How to make the most of your media coverage

As an Editor I work with companies publishing adverts and editorials on a daily basis. I’m often asked how they can make the most out of their media coverage.

If you’ve spent your hard-earned cash on some media coverage (or achieved it for free!) you will want to make the most of your investment. There are some things you can do to ensure maximum exposure from the money you’ve spent.

1. Add a promo or discount code to your advert or feature.

This way you can record exactly how many conversions you make from that particular advert. It doesn’t have to be a huge discount, it could be something like a free cuppa when someone comes in with the code, or 10% off when they spend a certain amount. You just need some way to recognise that the person has seen your business in that particular publication. Then you will know which publication works best for you and achieves the most sales for your business.

2. Ask the publication to post about you on their social media channels.

It’s completely fine to ask the publication you’re advertising in to post about you on social media. Some may charge a little extra for this, but some won’t, so it doesn’t hurt to ask.
Extra promotion from their social media accounts will really help to boost brand awareness.

3. Post about your advert or editorial on your own social media channels.

Post a photo of your advert or editorial on all your channels. It could be a photo of the page – but you could also mix it up and do something imaginative that links to your brand.

A personal photo is always best for gaining more social media interaction so you could try a photo of you reading the publication in the office, or a boomerang video of you excitedly opening up to the page you’re featured on.

Make sure you tag the publication in the post – and you could even tag other businesses who are in there to extend the reach of your posts and gain new followers. Just a simple “it’s lovely to be in the same magazine as @—” is a great way of doing it.

4. Do a live video/instastory/IGTV about being in the magazine.

If you’re not comfortable talking face to face with the camera then point it towards the publication and show off the advert whilst you talk. Discuss what you were advertising and say where people can pick up a copy. You can mention that if they pick up a copy there’s a special discount code in it for them.

5. And repeat!

Do the last two points more than once. If a publication is out for a whole month you may need to remind your followers 2 or 3 times. If you were in a newspaper you can repost about your coverage with the hashtag #throwbackthursday.

6. Show your media coverage on your website.

Create a section of your website that is called ‘In the press’, or something similar, so that customers can see what’s been written about you in the media. Use a photo of your coverage and a link to the online magazine or newspaper. This will help build brand credibility and can also help with your website’s SEO rankings.

The above steps do take a bit of time, but it’s well worth it to reach more potential customers. And with the above tips you will be covering digital and social media as well as traditional marketing.

For more advice on how to gain media coverage, or how to make the most of what you’re already doing, feel free to email me. And if you’d like me to blog about any other marketing tips let me know!