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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

Let’s be honest—some executives are born to be spokespeople—while others need training.

After all, even if you’re an expert on a particular topic, it can be nerve wracking to stand in front of a camera or speak while someone is recording what you say. The last thing you want is that deer in the headlights look, that blank stare or dead silence as the spokesperson freezes up in front of the camera or mic.

Feeling stressed in these situations isn’t uncommon. 75% of people have glossophobia, which is a fear of public speaking—of which media interviews are a form.

While positioning executives as industry leaders is invaluable, preparing them for interviews via any medium is nothing to gloss over.

How Should You Prepare an Executive for an Interview?

“To succeed at media interviews, what executives need most are the one to three points that best support the organization’s brand, mission, or campaign. Often this is the ‘who and what’ behind the news, but it is just as crucially the ‘why,’” said Joel Schwartzberg, Senior Director of Strategic and Executive Communications for a major national nonprofit organization, a presentation coach, and author of “Get to the Point! Sharpen Your Message and Make Your Words Matter.”

Schwartzberg says an effective way to source your key points is to ask,“What one or two things does the audience need to know to activate their interest or behavior?”

The goal is for an executive to sound authentic, but it doesn’t hurt to draft key talking points in advance. You may even want to interview your executive yourself, then write up the results in paragraphs, as an outline, or in bullet form.

2. Don’t wing it. Practice makes perfect.

“Even the best speakers are going to have a bad time if they go into an interview and wing it,” says Erik Bernstein, vice president, Bernstein Crisis Management. “Know what you want your audience to come away remembering and how you’ll get them there.”

And when your spokesperson practices, it should be done audibly.

“Executives need to practice answering interview questions and making points out loud,” Schwartzberg emphasized. “Some may think it’s okay to practice in their heads, but that misses the point. This interview isn’t happening through telepathy—it’s happening out loud. So executives need to practice the task of having their minds and their mouths collaborate to produce meaningful points.”

What happens if a spokesperson doesn’t know the answer to a question? They should embrace the silence—and not to say something they wish they hadn’t. It’s okay for them to take a pause while collecting their thoughts. 

Be it for a digital or print publication, a podcast, or a video interview, follow these tips to get your executive spokesperson prepped for his or her moment in the spotlight:

Digital or print: These interviews often take place over the phone. If that’s the case, you’ll need to work even harder to ensure that you’re connecting with the interviewer. Be sure to take a pause occasionally. Check in to ask if the interviewer has any questions. Remember that not everyone is an expert on the topic you’re speaking about, so the reporter conducting the interview may need you to expand on certain points or explain the background.

Podcast: For a podcast interview, be sure to have a good mic. If anything will make a sound during your guest appearance (coworkers, pets, kids, etc.), take care to close your door.“ There should be no distractions. Turn off your IM, stop multitasking and responding to emails (the interviewer can hear you typing). Don’t eat food, chew gum, or drink from an ice-filled glass,” says Kira Hug, host of The Daily Hug.

Video: A live interview—or an interview that’s being videotaped—is more complicated than appearing either in print or on a podcast, simply because you’re on camera. That means you need to be aware of your appearance, the background and so on. Schwartzberg suggests, “Don’t fidget. Remove change from your pockets and don’t have anything in your hands that will distract or indicate nervousness.”

The Followup: Evaluate the Media Interview

After the interview, be sure to monitor the media for coverage using a tool like Meltwater. Evaluate the spokesperson’s performance and use this experience to improve for the next opportunity.

The more they practice, the faster executive spokespeople will learn the ins and outs of media interviews—and become more comfortable exercising this vital skill.

Next Steps: Are Your Executives on Board?

You’ve now got the tools to prepare an executive for media interviews. But you may need to take a step back and convince them that it’s worthwhile for them to spend their valuable time on brand coverage. Start by showing them what your competitors’ execs are doing. Do they have an edge as respected spokespeople? Is this an opportunity for your brand to take the lead on thought leadership? Business leaders tend to understand the value of a healthy rivalry. Read our tip sheet on benchmarking your brand against the competition for tips on sparking their killer instincts.

Once they’ve bought in, take them a step farther and onto social media. Read our ebook on social media for executives, and share with them examples of top companies whose executives are making invaluable contributions to brand awareness.

Want to get more interview tips? Read 3 Customer Interview Tips for a Great Case Study

3 Steps for Preparing Executives for Media Interviews

A B2B client approached us last week with a problem we’ve heard over and over again: “My marketing team has created a ton of great content. I know it would make a huge impact on LinkedIn, if only I could get my employees to share it.”

