by brand, PR blogs are typically written using informal tones to catch the attention of readers and journalists and make the data easily digestible. They also usually include visual graphics to make the data more accessible and appealing. 

PR blog topics can range from branded (obviously related to your products or services) to tangential (seemingly not relevant at first but can still be tied to the company in the end). While branded content can be beneficial, tangential content is the more eye-catching, curiosity-inducing content people can’t help but click on. To give you a better idea of the type of content found in tangential PR blogs, I compiled a list of some of my favorite examples that I’ll reference throughout the article.

• The Scoop on Every State’s Favorite Ice Cream

• The More Popular Half of Iconic Celebrity Couples

• The Most Expensive Airbnb in Every U.S. State

• The Best and Worst States at Family Feud

Tips for Writing Effective PR Blog Copy

Now that you have a better understanding of PR blogs, you’re almost ready to get writing! Before you put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard, more likely), take a look at these 8 tips for writing effective PR blog copy.

1. Know Your Audience

Knowing your audience is key when writing PR blogs because it shapes everything from your tone to the topics you cover. Think about it: if you’re writing for industry experts, you can dive into the nitty-gritty details and use technical jargon. But if your readers are everyday consumers, you’ll want to keep things simple and relatable. Understanding who you’re talking to helps you craft messages that resonate, engage, and drive the right action. Plus, when you know your audience well, you can anticipate their questions, address their concerns, and ultimately build stronger connections. It’s all about making your content feel like it was written just for them.

2. Know Your Brand Voice

Knowing your brand voice is crucial when writing PR blogs because it ensures consistency and authenticity. Your brand voice is like the personality of your company—it’s how you “sound” to your audience. Whether your brand is playful and casual or professional and authoritative, sticking to a consistent voice helps build trust and recognition. It’s the difference between feeling like your content comes from a real, relatable person versus a faceless corporation.

3. Keep intent in mind

Keeping your intent in mind when writing PR blogs is vital because it helps you stay focused and ensures your message hits the mark. It’s easy to get sidetracked by interesting data or tangents, but straying off-topic can dilute your main point and confuse your readers. When you have a clear intent, every sentence serves a purpose and supports your overall goal. This focus not only keeps your writing sharp and effective but also helps your audience quickly grasp the key takeaways.

4. Balance Creativity and Data

Creativity grabs your audience’s attention and makes your blog enjoyable to read, while data provides solid evidence that backs up your claims. Think of it like the “based on a true story” disclaimer in the opening credits of a movie. Just like dealing with data, it’s easy to give your creative flair a bit too much free reign. You have to weave these elements together to create a narrative that’s not only engaging but also trustworthy. This balance ensures that your blogs are simultaneously entertaining, persuasive, and informative.

5. Focus on the Facts

While a spreadsheet full of data provides endless opportunities for interpretation, it’s important not to go overboard. The overarching goal of digital PR blogs is to generate backlinks. To do this, journalists and other media outlets have to want to share the information showcased in the content. They aren’t going to be interested in blogs that have already explored the data in depth because there isn’t a new perspective for them to take. While some interpretation might be necessary to craft a compelling narrative, it’s best to stick to the data itself as much as possible to give journalists room to put their own spin on it.

6. Don’t Oversell

This tip might seem counterintuitive, but hear me out: don’t put too much emphasis on your brand or services when writing tangential content because it can deter readers. You want to use PR blogs to get your brand out there, but you can (and should) do it without plugging them every chance you get. In my experience, the best way to prevent overselling is not to mention your brand or services in the body copy. It’s like an ad interrupting the most dramatic scene in your favorite show. So, try to discuss your company only in the introduction and conclusion sections of PR blogs. Even then, find an engaging way to tie them in, like the following example: “Just as MRO Electric services are essential to keeping your business running smoothly throughout the year, ice cream is the sweet fuel that helps us all power through the hot summer months.”

7. Craft Compelling Headings

This may be common sense to experienced copywriters, but it’s an important aspect of writing effective PR blogs to check off the list. Headings organize content and tell readers what to expect. In PR blogs, they have the added responsibility of encouraging them to keep reading. To achieve this, keep your headings clear, relevant, and pithy. Incorporate SEO keywords where possible and put yourself in the audience’s shoes—would that heading make you want to keep reading? In The More Iconic Half of Celebrity Couples, for example, we could have used a heading like “Which Ex has the Highest Search Volume,” but chose to go with “Battle of the Former Flames” instead to keep readers interested.

8. Make Your Methodology Clear

Although copywriters aren’t typically the ones gathering data or conducting surveys, we are responsible for making sure readers understand where the information we use comes from. This builds trust and gives the data a strong leg to stand on. Depending on your guidelines, you can include the methodology in the copy or have a separate section for it. Either way, keep your explanation concise and avoid using jargon that the average reader may not understand.

Conclusion

Writing PR blogs is an art form that any copywriter can master. It just takes patience, practice, and a lot of focus. Remember, it’s all about telling informative, engaging stories that boost your brand visibility. So, keep these tips in mind, and you’ll be well on your way to writing PR blogs that truly shine. Happy writing!

A Copywriter’s Guide to Writing Effective PR Blogs is an original blog post first published on Go Fish Digital.

Copywriters, in particular, have been hesitant to harness ChatGPT’s capabilities for fear of creating unoriginal content that falls down the SERPs. However, with the right training and strategies in place, ChatGPT can help any copywriter take their craft to the next level. 

Flipping the Script on AI-Powered Content

As a copywriter, you’ve probably heard discussions in meetings, social media, and online forums about whether AI-powered content is a good thing. Some content creators view it as taboo; they think using AI tools is lazy and takes away from the essence of the craft. Others are worried that platforms like ChatGPT may be used to replace copywriters entirely.

Using AI platforms isn’t taking the easy way out of copy creation; it requires time and skill to turn an AI-generated piece into something valuable for readers. AI tools are just that—tools that can be used alongside your typical writing processes to make you more efficient and your content more effective. 

Think about how many pieces of content you put together for your clients on a daily basis. How long does it take to write a 1,000-word blog with compelling, branded, SEO-friendly content from scratch? What about technical, authoritative content? Two or more hours? Using ChatGPT, you can whittle down your deliverable time so you can write more content and expand your clientele. 

Google’s Stance on AI Copy

The overarching goal of copywriting is to get your client noticed by establishing credibility. To do this, your copy has to rank relatively high in Google’s SERPs. Is it possible to score a top 10 ranking with AI-generated content, or does Google cast it aside?

While it’s true that Google may penalize poorly crafted AI copy, it promotes any high-quality content that meets its E-E-A-T standards regardless of how it was produced. This means that AI-generated copy demonstrating expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness has just as much opportunity to rank high in the SERPs as manually created content. 

ChatGPT for Copywriters: 6 Essential Tips

Now that we’ve established that AI-generated content can be valuable, let’s explore 5 essential ways to use ChatGPT as a copywriting tool.

1. Start With Detailed Prompts

Prompts are what tell ChatGPT what to write and how to write it. The more detailed you are, the more tailored its response will be. Let’s use a prompt for a blog about Raleigh, NC as an example:

Because this is a very open-ended prompt, ChatGPT gave a very broad response that may not align with the content’s intended purpose. With a more specific prompt, I’ll get an answer more aligned with my needs:

We’ll go into more detail later about editing ChatGPT responses to fit your needs, but they are a great starting point.

2. Brainstorm

ChatGPT can help with more than final copy—it can generate content ideas, titles, and outlines to give you a good starting point. All you have to do is input a prompt along the lines of, “Generate x ideas for…”

If you’ve already done keyword research and know what you’re targeting, include that in your prompt as well to make the responses SEO-friendly.

3. Get Brand-Specific

The wonderful thing about AI tools is that you can teach them. To make your content brand-specific, update ChatGPT’s memory with information related to your client, their products, and services. ChatGPT can later reference this information to build personalized content. It may already have information about your client stored that it sourced from the web, but adding more information ensures it’s up-to-date and accurate. To do this, start your prompt with something like, “Memorize this information about…”

You can also have ChatGPT memorize brand style, tone, and voice for later use to keep content consistent across blogs, social media, and more. Give the platform the prompt, “Memorize this tone of voice,” followed by an example from your client’s previous copy.

