Successful PR Campaign Tactics

September 19, 2014 Chris Huppertz
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For any business, crafting the right PR campaign can either be seen as a complete waste of money or a critical element of a company’s success. The reality is probably somewhere in-between, but for companies with restricted funds, it can be difficult to decide how much to invest in PR efforts. Additionally, being able to assess the success of a campaign measured by web traffic, story placements, social media conversion and how online interactions drive sales can help put a company’s PR efforts into perspective, but even knowing how to measure this doesn’t guarantee the success of a campaign.

Recently, an industry survey revealed some useful tips for PR pros – like the best time of day to send a release, the best days for distributing news and the ideal length of social media posts – all of which can greatly boost engagement. Here are the findings that the survey considered important for PR success:
measuring-campaign-success

Set Your Embargoes for Early-Morning Hours

Traffic on websites spikes at 5 a.m. EST and 8 a.m. EST, even though half as many articles get published during those times than at 4 p.m. EST. (Who are these freaks getting up to read the news that early?) People also, more predictably, read a lot during the 12 o’clock lunch hour. Instead of setting that embargo for 4 p.m. EST–not really sure the logic of that time-stamp anyway, data suggest publishing either at or before 8, or around noon.

Forget About Fridays

Big bumps in readership happen on Mondays and Wednesdays. People are too busy actually working on Tuesdays to read, it seems. And Fridays? Fridays basically don’t exist on the Internet. (Which is one reason companies often release damaging news late on a Friday afternoon, like no one will notice.) Publishers treat Friday as if it is any other day of the week, but in reality Friday sees very little traffic to content. The most optimal time to pitch news stories is Mondays and Wednesdays, either first thing in the morning, or in time for lunch on the East Coast.

The Ideal Post Length Is 1,500 Words

It’s a little difficult for a company to ask a journalist to pen an article of a certain length, but media professionals, take note: posts between 1,000 and 2,000 words drive the most traffic, and result in the social media attention. Engagement drops off at 4,000 words and picks back up at 5,000, which is interesting.

Have any of these PR tactics worked for you? Leave a comment and let us know.

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