Why Earned Media Matters More Than Ever in the Age of LLMs
By Katie Earlam, Director of Creative Strategy, 72Point
There’s been a quiet but seismic shift in how audiences are discovering content and it’s one every comms professional, strategist and marketer needs to understand. With the rapid rollout of Large Language Models (LLMs) in search, the internet is being reorganised around trust.
These new systems are fundamentally changing how information is found and surfaced. And they’re rewriting the rules of brand visibility in the process.
The rise of LLM-powered discovery
In the old search world, if you wanted to be seen, you had to play the SEO game - optimise for keywords, rank high, and win the click. But LLMs like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews don’t serve up ten blue links. They generate answers, pulling content from across the web, distilling it, and delivering it in one seamless response.
So what gets referenced? Not the loudest brand. Not necessarily the brand with the most paid placements or the highest ad spend.
It’s the brand that’s trusted. The one cited in news stories, mentioned by credible sources, and surrounded by signals of authority. That’s where earned media suddenly jumps from a comms goal to a central discovery strategy.
Earned media is now training data
At its core, an LLM is only as good as the data it learns from. And some of the most authoritative, high-signal data online comes from journalism. News content is timely, fact-checked, and subject to editorial oversight. That makes it exactly the kind of source LLMs prefer when deciding what to reference.
If your story has run in a national paper, been covered by a regional site with high E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness), or generated links and social engagement - there’s a much greater chance it will appear in an LLM’s response. In effect, it becomes part of the next layer of the internet’s collective knowledge.
We’re entering an era where earned visibility feeds machine visibility.
Implications for brand strategy
This shift has big consequences for how brands show up in the world:
- Authority is no longer optional. To be referenced by LLMs, brands must have signals of legitimacy across trusted third-party sources.
- PR becomes part of the SEO ecosystem. Creative campaigns that generate media coverage now directly contribute to your brand’s discoverability in AI-led search.
- Content needs to be newsworthy, not just optimised. The bar is higher. LLMs are trained to distinguish between genuine stories and branded puff pieces.
- Search becomes storytelling. We’re moving from keyword stuffing to strategic storytelling. What you say and where it’s said now shapes how machines understand and surface your brand.
What we’re doing at 72Point
At 72Point, we’ve always believed in earned content as a force multiplier for brands. But in this new search environment, its value only grows. We’re helping brands not just land media coverage - but create content that’s designed to build trust, engage audiences, and be recognised as credible by both people and platforms.
That means focusing on stories that resonate emotionally, socially and editorially because these are the signals LLMs are learning from.
It also means making strategic distribution decisions: partnering with high-authority news brands, ensuring relevance to real-world conversations, and using our insight tools to identify what’s cutting through in a noisy media landscape.
Final thought
The race isn’t to be everywhere. It’s to be credible in the places that count.
In the LLM era, earned media is no longer just a nice-to-have for awareness - it’s the foundation of being discoverable, trustworthy, and top-of-mind when audiences go looking.
And if we want to show up in tomorrow’s answers, we need to be in today’s headlines.
Why Earned Media Matters More Than Ever in the Age of LLMs
By Katie Earlam, Director of Creative Strategy, 72Point
There’s been a quiet but seismic shift in how audiences are discovering content and it’s one every comms professional, strategist and marketer needs to understand. With the rapid rollout of Large Language Models (LLMs) in search, the internet is being reorganised around trust.
These new systems are fundamentally changing how information is found and surfaced. And they’re rewriting the rules of brand visibility in the process.
The rise of LLM-powered discovery
In the old search world, if you wanted to be seen, you had to play the SEO game - optimise for keywords, rank high, and win the click. But LLMs like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews don’t serve up ten blue links. They generate answers, pulling content from across the web, distilling it, and delivering it in one seamless response.
So what gets referenced? Not the loudest brand. Not necessarily the brand with the most paid placements or the highest ad spend.
