Brighton SEO - March 2021. Psychology principles to help you run a successful digital PR team in 2021.

9. Mental health-related workplace
absenteeism costs soared to £14bn
in 2020.

10. team
challenges
kindness
flexible
working
mental health
support care
packages
social
events
longer lunch
breaks
WFH
allowances

11. The neuroscience and
psychology of helping
digital PR teams love
what they do

12. What is digital PR?

13. Create & promote contagiously
creative content which gets people
talking.

14. Data-driven assets + PR tactics.

15. Relevant, quality links increase a
site’s authority which leads to higher
rankings.

16. These tactics deliver more than just links.
Brand awareness.
Trust. Referral
traffic.
Social engagement.
Authority
building.

17. The neuroscience and
psychology of helping
digital PR teams love
what they do

18. Many organisations are deactivating
part of their employees’ brains called
the seeking system.

19. A neural network that runs between the prefrontal
cortex and the ventral striatum

20. Our seeking systems create the natural
impulse to explore our worlds, learn about our
environments and extract meaning from
situations we’re in.

21. In 2021 digital PRs need to be more
creative and quick-thinking than ever -
which requires the need for a more active
seeking system.

22. There are three triggers that activate
the seeking system…

23. There are three triggers that activate the
seeking system…
1. Self expression.

24. There are three triggers that activate the
seeking system…
1. Self expression.
2. Experimentation.

25. There are three triggers that activate the
seeking system…
1. Self expression.
2. Experimentation.
3. Purpose.

26. Cable (2018)

27. How can digital PR managers
activate these three triggers to be
happier, achieve success and build
better links?

28. 1. Self expression.

29. When our colleagues know who we are
when we’re at our best, the more likely
we can feel like ourselves at work and
express ourselves more authentically.

30. So, what does this mean for
me as a manager?

31. Identify the strengths of every member
of your team - communicate what you
perceive to be your team member’s
biggest strengths, as well as
encouraging them to share what they
think are theirs too.

32. Ideas genius
Media relations
mastermind
Product PR
superstar
Writing queen
Reactive PR whizz
Links sensation
Queen of niches
Entertainment
insider

33. Consider using personality or
psychometric tests to help gain better
insight into each of your team member’s
strengths may lie.

35. In 121 meetings with team members,
feedback on each person’s strengths and
check in on how they’d like to develop
their existing strengths further.
“What would you like to do more of?”

36. “Who are you when you’re at your best?”

37. Create opportunities for team members to
run with their ideas and shine with their
strengths.

38. 2. Experimentation.

39. Affective neuroscientists Jason
Wright and Jaak Panksepp explain
that one way to activate seeking
system is to create an experimental
“safe zone” that includes play and
supportive bonding.

40. “When work is not framed as an
opportunity to ‘get it right’ on the
first try, workers may be able to learn
in the process and ultimately get it
right more than when work is framed
as an opportunity to perform, shine
or execute perfectly.”
Edmonson (1999)

41. So much of digital PR is trial and error.

42. When people frame a task as a
performance situation, it can trigger
anxiety, leading individuals to become
more risk-averse and less willing to
persist than people who frame the same
task as a learning situation and trigger
curiosity...

43. …because curiosity is what drives the
best digital PR campaigns and
processes.

46. How can I create environments of
psychological safety?

47. 1. No bad ideas. Ideation sessions are not
a chance to “perform” they’re a chance to
explore curiosity and learn more about the
client.

49. 2. Encourage experimentation without fear
of failure - whether it be a new angle or
headline on a pitch, or a new type of idea,
enable your team to experiment and learn
through what works.

51. 3. Make time for play - spend time before
an ideation session going through your
favourite points of inspiration, playing
around with what could work.

54. 4. Go big and validate down. Encourage
ideas to be as big as
possible.

55. ● What’s the main story we’re trying to tell?
● What could journalist’s headlines look like?
● Is this idea relevant to the business’ key areas of
topical authority?
● Can we get the data needed?
● Has anything similar been done before?
● Does it resonate with a wide
enough audience?
● Which journalists could we
see covering this?
● Who gives a s**t?
An 8 step
idea
validation
process for
better
campaign
concepts...

56. 3. Purpose.

57. It is much more powerful, more
comprehensive and less expensive to
motivate people intrinsically (with
purpose) rather than extrinsically (with
incentives).

58. Grant et al (2007)

60. Good digital PR and link building strategies
have the ability to drive real growth for
businesses of all sizes - and that is
meaningful.

64. +960
Linking
Domains

67. How can I create a sense of purpose for my
employees?

68. 1. Get inventive about how you can show
your team the impact of the work
they’re doing.

70. 2. Work with different teams (SEO, paid
media and more) to share the impact
links and coverage are having.

71. 3. Regularly have transparent sessions
and catch ups with the team to
communicate wins, growth and the
impact everyone’s work is having on the
business.

72. In summary...

73. The seeking system is a neural
network that powers curiosity.

74. In order to be more creative and
quick thinking than ever, we need
to be harnessing the seeking
system in our teams.

75. If we can promote the three triggers of
self expression,
experimentation and purpose in our
digital PR teams we can help members
feel...

76. … happier
…more fulfilled
…more successful

78. i