Wiki PR

Qualifying a subject for a Wikipedia page (called “notability”) involves a complex and sometimes counterintuitive group of dense policies. Getting the right kind of high-quality press coverage required to support “notability” is challenging because it’s so narrowly defined by Wikipedia – and is not synonymous with merit. Our Wiki PR consultants are seasoned former journalists from top media properties, who are also highly experienced in PR and Wikipedia policy. We collaborate with our clients’ communications teams by offering strategic consulting on press campaigns. In select cases, we will also do direct press outreach to high-quality media companies. And we offer seminars on both qualifying subjects for Wikipedia and the type of “reliable sourcing” needed as a precursor to proposing a successful update to an existing page. (Our parent company, Buzzr.com, also offers more general communications and marketing services, including media training, crisis communications, social media management, broadcast television pitching, and more.)

There’s no shortcut to earning the required high-quality press coverage (typically, multiple in-depth stories written by journalists in independent publications with a reputation for editorial accuracy) although there are tactics to focus outreach by pitching to the most relevant media outlets. We also strive to focus interview responses to help assure relevant content is shared with the media. Accomplishing this requires extensive media experience, great connections and creativity. And, of course, the client must have a compelling story to tell. We’re experts in finding or shaping that story and matching it up with publications willing to tell it. What’s more, every Wiki PR consultant working for us is also a fully-trained WhiteHatWiki research manager who has been personally immersed in Wikipedia client work. So we’re always thinking about Wikipedia relevance – a completely different mindset than typical PR metrics.

What precisely do we do for clients? We help you craft pitches and stories that we think will lead to the right type of Wikipedia-qualifying stories; we help select publications that are likely to be deemed “reliable” by Wikipedia; we identify specific journalists we believe are likely to write the type of stories that are needed; we steer you away from the traps that can burn a publication as a source because they run the wrong type of story; we provide coaching and do mock prep interviews to help steer the interview to the subjects needed for Wikipedia. We can also participate in (or run) general strategy sessions about broader PR goals.

While we usually consult with existing communications teams, we can serve as a full-service PR agency doing press outreach on your behalf in select circumstances.