7 Ways to Leverage Media Coverage Further
By Rachel Henry
Gaining media coverage for your community-minded organization is like dropping a stone in a pond—its ripple effects can expand your impact exponentially.
There are plenty of ways to ensure you use your coverage to its greatest potential. Everyone in your sphere and beyond should see the media coverage on all your social channels, website, and more—your contributors are eager to see the impact they’re helping create, and your media sources love seeing their work shared.
In this article, we’ll show you 7 tips to leverage media coverage to generate greater impact:
There are plenty of ways to ensure you use your coverage to its greatest potential. Everyone in your sphere and beyond should see the media coverage on all your social channels, website, and more—your contributors are eager to see the impact they’re helping create, and your media sources love seeing their work shared.
In this article, we’ll show you 7 tips to leverage media coverage to generate greater impact:
- Thank your team and supporters
- Repurpose the coverage on social media
- Send a newsletter that wows your audience
- Share the behind-the-scenes on your blog
- Establish your impact in a grant proposal
- Show your expertise with a press page on your website
- Use the opportunity to generate even more press coverage
Make your media coverage do more
1. Say thank you
Achieving media coverage is often a group effort, so take every opportunity to thank your sources and all involved. It’s a nice touch to send a personalized, sincere note to your donors or contributors to acknowledge their role in your success. This can strengthen relationships and enforce your expertise, while reminding them why they choose to donate to your community-minded organization in the first place.
Your team deserves credit, so circulate the coverage internally. By tangibly showing results, your volunteers will feel that they’re making a difference with their work. Appreciation in a non-generic way can go a long way to boost morale.
2. Repurpose for social media
Leverage your media coverage to repurpose and share podcasts, videos, articles, and blog posts to your social accounts. Frame the story as a thank you to your supporters for all that they’ve achieved and include ways that they can continue to advance your mission going forward.
When you make content your team is excited to share, they’ll be more likely to share it to their personal accounts, helping to broaden your reach and increase positive engagement. Sharing screenshots of the coverage is boring, so always use creative methods that showcase your brand values, maintain the visual aesthetic of your feed, and are appropriate for each channel. This might look like sharing photos or short video clips to Instagram, links on LinkedIn, and full interviews on Youtube. Be sure to update each bio with links to your coverage.
3. Share the news in a newsletter
It’s time to tell your subscribers your exciting news! Getting your followers to subscribe can be the hard part, but once you’ve earned your way into their inbox, keep them up to date with wins like media coverage. Focus on showing, not telling, readers with descriptive pictures and videos.
When your media coverage goes live, look for metrics like increases in newsletter subscriptions. These results will solidify the value of your campaign, paving the way for more in the future.
4. Write a blog that digs deeper into the story
Blogging about the coverage is a great opportunity for your organization to create owned content that’s not only an example of your storytelling abilities, but also engages keywords that are aligned with your mission. Ensure your PR and SEO teams are working in tandem to bridge the two, and tell your story in the most powerful way.
Simply commenting on the coverage can be bland, so compel your readers to visit your blog with the story of how the article came to be, or share behind the scenes information or footage. This will help generate more positive engagement from readers who are eager to click “Share.”
5. Write a grant proposal bolstered by social proof
As a community-minded organization, you’ll likely need to write a grant proposal at some point. Leverage media coverage to prove that your organization is making a difference—and people are taking notice! Media coverage provides great credibility without being generic, and provides you with hard evidence of your impact.
Before you write a proposal, find a grant that’s a good match for your organization. Then when you write your proposal, the hard data and facts like media coverage can prove that your organization is the perfect fit and deserving of this grant.
6. Create an impressive press page on your website
First impressions are important! People will often learn more about your organization through your website, so curate your online presence with your latest and greatest accomplishments. Your website should be updated every time you receive media coverage—use a pop-up to target referral traffic right away, and include an incoming link for the story in a prominent place. You can also take this opportunity to call visitors to action to join your mailing list so they can receive future updates straight to their inbox.
Your press page should also have a section that lists where your organization has been featured. Many organizations have seen an uptick in press coverage and mentions when this information is provided—likely because it’s social proof of your impact.
7. Leverage the story into more coverage
Media coverage can actually be leveraged into more attention! If your organization is featured on national news, write a press release to your local media. Local news loves to spread the word about community success, so tell them all about it.
