How to Use Digital PR for Link Building: A Complete Guide
Introduction:
At first glance, using Digital PR for link building might look like a basic link building strategy. However, there are multiple differences between Digital PR and Link Building. And if you can leverage Digital PR for Link Building, you might have the perfect strategy at hand to dominate rankings!
Also, if you play your cards right, maximizing link building efforts with Digital PR does not just lead to better rankings but can effectively establish a positive reputation for your brand. But before discussing methods and tactics, let’s start with the definition.
What is Digital PR in SEO?
Digital PR is all about building a reputation for your brand online. While methods and efforts differ between niches and industries, the main goals often remain more or less the same. Where SEO link building is mainly focused on getting you a backlink that serves as a vote of confidence to Google, Digital PR is about establishing connections online such that your website has credible relationships with the most authoritative ones on the web.
With this scenario, Digital PR for link building focuses on improving your online reputation. Also, digital PR utilizes the power of customer stories, journeys, and thought leadership to build your brand’s persona.
This is why online PR strategies are often very different. Moreover, the amalgamation of Digital PR and SEO Link-Building results in the goal of getting backlinks through PR. These backlinks not only help build authority for your website but also boost brand visibility and provide high-quality referral traffic.
Types of Digital PR Tactics to Use
Your approach to Digital PR can be the defining factor in the number and quality of links you gain. In most cases, it is likely that you will opt for a mix of two or possibly all three types for a holistic Digital PR strategy for link building.
Reactive PR
The objective of Reactive PR is to gain visibility by cashing in on the current trending topics that appeal to your users. Riding the wave can actually prove highly beneficial, especially if you’re among the first to break the news to the public. Similarly, providing a commentary on trending topics can also help you quickly gain the backlinks and traffic you need. In some cases, reactive PR is also used for crisis management.
Creating content on these trending topics can also help ensure relevance for your audience, and help establish you as a thought leader in your industry. Take our Catch the Latest category for example. We routinely cover the highest-priority news about SEO in this list.
Expert Commentary
Expert Commentary is a great way to showcase expertise and earn backlinks while simultaneously improving brand image. The idea is to contribute to articles for journalists. HARO, or Connectively as it has lately been rebranded, is a platform where sources connect with journalists to provide important insights. This allows the sources to earn backlinks by providing their expertise while lending credibility to the article with the expert take.
Data Studies
Another way to build your credibility while garnering backlinks is to conduct data studies. While conducting a research study may be tedious, the results can help create essential statistics relevant to your niche. This means that the study results published will likely be directly quoted by other websites.
Key Components of a Digital PR Strategy for Link Building
Getting the right Digital PR strategy also requires you to have the right components. This not only makes sure that your strategy has a clear goal but also keeps you on the right track. It’s important to note that ensuring components of a Digital PR strategy is merely a stepping stone. Effective digital PR occurs when you’re rightly prioritizing the components of digital PR strategy.
The synchronization of your SEO strategy with PR also plays a vital role. Moreover, compelling storytelling becomes imperative when conducting PR outreach for backlinks.
Compelling Storytelling
Digital PR strategy begins with the right story. Digital PR relies heavily on storytelling to present your narratives in such a way that they appeal to publications and potential customers. This is where you select the story and build a narrative.
Even the smallest of achievements can be presented in a grand way with the right execution. You have to hook your audience with your storytelling. The idea is to make it enticing and showcase the positive possibilities without sounding too insistent.
Take up a press release for example. You have to garner attention with your introduction and retain the reader’s interest throughout your content. This way, your reader will not only remember your brand but also the new step your brand has taken.
Targeting Journalists and Influencers
An effective digital PR campaign also requires you to find the right journalists and influencers. The right prospects are not just the ones who have a large following, but also those whose audience set aligns with yours. Digital PR is specifically focused on establishing connections, which means that you have to engage with your targeted journalists and influencers on social media as well.
Media Pitching
Keep in mind that any journalist or influencer you go for will likely be receiving a ton of emails daily. Thus, it becomes imperative for your pitch to stand out. This means crafting an email with a message that not only stands out with its subject but also has content that convinces your targeted influencer to take action.
Suppose you’re pitching on a social channel, it’s better to start with engaging with their posts first via comments. Doing this will help put you on their radar while simultaneously boosting your brand in the community.
It’s better to have that rapport established before you send them your first message. With your first message, start with an appreciation for their achievements after the greeting. You can also include your own positive opinion on why you chose to highlight a specific achievement. After that, you can begin with the main reason behind your message. Your tone will depend on the influencer, but your expertise on the subject matter should become clear instantly.
In the case of an email, you have to set a subject that entices them to open it but also justifies the subject with its content. There are a plethora of tools available for Digital PR as well.
While focusing on Digital PR, it’s important that the content you create is as shareable as possible. Creating shareable content for Digital PR often requires a different approach. Your focus is to have content that is easily quotable and contains information not easily found elsewhere.
In this scenario, having infographics can help a lot. A cool infographic providing details seamlessly means that journalists would jump at the chance to use it, adding credibility to their piece while adding to your backlink profile.
Creating content for link-building means creating link-worthy content. You can also create a stats page and garner loads of backlinks. In our video, we have detailed how Brian Dean has done it with the use of journalist keywords.
Shareable content can help optimize your PR content strategy, resulting in SEO-friendly PR content that brings backlinks from authoritative websites.
Setting and Maintaining Relationships with Journalists and Influencers
PR outreach for backlinks demands an established rapport with journalists and influencers. However, other than social channels, you also need to consistently engage with the relevant journalists.
The first step is to look up journalists and influencers in your niche and follow them. Building relationships for PR is all about making them aware of your brand. Thus, it is good to engage with them directly from your brand. X is a great platform to engage directly with the thought leaders of the industry. However, you can also leverage influencer outreach for SEO via other platforms.
Some of the most well-known PR platforms, other than Connectively are:
While there are nuanced differences between how each of them works, they do help you connect with the right journalists and influencers. You can use these platforms to find, select, and communicate with journalists. Moreover, you can actually provide expert commentary by becoming the source for different types of information, earning backlinks through PR.
Staying active on these platforms would ensure that your Digital PR strategy stays on point while you earn valuable, relevant links.
Measuring Success: Track Your Digital PR Results
Tracking PR Link-Building results can be a monumental task if you haven’t set the right measures and metrics to monitor results. It’s important to have your Analytics and UTM tags set so you can monitor the traffic coming from each source. And while traffic is one of the major metrics, measuring digital PR success also relies heavily on improving your DA.
You have to monitor your PR backlink metrics routinely to stay aware of the impact they’re bringing to your SEO.
Harnessing the Power of Digital PR in SEO Link Building
Setting up the right Digital PR strategy can be a sure-shot method for garnering valuable backlinks while simultaneously building your brand. However, it’s important to approach digital PR in SEO link building from a holistic angle. Other than optimizing your On-Page, hiring the right Digital PR link building agency can also ensure that you have the strategy for long-term success!