It’s the brand that’s trusted. The one cited in news stories, mentioned by credible sources, and surrounded by signals of authority. That’s where earned media suddenly jumps from a comms goal to a central discovery strategy.
Earned media is now training data
At its core, an LLM is only as good as the data it learns from. And some of the most authoritative, high-signal data online comes from journalism. News content is timely, fact-checked, and subject to editorial oversight. That makes it exactly the kind of source LLMs prefer when deciding what to reference.
If your story has run in a national paper, been covered by a regional site with high E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness), or generated links and social engagement - there’s a much greater chance it will appear in an LLM’s response. In effect, it becomes part of the next layer of the internet’s collective knowledge.
We’re entering an era where earned visibility feeds machine visibility.
Implications for brand strategy
This shift has big consequences for how brands show up in the world:
- Authority is no longer optional. To be referenced by LLMs, brands must have signals of legitimacy across trusted third-party sources.
- PR becomes part of the SEO ecosystem. Creative campaigns that generate media coverage now directly contribute to your brand’s discoverability in AI-led search.
- Content needs to be newsworthy, not just optimised. The bar is higher. LLMs are trained to distinguish between genuine stories and branded puff pieces.
- Search becomes storytelling. We’re moving from keyword stuffing to strategic storytelling. What you say and where it’s said now shapes how machines understand and surface your brand.
What we’re doing at 72Point
At 72Point, we’ve always believed in earned content as a force multiplier for brands. But in this new search environment, its value only grows. We’re helping brands not just land media coverage - but create content that’s designed to build trust, engage audiences, and be recognised as credible by both people and platforms.
That means focusing on stories that resonate emotionally, socially and editorially because these are the signals LLMs are learning from.
It also means making strategic distribution decisions: partnering with high-authority news brands, ensuring relevance to real-world conversations, and using our insight tools to identify what’s cutting through in a noisy media landscape.
Final thought
The race isn’t to be everywhere. It’s to be credible in the places that count.
In the LLM era, earned media is no longer just a nice-to-have for awareness - it’s the foundation of being discoverable, trustworthy, and top-of-mind when audiences go looking.
And if we want to show up in tomorrow’s answers, we need to be in today’s headlines.
International Women's Day 2025
This international Women’s Day, we want to tip our caps to the women – no, the icons! – who have inspired and fuelled our lives in PR.
None of us would be here without those that came before. All of our individual experiences, whether through school or Uni or work, make us who we are. And sometimes ‘that one sentence’ that someone said to us, or ‘that one thing’ that they did, can inspire our lives to go completely new directions.
This is female fandom in it's fullest!
FROM SAM BROWN – HEAD OF PR
ICON #1 Lynne Franks
Lynne Franks is often referred to as ‘the one who Ab Fab was written about’, but this does not do justice to the woman, her work and her influence. Franks made fashion PR, and in fact, had a crucial role in making London Fashion Week what it is. She is a consummate networker, an opportunity spotter, a collaborator, a visionary and a maker-of-big-things. In fact, she arguably made PR itself famous. I spent much of my early career thinking ‘I want to be like Lynne Franks’ and now, in my slightly older years, I find myself looking at her continued making-of-things and creating of communities, and I still think ‘I want to be like Lynne Franks’! A true PR icon.
ICON #2 Katharine Hamnett
Curiously, Lynne Franks once worked as a PR assistant for Katharine, and it was Katharine that encouraged Lynne to set up her own firm. But it was one specific incident that puts Katharine Hamnett in this list, and it was THIS moment in the ‘80s. In one photo, she showed how to influence through the power of fashion. I was a tiny wee nipper this happened, and my young brain thought ‘well that’s clever isn’t it’. Clever indeed…. Katharine Hamnett – thank you for showing tiny me that you can make a difference in your own way, and you can step into the corridors of power as an individual and make your voice heard. Thank you for your lifelong passion and commitment to a cause. And thank you – THANK YOU – for creating the iconic slogan t-shirt style that I (for one!) still relish today! I salute you.