4. Platform Optimization

In many digital marketing agencies, copywriters are jacks of all trades. They write web copy, blogs, social media posts, email newsletters, product descriptions, and more. Each type of copy and the platform for which they are intended require different approaches.

Written content for social media platform X, for example, has a limit of 280 characters. You have to be able to get your point across in a compelling way within that limit. To do this effectively, enter a ChatGPT prompt like, “Write a post for social media platform X in no more than 280 characters about…”

The way this content is presented on X is different from what it would be for a blog post. You can use ChatGPT to adjust the content accordingly using a prompt like, “Write an x-word blog about _____.”

5. Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions are extremely important aspects of copywriting and SEO because they help readers and search engines understand what your content is about, thus contributing to rank and engagement. Because of their limited character count (usually below 150 characters), it can be tricky to accurately capture the essence of your content and include at least one keyword. 

Thankfully, ChatGPT can help. Use a prompt like, “In no more than 150 characters, write a meta description for ____.” Remember, the more specific your prompt, the better your response will be. Be sure to include any keywords you want to use.

6. Translation and Localization

One of the often overlooked uses of ChatGPT is translation. Although you likely won’t be writing entire pieces in languages other than your native one, you can use ChatGPT to translate content as needed. This is particularly helpful for writing short-form content like social media posts for global audiences. Simply enter the prompt, “Translate this to [language],” accompanied by the text you want translated.

Keep in mind, however, that not everything can be directly translated. You should always have a native or fluent speaker check ChatGPT translations for accuracy.

The Importance of Humanizing Content

Raw, unedited AI content is easy to spot. It’s full of repetitive words, awkward phrases, grammatical errors, and unnatural sentence structures that can make it difficult to read and enjoy. Let’s use a previous example for reference:

This draft has some potential, but it needs a lot of work to effectively catch a reader’s attention and feel authentic. I mean, how many blogs have you read that start with, “Welcome to our blog!” without wanting to roll your eyes?

This is where adding a human touch to AI-generated content becomes crucial. You have to adjust the tone and voice of the content to match your client’s brand, establish them as a credible source, and provide readers with the answers to their queries. I’ve rewritten the ChatGPT-generated content below as an example:

Nestled in the heart of North Carolina, Raleigh is a unique blend of Southern charm and modern innovation. Known as the City of Oaks, Raleigh offers everything from a bustling downtown scene to serene nature trails and celebrated cuisine. Whether you’re a foodie, history buff, outdoor enthusiast, or art aficionado, the capital city has something for everyone. Let’s dive into all the reasons Raleigh is not just a great place to visit, but a wonderful place to live.

See the difference? These simple adjustments in word choice, phrasing, and information took only a few minutes to do, but they made all the difference in the overall feeling of the content. It has been shifted to provide readers with an overview of what’s to come and a sense that the blog’s writer has knowledge of the area. The content is still lighthearted and playful but not overly gimmicky.

This example shows that AI is a powerful tool, but you can’t rely on it to do all the work for you.

Best Practices for Creating Copy with ChatGPT

To use ChatGPT effectively in your copywriting processes, follow these best practices:

• Fact Check: Although AI is smart, you can’t take the information it provides at face value. ChatGPT has stored information from sources all across the web, meaning some less credible sources, like informal discussion forums, may be referenced. Its memory also doesn’t update in real time, so some of the information it has may no longer be accurate. Because of this, you should always fact-check any information the platform provides.
• Regenerate, Refine, and Revise: ChatGPT doesn’t always respond in the most helpful way the first time you prompt it. To counteract this, take advantage of the platform’s ‘regenerate’ button. Clicking this will give you multiple variations of the same answer to choose from. You can take bits and pieces from each response to help create content that best fits your needs. If regenerating doesn’t yield the results you’re hoping for, try refining and revising your prompt by adding more parameters.
• Edit or Regret it: As previously mentioned, ChatGPT pulls its information from the web. This can lead to accidental plagiarism or near-plagiarism. Avoid this by making the content it gives you unique. Instead of copying and pasting, edit words, phrases, sentence structures, and more to create truly original content your audience will resonate with.

Conclusion

The realm of copywriting and digital marketing is constantly evolving—so, too, should our strategies. Mastering ChatGPT can significantly elevate the quality and efficiency of your copywriting efforts. By employing the strategies discussed, you can leverage this powerful AI tool to enhance your creative process without taking away from the essence of the craft. Whether you’re generating captivating headlines, tailoring content to specific audiences, or scaling up your content production, ChatGPT is a flexible solution for copywriters around the globe. Remember, the key to success with AI in copywriting lies in the synergy between human creativity and machine efficiency.

AI Meets Art: ChatGPT Tips for Copywriters is an original blog post first published on Go Fish Digital.

For example, a detailed report on industry trends could be repurposed into a series of blog posts, an infographic, a webinar, and a series of tweetable key points. Each format targets a different audience or caters to different content consumption preferences, thereby maximizing the original content’s value and reach. Essentially, repurposing content is about recycling and adapting valuable content to suit different mediums and audience needs efficiently.

What Are The Benefits of Repurposing Content?

Repurposing content offers several strategic advantages for social media marketers. 

• Consistency in Messaging: Repurposing content ensures that your brand’s message remains consistent across all platforms, reinforcing your brand identity and values with every post. This consistency helps to strengthen brand recognition and trust among your audience.
• Reaching Different Audience Segments: By adapting content for various platforms, you can reach distinct audience segments where they are most active. For example, while LinkedIn is ideal for professional and industry-related content, platforms like TikTok and Instagram attract a younger demographic that prefers visually engaging and concise content. This broadened exposure can lead to improved engagement and more opportunities for conversions. 
• Enhancing SEO Efforts: By creating multiple pieces of content around the same topic, you can target a variety of keywords and link back to the original piece, boosting its visibility and authority. 
• Saving Time: Repurposing existing content allows us to maximize resources without always needing to create new content from scratch or asking the client to provide more content. With minimal additional investment, you can maintain a consistent flow of material across marketing channels.

How To Identify Content To Repurpose

The first step to strategically multiplying your content is being able to select previously run posts or original copy that can be transformed for use on other platforms. The best content will likely have high engagement, be relevant over time, and have the ability to be expanded upon. Below is a list of criteria to look for when selecting content to repurpose.

• Analyze Content Performance: Start by reviewing your existing content across all platforms to identify high-performing posts. Use analytics tools to look for content that has generated significant engagement, such as likes, shares, comments, or high click-through rates. These metrics indicate that the audience found the content valuable, making it a good candidate for expansion or breakdown.
• Look for Broad or Comprehensive Topics: Identify posts that cover broad topics or provide a comprehensive overview of a subject. These types of content are ideal because they contain multiple points that can be elaborated upon. For instance, a blog post titled “10 Ways to Improve Your SEO” has potential for expansion as each point can potentially be turned into an in-depth article, video or post.
• Assess Content Depth and Details: Evaluate which pieces of content only skim the surface of their topics and could benefit from a deeper dive. Content that touches on complex issues but doesn’t delve into the details is a prime candidate for elaboration. For example, if a post mentions a current trend in technology briefly, you might expand on this by exploring the trend in more detail, including case studies or data points.
• Identify Evergreen Content: Focus on evergreen content—topics that remain relevant and useful over time. These topics often provide continuous value and can be revisited and expanded into a series of posts or videos. For example, advice on basic financial planning or health tips can be expanded into detailed guides or seasonal advice updates.
• Check for Content with Unanswered Questions or High Comment Activity: Review the comments section of your posts to find any common questions or topics that could be explored further. Content that prompts questions or discussions is perfect for expansion because it indicates areas where the audience seeks more information.
• Consider Content with Potential for Visual or Interactive Elements: Some topics may be better understood or more engaging when presented visually or interactively. For instance, a how-to guide could be turned into a step-by-step video tutorial and a graphic carousel post that would provide a more engaging way to learn.

