Larry Kim’s Social PR Hack

Credit: Larry Kim, Wordstream

Here’s a tactic that’s so simple it hurts.

If there’s something newsworthy happening in your space, write a catchy editorial piece about it and use tailored audiences on Twitter to target journalists at news sites.

Example: Larry Kim tells the story of when he published an article about whether or not Twitter ads work. He promoted the article to influencers and journalists, and an hour later, a Fox News producer emailed him. Lo and behold, look where he ended up:

Furthermore, he says this one post led to “250 high-value press pickups and links, massive brand exposure, 100,000 visits to the WordStream site, and a new business relationship with Facebook.”

Then there’s the time he wrote about Google no longer requiring Google+ for creating an account, which resulted in 500+ media pickups and 100k site visitors.

Not bad for 10 minutes of work and a $50 ad budget.

Speaking of budget, Larry is a fan of testing small before going big. Twenty to fifty dollars should be plenty to “find your unicorn posts” (Dennis Yu says it only takes $7). If a post isn’t performing well, toast it.

The only downside to this tactic is it’s not as lead-focused as other social tactics. That’s why I’d prioritize other lead gen initiatives first or time box this to when there’s news worth sharing. Once you get your list of journalists and influencers set up as an audience, it only takes a second to flip the promote switch. The traffic it generates might not always be relevant, but backlinks are good and getting on the news is great for your personal brand.

To get you started with building your influencer lists, here are a couple premade ones: