Here’s what your company should do AFTER earning media coverage.

A step-by-step guide to amplify your earned media coverage to reach a wider audience.

A woman celebrating that her company got earned media coverage. Securing a story in a priority outlet or being featured on TV is a huge win, but many business leaders make the mistake of thinking publication is the final step, when really there are several steps after earning media coverage to see the highest return on investment.

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Earned media remains one of the most important ways to build brand credibility, giving your organization a more authentic, unbiased third-party validation compared to paid opportunities. However, in a 24/7 news cycle where consumers are constantly flooded with information throughout the day across platforms, a lot of news can get missed in the moment.

Here are six key ways to make sure your story finds your audience, instead of hoping your audience finds your story.

Scream it from the social media hilltops.

Social media is one of the most critical channels to reach your audience in a way that drives action. Reshare your coverage on your company’s LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) profiles. Make sure to tag the publication and the reporter in the post to continue to build that media relationship for future coverage (and maybe even earn a reshare on their channels).

More than that, encourage your employees to reshare the post to their personal profiles to reach an even wider audience. Those reshares from personal profiles are likely to garner the most attention from their more personally invested networks.

Put some money behind your social posts.

There are plenty of ways to leverage the different social media to promote your company, and paid social campaigns are a great option to reach individuals and organizations that don’t organically stumble across your content. Putting the paid social investment behind these efforts with something like earned media coverage further credentials you with these hard to reach audiences — if an unbiased news source sees value in your message, others are likely to start paying attention as well.

Share the news in your next newsletter blast.

Don’t forget to include a mention of your latest earned media hit in your next monthly or quarterly newsletter. Adding a visual logo and a two-line teaser of the article is a great way to draw name brand recognition between your organization and a respected media outlet.

Leverage the news as a touch point with clients and prospects.

When you have business development contacts who have gone dark, it can often seem monotonous to reach out with the same old pings and no new information to share. Sending along the news of an earned media hit not only gives you a good excuse to return to their inbox, but also gives them relevant and timely content to forward up the chain to potential decision makers.

It’s also a nice change of pace to share communication that isn’t asking for anything, but simply passing along news they might find relevant.

Add to marketing and event materials.

Another creative way to feature earned media is to print out the article to bring along as a handout at speaking engagements or to feature at your booth during events. If it’s broadcast coverage, you can have it run on a TV at the booth or have a custom QR code your audience can scan to view the whole clip.

Include the logo on any relevant takeaway materials to show your audience you’ve been featured in priority outlets they trust.

And of course, update your bio to include “featured in [name of outlet]” to further credential thought leaders from your company as media spokespeople.

Feature the news in discoverable locations.

Here are a few other places you can highlight the media coverage where your audience might organically stumble across it:

Include relevant media logos in the news section or on the footer of your website
Add a news item/blog post to your website highlighting the media hit
Feature the article temporarily in your company email signature
Include as a “featured LinkedIn post” on your company or personal LinkedIn profile
Link on your Instagram or X (formerly Twitter) bio

Do you want to see a higher return on investment for your earned media campaigns? Book a one-on-one consultation with us to talk about your media strategy.