Remember to maintain and encourage a relationship with journalists you’ve worked with or could potentially work with. This makes them more likely to reach out to you in the future, or it will be easier for you to contact them about exploring a different angle to any published stories. Reporters will often expand on stories in unique ways that are relevant to their readers.
Achieving media coverage is often a group effort, so take every opportunity to thank your sources and all involved. It’s a nice touch to send a personalized, sincere note to your donors or contributors to acknowledge their role in your success. This can strengthen relationships and enforce your expertise, while reminding them why they choose to donate to your community-minded organization in the first place.
Your team deserves credit, so circulate the coverage internally. By tangibly showing results, your volunteers will feel that they’re making a difference with their work. Appreciation in a non-generic way can go a long way to boost morale.
2. Repurpose for social media
Leverage your media coverage to repurpose and share podcasts, videos, articles, and blog posts to your social accounts. Frame the story as a thank you to your supporters for all that they’ve achieved and include ways that they can continue to advance your mission going forward.
When you make content your team is excited to share, they’ll be more likely to share it to their personal accounts, helping to broaden your reach and increase positive engagement. Sharing screenshots of the coverage is boring, so always use creative methods that showcase your brand values, maintain the visual aesthetic of your feed, and are appropriate for each channel. This might look like sharing photos or short video clips to Instagram, links on LinkedIn, and full interviews on Youtube. Be sure to update each bio with links to your coverage.
3. Share the news in a newsletter
It’s time to tell your subscribers your exciting news! Getting your followers to subscribe can be the hard part, but once you’ve earned your way into their inbox, keep them up to date with wins like media coverage. Focus on showing, not telling, readers with descriptive pictures and videos.
When your media coverage goes live, look for metrics like increases in newsletter subscriptions. These results will solidify the value of your campaign, paving the way for more in the future.
4. Write a blog that digs deeper into the story
Blogging about the coverage is a great opportunity for your organization to create owned content that’s not only an example of your storytelling abilities, but also engages keywords that are aligned with your mission. Ensure your PR and SEO teams are working in tandem to bridge the two, and tell your story in the most powerful way.
Simply commenting on the coverage can be bland, so compel your readers to visit your blog with the story of how the article came to be, or share behind the scenes information or footage. This will help generate more positive engagement from readers who are eager to click “Share.”
5. Write a grant proposal bolstered by social proof
As a community-minded organization, you’ll likely need to write a grant proposal at some point. Leverage media coverage to prove that your organization is making a difference—and people are taking notice! Media coverage provides great credibility without being generic, and provides you with hard evidence of your impact.
Before you write a proposal, find a grant that’s a good match for your organization. Then when you write your proposal, the hard data and facts like media coverage can prove that your organization is the perfect fit and deserving of this grant.
6. Create an impressive press page on your website
First impressions are important! People will often learn more about your organization through your website, so curate your online presence with your latest and greatest accomplishments. Your website should be updated every time you receive media coverage—use a pop-up to target referral traffic right away, and include an incoming link for the story in a prominent place. You can also take this opportunity to call visitors to action to join your mailing list so they can receive future updates straight to their inbox.
Your press page should also have a section that lists where your organization has been featured. Many organizations have seen an uptick in press coverage and mentions when this information is provided—likely because it’s social proof of your impact.
7. Leverage the story into more coverage
Media coverage can actually be leveraged into more attention! If your organization is featured on national news, write a press release to your local media. Local news loves to spread the word about community success, so tell them all about it.
Remember to maintain and encourage a relationship with journalists you’ve worked with or could potentially work with. This makes them more likely to reach out to you in the future, or it will be easier for you to contact them about exploring a different angle to any published stories. Reporters will often expand on stories in unique ways that are relevant to their readers.
Turn your media coverage into a fundraising frenzy
Media coverage can have the ripple effect your community-minded organization has been working towards, but you have to know how to make the most of it.
Get ready to ride the wave of support with Perch Communications’ RISE Storytelling Package. RISE was designed to help you turn publicity into generous donors, passionate patrons and dedicated partners. Book today and start making a splash!
Get ready to ride the wave of support with Perch Communications’ RISE Storytelling Package. RISE was designed to help you turn publicity into generous donors, passionate patrons and dedicated partners. Book today and start making a splash!