So many organizations are putting time and effort into creating content that will engage their customers and prospects, and it’s not just the standard marketing fluff. It’s real, helpful information based on the pain points they know their customers have. But, like the proverbial tree falling in the woods, if no one reads it, does it make a difference?

Nope, unfortunately, it doesn’t. That’s why employee advocacy comes in handy.

Digging Deeper into Your Content Marketing Potential

The problem is that as a marketer, you simply can’t reach everyone despite your best marketing efforts through owned, paid, and earned media. Increasingly, it’s essential to tap into your employees’ network, especially through channels like LinkedIn, to get a viral lift and more eyeballs on your work.

It’s harder to do than you think. It would be nice if you could just tell your employees, “Hey, share this” and the flood gates of engagement swing wide. What you’re really doing, though, is saying, “Hey, here’s another task for you to complete. Take time out of your busy day to fool around on social networks. And, no, we’re not paying you more.”

It’s not going to work. You have to completely change the way you pitch LinkedIn to your employees. It requires more effort to change their mindset and turn them into employee advocates that are LinkedIn content superstars.

The great thing about social media (especially LinkedIn) is that everyone gets equal opportunity to gain attention. But if you really want to get noticed, you have to create enough buzz around your brand on social. To do this, you need a large social media marketing team and huge investments in terms of money and time. 

With employee advocacy and a strong content strategy, you can massively improve your visibility, reach, and influence all on a comparably reduced budget.

How to Create a LinkedIn Content Strategy for Your Employees

To build an effective employee advocacy program on social media, like LinkedIn, talk to employees about your content distribution program in terms of Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle. If you’re not familiar, the Golden Circle is the way effective leaders communicate and it’s pretty much the exact opposite of the way everyone else does – first why, then how, and finally what.

This is where you communicate vision and passion. It’s the time to inspire your audience – in this case, the workforce – that you want to buy in to your LinkedIn distribution strategy. When talking about the why with them, these tips will help:

Align it with the brand. Your LinkedIn content distribution plan should feel like a natural extension of your company’s goals. The more aligned, the more employees will understand why they’re doing it. Let your passion come through. As Sinek said, “People don’t buy what you’re doing; they buy why you’re doing it.” Are you excited about the plan? Make them feel it.

Include the C-suite. Your company’s leadership should empower and encourage employees to participate in an employee advocacy program. They can help to amplify internal voices, and even improve their own status as thought leaders.

Don’t put it in an email. Emails are so easy to delete, forget about, or come back to later (which never happens). They can also seem impersonal when sent en masse, and that’s no way to generate excitement.

Make it fun. If you want people to know just how important this program is, it requires a bit of fanfare. Spending a couple of bucks on a pizza lunch to introduce your employee advocacy program ensures that you’ll have their attention. 

Ask for feedback. Give employees some ownership. Ask what they think about the program, provide chances for them to give their feedback, and incorporate good suggestions on ways to improve.

The how portion of selling the content distribution plan to employees is where you talk about your differentiators. While it supports the “why,” it demonstrates how your plan and approach is unique in the marketplace. It also helps to remove any barriers to entry that employees might be feeling (aka adding something else to their to-do list). Incorporate this advice:

Share the goal: What are you trying to do? Maybe you want to be seen as the go-to thought leader in your field or provide unparalleled customer response on LinkedIn. Spell that out in concrete terms for employees.

Answer “What’s In In for Me”: It’s great if the company benefits, but how does the employee benefit individually from spending time on LinkedIn? They need to know how it’s going to make their job easier, help them reach more customers and prospects, or close more sales. It can also add to their professionalism.

Do your research: Come armed with examples of how the content will be effective. If you already have a LinkedIn champion on staff, invite them to share their experiences with the rest of the company about how it helped them be more effective.

The what is where you talk about the nitty-gritty details, the nuts and bolts of the plan. It’s what they’ll be doing on a day-to-day basis, the more task-oriented stuff that takes time and energy to complete. Again, to reiterate, don’t lead off the conversation with the what unless you want to doom your employee advocacy program to failure. Instead, do this:

Create a playbook: For marketers, creating LinkedIn content might feel second nature. But not every employee has a marketing background. Develop a playbook that can set them up for immediate success, even if they’re not confident in their own abilities at first. Provide a few simple tips to get started. Slowly introduce more advanced tips along the way (a regular “Did you know?” tips email can be effective). You don’t have to share all of the details of the playbook upfront – just let the employees know it exists.

