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Generative AI is everywhere now. You see it in content, campaigns, customer experiences, and even internal workflows. It promises speed, scale, and efficiency, but there’s a harder question sitting underneath all that progress; Do your audiences actually trust it?

Trust in the Age of AI: What Consumers Really Think About AI Generated Content

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

Like everyone else, Dylan McKeever was forced to stay home during the Covid years. But, as a stand-up comedian, it meant the entire standing-up in front of a crowd element of her job was impossible to do. So, she took to social media creating hilarious videos which immediately took off, and was able to grow her following to over 27K on Instagram.

As a transgender influencer, Dylan has the unique perspective and voice that brands are searching for. And, she’s hilarious. Making her a perfect resource for brands looking to infuse comedy and inclusivity into a campaign.

Dylan spoke with us about her newfound influencer career, and how behind-the-scenes collaborations can support brands just as much as sponsored posts.

How have you used social media as a platform to connect with a wider audience?

When the pandemic started, and I was doing stand-up comedy. I had only started doing it for 6 or 7 months. And, lockdown happened and there was no more stand-up comedy. So, I started translating some of my stand-up jokes for the internet, the “small, small screen”.

It’s actually been one of the best things for my career. I wasn’t doing it before COVID, and the response has been super positive. Things have really taken off. It’s been nice, I’m almost surprised by the response. I’ve had a long creative career, and it’s really interesting to see something take off with popularity because I’m really used to creating within a void and releasing things into nowhere. That’s the attitude I’ve grown accustomed to, and social media has really changed that for me.

How has this impacted your ability to collaborate with brands?

As far as collaborating with brands, I’ve gotten a few gigs out of this. The ones that I like the most are the ones where I’m doing a lot of work on someone else’s campaign. I’ve done writing and acting for companies, consulting for ad campaigns. Actually, in many collaborations I’m not the face of the brand, I help more with joke writing and I actually like being behind-the-scenes.

As a comedian, I feel like I really need to be authentic and keep people’s trust. So, I shy away from doing a lot of sponsored collaborations because I’m still growing my following and want to keep their trust. That’s why when I work with brands I tend to do more voice-over work, acting, and consulting. I enjoy it more, and I think it fits who I am best.

When entering a collaboration, and maintaining your authenticity, what is your vetting process?

This is all pretty new, but when I enter a collaboration I am a little picky. I wouldn’t say I identify as an influencer per se, it’s not a label I use. So, I think it allows me to be more discerning.

That being said, if it’s a product I actually use and like I’d be happy to work with the brand. As long as it fits into my life, I feel like the collaboration is authentic.

What type of products would be ideal collaborations for you?

I drink so much Kombucha. I eat a lot of pickled onions. Avocados. I really love this specific Giorgio Armani Lip Gloss. It doesn’t dry out the lips. Honestly, just things I would use in my regular life, nothing random.

It’s not so much about the brand, it’s more of a question to myself, “Would I use this?”. I don’t like telling people what to buy unless I’m actually using it.

In a post-corona world, do you see yourself continuing your online comedy?

I think so. I’m signing with managers, so that will change the process of getting gigs and writing jobs. I’m not sure how that will impact influencer-style collaborations. But, I really love the consulting element of it. Brands come to me, I give them a suggestion, and they bring my idea to life. It’s really an interesting process to see come to fruition.

What does your consultant process look like?

I’m working on Pride campaigns right now, and they are trying to get an authentic voice for some of the Queer stories they are trying to tell. And, also joke writing. That is more challenging because I am not used to writing for a brand. A lot of jokes I think of, I realize it would be okay if I said it but not a brand, so it’s a learning process.

So is behind-the-scenes work your ideal influencer role?

I think so. Writing is really one of my strengths, and I think I’m different from other influencers who aren’t comedians.

I also think there can be some tension being the face of a product. I was actually going to be the face of an abortion pill. And, I am trans, so I can’t get pregnant. I thought it would be weird if I was the face of the product. So, I suggested I just write the campaign and someone else performs it. That ended up being a good idea.

It’s really a balancing act of figuring out if my face should be on something. That’s also why doing voice-over work is fun.

Are you on other channels besides Instagram?

I started doing TikTok. It’s really fun there! It’s so much more loose and joyful than Instagram.

Did you guys know books have a buncha words in them??

I’m not the best at making short content, I go over a minute all the time. When I first got TikTok I would post and then leave, because I was afraid the teenagers would make fun of me. I actually didn’t read the comments for a few months. Then I came back and everyone was nice so I stayed.