Adapting Content for Different Platforms

Adapting the format of your content to each platform’s norms is crucial for maximizing engagement and ensuring your message is well-received. Below are important considerations for each of the major social media platforms and how to format your content for each:

Instagram

• Visual-First: Instagram is a highly visual platform, favoring high-quality images and videos. Ideal aspect ratio is 1:1 (1080×1080 pixels) for posts.
• Stories and Reels: Short, engaging videos or images can be shared through Stories (disappearing after 24 hours) and Reels (up to 90 seconds long). The ideal ration is 9:16 (1080×1920 pixels) for Stories and Reels.
• Hashtags and Tags: Effective use of hashtags and tagging relevant accounts can increase visibility. Keep captions concise but informative, up to 2,200 characters. Utilize line breaks and emojis to enhance readability.
• Shopping Features: Businesses can tag products in posts, making it easier for users to shop directly from the app.

Twitter (X)

• Character Limit: Tweets have a 280-character limit, necessitating concise messaging.
• Hashtags and Trends: Utilizing trending hashtags and participating in popular conversations can boost engagement.
• Multimedia: Images, GIFs, and videos can complement tweets to enhance engagement. Recommended size for images is 1200×675 pixels. Maximum length is 2 minutes and 20 seconds for videos.

Facebook

• Diverse Content: Supports a wide range of content types including text, images, videos, and live streams. Optimal size for images is 1200×630 pixels. There is no specific duration limit, but shorter videos (under 2 minutes) tend to perform better.
• Community Building: Groups and pages allow for community engagement and targeted interactions.
• Advertising Tools: Robust ad targeting options and insights for businesses.
• Longer Content: Longer posts and articles are more acceptable compared to other platforms, but ensure they are engaging and formatted with paragraphs and bullet points.

LinkedIn

• Professional Focus: Content should be professional and industry-related, focusing on networking and career development.
• Articles and Posts: Longer form content and articles perform well. Use headings, bullet points, and concise paragraphs to maintain readability.
• Thought Leadership: Sharing insights, industry news, and professional experiences can establish authority.
• Networking: Engage with other professionals through comments, shares, and direct messages.
• Multimedia: Recommended image size is 1200×627 pixels. Native videos can be up to 10 minutes long, but shorter videos (1-2 minutes) are often more effective.

TikTok

• Short-Form Video: Predominantly short videos, ranging from 15 to 60 seconds. Optimal aspect ratio is 9:16. Captions should be brief, leveraging hashtags to increase discoverability.
• Creative Tools: Extensive editing features, effects, and music integration.
• Trends and Challenges: Participating in trending challenges and using popular sounds can increase reach.
• Engagement: Highly interactive with options for duets, stitches, and comments.

Common Content Repurposing Strategies

Below are some examples of strategies for repurposing common types of content.

• Blog Posts to Infographic: Turn detailed blog posts or articles into infographics that can be used on platforms like Instagram or Pinterest.
• Podcast Episodes to Quote Graphics: Extract compelling quotes from podcast episodes and turn them into graphics for Twitter or LinkedIn.
• Webinar to Video Tutorials: Break down webinars or longer form videos into shorter clips that can be shared as Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
• User-Generated Content: Repurpose content from users, like reviews or testimonials, across platforms in different formats (e.g., quote graphics, video stories).

Example

Taking this single blog post, 5 Functions of Excel/Sheets That Every Professional Should Know, I could repurpose it into the following additional pieces of content:

Instagram

• (1) Carousel post that overviews all 5 functions
• (1) Image post promoting the blog title with caption directing to the link in bio
• (5) Different carousel posts that explain how to set up and the purpose of each function
• (1) Reel with the author explaining why these 5 functions are essential
• (5) Different reels demonstrating each function
• (1) Poll in stories asking following about their understanding level of excel
• (1) Question box in stories asking followers their biggest excel questions

LinkedIn

• (1) Visual post with a link to the blog on the GFD site 
• (1) Turn the blog into an LI article
• (5) Different posts that go in depth on how to set up each of these functions and when you might use them

Twitter

• (1) Tweet with link to the GFD blog
• (5) Tweets with explanation of the function
• (1) Poll asking followers about their understanding level of excel

Facebook

• (1) Carousel post that overviews all 5 functions
• (1) Image post linking back to the GFD blog
• (5) Different posts that go in depth on how to set up each of these functions and when you might use them
• (1) Longer form video explaining the 5 functions and why you should know them
• With this example, I was able to create 36 posts across various platforms from the single blog article. 

Repurposing content is an easy way to generate social posts that are more likely to see high performance metrics and align strategically with the brand’s overall content strategy. If you are feeling stuck on how to repurpose content for one of your clients, bring it to the social team for help brainstorming ideas!

A Guide to Repurposing Content is an original blog post first published on Go Fish Digital.

Digital PR is one of several strategies that can substantially impact a law firm’s online presence and client interactions in the long term. Digital PR encompasses a range of strategies that enhance a website’s authority, increase visibility, and build meaningful connections with potential clients and peers.

Whether you’re just starting to build your online presence or looking to enhance your existing digital strategy, this guide will walk you through the essentials of digital PR, tailored specifically for the legal industry.

Navigating Digital Marketing

For lawyers, SEO is a fundamental component of digital marketing. By appearing at the top of search results, attorneys can increase their visibility and credibility, making it easier for potential clients to find them.

Digital PR strategies are vital for boosting a lawyer’s SEO efforts. These strategies include creating and distributing high-quality content that attracts backlinks from reputable sites. High-quality backlinks drive traffic and signal to search engines the value and trustworthiness of the lawyer’s content.

Think of each backlink as a recommendation. When a website links to your site, it’s essentially saying, “This site has good content worth visiting.” Search engines use these links to determine how valuable and relevant your site is for specific topics. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the more trustworthy and authoritative your site appears to search engines. 

Digital PR and SEO work together to drive results. Effective digital PR leads to improved SEO that strengthens online visibility and reputation. This enhanced reputation aids further PR efforts, creating a positive feedback loop. 

Tactical Approach to Digital PR For Law Firms

When evaluating the goals for each of your digital marketing initiatives, you should set unique key performance indicators for each strategy. For SEO tactics, that may mean higher keyword rankings or increased organic traffic. The primary KPI for digital PR may be the number of backlinks or quality of referring domains. 

Backlinks serve as a testament to the relevance and authority of a lawyer’s website. The quality and quantity of these backlinks can directly correlate to the success of digital PR campaigns. They indicate how well the content resonates with the audience and the wider community and how effectively it garners attention and engagement.

Tracking the number of backlinks and analyzing where they come from provides valuable insights into the impact of a law firm’s digital PR efforts. It helps in understanding which types of content are most effective in attracting high-quality backlinks and which platforms or collaborations are most beneficial. You may want to keep track of the following metrics: 

• Total number of backlinks 
• Number of unique referring domains 
• Domain authority of referring domains
• Percentage of backlinks that are follow

Assessing the increase in backlinks over time enables law firms to gauge growth in their online authority and reputation. This approach to ROI tracking ensures that the law firm’s efforts are visible and translate into tangible results.

Tools and Platforms for Digital PR For Lawyers

The foundation of effective digital PR lies in the creation of unique, creative content. This content should be developed with a wide audience in mind. The target audience of your digital PR campaign may not align with your company’s typical target audience. Since the goal of this strategy is to build backlinks, you should ideate content with broad appeal. 

The goal is to create content that is not only informative but also shareable and engaging, encouraging readers to spread the word. This can come in many different forms, including the following: 

• Data Analysis: This involves using existing datasets to tell a new story or provide additional insights. It might involve analyzing data from various sources to create compelling narratives or identify trends relevant to your audience. 
• Surveys: When no existing dataset matches your campaign idea, surveys are a powerful tool. Surveys offer the flexibility to explore almost any topic and draw responses from diverse populations.
• Interactive Content: This includes quizzes, calculators, tools, or contests that invite audience interaction. Interactive content is engaging because it allows the audience to relate directly to the material.

Regardless of the format you opt for, it’s essential to present the findings in an easily digestible format. Using imagery, color schemes, and clear labels helps make complex data accessible. Accompanying blog copy can provide additional context, fill gaps, and offer a narrative that complements the visual data.

After creating the content, the next step is to get it in front of the right audience. This point is where traditional PR strategies come into play, as you should identify who you’ll target and how you’ll reach them. Effective pitching involves personalizing communication, understanding the journalist’s area of interest, and presenting the content as a valuable resource for their readership.