Introduce the content: Show examples of what they’ll be sharing on social media. Walk them through your eBook, whitepaper, or infographic so they understand it and can answer customer questions after they share it.

Provide examples and flexibility: Some people are intimidated by the thought of writing something, even a short blurb to accompany the content they’re sharing for you on LinkedIn. Provide them with 2 or 3 possible comments to include when they share it, and also let them know they’re free to make their own.

Grant access to pre-made assets: Have your marketing team share assets they make for others to repurpose, such as images, graphics, infographics, press releases, or other assets. 

Ask them to follow your company on social: If employees balk at creating their own content, having them follow you on social gives them access to ready-made content they can re-share.

If done right, employee advocacy can help you reap great benefits on LinkedIn. It all depends on the strategy you build and the trust you have in your employees. Good employee advocacy programs are built on employees’ belief in the company and what it stands for, so it is crucial to have a good work culture. The key to making it work is to make all employees feel like their contribution is important to your company – and to themselves.

To learn more about how Meltwater empowers your content strategy, request a demo!

How to Turn Your Employees into LinkedIn Content Superstars

Most B2B brands may not immediately turn to Instagram when deploying social media marketing campaigns, with the assumption that the visual-rich platform is too lifestyle-focused and only works well for consumer brands. That’s where they’re wrong. 

According to TrackMaven’s research, B2B companies receive the largest engagement on Instagram, out of all major social sites. This means the platform delivers the highest number of interactions per number of followers. Besides that, all media is hosted directly on the platform so users don’t have to click elsewhere to see the content.


In fact, when executed well, Instagram marketing for B2B brands can be a powerful way to reach your target audience. Remember, there are over 1 billion users a month on the social platform. So it would only be wise to tap on that user pool. 

But first, how has Instagram marketing evolved over the years?

What started as an image sharing platform has evolved into a visual storytelling platform with the release of various features. Instagram now offers up a whole suite of options for marketers to explore and be creative beyond the grid. 

Instagram is no longer a platform to only share photos – in a square format. You can now play around with photo dimensions and even upload videos to tell a more engaging story. Additionally, you can upload up to 10 images in one post as a carousel. This gives you greater room to play with storytelling through visuals. 

Similar to Snapchat, Instagram launched Instagram Stories as a way for users to share photos and videos on-the-go. These posts disappear after 24 hours. As an additional boost, for marketers running a business profile with more than 10,000 followers, you can add a swipe-up link to stories, directing users to a landing page. Otherwise, ads on Instagram Stories also give you the added advantage to immediately integrate links. 

According to Digiday, the popularity and versatile functionality of Instagram Stories have pushed advertisers to shift more of their ad spend to the platform. Completion rates – the percentage of users who viewed the entire story – for Instagram Stories are also on the rise, and younger age groups have been gravitating toward them. So it’s a good move for brands to consider jumping over to the ephemeral side. 

Then came the launch of IGTV, a dedicated space within Instagram for users to upload longer videos, effectively bringing users away from YouTube. Here you can create mini-episodes, tutorials or product run-throughs that resonate with your audience and create conversations around them.

Catering to the growth of e-commerce, Instagram launched a feature that allowed brands to add shopping tags to images. This meant brands can easily inform users of what products are in the image and direct them to a purchase page with a link to buy. Eventually, Instagram aims to make the platform completely shoppable, such that transactions can take place without having to leave the app. How’s that for seamless social shopping? 

Now that Instagram offers up a whole lot more on their platform, many brands have embraced it and delivered varying degrees of creativity to engage potential customers. Below, we’re going to highlight brands that are nailing Instagram marketing and show you what you can learn from them and apply to your own Instagram marketing strategy. 

Additionally, with these suggestions you might have a greater chance of landing on the Explore tab of Instagram, further boosting your overall engagement levels.  

Everyday relatability with comics: Evernote

It’s easy to lose the attention of your audience in the sea of content posted on Instagram. Hence, Evernote takes on the challenge to engage with users by creating highly relatable comics. These comics cleverly depict everyday situations where one would find themselves and offer a solution that comes in the form of Evernote. 

Not only does it ensure users pause to read, it also serves as an easy way to introduce humour along with your product line. Who knows, the decision-makers who determine whether or not to use Evernote could just be the ones amused by your comic. 

Produce creative service examples: Invision

As a digital product design platform, Invision can showcase its platform’s prowess through real-life examples of user interface designs. By taking it to Instagram, the company regularly uploads videos of innovative designs produced by Invisioners.

Through this, Invision is able to promote its platform and at the same time credit the creators who’ve used the platform – increasing engagement with existing customers. 

