G’day … Trevor here …

Welcome to Reputation OnRamp - thanks for being a valued subscriber!

In a world where every second person on LinkedIn claims to be a LinkedIn expert (yeah, I know, very meta), Richard van der Blom is the real deal.

Richard has just released an update to his popular (and very informative) annual LinkedIn Algorithm Insights report.

This update is a 30-page report with all the latest stats, facts and findings on LinkedIn reach, formats, timing, AI and much more. It’s free, and worth a look if LinkedIn is a key communications channel for you and your business. DOWNLOAD HERE

Key thing to highlight: If you’ve been noticing the organic reach of your LinkedIn posts has been declining, don’t take it personally! According to Richard, sharp decline in median reach this year suggests most posts are performing worse than last year.

Follower growth has slowed down another 25 per cent compared to November last year.

Here are a few stats from Richard’s algorithm update that jumped out at me (my comments highlighted in brackets):

• Nearly half of the posts appearing in users’ feeds are driven by commercial purposes (definitely looks like LinkedIn is treading the same path as Facebook i.e. they are deprioritising members/users of the platform in favour of advertisers).

• Organic content from company pages continues to struggle with low visibility, highlighting the challenges for businesses trying to increase reach through non-sponsored posts (this has always been the case - I consider LinkedIn company pages as being more like a ‘hygiene’ factor - they work more effectively for businesses in terms of credibility versus content distribution).

• Midweek posts tend to perform better. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are prime days for reach and engagement. However depending on the type of content you might want to publish on Friday or weekends to have less competition. Those posts often perform less in reach (views) but better in engagement (this mirrors my experience - I’ve long been a believer in posting on weekends, and it’s something I recommend I clients consider doing; Friday historically has been a big bust for me).

• Mix in monthly articles or long-form posts — posting long-form content, such as articles or newsletters, once a month can help establish authority and keep your audience engaged with deeper insights. The same goes for organising LinkedIn lives or audio content (definitely agree with this - I’ve long been an advocate for mixing and matching formats to keep things fresh and interesting, not just for the audience, but us - the creators)

• Richard also suggests that LinkedIn - and the audience generally - has stopped favouring a specific post format over another i.e. polls vs documents vs image posts vs text posts vs video (as per point above - mix things up in your posts, try new modalities, see what works, use the format that’s easiest for you to produce).

Richard provides a lot of tips and insights in this new update - check out the full thing HERE.

As I write this, I am listening to Iggy Pop’s Brick by Brick album - great stuff!

For a growling grunge/punk pioneer, Pop really has a terrific voice and a strong, ahem, pop sensibility that’s evidenced by this album.

Stand-out tracks = Candy, and Livin’ on the Edge of the Night.

What have you been listening to this week? Hit REPLY and let me know!

Dealing with the media? Don’t do this!

This week I was reminded of a consumer brand client whose account my PR agency handled some years back.

This client’s product was top-notch and we were excited to represent the brand. The person we dealt with directly was the owner of the business - he held the exclusive rights to the brand in Australia, and had never engaged a PR firm before.

Now, this client (the business owner) was an ambitious entrepreneurial-type; a nice fella, but pretty full-on, always in ‘sales mode’, and completely besotted with his brand. This represented a bit of a red flag for us, but we let it slide.

Long story short, we pitched for and won the business from a couple of other agencies.

It was a pretty straightforward media relations gig, with the main aim of generating editorial exposure across a raft of key publications (today, most likely a more comprehensive content and digital communications program would underpin any media relations activity).

I headed up the account, but the Account Manager (let’s call her Lee) was the person responsible for nailing the day-to-day media liaison work, under my guidance.

Not that she needed much guidance. Lee was an absolute gun. Whip-smart, hard-working, and very diligent. She got to work and generated amazing results very quickly, with a strike-rate of some 90 per cent of our pitches to media outlets resulting in positive coverage.

It helped that the product was brilliant, and that they hadn’t gone out to the media before. But it still needed to be packaged right, and be well directed towards the various different media titles we approached.

In the end though, it was a win-win all round: journalists and editors got solid content for their titles, and our client received valuable editorial exposure for his brand.

But, sometimes things can go too well. Oh, and remember those earlier red flags?

For a couple of the main magazines, we suggested the journalist might want to grab a coffee with the owner of the business. He was knowledgeable and clever and, of course, knew the product (and the category) backwards.

[ My philosophy has always been to facilitate positive relationships between my clients and journalists (and editors, producers etc). I’ve never subscribed to the theory that the PR person always needs to act as the ‘gate-keeper’. ]

The journalists said yes, and so we teed up the meet ’n’ greets.

Naturally, we briefed the client on how to approach these sorts of meetings, and highlighted the need not to bang on too much about his products unless asked. These were casual catch-ups to kick off a rapport with the journalists and to provide them with extra background if needed.

The client confirmed he understood the brief, and reiterated that he wouldn’t over-hype the brand.

You can see where this is going, eh? 😃 

In the agency world, there are two schools of thought as to whether or not a PR consultant should attend the client’s meeting with a journalist.

I have no hard-and-fast rules on this, preferring to take things on a case by case basis.

But usually, my preferred option is to leave them to it: they’re both adults, and they don’t need me lurking nearby. If the journalist had a reputation of being a slippery lil’ sucker, I would probably sit in; if they were a nasty type, chances are I wouldn’t deal with them anyway.

But this situation was all pretty benign. We’re talking a lifestyle brand, not a property developer trying to defend building a controversial high-rise tower!

In the end, both journalists had a whinge afterwards that our client went way over-the-top and wouldn’t shut up about his products. They weren’t impressed. No massive damage done, but it would make any further chats between the parties more difficult to get across the line. Remember, we’re in it for the long haul!

We told the client we wouldn’t be making any more journalist introductions for the moment, and to leave all media engagement to us.

The client cracked it, and started going behind our back to the journalists, which caused a bit of angst.

As PR consultants, it’s critical we protect our reputations when it comes to the media.

The client can damage their reputation if that’s the path they choose to take, but we have other clients to worry about.

To that end, I decided to pull the pin.

The client cracked it (again!) and sacked us - before I had a chance to sack him … DAMN! 

KEY LESSON: If you’re a business owner and you get the chance to chat with a print journalist, or be interviewed by a radio or podcast host, remember - it’s not about you, it’s about the media outlet’s audience, and what’s going to resonate with them.

Journalists, editors and broadcasters are the conduit; they are there to package interesting and relevant stories and interviews for their readers, listeners and viewers.

Help them facilitate this - provide them with solid information, impart your knowledge, share your expertise, provide fascinating or engaging stories and examples and anecdotes: make it about the audience, and you can’t go wrong!

I’ll leave you with this quote from Ryan Holmes, founder of Hootsuite:

In case we haven’t met yet …

Hi, I’m Trevor. I help purpose-led business owners become clear and confident in how they leverage PR, content and digital communications for profit, impact and legacy.

Let’s connect on LinkedIn!

Discover more at trevor.world