There are various tools and platforms designed to assist in digital PR efforts. These include content management systems for organizing and publishing content, PR email platforms for distribution and engagement, and media databases that provide access to journalists and influencers.

Addressing Challenges in Digital PR for Lawyers

Digital PR offers countless opportunities for law firms, but it’s not without its challenges. Addressing these effectively is key to a successful digital PR strategy.

One common issue is the struggle to think of unique and engaging content ideas. To overcome this, law firms can look at current trending topics, client FAQs, or recent case studies for inspiration. Pulling in additional team members while brainstorming for fresh perspectives can help.

The brainstorming process sets the grounds for the rest of the digital PR strategy. If your concept is not feasible and unique, it will lead to issues later on. For instance, if you try to pitch a story that’s been covered in the media just a few weeks ago, you’ll quickly realize that journalists won’t be interested in reporting on the topic again. It’s better to get ahead of these potential challenges in the ideation phase to avoid wasted time and effort. 

Many law firms also face constraints with resources for producing and promoting campaigns. To mitigate this, prioritize quality over quantity — focus on creating fewer but more impactful pieces of content. You may also consider partnering with a digital PR agency with well-established processes and relationships. 

If the content isn’t meeting expectations, take a step back to analyze and understand why. This could involve A/B testing different types of content, revising SEO strategies, or actively engaging more with audiences on social media platforms. Using analytics tools to track user engagement and feedback can provide valuable insights into content performance. 

There are many different reasons why a campaign might not be building the links you hoped, so take a critical look at each piece of your content, from the data to the outreach. 

Shaping Trust and Credibility

Digital PR is not a one-off campaign; it’s a continuous effort that shapes the perception of law firms among their clients, peers, and the broader public. Regularly publishing insightful articles and contributing to relevant online discussions helps lawyers establish themselves as knowledgeable and reliable. This consistent messaging helps in building a reputation for expertise and trustworthiness.

The impact of digital PR is cumulative and long-lasting. As a law firm accumulates a robust portfolio of backlinks from diverse, authoritative sources, its website gains more authority. Heightened authority directly impacts the firm’s search engine rankings, leading to greater online visibility and a higher likelihood of being discovered by potential clients.

Each positive interaction, each well-received piece of content, and every successful campaign contributes to building a positive reputation. Over time, this can translate into a competitive advantage as the firm becomes a go-to source for legal expertise and advice. Building and maintaining relationships with media and influencers in the legal sector can lead to ongoing coverage, further amplifying the firm’s reach and solidifying its status in the industry.

Conclusion

Consistent, quality digital PR efforts build trust and credibility. Each positive interaction and well-crafted campaign can contribute to a law firm’s digital reputation, with the cumulative effect of these efforts leading to a substantial competitive advantage. The strategic focus on backlinks enhances immediate credibility and secures enduring SEO benefits that ensure long-term visibility and authority.

Adopting effective digital PR strategies is essential for law firms looking to thrive in an increasingly digital marketplace. Implementing these tactics can transform how firms are perceived online, attract more clients, and establish them as leaders in their field. 

At Go Fish Digital, we understand the intricacies of digital PR in the legal sector and can build quality campaigns that exceed expectations. If you’re looking for support building backlinks through digital PR, get in touch today.

Digital PR for Lawyers: A Comprehensive Guide is an original blog post first published on Go Fish Digital.

The term Digital PR refers to a set of public relations and SEO strategies used to improve a client’s digital presence online. A robust strategy will increase the overall authority of your site and build brand visibility on the web. Read on to gain an understanding of what digital PR can do for your brand and how to implement it successfully.

Understanding Digital PR

The primary purpose of digital PR is to operate as a supplemental SEO strategy — to increase the authority of your site when crawled by search engines like Google. The way that Go Fish Digital accomplishes this ultimate goal is by building backlinks from media outlets. A backlink is a hyperlink from one website to another, such as your homepage, a blog, a landing page, or a product page, from another site. This builds link equity— a transference of authority and value to your site. Backlinks from authoritative sites are one metric that search engines use to tell how credible your own site is, sometimes called a vote of confidence. Think of it like a strong referral from your manager telling your company you’re fit for a promotion, or a high credit score telling your bank you’re worthy of a bigger loan.

Unlike a traditional PR strategy, which directly promotes the brand by emphasizing elements like expert industry knowledge, high-quality products, or a unique value proposition, digital PR uses tangential content pieces. These are interesting articles, data reports, or studies designed to produce newsworthy insights, that are then actively pitched to journalists and linked across high authority outlets to make your website more credible in the eyes of Google. The goal, again, is to ultimately aid overall SEO efforts by strengthening your backlink profile, not directly positioning your brand or product in the media, but rather, positioning your website on authoritative media websites.

Practical Digital PR Strategies and Solutions

Tangential content is an essential digital PR strategy. These creative campaigns, while tangential, are completely customized for the client throughout the process, who can opt to avoid certain topics (ex. religious or political content) and/or target certain topics (ex. insurance or dating). This must be balanced with the fact that the more newsworthy, relevant, and clickable the content, the more journalists will be interested in covering, and the more links will be secured. 

For example, while posting a controversial piece (ex. mask use during the pandemic) could conflict with your brand values, it would likely generate a lot of coverage. However, so would a lighthearted, yet polarizing piece on each state’s favorite Girl Scout cookies. Finding a middle ground that works for the client but is attractive to the media is key, and the options are infinite — from heavy data studies to illustrative AI campaigns. They can be posted on the client’s blog directly, or, on occasion, an orphaned page used for pitching wherein journalists are asked to link back to your homepage if the content doesn’t naturally fit an already designated spot on your site, such as a ‘news’ section or a ‘press room’.

Overall, at Go Fish Digital, our data across countless digital PR campaigns conclusively shows that the more tangential the content is — not about your brand but with a relatable tie-in to the brand — the more likely you are to secure a diverse (high-quantity and high quality, canonical and syndicated) backlink profile.

Journalists are completely accustomed to receiving tangential pitches. We’ve sourced feedback from reporters, who’ve confirmed they prioritize interesting and informational content that is relevant to their audience. A loose tie-in to the brand also means reporters can write up the content without worrying whether they are promoting a service, unlike traditional PR, where brands will pay top dollar for placements on media sites. These same sites understandably aren’t willing to highlight overtly branded content for free. Conversely, by creating content that naturally fits into the news cycle, and has a tie-in to your brand, yet doesn’t feel overly self-promotional, you can organically earn the interest of journalists writing for top news sites.

Other successful strategies include identifying competitors in your industry who are in the linkbuilding space by tracing the coverage that their campaigns secure in the media, and then pitching those journalists with your content. By securing a link on the same domain as your competitor, you not only have brand visibility where they do, but you are now in effect negating the power their link has over your own backlink profile. Imagine it as a game of darts, where earned points cancel out points earned by the opposing team.

Networking with journalists is equally important in digital PR as it is in traditional PR. At Go Fish Digital, we primarily communicate with journalists via email pitches, press releases, and interviews on behalf of our clients to answer campaign data requests or give a quote. Having your brand name become synonymous in a journalist’s inbox as a true resource, not an ad or guest post request, is priceless. If you treat gaining coverage as a result of establishing these relationships, you’ll find instead of one backlink to your site, you’ll build a relationship with no ceiling on the number of backlinks. Keep networking and soon they’ll recognize your name as a credible source.

Tackling Common Digital PR Problems and Implementing Solutions

As the news cycle is running in a realtime, and linkbuilding is all about attracting journalists, a common problem we see in digital PR is competition with other content campaigns, who are often trying to capitalize on the same topic and frequently pitching the same outlets.

We combat this at several stages during our creative process. We meticulously vet our brainstormed ideas for newsworthiness, relatability, uniqueness, size of the pitching pool, and more before presenting a pitch deck to a client. We remain nimble and reactive during production so we can implement creative pivots should a competitor drop a related campaign.

Next, clients with a large scope need to avoid cannibalizing their own campaigns, which means launching similar campaigns with the same pitching period that target the same beat and then have to compete against each other. Client communication (if you work in an agency) or communication with management (if you work in-house) is an easy fix here. Organize your timelines with journalists’ content calendars and keep the newscycle top of mind to create proper spacing. You can then walk the client through your strategy during the process.