Add a dose of humour to office life: Zendesk

In order to build closer connections with its audience, Zendesk delved into creating short videos of office life. Uploaded as an Instagram Story, these snippets are often a hilarious stab on what happens in the day-to-day. 

Additionally, such posts give a peek into the life of a Zendesk-er at work, showcasing the company’s fun corporate culture. There are even mini-meditation and relaxation tips featuring current employees for a personal touch. 

User-generated content with IG Stories: Canva

Canva takes it to Instagram Stories to garner better engagement. However, instead of giving users content that’s intriguing or funny or about the platform, the graphic design platform attempts a different direction. 

They launched a regular Q&A series and utilised the Question sticker tag on Instagram to gather design questions from their users. Beyond simply engaging with users, the responses are also a great way to naturally provide answers to common questions their customers might have. At the same time, it’s a quick way to generate a regular stream of content. 

Create Giphy stickers for added creativity: MailChimp

Is it gif or jif? Let’s not debate the pronunciation because whichever it is, we can’t argue that everyone loves these animated graphics. On Instagram, the Giphy stickers are especially popular with users who want to add a little pizzazz to their stories. 

So what better way to get users to mention you or keep you on the top of their mind than by creating your very own set of Giphy stickers on Instagram? The email marketing service, MailChimp did just that. 

Couple that with irreverent and anything but boring posts, the business is consistently making email marketing fun again. 

Share studies with digestible IG Stories graphics: SurveyMonkey

Most brands would create e-books and focus on marketing it through gated landing pages, banners within articles or via email marketing. Survey Monkey goes one step further to market their studies on IG Stories.  

By taking snippets of data in their studies, SurveyMonkey creates digestible graphics in the form of IG Stories. These individual IG Stories are then strung together to form an IG highlight so new users visiting the profile can always view it. 

This effectively allows the survey development company to naturally reach out to a whole other target audience who’s active on Instagram – but without overwhelming them. It also helps that the study topics are relevant to the younger demographic on Instagram, such as the Emoji Study. 

Seen the possibilities and now you want to get started on B2B Instagram marketing? Before you jump right in, be sure to have certain guidelines in place – you don’t want to commit a faux pas. 

Find your distinct flavour (also known as your voice)

Create a clear strategy and set measurable goals

Ensure your posts provide a clear value to your target audience

Ensure your posts are also relevant to your business 

You don’t necessarily need a fancy camera or editing software to make an impact on Instagram. What you will need is a brainstorm session with your team to gather all the creative angles that’ll show your B2B brand’s Instagram is clearly #owningit.

B2B Brands That Are Nailing It On Instagram

While we often hear content marketers talk about the difficulty of consistently producing fresh, engaging, brand content, they’re not the only ones who face this struggle. PR professionals also have to keep a fresh stream of content coming to fuel their campaigns, keep their media and influencer relationships active, and build executive thought leadership profiles. But when PR is dialed into the content marketing organization’s workflow, it opens up a whole new treasure trove of potential coverage, while turning PR into a corporate MVP by amplifying brand content.

Here are four everyday activities that PR pros can use to amplify brand content.

Include Brand Content in Influencer Outreach

As you cultivate influencer relationships over time, a big part of making them mutually beneficial is keeping an eye out for ways to promote their expertise through your channels. And involving them with your content marketing efforts is an easy and effective way to do so.

Before publication: Use content-in-progress as a reason to reach out to influencers with whom you are cultivating relationships, and ask them if they’d like to be included with a quote or a link to a resource.

After publication: Send completed content to influencers who frequently write on the topic as an FYI, either as simply a thoughtful gift of content or with an invitation to pitch a related follow-up collaboration.

Deepen and Promote Your Referenceable Customer Relationships

While it would be great if every media request for a quote was for our executives, frequently they’re looking for a customer to talk to instead. When this happens, the last thing you want to do is to scramble to try to find a referencable customer who is willing to talk to the media, and who may or may not be an interview pro. That’s why it’s important to nurture customer relationships over time, so when an opportunity for that dream story pops up, you know exactly who to ask. Here are two ways to do so:

When you are participating in brand editorial meetings, suggest customers who might have a relevant story or quote that could enrich the content.

After that content is published, pitch an interview with that customer to the media, using recently published content as your proof of engagement with the topic.

Integrate Content in Your Ongoing Media Relations Outreach

It’s always difficult to make your PR pitches stand out from the competition. But when the pitch is supported by relevant content, it’s got a better chance of piquing a journalist’s interest. Here are five easy ways to integrate brand content into media relations outreach:

Use content as proof of source subject matter expertise. Pitch the internal content author as a source in response to relevant media inquiries.

