Written by Ethan M. Stone
Social media platforms have become dominant forces in digital marketing thanks to their widespread use and accessibility. That doesn’t mean that these are the only valid marketing channels, however, as digital press placement remains a strong option for brands, creators, and founders wanting legitimacy and authority from their campaigns, not just discoverability.
How Digital Press Placement Can Support Credibility
Digital press placement can be understood as a form of content marketing, which career encyclopedia Coursera describes as a way of “target[ing] audiences through original content, such as blogs, articles, and newsletters.” In the context of digital press, content may look like news articles, interviews, or editorials featuring a company or its offerings. Digital press is uniquely well-suited as a means of improving one’s online credibility since it’s handled by a third-party rather than the individual or company themself. While this kind of coverage may not create the same degree of reach as social media, it can help frame the subject as an authority on a certain topic. Given the value of authoritativeness for a brand’s image, digital press may be able to provide lasting benefits that social media has a harder time obtaining.Digital Press Placement vs Social Media Exposure
While digital press placement and social media exposure both exist to improve a brand’s visibility and appeal, they differ in approach and effect. For example, social media exposure might increase a brand’s short-term visibility, but the rapid pace at which content moves on social media platforms means that content may quickly lose relevance and therefore attention.Conversely, digital press placements through platforms like online magazines are typically easier to search. They also tend to stay visible for longer since these platforms don’t produce content as frequently as a social media platform might. Having a longer shelf life may also allow for broader audience discovery in instances where people visiting a webpage find press releases released in the past.
Identifying Opportunities for Digital Press Placement
One drawback of creating a digital press campaign is that it tends to take more time to create and roll out compared to a social media campaign. As such, brands looking to use digital press placement should be conscious and particular about when and where to make use of digital press.Some of the more common use cases include product launches, founder visibility, and artist promotion, as these instances help brands shed light on information and events audiences may not have been aware of otherwise. Other use cases, such as reputation support and category positioning, serve to help brands flesh out their public profiles and solidify their long-term online identities.
It’s also important to keep in mind that the value of a brand’s digital press relies as much on where that brand places their press as it does the quality of the press release itself. Brands should therefore look for relevant publications with relevant audiences; a lifestyle brand might not see much success releasing press on a tech-focused publication, for example. Brands also need to ensure editorial quality and transparency for the sake of maintaining credibility.
Creative Use of Available Resources
Social media’s sheer magnitude and popularity can make it a tempting avenue for digital marketing, and while it certainly has its uses, brands, creators, and founders should keep in mind that there exist other, sometimes more beneficial, channels. Digital press placement is one such channel.Although organizing and executing a digital press campaign has its challenges, doing so effectively can help improve a brand’s long-term credibility, authority, and visibility, thereby making it a valuable way of adding to social media’s short-term gains.
FAQs
Q: What is digital press placement? A: Digital press placement is online media coverage or featured placement intended to increase visibility, credibility, or awareness.Q: Why does digital press placement still matter? A: It can add third-party credibility and support authority in ways social channels alone may not provide.
Q: Is digital press placement the same as social media promotion? A: No. Social media promotion comes from owned or controlled channels, while press placement involves external media visibility.