One other common problem in digital PR is when a client wants to stick very closely to the brand rather than opting for a tangential campaign. Branded campaigns can be successful, but it’s far more likely with clients whose websites are highly authoritative or whose brand name is recognizable. Also, certain industries see more success with branded campaigns because of the amount of journalists and types of outlets — for example, real estate, travel, and finance — while others have proven particularly difficult — for example, relationship and dating, where journalists are more likely to write opinion pieces. That’s not to say it’s impossible in these spaces, it simply requires extra creativity! Our data recommends tangential campaigns for such brands, while an authoritative travel brand, for example, would likely still see success with a branded campaign.

Tools and Metrics in Digital PR

Digital PR and traditional PR share some similar tactics — building mutually beneficial relationships where media outlets can benefit from (sometimes exclusive) information while the brand benefits from exposure — but they differ in key performance indicators (KPIs).

Instead of goals like high event attendance and product sales, digital PR aims to improve the health of your website in order to improve your online presence and increase search engine visibility. An added benefit is driving new users to your site, which both increases brand visibility and can lead to conversions depending on your industry. From a sales perspective, digital PR is a top-of-the-funnel initiative: It can gain the attention of potential customers (who see the content campaign in the media and follow the link) and bring them into the company’s sales funnel.

It may be a long-term SEO strategy but there are certainly metrics that are used to measure the impact of digital PR in the short term. The most relevant when securing links is domain authority (developed by Moz) or domain ranking (developed by Ahrefs). Both measure the strength of a website’s backlink profile on a scale of 1 to 100. Theoretically, the higher the number the better the website will rank on search engines. When pitching, we target high DA/DR outlets, which will pass on more link equity to your site than low DA/DR outlets. Generally, a DA over 70 is considered an excellent link for your backlink profile, but a range of links of different DAs and from different industries also comes across as a natural pattern to search engines, potentially boosting your online presence as well.

Link quantity refers to the number of links earned: We call 8-10 links per campaign a standard performance.

Link relevance and link prominence are also important metrics alongside with link quality (measured by DA). Link relevance is how relevant the media outlet is to the client’s industry while link prominence is how significant the campaign is in the story (for example, the article revolving around the campaign vs being an additional source).

Anchor text is the text that is hyperlinked and it can help indicate if the link is canonical (the original media piece) or syndicated (iterations of the original piece on other news sites that often use the same images and text) and if the latter, where from. Some experts say that a varied anchor text in a link profile is preferred by search engines. The META SEO inspector is one extension that can identify the canonical tag of the article, which indicates whether the piece is syndicated or not. 

Links can also be categorized as a follow or nofollow link, which can each affect the value of the link differently. A follow link transfers that vote of confidence to your site, strengthening the health of the overall website. A nofollow link refers to a tag within the hyperlink that media outlets add to their so as not to transfer link equity. This practice was established to prevent link manipulation during the early days of digital PR. When a search engine reads the nofollow tag, it turns a blind eye to the link for search ranking purposes. While the primary goal of digital PR is achieved by securing follow links, nofollow links are still beneficial:

Google Analytics can be used to track impressions in the form of sessions, page views, page views per session, and much more. The tool can also be used to see where exactly the traffic to the campaign landing page is coming from. For example, if you secure a Forbes link, which is always nofollow, the benefit is made obvious by tracing the origin of the sessions. If a high number of sessions is coming directly from the Forbes piece, your site is not receiving link equity, but the piece is driving landing page sessions which can increase brand awareness, drive conversions, and increase sales.

To name just a few of our other favorite tools: Cision for building outreach lists, Buzzstream for pitching and email tracking, and Coverage Book for assembling performance reports. Tools like Ahrefs and Buzzsumo can be used to monitor backlinks, along with manually monitoring coverage via social media and search engines.

Additional Benefits of Digital PR

By incorporating digital PR into your SEO strategy, you’re not only taking the proper steps to increase your visibility online. The earned backlinks will increase your authority in the eyes of search engines, and the content that lives on your site can also rank for keywords and become a valuable resource to journalists and your audience.

If you’re looking to convince your client or boss of the ROI of digital PR, try starting with these two measurable outcomes: brand visibility and top-of-the-funnel sales strategy. Next, emphasize the difference between traditional PR and digital PR: A digital PR strategy will work hand in hand with your SEO goals to increase the authority of your site and rank for keywords. Content campaigns can also generate passive coverage over time when journalists cite the piece as a source down the road (we see this often with career and business campaigns). 

With no effort on your end, aside from maybe an updated publish date, the content lives on, securing links and driving traffic to your site far outside the pitching period.

Conclusion

If your company is genuinely committed to building backlinks, a tangential digital PR strategy needs to be your bread and butter. We’ve done the tests for you.

If your team can understand the significance of digital PR strategies for your business, you’re one step closer to bridging the gap between your competitors and strengthening your online presence, among other benefits.

We’re constantly evaluating what’s working at the moment, and how to best learn from and measure both our setbacks and successes, so stay tuned. We look forward to sharing new insights with you in the near future.

The Power of Digital PR Strategy to Improve Online Presence is an original blog post first published on Go Fish Digital.

2 campaigns walk into a bar. One has 20 backlinks and the other has 4. Which is more successful?

When I started working in the digital PR industry, I measured success by the number of backlinks I built for my clients. However, after over 2.5 years, that mindset has shifted quite a bit for me. Sure, I’ve pitched plenty of campaigns that have seen a variety of outcomes. Some have received over 100 backlinks, while others have only seen a handful. But why do I still consider them all successful? 

Link-building doesn’t come with a cut-and-dry manual to measure success. The digital PR landscape changes as often as the turnaround in a newsroom. What once worked in your pitching strategy may need to be altered for the new class of editors and journalists on the other end of your email. But as you reframe your pitches, you should also change your measurements of success.

Read on for a  a glimpse into how I measure success for my clients!

Quantity of Links

From an early age, many of us gained the perception that more meant better. That still holds up! Generally, the more links you can build for a campaign, the more successful it is! A rule of thumb that I was told in my early years of digital PR was that a ‘typical’ performing campaign at Go Fish would receive anywhere from 8-10 links. Anything more than that would be considered highly successful. And if you look at success from an SEO perspective, a campaign with more links will drive more link equity to the client’s site.

Remember, success isn’t as exact as the numbers 8, 9, and 10. But for the sake of this lesson, let’s look at a few campaigns that I consider successful from the sheer amount of backlinks that they built:

The King of Wings campaign built 45 links, which was not only a success due to the sheer volume of backlinks but because this was also the most links that a single campaign earned for the client to date. As you can imagine, the client was thrilled to see this, and we considered this a successful campaign. 

Another example of success measured by quantity was The Most Popular Light Beer and Seltzer In Each State. This campaign earned 35 backlinks – now that’s something to crack open a drink and cheers to! 

Quality of Links

It’s often hard to explain to a client that though their campaign only got a handful of links that it’s still considered successful. Like I said earlier, we’ve all been ingrained with the ‘grading scale’ mentally growing up. So how do you explain that a campaign with 7 links is successful? Let’s take a look:

How Much of Your Landlord’s Mortgage Are You Paying as a Renter Across the U.S.? only earned 7 backlinks. So, what makes this a successful campaign? Let’s ask 2 important questions:

Of those links, were any considered ‘high quality’?

Ding ding ding! YES! This campaign received a backlink from The Business Journals in Portland, a site that has a domain authority of 92. The Business Journals provide news to local readers regarding business, real estate, technology, and more, so it was great to have a client featured in this outlet and show the impact on their audience..

Gaining higher quality backlinks can ultimately lead to a site’s increase in domain authority, improved keyword rankings, and help the site appear more authoritative in the eyes of Google and other search engines. 

Did this campaign receive any industry-specific backlinks that were in the client’s domain?

Once again, the answer is yes! Inman linked back to the campaign in an article that they wrote solely about the campaign. The client works in the real estate and construction industry, so having them featured in an outlet like Inman is great for brand recognition.   

So even though the number 7 may seem small, this campaign was covered by a high-authority site and another site within the client’s industry. Having a combination of high-quality and industry-specific links can help diversify a client’s backlink profile. 