Repurpose written, audio, and video content. Turn the content into a visual and use it in your next PR campaign as a resource.

Increase the reach of proprietary data. Pitch proprietary data or research-based content to the media, either as a one-time story, or monitoring the trends over time and how they affects your audience.

Create a rich media soundbite. Have the content author record a video elevator pitch for the piece of content and/or the topic in general and include it in a media pitch.

Build inbound links. Include a request to link back to relevant owned content with every interview you place.

In the early days of the Internet, some brands could get away with publishing content through their owned channels and waiting for the audience to materialize. But those days are over. Now, to reach brand fans with your content, there needs to be paid distribution as part of the plan. For those of you who are wondering why I’m including paid media is part of the PR professional’s toolbox, that’s because I’m a proponent of Gini Dietrich’s PESO model. Media and influencer relations are just a small part of her framework.

With that perspective in place, here are a few ways PR professionals can use paid media to support brand content:

Content syndication. Syndicate the content through a third-party distribution tool such as Outbrain or Taboola.

Sponsored content. Publish the content as part of a sponsored content agreement.

Guest blog. Place it as part of a guest blogger agreement with an industry publication, such as a multi-blog series with Entrepreneur, or part of an executive’s Forbes blog.

Boost with a paid social post. Take your best organic social media post that’s sharing the content and put a small budget behind it to increase its reach beyond your brand followers.

By regularly incorporating your brand’s measurable content marketing metrics into your PR strategy, you will become better able to show the ROI on your PR efforts. And with the content team as your new BFFs, you’ll never be stuck wondering what story angle to pitch next for your quarterly campaigns.

To learn more about how to integrate your PR and content marketing efforts, download our ebook, Unlocking PR’s Potential with Content Marketing.

4 Smart Ways PR Can Amplify Brand Content

Everyone is on social media, except, all too often, for top executives. Here we'll guide you through any apprehensions you may have about the value of building a strong and engaged social presence. As you'll see, the benefits outweigh the risk and effort. Once you've bought in, you'll want some inspiration on how to do it right. For examples of social savvy business leaders—from GM, Apple, 23andME, and others—who are undeniably setting their companies apart, read our latest ebook on social media for execs.

Social media may be ubiquitous these days, but for busy corporate executives, it seems to be something to avoid. In fact, over 60% of Fortune 500 executives eschew social media use altogether.

There’s no question that social media use presents several challenges to busy executives and CEOs. Those challenges include:

A significant time investment and resulting impediments to personal productivity

A perceived lack of ROI, especially when the executive could be performing other, more traditional high-level tasks that help create

The perception of social media as a cesspool of outrage and cheap gossip, leaving many executives to fail to see any value or benefit in their direct participation

Potential exposure that may be created by off-the-cuff, unguarded comments, which may present legal, political, business, and personal risks

However, these same risks are inherent in multiple activities that executives engage in, activities that are perceived as yielding higher value and benefit to businesses and brands.

As it turns out, the benefits from strategic CEO and executive use of social media outweigh the risks, as long as that use takes place within strategic parameters and guidelines that support corporate goals and interests.

Here are five excellent reasons why business executives should be active on social media:

Every company and brand has a story. Origin stories, stories about lean early years, success stories about clients and customers—company executives have a unique viewpoint on all these stories. And these are often stories that only executives can tell, especially on social media. These are also usually the most compelling stories, ones that emotionally resonate with prospective customers on social media. They need to be told.

Sharing those stories with a self-selected audience of followers—people who want to hear from you and your brand—helps build brand awareness and attracts new prospects into your marketing funnel. It also creates a particular kind of transparency that is attractive to the right people.

2. The Executive Voice Attracts Top Talent

To succeed, your company needs the best possible talent. And as the executive face of your company, you represent it not only to customers and prospects but also to potential future hires. What factors will persuade the best in their fields to want to work for your business, instead of for your competitors?

Certainly, many such factors exist—compensation, benefits, culture, and more—but among those factors is a vaguely defined ‘X’ factor. Part reputation, part brand “personality, part vision, this indefinable quality means different things to different people. But, it often comes down to something quite basic: How badly prospective hires want to work with and for you, the CEO, the company’s leader. 

Being active on social media gives your personality, work ethic, and enthusiasm for your own company’s product a chance to take center stage. As a result, social media can draw top job prospects who’ll be best suited to join your team and fit into your organization effortlessly—and enthusiastically.

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