Protecting Your Online Brand by Posting Your Perfect Press Kit!

by Ariel Hyatt

In the age of social media we are all focusing on Twitter, LinkedIn, G+, and Facebook and, we’ve forgotten an important basic: Your online press kit – the asset that makes it easy for others to publicize your brand.

In many ways, your online presence is equivalent to creating your own online billboard. If you are in control of your website and your social channels, and you have a good grasp of 2-way conversation mastery, your online billboard will have the exact messaging for your tribe (potential customers and fans).

However, if this is not the case, here are some predictable scenarios:

• You are featured on a website or in a conference program with a random photo of you that someone Googled.
• You are introduced at an important talk by someone who is summarizing from a and Wikipedia page that focuses on all of the wrong things. (I’ve seen this happen multiple times – it’s not a good look).

You want all assets to be as much in your control as possible that you always have your best foot forward.

Follow this guide to ensure that you are in control of your brand and your image.

How To Post A Perfect Press Kit On Your Website

Editors, bloggers, conference organizers and even potential customers will deeply appreciate having seamless access to your information because they are constantly under deadline.

Here are the four assets to include:

1. YOUR BIO

Make sure your bio is easily locatable on your site and it can be easily cut-and-pasted (not in a PDF format that they can’t easily grab).

Your bio should NOT just be a “who, what, when, where, why” or a list of business accolades. Invest in having a bio written that brings out your signature story. This should be a compelling and relatable story that evokes an emotional response from the reader.

Post a long form, 250 word, 100 word and a Tweet sized bio and you have pre-delivered every possible type of bio request that may come your way (no one will ever ask you to edit your bio down again or worse, edit it for you and forget the most important parts.

TIP: Post 4 versions of your bios

• Long Form
• In 250 – 200 words
• In 100 words
• In 1 tweet

TIP:  Make sure the bio can be easily cut-and-pasted!

2.  YOUR PHOTOS – MAKE THEM EASY TO FIND AND DOWNLOAD

Thumbnails are great for quick and easy loading but are detrimental for use in print (if you are a speaker or attending a conference where there is a directory, your photo may be appearing on posters, flyers and in a printed conference guide.

You should always have a few downloadable photo options on your site in at least 300 dpi / jpg format. Also post vertical and horizontal photos so editors working on a tight format won’t have to resize anything.

TIP: Create an easy-to-see link that says “click here for a hi res / low res jpg.”  That way, busy editors can get what they need easily.  When the photos are downloaded, make sure they are properly named so that editors can find them in folders and on messy desktops!

3.  INCLUDE YOUR BOOK COVER, LOGOS, OR ADDITIONAL ARTWORK

Are you an author? Do you work at a company that has a logo that might be used (or perhaps it’s your own logo and you want it used)? Include your book cover art in both hi res and lo res (jpg format).  This way, if your book, or company is being mentioned, the artwork can be easily added.

4.  INCLUDE PRESS CLIPS OR CLIENT TESTIMONIALS

What you say about you is one thing… However, what others say about you is trusted in a different way.  So, if you have press or blog posts that were written about you or pieces you were quoted in, include them on your press kit page.

TIP: Don’t link out to articles (the sites you are linking to may take them down or go dead, so make sure you include the articles archived on your site).

Another great addition is testimonials to add from clients. If you are struggling to find some, use your recommendations from LinkedIn. If you don’t have any, send an email out to a few colleagues, your old boss or a trusted influencer in your field and ask them for a testimonial.

5. INCLUDE YOUR SPEAKING TOPICS

If you are a speaker, include a list of the topics you have spoken on and give a description of each of your talks. If you have visuals of you up on a podium or teaching in front of an audience, include them in this section.
If you are not (yet) a speaker and you want to include a list of topics and themes, you are capable of speaking on these topics for people to reference.

FINAL TIP: If you can’t easily modify your website to include all of this information, you can easily set up an about.me page and include the 5 assets listed here.

Here’s to protecting what you want to say and show about your brand online.

Article courtesy of indie-music.com