The Perfect Recipe

In a perfect world, we’d imagine that a successful campaign would marry the two concepts from above. A campaign would receive a high amount of backlinks, but those backlinks would be high-quality as well. And while we don’t live in a perfect world, this situation does exist!

Take these campaigns for example:  

The State of Affordable Housing in U.S. cities has built a total of 89 links to date. Of its coverage, you’ll find links from The New York Times, New York Post, CNBC, Business Insider, and more.  

Within The Most Expensive Airbnb in Every U.S. State’s impressive 96 backlinks, you’ll find coverage from House Beautiful, Apartment Therapy, Travel and Leisure, and more.

The Importance of Passive Coverage

While it’s never easy delivering the news of a campaign having a ‘less-than-successful’ amount of links, it’s important to remember that these content pieces still exist on the internet and have the potential to build links beyond the promotion period. 

A journalist whom you’ve pitched to may be planning to cover your campaign but has a full calendar and can’t publish it until next month. 

A journalist who is researching a specific topic could stumble upon your campaign and include insights from it in their next article. Whatever the case may be, passive coverage should be celebrated.

One example of the power of passive coverage comes from the 2022 Texting & SMS Marketing Statistics campaign. A standard promotion period lasts 6-8 weeks and can be adjusted depending on timely events, topics in the newscycle, etc. This campaign was pitched for 7 weeks and received 31 links in its promotion period. After 10 months following outreach, it’s currently sitting at a whopping 116 backlinks! 

While a client may want to see coverage throughout a campaign’s promotion period, it’s important to remember that link-building is a long game. Not every campaign can be an overnight success. The power of passive coverage has proven that digital PR can help build link equity over time. 

Conclusion

So there you have it. Well, sort of… 

There’s no perfect equation to success in digital PR. If there were, we’d all know exactly how to build high-quality backlinks and A LOT of them for each campaign. Where your campaign lands on the success meter should be looked at from a case-by-case lens, remembering these few measurements: 

Did it receive a generally high number of backlinks? 

Did it receive a handful of backlinks from high-authority sites? 

Does it have potential to be referenced down the line by journalists and receive passive coverage?

Does your campaign possess a combination of these measurements?

…and there you have it! Enjoy your newly framed mindset of measuring success!

A Win Is A Win: How To Measure Success In Digital PR is an original blog post first published on Go Fish Digital.

At Go Fish, we build links by producing creative content campaigns –– data-rich, newsworthy content that tells a compelling story and that journalists will want to link back to. Many refer to this approach as digital PR.

Digital PR campaigns can come in the form of data studies, surveys, rankings, contests, illustrations, and quizzes, among a slew of other formats. 

These types of link building campaigns have never been more competitive across industries, and the real estate + home sector is no exception. In this blog, we’ll focus specifically on link building in the home and real estate niche, providing link builders with a quick guide to producing successful digital PR campaigns in this space. 

The Best Data Sources & Formats for Home & Real Estate Content

The Fastest-Selling Home Styles in Every State, The Most Gentrified Cities Around the U.S., The Dream Kitchen Survey, and the Game of Thrones House Sorting Quiz are all strong examples of digital PR campaign ideas, from past and present, within the home and real estate space. But how can link builders come up with these ideas? 

Sometimes the ideas spark from a timely or trending event in the news (like a recession or Barbiecore). Sometimes we have a lightbulb moment. But more often than not, ideas spark from a data source –– one that’s either existing or created. Let’s take a look at some of the best sources for both types of data within the home and real estate industries.

Existing Data Sources

Real Estate Marketplaces: Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com, Apartments.com

Zillow’s research hub has a whole host of housing, time-series data by specific geographies (state, city, zip) from median home values and rent prices to median days on the market and inventory data. Zillow also has several APIs for users who want to dive deeper into real estate metrics like home value forecasts, Zestimates, and neighborhood data.

Government Agencies: U.S. Census, Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) 

The Census is a real estate link builder’s dream with data tables you can filter for various home and housing metrics, from property taxes and homeowner characteristics to migration patterns and homeownership rates (diced down by every demographic you can think of). Again, most of the datasets can be analyzed both nationally and locally (by state, county, MSA, and more) –– a huge plus for local media outreach when promoting a digital PR campaign.

Trade Associations: National Association of Realtors (NAR), National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)

Trade associations like the NAR store current real estate market insights on both a residential and commercial level. Housing affordability indices, commercial real estate transactions, and gentrification insights, among hundreds of other indicators, are at the link builder’s disposal on the NAR’s research and statistics page. 

Created Data Sources

Web Scraping: From sites like Airbnb, Google Trends, Yelp, TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest, Reddit, Zillow, and Redfin

As link builders, we can’t sleep on scraping websites for new data that will help us tell a story. Analyzing TikTok views, pulling search data from Google Trends, or scraping Airbnb listings are all methods for creating a new dataset that will help with:

• Gauging popularity

• Detecting trends

• Uncovering new information

Past campaign performance data shows that 78% of campaigns that use created or scraped data earn organic media coverage, and the average DA of these campaigns’ referring domains is 59 –– considerably higher than average.

AI Tools: ChatGPT, DALL·E 2, Midjourney

It’s no secret that AI is changing the game for content marketing, and digital PR campaigns are no exception. Content marketers can build links within the home and real estate spaces using AI-driven content generation tools like Midjourney or DALL·E 2. These tools produce unique artwork, illustrations, or designs based on specific prompts. 

This format is quite a departure from the data journalism approach mentioned above, but can be just as effective given the right topic! Here are a few AI image campaigns in the home space that we’ve got major crushes on:

Here’s what Barbie’s dreamhouse would look like in every state: Sara Aspier used Midjourney to build a Barbie dreamhouse for each state, based on the state’s most common architectural style. 

AI imagines a typical home in every state: All Star Home tested Midjourney to generate an “idealistic” home in all 50 states and the 30 largest U.S. cities. 

Surveys

Some of the best created datasets continue to be proprietary survey insights. Using automated survey platforms, link builders within the home and real estate industries can launch anonymous polls about homebuying and homeowning topics for the purpose of yielding newsworthy statistics.

For example, we launched the “Zillow Obsession Survey” for a client within the contracting space, inspired by a viral, SNL skit about Zillow browsing. The survey produced head-turning insights such as “53% of respondents have looked up the value of their boss’s house on Zillow” and “49% of respondents would rather browse Zillow than have sex” which helped the campaign earn coverage from top outlets like House Beautiful, Business Insider, and HuffPost. 

Home + Real Estate Digital PR Campaign Examples

Now that you’re familiar with some of the best sources and formats for digital PR campaigns in home and real estate content, let’s look at some real-life campaign examples. 

The Most & Least Expensive Architectural Styles Around the U.S.

Many studies have been conducted about the most popular home architectural styles based on Google search data or quotes from industry experts. There are countless listicles on the subject in the search results, but to build quality links from top-tier news outlets, we need to provide unique value for the journalists we’re pitching to.

In this case that meant providing them with new and unique data that they don’t already have access to or don’t have time to pull themselves.

In “The Most Profitable Architectural Styles Around the U.S.” campaign, we used a web scraping tool to find the average home price and number of days on the market for different architectural styles (from Colonials to ranches) across thousands of Zillow home listings in 50 U.S. cities. The study told a compelling story about how certain architectural styles are more valuable than others depending on where you live. 

With fresh data, a sound methodology, and a strong local angle, this campaign was able to earn coverage from top business journals and local news outlets around the country. 

Vacant Homes vs. Homelessness in Cities Around the U.S.

For digital PR campaigns to build links organically, we often need to piggyback off of the news cycle or go where the reporters already are. In this case, that meant producing a campaign that could be tied back to unaffordable housing during a time when mortgage rates were through the roof, housing inventory looked dire, and rent prices continued to rise.

In the “Vacant Homes vs. Homelessness Around the U.S.” campaign, we used data from the Census and HUD to compare home vacancy rates to homelessness across America’s largest cities, highlighting the ongoing challenge to find affordable housing for both renters and buyers alike. 

A newsworthy angle, local insights, and a combination of authoritative data sources helped this campaign earn coverage from top real estate, local, and national news reporters.

