How to Leverage Media Coverage to Magnify Your Nonprofit’s Reach [CHECKLIST]

You’re in the news! Now what? After all the work to get your nonprofit noticed, it would be a waste to let your media attention fade away into the night. 

Earning media attention is great. But leveraging that media coverage can ultimately do so much more for your awareness-building and fundraising efforts.

Sure, you’ll plan to post about it on social media or add a link on your website somewhere. But you could be leaving a lot of value on the table. Follow these seven steps to repurpose and share your nonprofit’s media coverage to get more value and reach even more people.

How to Leverage Media Coverage of Your Nonprofit

Like many nonprofit marketers, you probably spend a lot of time thinking about how to get media attention for your cause—and leave the question of “how can I promote media coverage?” to deal with after the fact.

While you don’t need to have a fully planned promotion strategy before you’ve seen a story about your nonprofit, it helps to know what your options are so that you can move quickly.

If you’re wondering how to leverage media coverage to keep up the momentum for your organization, consider digital marketing tactics that get more people to read it and get them to act on it in support of your mission.

Blog about it on your website

Unless you have the journalist’s permission, chances are you won’t be able to republish a piece of written or multimedia coverage in its entirety. That doesn’t mean you can’t use your blog to talk about a news story and direct readers to where they can access the full text, audio or video. 

In addition to a link to any online version, be sure to include the name of the publisher or media site as well as the specific journalist who created the piece. You can also consider additional content such as:

• Supplemental information about programs or events mentioned in the coverage
• A relevant call to action that pushes readers to take the next step, like making a donation, subscribing to emails or volunteering
• Corrections or responses to inaccurate or incomplete information used in the piece

Publishing a blog post about media coverage might seem like overkill, but it comes with a lot of benefits for your marketing. Namely, it gives you a permanent home for the news story on your site. From there, it’s easy to cross-promote the blog post in other places on your site (like the homepage) as well as in emails and social media without sending all of the traffic away from your organization’s website.

Share and reshare on social media

Your nonprofit’s social media channels are the perfect places to share timely updates, including the latest media attention. Each post you make is a chance to drive people to a story as well as add your own commentary about the topic.

With that in mind, keep posting about it! Plan on multiple posts spread over the course of a week and at different times of the day. Give each post a unique message and angle such as:

• Thanking the news outlet and/or journalist for highlighting an important issue that the community faces
• Acknowledging and tagging any partners, donors, volunteers or others who participated in the story or gave an interview
• Sharing a poignant quote or piece of text that will resonate with your audience
• Adding a call to action that’s relevant to the story, from sharing the link with others to signing a pledge

Update your website’s Press page

If your site has a Press page or Media Room, add to your list of the latest coverage and link to the source, if possible. Include details like the publication date, outlet, reporter and title of the piece, even if it’s not something available online.

The goal of featuring recent media coverage is not only to show other journalists that you’re worthy of coverage and a willing participant but also to demonstrate to your visitors that you’re a credible and vetted organization.

Get more tips on what to include on a Press page along with a helpful checklist.

Build an incoming link from the story

Linking to media coverage from your site is a good idea. Getting a link to your website in the coverage itself is even better.

A direct link from a story to your site makes it easy to send traffic your way. Plus, building a link from a credible news source is a tried and true way of increasing your website’s authority in the eyes of search engines.

If a link to your site wasn’t included in the original online coverage, you can always reach out to your contact at the publication to see about adding one after the fact. Most outlets are comfortable linking to your organization’s homepage (or a more relevant subpage) for their readers or viewers to learn more.

Use a website pop-up to target referral traffic

Speaking of website traffic coming from a piece of news coverage… There are some cases where a major story in a popular publication warrants extra marketing effort to take advantage of a large influx of traffic.

If you’re using a pop-up tool on your website, you can probably create a pop-up that only displays to visitors coming from a specific referral source. For example, a pop-up would trigger for people arriving on your website if they come from the domain of the specified publication or news outlet.

How you choose to use the pop-up depends on the topic of the article and the next step that would most interest these visitors:

• Direct traffic to a page on your site related to a particular program or event
• Share a special message from your executive director or Board chair
• Promote a special offer, like a matching gift campaign
• Highlight a related blog post, report or case story that they might find interesting

Repurpose into supporter communications

It’s not worth blasting your email list with every piece of media coverage, but an especially poignant article or video about the people you serve or the impact that your nonprofit has on the community is worth celebrating. Frame the story as a thank you to your supporters for all that they’ve achieved and include ways that they can continue to advance your mission going forward.

On the flip side, a widely spread story that’s inaccurate or negative toward your work could also warrant a response to help supporters better understand your position and the facts of the issue at hand. When an urgent response or rebuttal is needed, this type of communication should be part of a larger crisis communication plan that includes similar messaging on your website for all to see.

Pitch a new story to a different journalist

Wondering how to leverage media coverage into even more media attention? You’ve just shown that your organization is newsworthy. Now’s a great time to reach out to other news outlets to see if they want to explore another angle to the story or expand on it in a unique way that would interest their readers and followers.

A common tactic is to connect the work you’re doing with a national trend or issue. Take an article from a local outlet and approach a regional publication with a pitch that shows how it’s relevant to a larger audience. You might even combine efforts with a partner or similar organization to make your case. For example, a story of how multiple food/hunger groups are battling food price inflation gives a reporter more to work with and is relatable to a wider base.

Even if they don’t bite, you’ve made a quality effort to keep your nonprofit on the radar for future articles and built some media relationships along the way.

At the end of the day, the thing you need to plan for isn’t how to leverage media coverage so that everyone reads it. You’re looking to make it relevant to your target audience in ways that keep them engaged and looking forward to learning more. With a little preparation, you’ll be in a good position to magnify the value and reach of media attention.

In what ways have you repurposed and shared media coverage? Have you been able to turn media attention into a big win for your marketing and fundraising goals? Is there anything that keeps you from sharing media mentions of your nonprofit? See you in the comments!