Feeling inspired? Learn more about the great influencers waiting to collaborate with you!

Influencer Inspiration: How Dylan Mckeever Got Lemons and Made Damn Good Lemonade

Brand safety is a very important part of brand management and reputation management. That also counts for influencer marketing. Learn how to run an influencer risk assessment to ensure you are partnering with like-minded folk who support your brand values:

Why Should You Perform an Influencer Risk Assessment?

What Are Key Components of an Influencer Risk Assessment?

How to Perform an Influencer Risk Assessment

Benefits of Performing an Influencer Risk Assessment

Start Your Influencer Risk Assessment with Meltwater

An influencer risk assessment is a systematic evaluation of potential risks associated with collaborating with a particular influencer for marketing purposes. It involves identifying and analyzing factors that could potentially harm a brand's reputation, credibility, or financial well-being if they were to engage in a partnership with the influencer. The goal of an influencer risk assessment is to mitigate potential risks and ensure a successful collaboration that aligns with the brand's goals and values.

When vetting an influencer there are many obvious metrics that marketers will look at; follower count, influencer location, general aesthetic. While these metrics can be easy to identify, they do not always paint the full or accurate picture of a potential partner, and can actually be misleading. That’s why it is important to look at multiple metrics, especially those that can be easily manipulated, in order to make sure you are getting the complete picture of an influencer’s potential.

So, let’s talk about a less common form of vetting, influencer risk assessment. This is a way to ensure an influencer aligns with and supports your brand’s value. By doing this you are able to avoid future risks from the collaboration and ensure your partner is authentic.

Tip: Learn how to find the right influencers to partner with your brand.

Risk assessments help ensure brand reputation control. Collaborating with an influencer that contradicts your brand values, or has made a statement/done something that your brand does not support can have an enormous impact on your brand’s reputation.

One of the most notorious influencer scandals was with Jared Fogle, aka The Subway Sandwich Guy. Remember those ads? He walked every day to a Subway sandwich store and lost a bunch of weight. He was one of the first brand spokesmen that were not a celebrity, but rather a regular person. And, it worked. Kicking off the trend of influencer marketing. However, in 2015, Jared was sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexual misconduct and child pornography. Subway tried to distance themselves from the scandal, but there were reports that the brand had prior information on Jared’s crimes.

More recently incidents have emerged in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. As celebrities and public figures are facing public scrutiny for racist behavior, brands and partners are distancing themselves. For example, actress Lea Michelle was accused of racism and harassment by cast-mates and fellow actors and was subsequently dropped from her collaboration with HelloFresh.

And, managing your brand’s reputation will in-turn impact the way your clients perceive you. 

A scandal with a public figure who has endorsed your brand sends a message to your clients that you did not do your due diligence. This can cause customers to lose faith in your brand. Take television network TLC and the scandal surrounding the 19 Kids and Counting casemates. When it came out that one of the members of the family-friendly show had pled guilty to child molestation the show was immediately canceled. But the damage the scandal had on the family-friendly TLC network was hard to rectify.

Key components of an influencer risk assessment may include:

Reputation and Credibility: Assessing the influencer's reputation and credibility within their industry and among their audience. This involves examining factors such as past behavior, controversies, scandals, and public perception.

Content Quality and Brand Alignment: Evaluating the quality of the influencer's content and its alignment with the brand's image, values, and target audience. Content that is low-quality, offensive, or not in line with the brand's messaging can pose a risk to the brand's reputation.

Audience Authenticity and Engagement: Examining the authenticity of the influencer's audience and the level of engagement they receive on their content. Fake followers, low engagement rates, or a lack of genuine connection with the audience can undermine the effectiveness of the collaboration.

Compliance with Advertising Regulations: Ensuring that the influencer complies with advertising regulations and guidelines, such as disclosing sponsored content and adhering to truth-in-advertising principles. Non-compliance can lead to legal and regulatory issues for the brand.

Ethical Considerations: Considering ethical factors such as the influencer's integrity, transparency, and alignment with the brand's values. Influencers who engage in unethical behavior or promote questionable products can damage the brand's reputation.

Past Collaborations and Partnerships: Reviewing the influencer's track record of past collaborations and partnerships with other brands. This can provide insights into the influencer's professionalism, reliability, and success in promoting products or services.

By conducting a thorough influencer risk assessment, brands can identify and mitigate potential risks before entering into a partnership with an influencer. This helps to ensure that the collaboration is aligned with the brand's objectives and minimizes the likelihood of negative consequences.

