How To Improve Your Online Commentary
By Matt Wright
Online commentary goes hand-in-hand with a greater credibility, both for writers in the press looking to improve their content credibility - and for experts in their sector looking to grow their reputation through commentary. But what if you are struggling to feature truly expert commentators, or you are struggling yourself to be featured as an expert? Below is a summary of how to improve your online commentary - both as a writer, and as a commentator:
Key mentions are transformational, but how do you get more?
Unlock The Value
If you don't get any commentary opportunities in the press, it is paramount to identify the right calibre of journalists within your remit (internationally!) that have the most interest in your defined specialisms (for which there needs to be more than one), and thereon reach out to them at scale with, most importantly - something of high relevance to them as writers, of true value to their readers, and not to that of your blatant business interests.
Shaping Opinions
Within the press it is important to develop and offer wisdom that cannot be found elsewhere. The key question is - what opinions can we map and identify that no one else can provide in the way that you do? Working towards this thought leadership goal is paramount - both to the success of indeed any journalism that takes place, as well as to the commentator's own success as a beacon of both sector knowledge and insight, not to mention the timeliness of reacting to current trends.
Prove Clout
It is not enough in this day and age to have less than +1,200 followers on social media, or to go without any directory listings where you might expect within each industry. Getting yourself the trust signals you need to prove your clout is vital in an age where everything about you is a single search away.
Devise Profile Pages
As a commentator (for a brand) you should play Wikipedia at their own game and setup profile pages about you (the messenger) on your company or external website(s) e.g. on The Marque. This needs to be a profile page about you, and should be more detailed, insightful and informative than anything else about you online. Forget the Linkedin template. Why?: Because without a more comprehensive profile you lose the potential value of quickly convincing, pitching and presenting yourself online as you see it, beyond the rudimental Linkedin CV format! Capturing your key audience in the press is done faster in this way.
Use Multimedia
Multimedia formats like video are key for references. Not only are they the most compelling way to communicate who you are and how well your breadth of knowledge is, they are also more likely to be referenced because content of this type is hard to embed. Commentators rarely like to be in front of a camera, or microphone. So multimedia instantly has a barrier of entry.
References
With every press or influencer opportunity for your commentary - you should make reference to your profile page in order to support the credibility of your commentary. This is why the attention to your profile pages online are key.
Channel Interests
Once your value as a commentator builds in the media - it is then time to adapt your profile pages online, and start building your business interests into profile pages, but only once you have the support of the press built.
Legacy Requests
Using the processes and tools from Presscite, you can review new opportunities and old mentions within the last 18+ months in order to ramp up the volume of profile links that would be requested as courtesy for the commentary. This is invaluable in shaping your online repuation and authority in search.
Measure & Adjust
Once your campaign is underway - it is time to measure the performance of activities. Whether that be as traffic, or as search rank gains e.t.c.. This allows you to amend the strategy thereon, and improve results.