FROM VICTORIA O’BRIEN, HEAD OF MARKETING
ICON #3 Ruth Yearley
Ruth Yearley is my dear friend and the woman who first taught me the difference between objective, strategy, and tactics – a lesson that's guided me throughout my career. An insanely astute mind who can spot the 'big idea' in minutes and cut straight to the heart of any campaign, I continue to admire her clarity, creativity, and unwavering generosity in helping others see what really matters.
FROM DANIELLE BAIRD, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
ICON #4 Jennie Stoddart-Scott
I’ve had the privilege of working with Jennie at two different agencies in my career and have always been in awe of how she operates. One lasting impact she left on me was the importance of transparency with clients. She taught me that if something goes wrong or doesn’t meet expectations, its crucial to own it. By doing so you not only demonstrate integrity but also build trust and respect with your clients in the long run. Jennie has always made time for me and championed my growth and I have huge respect for her dedication and integrity.
International Women's Day 2025
This international Women’s Day, we want to tip our caps to the women – no, the icons! – who have inspired and fuelled our lives in PR.
None of us would be here without those that came before. All of our individual experiences, whether through school or Uni or work, make us who we are. And sometimes ‘that one sentence’ that someone said to us, or ‘that one thing’ that they did, can inspire our lives to go completely new directions.
This is female fandom in it's fullest!
FROM SAM BROWN – HEAD OF PR
ICON #1 Lynne Franks
Lynne Franks is often referred to as ‘the one who Ab Fab was written about’, but this does not do justice to the woman, her work and her influence. Franks made fashion PR, and in fact, had a crucial role in making London Fashion Week what it is. She is a consummate networker, an opportunity spotter, a collaborator, a visionary and a maker-of-big-things. In fact, she arguably made PR itself famous. I spent much of my early career thinking ‘I want to be like Lynne Franks’ and now, in my slightly older years, I find myself looking at her continued making-of-things and creating of communities, and I still think ‘I want to be like Lynne Franks’! A true PR icon.
ICON #2 Katharine Hamnett
Curiously, Lynne Franks once worked as a PR assistant for Katharine, and it was Katharine that encouraged Lynne to set up her own firm. But it was one specific incident that puts Katharine Hamnett in this list, and it was THIS moment in the ‘80s. In one photo, she showed how to influence through the power of fashion. I was a tiny wee nipper this happened, and my young brain thought ‘well that’s clever isn’t it’. Clever indeed…. Katharine Hamnett – thank you for showing tiny me that you can make a difference in your own way, and you can step into the corridors of power as an individual and make your voice heard. Thank you for your lifelong passion and commitment to a cause. And thank you – THANK YOU – for creating the iconic slogan t-shirt style that I (for one!) still relish today! I salute you.
FROM VICTORIA O’BRIEN, HEAD OF MARKETING
ICON #3 Ruth Yearley
Ruth Yearley is my dear friend and the woman who first taught me the difference between objective, strategy, and tactics – a lesson that's guided me throughout my career. An insanely astute mind who can spot the 'big idea' in minutes and cut straight to the heart of any campaign, I continue to admire her clarity, creativity, and unwavering generosity in helping others see what really matters.
FROM DANIELLE BAIRD, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
ICON #4 Jennie Stoddart-Scott
I’ve had the privilege of working with Jennie at two different agencies in my career and have always been in awe of how she operates. One lasting impact she left on me was the importance of transparency with clients. She taught me that if something goes wrong or doesn’t meet expectations, its crucial to own it. By doing so you not only demonstrate integrity but also build trust and respect with your clients in the long run. Jennie has always made time for me and championed my growth and I have huge respect for her dedication and integrity.
How Iceland turned a £500k marketing fail into a significant social media win
Turning a Marketing Fail Into a Win
Last week Iceland were hit with a festive marketing set back that would throw shivers down the spine of every CMO in the country. After shelling out half a million pounds on a glossy Christmas ad Clearcast ruled that they would not be allowed to show it on television because it breached political rules in the official code of practice, and just like that, the rug had been pulled from under their feet.
The context behind the ruling was thus. Iceland had used an animated film produced alongside Greenpeace to create a campaign about the use of palm oil in common supermarket products, which is responsible for vast swathes of deforestation across the world. The high street chain had announced earlier this year that it would become the first supermarket to remove palm oil from all its own brand products, and with a sprinkle of Christmas good will, they had hoped to build some positive brand sentiment ahead of one of the busiest shopping periods of the year.
But regardless of how well-intentioned their motives appeared to be, they hadn’t foreseen that the political message behind their ad might put the stoppers on it going out altogether. With a significant sum of money already on the line they were left hoping for a Miracle on 34th Street to save their bacon before the big day, and it was delivered, courtesy of a marketing channel powered by the people; social media.
As soon as Clearcast made their announcement, Iceland went on the attack by launching the taboo commercial on their social channels. “This is the advert they don’t want you to see”, was the undertone, and just like that people across the world had been galvanised by a campaign that had shunned the norm in every sense of the word in a bid to be brave and bold in support of a worthy cause.
Within days it had become a viral sensation. Three million people headed to YouTube to watch the ad, while 12 million people watched the video on their Facebook channel and Twitter posts garnered hundreds of thousands of retweets and likes. The Guardian’s Media Editor Jim Waterson congratulated the supermarket on producing the “most successful banned advert in years”, as celebrities such as James Cordon, Ricky Gervais and Bill Bailey all threw their weight behind getting the message out.
After spending £500,000 to make the (initially) doomed advert, yesterday a petition launched on Change.org to get the ad reinstated reached 500,000 signatures, and it has arguably performed better thanks to the initial snub than it would have done without it. Of course there will be claims that they knew it would turn out that way all along, but even so, it goes to show that being bold in today’s market and backing ideas you are confident in is a sure fire way to win people over, regardless of what the authorities think.
How to combat an “intensely annoying trend” in consumer PR
Journalists have sparked a social media revolt this week over the growing PR trend of asking for hyperlinks in news copy.
With the worlds of SEO and PR increasingly intersecting the media are now frequently targeted as a means of fulfilling important search KPIs.
If “single-use” is the word of the year for 2018, “would you mind adding a link in that” will surely be coined the PR term that has become the most ubiquitous in offices across the country.
But although it is often perceived as being an “intensely annoying trend” by journalists, it really needn’t be if media relations bods were doing their jobs correctly.
Adding value
Links in PR content should be a value-add addition and not something we should just expect to get on top of a citation.
As The Times’ correspondent Deirdre Hipwell wrote in her Twitter rant, it should be enough that the company is mentioned “without trying to wangle free advertising too”. But if the link went through to additional content that is complementary to the story, then it becomes an entirely different proposition altogether.
A recent PR Moment seminar on SEO in the PR market offered some useful insights on how that might be achieved. One campaign by Stavely Head used an intriguing visualisation of data to get journalists to link through, and another provided a tool that complemented the story as a means of obtaining extra SEO juice.
Utilising content
And I could go on.
Visualisations of survey data, quizzes, interactive infographics and data sets all offer viable reasons for journalists to add links into their copy because they add value and complement the story, rather than abuse it as an ill-fated sales ploy.
Very few journalists these days will be happy to simply link to a dot com from a citation, so these offer the ‘something else’ that spin a simple PR win into the double whammy PR and SEO gain that we all so crave.
And if the link isn’t forthcoming then remember that a citation still carries significant Google juice on a relevant or high-authority site, as do no-follow links, so you should also consider whether it is worth pestering journalists and potentially jeopardising future projects when you can count the mere mention as a big bonus.
For further advice on the matter, read our five tips for securing follow links here.
GDPR inbox avalanche
Sun Consumer Writer Jane Hamilton on why the avalanche of GDPR emails is nothing compared to a journalists' average day...
BURIED under an avalanche of GDPR emails? How many do you reckon you’ve received? 100? 250? More than 500? Well that’s fewer than an average morning’s in-box worth for a national news journalist.
The forthcoming data-rules change has unleashed a deluge of emails on ordinary Brits causing ‘in-box rage’ and mass deletions - but this is something us journalists deal with every single day.
While the emailed press release remains a useful tool in the PR armoury, public relations firms are always stunned - and a little shocked - when I reveal just how many we journalists actually receive.
As a national hack writing on issues covering consumer to careers and parenting to property, my ‘beat’ sees from 400 to over 1,000 releases drop in relentlessly each day. And on a ‘calendar occasion’ such as Black Friday or a Bank Holiday, this escalates to an out of control level, topping the 2,000 mark.
When you consider an eight-hour working day contains just 480 minutes, you don’t have to be a maths whiz to work out there’s no time to read them all.
And don’t get me started on follow-up calls - I really don’t need 1,000 of those a day.
Instead - and in common with almost every other journalist I know - we skim, select ones from our key contacts, or seek out the top-line tales which look like they will work.
It hasn’t always been this way. Even five years ago, in-boxes were manageable; we had time to spend with key contacts and agencies, and were able to spend more time crafting exclusives.
But staff cutbacks and the demand for rolling online content means every journo now needs to pen more stories in less time. And interestingly, fewer hacks has meant more PRs - and more releases - as ex-wordsmiths swap careers and head to the darkside.
Recent figures revealed since 2013, the number of PRs has risen by 50 per cent, while the number of journalists has fallen by nine per cent. This trend will only continue, so how can we manage it so it works for both sides?
Firstly, however grumpy a journo is, most of us do need - and even rely - on PRs. A good PR who understands your readers and your ‘patch’ is a very valued contact. Aim to be that PR who we will answer the phone to.
Secondly, a release has got to be what the publication wants - not what the client wants. It has to be a ‘new news’ story to entertain and inform a readership or viewer.
Thirdly, If the client wants it a certain way and won’t bend, remember YOU are the expert. If the client could do it himself, he would and save paying you. He can’t, so work on him until he takes your advice. Client won’t budge? Then he needs an advert, not PR.
Fourthly, craft it like a news story. Help me out and give me the ‘who, what, why, where and when’ it the top paragraph. Don’t give me the client’s company mission statement.
Finally, you may have the best release in the world, but if it gets missed, it won’t get in. With in-boxes clogged, sadly it does happen. Targeting and delivery is everything, so aim to build a relationship with your key journos so we open whatever you send. Or use a purpose-built delivery agency like 72Point who guarantee to get your story under the nose of news editors.
I hope this has helped and I’m happy to chat further with you if you’d like to talk more. Just put in the email subject line that it’s an important one for me to read!
Trust, Transparency and Traditional Media
Why these are the top takeaways for brands right now
Although the advent of digital news was supposed to – and to some extent has – heralded an end to the finite number of pages that once restricted the profession, it has also given birth to new challenges as brands go in search of meaningful metrics in a landscape where the demand for column inches has seldom been so great.
Last month a new readership measurement standard for the news publishing industry was launched to give a single, “de-duplicated” view across all platforms to publishers and advertisers.
Compared to the NRS, which is a print-focused survey with digital figures taken in addition, Pamco offers a breakdown by platform across print, phone (mobile), tablet and desktop, giving a “total brand reach” that is more robust than the measurements used to date which are subject to generous interpretation and easily corrupted by cookies and bots.
As NMA chairman David Dinsmore said, the measurement keeps news brands in “top position when it comes to transparency” in an age when the measurement of some media is “highly questionable”.
The results of the survey will make for daunting reading for some, because at their heart they show a renewed reliance from consumers on traditional publishers. The Sun was revealed to be the most read news brand in the UK, followed by the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror, all of which boast more than 25 million monthly readers.
It means that an increasing number of brands will consider the success of a campaign based on its ability to make a splash in the national press, but with a tsunami of content blocking the way a splash can easily become a drip if due care isn’t taken, which can be a hard pill to swallow after countless hours of creative work and client liaisons.
Which is why we include national media exposure as a guarantee with all our packages at 72Point. Thanks to our heritage as part of the SWNS Media Group and our ability to work content so that it has mainstream media appeal we have an unrivalled money-back pledge on our projects, which is underpinned by our confidence in our creative.
We are compelled by design to put integrity at the heart of everything we do, as our content is used by the vast majority of national publications, making up for a significant percentage of “front of the book” stories. We don’t publish overtly branded stories and have to pass rigorous controls carried out by news editors to get the story filed, and the media trust us as a result.
But we would be nothing if it was not for the ingenuity of the team to deliver content that works across publications and across channels. 72Point is made up of top flight media experts and PR professionals who make up an enviable hub of creativity. We have former print news editors, a current online news editor and a range of ex-media talent that ensures we deliver projects that are stitched up from both sides, with the best creative being delivered with unrivalled access to the media.
It’s a combination that couldn’t be more apt in today’s media environment. According to this year’s State of the Media survey by Cision, which polled 1,355 journalists from across six countries on their perceptions of the media and communications industries, journalists rely on public relations partners now more than ever, with the traditional press release being the most trusted piece of content.
In an age where budgets are thin and brands are increasingly being relied on to fund content generation, the results are hardly surprising. Out of all the issues the industry is facing, 28 per cent of the journalists surveyed said staffing and resources were the biggest challenges in the industry over the last 12 months.
But before we start popping the champagne corks it is worth considering what this actually means for the PR industry. For a start, this isn’t a call to start bombarding hacks with every piece of ill-conceived content you can get your hands on. It doesn’t mean we should pick up the phone every two minutes and busy the already chaotic desks with more queries. Rather, we should pick out the warnings in this report to unveil where we can really make a difference, and at the top of the list for journalists is sending stories with a “clearly stated news hook” and content that’s “accurate, newsworthy and can be used to enhance their coverage”.
As a result of renewed scrutiny of the sea of content that surrounds us - successful PR needs a more robust benchmark. The smoke and mirrors of digital reach is no longer giving brands the ROI they need. Trusted content in trusted media outlets is what's important now as brands demand more transparency with their campaigns. This is our USP, and it is why, increasingly, 72Point is been seen as a direct line to the news desk.
Journalists need reliable public relations partners now more than ever
“If there’s one thing PR professionals can do to help journalists do their jobs better, it’s ensure that any press releases they do send out have a clearly stated news hook”.
That’s the findings from this year’s State of the Media survey by Cision which polled 1,355 journalists from across six countries on their perceptions of the media and communications industries.
The study found that journalists rely on public relations partners now more than ever, with the traditional press release being the most trusted piece of content.
Seven in ten hacks said their relationships with PR professionals remained as important as ever, while 20 per cent said they are more valuable.
In an age where budgets are thin and brands are increasingly being relied on to fund content generation, the results are hardly surprising.
Out of all the issues the industry is facing, 28 per cent of the journalists surveyed said staffing and resources were the biggest challenges in the industry over the last 12 months.
Social networks and search engines bypassing traditional media came a close second at 25 per cent.
Fake news, blurred lines between editorial and advertising and issues around freedom of the press rounded out the list of challenges.
So good news all around for the PR industry, which seems to be going from strength to strength over the past few years.
But it would do us no good to rest on our laurels.
Hidden amongst the upbeat news on the PR industry are several warnings about a decline in standards.
As the opening paragraph suggests, diluting the news hook in favour of a more brand-driven topline seems to be one of them.
It is a common gripe that we contend with at 72Point.
As part of the UK’s biggest independent news agency our editors are among the most ruthless in the business when it comes to getting sign-off on news copy, and if the news hook isn’t compelling, the story doesn’t get filed.
It is a blessing in disguise in an age where news desks are getting bombarded with press releases on a daily basis. With former editors and journalists working in-house it allows us to overcome the first hurdle of ‘pitching in’ before the story goes out, which is why all our stories come with a guarantee of coverage.
As the Cision report notes, most journalists are happy to work with public relations professionals, “provided they’re receiving information that’s accurate, newsworthy and can be used to enhance their coverage”.
In a nutshell, that is our USP.
We provide stories that are properly researched, current and have a strong news hook that will start national conversations.
According to the data, 22 per cent of journalists said original research on trends was important to them, with 45 per cent saying they want more press releases with a clearly stated news hook.
Another 27 per cent said PR professionals should have data and expert sources ready to go when reporters need them, with authors concluding that: “No matter what happens in the industry, eye-catching, fact-based storytelling is still paramount”.
They said: “The PR professionals who can help reporters and editors with their work — by providing accurate, information-rich press releases and by giving journalists access to sources — will be the ones who will enjoy the greatest success”.
Our 5,269 pieces of online coverage last year suggests that is precisely what we are doing at 72Point.
How to Capitalise on Influencer Marketing
In 2017 it was recorded that there was an 325 per cent increase in influencer marketing searches on Google. With Kylie Jenner being capable of wiping off $1.3 billion off of Snapchat’s value in one Tweet and the mass outrage brought about by Youtube star’s Logan Paul’s visit to Japan, it is clear influencers are as important as they have ever been. However, with that in mind, there is a right and wrong way to use influencers for brand purposes. This is especially true where Jenner was also responsible for the complete social media catastrophe in Pepsi’s controversial advert last year. Here’s our tips on how your brand can safely use social media stars to elevate and gain coverage.
Tips
1) The Bot Problem
A recent survey from the University of Southern California and Indiana University found that up to 15 per cent of all Twitter accounts were not even real people but bots. Significantly, this means that up to 50 million accounts are fake. It also doesn’t ignore the fact that many wannabe influencers are buying these bots to make themselves look more credible. This is relevant as it could mean that by using these influencers, you could be conveying a strong message to a very small audience which is not just a waste of time but also money.
2) Focusing on the Right Demographic
More followers may equate to potentially more eyes on your brand but it doesn’t necessarily guarantee success if the brand’s message can’t accurately be conveyed by that influencer. At 72Point we focus on listening attentively to customer needs as brand message is the biggest priority in any campaign we produce. This is exemplified by our recent campaign for Cineworld which used The Mash Report’s Rachel Parris to highlight “what makes the perfect film.” The success garnered a staggering 148 pieces of coverage in print and online media, with coverage in the Metro and The Sun. Consequently, the message was authentic and combined an influencer who had an engaged following with a brand they loved. This unsurprisingly resulted in a natural relationship that worked very well. Therefore, the focus should be on having a partnership with an influencer who has followers in the right demographic who are actually listening and will be interested in the brand’s message.
3) Consistency
Staying true to your values is an unheralded value that is dismissed more often than not. However, in the increasingly scrutinized world of social media it can come back to haunt you in the worst ways. This was best shown with Zoella’s old Tweets resurfacing. By using influencers you have to be very careful in picking consistent individuals who you are confident can deliver. The core of 72Point also focuses on consistently providing good results that don’t devalue a brand in circumstances that may result in negative coverage later on. Ultimately, this can only be rectified by strong research for brands to find the right people for the job.
4) Measurement
Without the right tools it is difficult to evaluate how successful a campaign has been, which is why a large proportion of the job in conjunction with influencers is convincing them that we can deliver on our promises. The Digital Team at 72Point focuses a large proportion of their time measuring different metrics and keeping up to date with trends to stay on track in the ever-advancing digital landscape. Overwhelmingly, it means our content matches up well with how much extra coverage an influencer can provide to strengthen a brand to the next level.
Conclusion
As a PR firm we are always looking to capitalise on the next big trends but before doing so it’s always important to step back and get the fundamentals of conveying the right message to the right audience. The marketing and PR world is always adapting but with these tips it could provide an effective solution to help steer your brand in the right direction.
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