It only takes 3 steps to perform an influencer risk assessment:

Obviously, when vetting an influencer, scandals won’t be presented on their Instagram page. But, there are ways to assess an influencer’s values which can help shed light on whether they complement your brand.

First, it is important to identify your core brand values across a variety of topics. That way, when the influencer assessment is performed you can easily match your brand value against your influencer’s values.

Tip: Take a look at our social media branding guide.

Step 2: Score of Influencer’s Value Affiliation

Identifying your brand’s values is just the first step, next determine how or if a potential partner aligns with your values. It can be time-consuming to review multiple influencers for an upcoming campaign. To make the process easier, we suggest creating a Risk Assessment Scorecard. This card will let you determine the risk of certain factors, easily letting you determine where an influencer falls on the risk threshold.

When creating the scorecard, we suggest taking the brand values you’ve identified and then creating Low-Risk, Medium-Risk, and High-Risk factors that can be easily identified by anyone doing an audit. Pro Tip: The Klear Brand Score within the Meltwater Influencer Marketing suite helps you determine how well influencers align with your brand goals.

Risk Assessment Scorecard Example 1: Brand Value – Recreational Marijuana

If your brand supports recreational marijuana usage, and are looking to collaborate with like-minded influencers, there still may be some important factors to consider.

<table class="table-primary">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Low-Risk</th>
<th>Medium-Risk</th>
<th>High-Risk</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>An influencer who advocates Recreational Marijuana usage in a dosage that aligns with your brand’s values, or for medical purposes.</td>
<td>An influencer posting content while smoking Marijuana and driving.</td>
<td>An influencer who also promotes the usage of other drugs.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Risk Assessment Scorecard Example 2: Brand Value, Vegan

If your brand is vegan, you have a pretty clear ethos. Here are some things to consider when vetting new influencers.

<table class="table-primary">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Low-Risk</th>
<th>Medium-Risk</th>
<th>High-Risk</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>An influencer who is a vegan chef.</td>
<td>An influencer who eats honey. Yes, honey is high-debated in the vegan community.</td>
<td>An influencer who has collaborated with non-vegan brands.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

Creating Risk Assessment Score Cards is vital for ensuring you and your influencers have synced values. And, it can help contextualize the way certain topics were used, as some words may not be explicit, but may have an explicit connotation or vice versa. For example, “fat” may at first be considered explicitly tones, but when used in the context of body positivity, it can have truly different meanings.

Once you’ve defined and scored your influencer’s value affiliation, it is time to determine brand value correlation. Some tools can help make this process run efficiently and effectively. Meltwater's influencer marketing platform includes a brand safety tool that is a great addition to this process, helping you streamline your influencer risk assessment. Identify miscellaneous or explicit terms and Meltwater will run an automatic influencer marketing brand safety check and flag any keywords used by a specific influencer. Helping you enter collaborations with confidence.

Influencer Risk Assessments is a great addition to the performance-based influencer vetting process, as it helps you avoid the “good on paper” influencer. Influencers who on the surface appear like a good git, but have made extremely poor/offensive decisions in the past. Perhaps if Bon Appétit had run a Brand Safety assessment on Adam Rapaport, they could have avoided the scandal entirely.

Get a free tour of our platform today and make sure you keep your brand safe!

Performing an influencer risk assessment offers several benefits for brands considering collaborations with influencers:

Protecting Brand Reputation: By evaluating an influencer's background, behavior, and audience, brands can mitigate the risk of associating with influencers who may harm their reputation through controversial content, unethical practices, or inappropriate behavior.

Ensuring Brand Alignment: An influencer risk assessment helps ensure that the influencer's values, content, and audience align with the brand's image, values, and target audience. This alignment increases the likelihood of a successful collaboration and strengthens the brand's messaging.

Compliance with Regulations: By assessing an influencer's compliance with advertising regulations and guidelines, brands can avoid legal and regulatory issues associated with non-disclosure of sponsored content, misleading advertising practices, or other violations.

Maximizing ROI: By partnering with influencers who have authentic, engaged audiences and a track record of successful collaborations, brands can maximize the return on investment (ROI) of their influencer marketing campaigns.

Identifying Potential Risks: An influencer risk assessment helps brands identify potential risks associated with collaborating with specific influencers, such as fake followers, low engagement rates, past controversies, or ethical concerns. By recognizing these risks early on, brands can take proactive measures to mitigate them or avoid them altogether.