Surveying Americans on Their Home Organization

In order to earn a high number of high-quality links, we also need to make sure our content is relevant to a wide audience of readers. “The Home Organization Survey” campaign is a shining example of wide relevance. We surveyed U.S. homeowners about their home organization systems, their biggest sources of clutter, and the messiest rooms in their COVID-era homes. 

Relaying unique insights around a highly relatable topic with broad appeal helped this campaign earn dozens of backlinks from top-tier home and lifestyle sites.

Wrap-Up

Let’s face it –– link building is hard in this day and age. More and more sites are vying for coverage across top media outlets. The competition is fierce, but hopefully, these strategies can help you produce campaigns that will stand out amidst the clamor of the digital PR world. 

Need help earning links? Get in touch with our team at Go Fish Digital to learn more about our approach to digital PR.

A Beginner’s Guide to Digital PR Campaigns in Home & Real Estate is an original blog post first published on Go Fish Digital.

But as you consider it, you can’t help but feel a rush of excitement. It’s like discovering a hidden treasure in your own backyard. And now, you’re thinking, “Why not? Let’s give it a shot!” Who knew this opportunity was even up for grabs? But now that it’s on your radar, you can’t help but get a little stoked about the adventure ahead.

This is the exact position I found myself in a year ago! My manager asked if I would be interested in moving to another team within the company and took me by surprise. The team I was on was analyzing data and working with numbers and spreadsheets. The team my manager asked me to move to was more writing-based and allowed my personality to show through my work. While both of these teams are incredibly important to our company’s bigger picture, the team my manager asked me about moving to made more sense for my skill set and my personality! I didn’t know this opportunity was an option but immediately felt like this was a good option for me. 

It can be both an exciting and nerve-wracking experience, especially since you’re just beginning to feel confident in the skills from your current role. Let’s dive into things I considered before accepting my position within my organization and the steps I took for a smooth transition, in hopes of helping others who may find themselves in this position! 

First Step Towards Change

Before you make a commitment to switch to a new team or take on a different role within the company, it’s important to take some time to consider what your daily routine will look like with this change. While you’re already part of the organization, it’s essential to take a step back and assess if this position is genuinely the right fit for you. Let’s explore some questions to consider as you carefully think through your decision:

• How is success defined in this role? 
• What will my new responsibilities be? 
• Will I fit into the culture of my new team? 
• What professional development opportunities are available for this position? 
• What does a typical day look like in this new role? 

These are just a few of the important things to ask yourself before making your final decision. Also, consider having a chat with your soon-to-be team members. I asked A LOT of questions to my coworkers who were on my new team. The questions I listed above are real-life examples of what I asked those on the new team. It’s the ideal opportunity to understand what their typical day looks like and how they tackle their responsibilities.

These conversations can be eye-opening and provide valuable insights into your potential future within the team. So, don’t hesitate to reach out and gather all the information you need to make a well-informed choice. You’ve got this!

It’s important to remember that moving “over” within a company before moving “up” is not a negative thing at all. Taking a lateral move into a new role might actually position you better for your future within the company. Sometimes, finding the perfect fit in a role can ensure that your growth with the company feels organic and aligned with your aspirations. Embracing the right fit can be a stepping stone to bigger opportunities down the road. 

Tips for a Successful Transition

Congratulations, you’ve accepted the new position! 

Now comes the hardest part – the transition. Change is tough, so give yourself some grace. It can be intimidating to be the newest one on a team that feels like a well-oiled machine, but remember, everyone was new at one point! 

Here are things you can do every day to ensure a successful transition: 

• Don’t be afraid to ask questions
• Give yourself grace when learning new things
• Embrace the learning curve 
• Don’t compare yourself to other team members
• Seek out learning opportunities (webinars, internal presentations, networking events, etc.)

These tips might seem small, but trust me, if you make them part of your everyday routine, they can do some serious magic. Imagine them as your secret helpers, quietly ironing out the kinks and uncertainties that usually come with change. Over time, you’ll start feeling more in the groove, more at home, and before you know it you’ll be the one training someone new!

Wrapping Up – Embrace the Journey

In conclusion, transitioning positions within your job organization is an adventure worth embarking on. Don’t be afraid to explore new possibilities, even if it means stepping out of your comfort zone. Be open to learning, embrace the highs and lows, and build strong connections within your workplace. Remember, every step you take adds value to your career journey and shapes you into a well-rounded professional.

Making Moves: Navigating Transitions Within Your Job Organization is an original blog post first published on Go Fish Digital.

There’s nothing worse than writing a killer pitch with an open rate in the single digits.

In a 2019 interview with MuckRack, BuzzFeed News reporter David Mack put it plainly:

“I get roughly 300 emails a day…Most of the time, I read a subject line and that’s it.”

And if your subject line ain’t solid, a perfect pitch doesn’t matter — it never sees the light of day.

The good news? Writing strong subject lines is a skill you can build with practice, and there are a few solid strategies that have helped me grow in my two years as a digital PR strategist. Call it at least 800 subject lines of trial and error.

As a baseline for success, as you move through these different methods, test multiple subject lines on small groups of contacts as you go. While open rates can vary based on pitching software, spam filters, the beat, national or local angles, and more, a relative rule of thumb is a strong open rate will be above 30%.

Here are some of my favorite strategies for writing effective subject lines that will get your pitch opened and story covered:

Going Through the Motions

Let’s look at this data campaign: The Best Cities for Hybrid Work. Our team scraped LinkedIn’s job database for hybrid job openings in 100 of America’s largest cities and pulled salary data across cities and industries. My basic outreach strategy was to target career, finance, and local journalists.

Working on autopilot, pitching all day, your first instinct for a national subject line might be to CMD-V the campaign title into your subject line and fire away those mass emails: 

The Best U.S. Cities for Hybrid Work Opportunities

Let’s say, locally, you do the same, and grab that first insight as written in the study:​

Atlanta Ranks #1 as the Best City for Hybrid Work

In the next seven steps, we’ll workshop these subject lines together and transform them into ‘opens’ in the inboxes of journalists at top-tier outlets.

Strategy 1: Get Personal

Strategy 1 is the most time-consuming and most effective technique for writing a subject line, which is why we’ll cover this first. This involves reaching out to journalists such as:

• Those you already have a professional relationship with
• Those whom you’ve thoroughly researched and your campaign is a great fit for their very specific role (e.g., An Atlanta career reporter whose last three articles have been on hybrid work practices)
• Those who have previously covered your client’s content
• Those who have previously covered your agency’s campaigns
• Those who cover this particular type of content (city-rankings, Google Trends campaigns, etc)

A BuzzSumo analysis of their 600K journalists database found, “48% of journalists said that the number one thing a PR can do to get in their good books is to ‘Understand my current beat and position, and make their pitch relevant to this.’”

A common practice to begin addressing this is to localize your pitch using merge fields, adding phrases, city names, and other city-specific statistics that match with contacts from that area.

There’s no reason this can’t start in the subject line! Whether you employ merge fields for groups of journalists at a time, or do this manually, it should be as tailored as possible and jump out of their inbox as coming from someone who has done their research:

Hi [Name] – another 2022 hybrid work study for you!

We’re calling her by name, we’re bringing up a previous relationship, we’re calling out her beat.

Simple Texting releases new employee data, updated with LinkedIn data

We’re bringing up a client they trust and mentioning a previous campaign.

[City] ranks high once again in nation rankings for high wages

We’re naming his location and beat while referencing a previous campaign.

And so on. Later we’ll go in-depth on how to use past coverage to your advantage. The main takeaway is this: nothing beats human connection and good research. Even in a subject line. Your ultimate goal is to be a resource for journalists. If you treat gaining coverage as a result of this, you’ll find instead of a single payoff, a single backlink for your client, you’ll build more backlinks for all of your campaigns to follow.

Strategy 1 will not only lead to journalists opening your pitches, but they will recognize your email in their inbox and your name as a credible source.

Strategy 2: Front-Load Your Subject Line

Now, let’s focus on journalists we don’t know personally. Realistically, imagine we know their outlet and beat.