Enhancing Trust and Credibility: By thoroughly vetting influencers before partnering with them, brands demonstrate their commitment to transparency, authenticity, and ethical business practices. This enhances trust and credibility among consumers, who are increasingly wary of influencer marketing tactics.

Improving Decision-Making: An influencer risk assessment provides brands with valuable insights and data to inform their decision-making process when selecting influencers for collaborations. By making informed decisions, brands can minimize the likelihood of negative outcomes and increase the chances of a successful partnership.

Overall, performing an influencer risk assessment helps brands make informed decisions, protect their reputation, comply with regulations, and maximize the effectiveness of their influencer marketing efforts. It's an essential step in the planning and execution of influencer campaigns.

By carefully vetting the influencers you partner with, you maintain control of the conversation. You ensure you are working with like-minded folk, who strive for similar outcomes. Be it socially, politically, environmentally, aesthetically, you should all share the same goal.

By reviewing the values and authenticity of your influencer you ensure that your influencers generate positive impact. A risk assessment tells you that not only is the influencer authentic, but their audience is authentic and supports and craves content catered to your brand’s values. It is the ultimate way to build successful and lasting influencer partnerships.

To learn more about Meltwater's Risk Assessment capabilities, schedule a call with one of our influencer marketing experts:

Why You Should Perform an Influencer Risk Assessment

Journalists covering a story don't always have the luxury of interviewing executives or waiting for responses from busy PR teams. A press kit helps them easily find essential information like your company's size, headquarters location, and product offerings. It also houses visual assets like company logos, product photos, and headshots of key executives, which are perfect for illustrating articles.

Press kits offer on-demand resources for journalists, and more often these days, influencers. Depending on your business scale, you may have a single comprehensive press kit or create targeted kits for specific products or sub-brands.

Why Press Kits are Essential for All Businesses

What Are the Most Important Elements of a Press Kit?

Optimizing Your Press Kit’s Performance

How Meltwater PR Solutions Help Build Press Kits

A press kit, also known as a media kit, is a digital toolkit designed to streamline media coverage of your business; a package of information and resources that provide journalists with all of the essential information they might need when they are including your organization in a story. 

In the past, press kits were physical packages of documents and images, and in the early days of digital they were electronic files sent out on physical CD ROMs, because print-quality image files were too big for slow internet speeds. 

But today they typically live online for easy access, usually in an area of the corporate website specifically created for members of the press. Some companies also provide downloadable versions containing images and a PDF outlining key information all in a single file. Regardless of format, a press kit is a central hub of media-friendly resources.

A press kit isn't just helpful – it's a strategic necessity for brands seeking coverage. 

Firstly, a press kit will streamline your PR activity by seamlessly providing journalists with the information they need, instantly. Journalists face relentless deadlines and are often working under pressure, so your press kit is their go-to for essential company information and approved visuals. Without that easy access to information and resources, they may skip your brand in favor of a competitor that's easier to cover.

A press kit helps you to keep a tighter control over your narrative, providing the media with a single source of truth about your brand. You’re better able to ensure accuracy and consistent messaging by providing up-to-date facts, figures, and the imagery you want representing your business in the kit. If journalists need to look elsewhere to get information or images for your business, there’s a good chance what they find will be out of date or just inaccurate.

Finally, a well-prepared press kit helps you to build relationships and credibility with members of the press. Journalists appreciate brands that respect their time. Providing quick access to resources establishes trust and paints your business as professional and media-savvy. This positive reputation can significantly influence future coverage decisions.

A press kit is more than just a collection of resources. It facilitates positive media coverage, establishes your brand's authority, and strengthens relationships with journalists, all of which are crucial advantages for any business seeking visibility.

Your press kit serves as a vital reference point for journalists and influencers. Here's a breakdown of what to include:

Mission Statement: Articulate your organization's purpose.

Company Facts: Size (by number of employees and/or revenues), locations of your headquarters and other key facilities, countries of operation.

Products/Services: Clear description of your offerings.

Areas of Expertise: Highlight your specialized knowledge and capabilities.

Brands: List all the brands under your corporate umbrella.

Company History: Concise timeline of key milestones.

Leadership Team: Names and titles of top executives.

Contact Information: Designated media contact details.

Social Media: Links to official social media profiles.

Legal & Regulatory Information: Include as required by your industry/market.

Press Center Link: Ensure clear navigation if your press center exists separately.

Photo Library: High-resolution images of executives, facilities, products, and relevant visuals.

Logos: Various sizes/formats (print and digital) of your company logo.

B-Roll Video: General-use video clips showcasing your business.

Case Studies: Highlight your most compelling success stories.

Testimonials: Positive quotes from clients, partners, media, and influencers.

A professional looking press kit isn't just informative, it's user-friendly. Here's how to strike the right balance:

Make clarity of purpose your main priority by opting for a clean, uncluttered design. Put essential information (especially contact details) front and center, with clear navigation for the rest. Remember that journalists value speed and ease of use over aesthetics - there’s no point having a beautifully designed press kit if it’s frustratingly difficult to find the resources people need in a hurry. 

Your press kit must work seamlessly on smartphones and tablets because if it only works on desktop computers you’re going to alienate a lot of journalists. Media professionals are often on the go, so mobile access is key.

Put yourself in the shoes of a journalist, include what they need, and make it easy to find. 

It’s important to invest in high-quality visuals, especially if you’re hoping to get featured in print publications. But even online media values high-quality photography. Provide professionally shot photos in both print- and web-ready formats, and make sure to offer a variety of imagery for every potential citation, including executive headshots, as well as photography of your products and workplaces.

An effective press kit facilitates your media coverage goals by streamlining the journalist's experience. Clarity and accessibility are paramount.

Building an effective press kit doesn't have to be overwhelming, just follow these easy steps and you’ll have it done in no time:

Plan Out Your Content Inventory: Start by listing everything your kit should include (refer to the component list above for guidance). Tailor the content to your target media – who are the journalists and influencers likely to cover your brand, and what kind of assets are they most likely to need?

Gather Your Assets: Use a spreadsheet or project management tool to track what you already have and what needs to be created (case studies, visuals, etc.). Assign deadlines and responsibilities for generating new content, and as the content is either created or located, make a note of where it can be found within your chosen project management tool.

Involve the Web Dev Team Early: Your web development team will be critical to the success of this project, so make sure they are on board early and fully understand the specific requirements of an online press kit. Remember, these are the important factors: simplicity, accessibility, mobile-friendliness, and SEO (so your kit is easy to find if journalists are googling you). Tip: Learn how to optimize a press release for SEO.

Make it Easy to Find: Once live, make your press kit easy to find on your website – don’t just add it to a tiny link in the footer (you’d be surprised how many brands do) but put the link somewhere a time-pressed journalist can find it without tearing their hair out. Once your press kit is live, make sure to let people know about it. Email it to the journalists and influencers who you already work with, add a link to the email signatures of everybody on the PR team, and make sure to include it in all of your other press materials.

Tip: Learn how to leverage a media database to build a list of journalists, how to pitch your press release to journalists, and how to write a press release.

Your press kit isn't just a one-time creation; it's an ongoing asset that drives coverage. Here's how to ensure it works hard for your brand:

Keep it updated with any new information and assets that are important to your business. New products, leadership changes, updated company stats, anything significant that’s changed at the organization should be promptly reflected in your press kit to maintain accuracy.

To help make this happen, make sure that your press kit is embedded in the day-to-day workflow of the PR and comms function so that it doesn’t get forgotten about once it’s built. Include it in all relevant communications, such as press outreach, and influencer collaborations. When you’re planning campaigns and routine comms activities, always include a line item for updating the press kit. 

A regularly updated, well-promoted press kit isn't just a resource; it's a powerful tool for streamlining media relations and generating positive coverage for your brand.

Tracking your press kit's success will help you gain valuable insights for improvement, as well as justifying continued investment in it.

The easiest way to get a clear picture of how the press kit is performing is to use web analytics. This will show you how many people are using the kit, and which resources are getting the most attention from journalists, so you’ll have an idea of what additional assets are worth including in future.

All of the data provided by your press kit analytics can be added to your routine PR reporting, giving you more ammunition to showcase your team’s success to stakeholders.

Let's take a look at some inspiring press kit examples:

As you would expect from Adobe, the brand’s press kit is a great example of slick design. All of the information a journalist could need is provided in an easy-to-navigate area of the corporate website. Alongside facts, figures, and media assets, you’ll also find the latest news releases. 

Visa’s press kit shows how easy it is to point journalists to exactly the right information when you’re a global company with different media information for different markets. There’s a wealth of useful information and resources on the page, and a simple, highly visible drop-down menu lets you find the right media contact for your region.

Another exercise in simplicity, Lego’s press kit contains almost all of the essential information for journalists in a single page, with clear links to additional resources. This highlights the point that a press kit shouldn’t be overly elaborate - just keep it simple and make everything easy to find.

The Meltwater Blog

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