Let’s front-load our first two subject lines with keywords. Most email platforms will cut off around 60 characters, while journalists checking pitches on their phones might see around 30. I want the first few words to be punchy, and The Best Cities for… is a subject line I’ve used many, many times, which means my contacts have seen it, many, many times. Sometimes it works, but this is a national pitch that needs to stand out in massive newsroom emails.

I went with this: 

Making six figures while working hybrid is easier in these cities

I know these reporters want finance and career pitches, and I, for one, would open an email that starts with the idea of making six figures. I’ve provided a specific angle: Think less of sending the title of a paper and more of a news headline. There’s no value in being vague.

Similarly, a local subject line should have the city or state in the first couple of words:

Chicago breaks the top-10 in national ranking of best cities for hybrid work

The first two words here, “Chicago breaks…” include a strong verb and the city name right off the bat.

Strategy 3: Flex Your Authority

Flex your authority. 

Is my marketing software client a direct authority when it comes to hybrid work?

Not so much. I won’t include their name in the subject line here.

An example of a case where you should? A furniture retailer on interior design:

Campaign: The Most Popular Interior Design Styles

Joybird analyzed over 130 design trends & decor items

Joybird study reveals the most popular design styles

When you can’t flex the authority of the client, you can flex a thorough methodology. I’ll ask myself, is the data collection one of the most interesting, compelling pieces of the campaign? If it is, try adding it in as a component:

The top interior design styles, according to Pinterest data

And there’s the money subject line! Apartment Therapy covered the campaign with the headline:

“These are The Most Popular 2023 Interior Design Styles, According to Pinterest”

Adding the general campaign type and the name of the city (at the front-end, Strategy 2!) accomplished the same technique, seen here for Joybird’s Best City for Homebodies:

[Study] Pittsburgh Among The Best Cities For Homebodies

… covered with practically the same headline by CBS News. Success! Flex your client or your method!

In the case of Hybrid Work, we have a data study, specifically a LinkedIn scrape, and the method was really interesting to me. It was as easy as adding:

Making six figures while working hybrid is easier in these cities, study suggests

[DATA] Making six figures while working hybrid is easier in these cities

Make six figures while working hybrid in these cities, according to LinkedIn

Now you’re primed to shoot off some emails. A journalist at The Street plunked it from their inbox, covering it with the headline:

“Want to Make Six Figures Without Going to an Office? Move to These Cities”.

Strategy 4: Steal The Headlines

Okay, so you’ve secured some coverage. It’s time for one of my favorite, and quite effective (and easier!) strategies: Steal! That! Headline! Capitalize on that successful angle, respect what the journalists found most newsworthy, and trust they know how to write headlines in a tone their beat is going to respond to.

And make sure to pocket these headlines — specifically the types of verbs, the abbreviations, and any patterns, not just for your next round of subject lines, but for your next campaign! The more you pitch certain beats, and within that, the same outlets, you’ll have a better knack for their headline style and can work to echo it in your subject lines as you see fit.

A journalist at CNBC covered Hybrid Work with the headline:

“The 10 best cities for finding a hybrid job that pays $100,000 or more”

Coverage of another career campaign for the same client, The Most Common Corporate Lingo was covered again by CNBC with the headline:

“10 corporate buzzwords that show up in job listings the most.”

I’ve got a takeaway: My next finance campaign? My subject line will be structured as a list of 10! Paying attention to an outlet or journalist’s headline is also an indicator of what style/angle an editor is going to approve. Journalists appreciate the extra legwork.

Strategy 5: Don’t Waste Anyone’s Time

There are going to be times when you don’t find a campaign absolutely riveting. Maybe it’s a survey, and you just couldn’t predict that the insights would be a tad snooze-worthy. Maybe it’s an AI campaign that made you swear never to work with robots again. Maybe it’s a campaign so close to the client’s brand that you fear pitching it to journalists will have you labeled ‘AD’ or so far from the brand you’re now inbox clickbait.

Roll up your sleeves. This is your opportunity. You’re going to find an interesting statistic in this campaign if it’s the last subject line you write.

Because Strategy 5? Don’t be boring!

Ask a friend, a family member, or a man on the street if the insight you’ve deemed important is actually interesting. Hop over to Google News and see how others are covering the topic. Do your due diligence.

And when all else fails, don’t overextend your pitching strategy. Acknowledge the campaign’s limitations and work to find the journalists that truly would care about XYZ (Maybe it’s not you, or most of the rest of the world, but there’s seriously a beat for everything these days). Protect your relationships with journalists who wouldn’t be interested, and challenge yourself to pitch to more niche publications.

If you can’t glean an interesting subject line when all is said and done, relook at the campaign as a whole. Don’t blast just anyone’s inbox as a last resort.

Strategy 6: Commit to a Tone

Throughout this guide, we’ve walked through the Hybrid Work campaign. Our subject lines became sharper, but one could say our tone remained consistent. 

From

The Best U.S. Cities for Hybrid Work Opportunities

to our more interesting iterations like

Want to Make Six Figures Without Going to an Office? Move to These Cities

both are matter-of-fact and informative. While the latter is more likely to be opened, I wouldn’t say the former would automatically be off-putting to a journalist. Similarly, in their Employee Burnout campaign, I first opted to use a broad subject line:

A Snapshot of Employee Burnout & Quit Rates in the U.S. 

which received no coverage, and when I switched to a more data-driven insight

1 in 3 think about quitting their current job at least once a week

which was picked up by Forbes. While the latter was opened more and secured coverage, both subject lines are appropriate tones for the client and the campaign.

Conversely, there are many incidents where ‘spicing up your subject line’ can alter the tone in a way that will land you right in a spam folder. One of the best parts of agency life is the diverse group of clients I get to work with each day. There are many wonderful opportunities for your subject line to be silly, punny, or tongue-in-cheek. I secured a TODAY Show segment with a food pun! However:

• Check your campaign, client, context, and climate
• Practice your subject line humor first on radio stations and local TV news before you send a national pitch
• If you ever fear you’re toeing the line, get some pulse checks from your team

Remember that your subject line will be out of context from the rest of your pitch. My own rule of thumb, if I’m not completely confident, is to put my humor in the hook of the pitch and try a different strategy in the subject line.

Another indicator of tone is the use of capitalization. Journalists don’t want to be shouted at in their inbox with an ALL CAPS but don’t be afraid to experiment with them for emphasis. All of these iterations are acceptable:

• Pittsburgh is The Best City For Homebodies
• Pittsburgh is the best city for homebodies
• Pittsburgh is the BEST city for homebodies

For more direction, look at the coverage in that beat and see how they use capitalization or judge grammatically whether it’s more of a sentence or a headline.

Strategy 7: Establish Urgency

If you can, create a sense of urgency if appropriate. This can mean mentioning a timely event, from Christmas to National Cake Day to hurricane season. Most frequently in my day-to-day, I’ll apply this to entertainment beat pitches. Some general examples include:

• Today is [Event] – Everything you need to know on [Campaign Topic]
• [Date] is [National Holiday] – This is [State]’s favorite [Campaign Topic]
• Prepare for tonight’s premiere by catching up on [Campaign Topic]

More specifically, on a campaign on Every State’s Favorite Robot, I swapped my headline multiple times during the promotion period to establish a sense of urgency.

1st Evergreen:

The Most Popular Movie Robot in Every U.S. State

2nd RoboWeek:

Celebrate RoboWeek: [Robot] is [State]’s favorite movie robot

3rd National Star Wars Day: 

May the 4th be With You: [Robot] is [State]’s Favorite Movie Robot

Another way I’ll establish a sense of urgency or timeliness in the subject line is to find journalists who are actively reporting on a story that my campaign might help inform. I’ll then make the subject line that one statistic that might relate most.

Finally, if a campaign is hot out of the oven, I’ll date it with the subject line:

August 2023 study reveals…

Conclusion

An open rate in the single digits? We’ve all been there. Give some of these strategies a go!

Strategy 1: Get Personal

Strategy 2: Front-Load Your Subject Line

Strategy 3: Flex Your Authority

Strategy 4: Steal The Headlines

Strategy 5: Don’t Waste Anyone’s Time

Strategy 6: Commit to a Tone

Strategy 7: Establish Urgency

Stuck Writing Subject Lines? 7 Strategies to Get Your Pitch Opened & Story Covered is an original blog post first published on Go Fish Digital.