Kalina MacKay

Today we have Kalina MacKay on the show. Kalina runs digital PR, copywriting and design at Go Fish Digital. She loves creating content that gets buzz and results. Her campaigns have been featured in places like the Washington Post, Forbes, Business Insider and Cosmopolitan amongst others.

Table of Contents

• Who is Kalina MacKay?
• Current Projects that Excite Kalina
• Kalina’s Tactical and Strategic Link Building Advice
• Where Does Kalina See the Future of Link Building?
• Conclusion

Who is Kalina MacKay?

Kalina grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina in a small suburb called Indian Trail. She got into digital marketing by accident during her elementary school years when she joined the school’s journalism team. That early experience sparked a passion for journalism that would become her career path.

Kalina thought she wanted to be a broadcast news anchor. So she applied to top journalism schools and got into UNC Chapel Hill. But college quickly showed her that real world journalism was not what she thought it was.

The Pivot

In a particularly tough audio journalism class, Kalina realized that the constant focus on controversial and often negative stories wasn’t what she was after. This led her to explore other parts of the journalism school, PR, advertising and marketing.

Kalina found her fit in strategic communications where she could apply her storytelling skills to brand stories. This led her to look for internships in the field and she landed at Go Fish Digital.

Career at Go Fish Digital

Kalina’s internship at Go Fish Digital was a good fit for her, especially the agency life. She liked the variety of working with different clients across different industries. She graduated and joined Go Fish Digital full time and has been here since.

Kalina started in digital PR and spent her first year doing outreach to journalists and link building for clients. She’s grown within the company and now runs the entire digital PR team. Her role has evolved to include production and promotion of digital PR, as well as copywriting and design for the content team.

Current Projects that Excite Kalina

Kalina is currently involved in several exciting projects at Go Fish Digital:

AI-Powered Ideation Tool

One of the most exciting initiatives Kalina is working on involves the development of an AI tool to assist with the ideation process for digital PR campaigns. This tool aims to streamline the often time-consuming task of coming up with fresh, engaging ideas for campaigns.

Key features of the AI tool:

• Collects and analyzes data from past digital PR campaigns
• Identifies the most successful pitching strategies and content formats
• Generates tailored ideas based on specific client needs or campaign types

Enhanced Reporting Strategies

Another area of focus for Kalina and her team is refining their reporting processes. As the landscape of digital PR and link building evolves rapidly, so too must their methods of measuring success.

New reporting priorities include:

• Analyzing not just the quantity of links, but their quality as well
• Measuring the traffic driven by acquired links
• Developing more comprehensive metrics to demonstrate the full value of their digital PR efforts

Kalina’s Tactical and Strategic Link Building Advice

Kalina shares:

Why Link Building Matters

For business owners new to SEO, Kalina breaks it down:

1. Google ranks sites with more authority for similar content.
2. Backlinks are votes of confidence from other sites.
3. Links from sites like Forbes or The New York Times pass trust to the linked site.
4. Link building is a long term play for overall SEO.

Digital PR: Content First

Kalina’s approach to link building is digital PR, which focuses on creating content that naturally attracts links. This has several benefits:

• Focuses on high quality media publications and journalists
• Ensures relevance and authority of acquired links
• Creates mutually beneficial relationships with journalists

Key elements of a digital PR campaign:

1. Fresh, data driven content (e.g. surveys, interactive tools)
2. Unique insights that journalists will find valuable
3. Content that’s related to, but not about, the client’s products or services

Pitches

Kalina’s formula for a pitch that works:

1. Target the right journalist: Research their writing style and content.
2. Grab the subject line: Use stats or questions.
3. Keep it short: Get to the point quickly, highlight the key data or insights.
4. Provide more: Offer to share more data or a call if needed.

Landing Pages for Campaigns

To increase chances of getting links Kalina recommends creating a dedicated landing page for each campaign:

• Include all the details about the study or campaign
• Methodology and data sources
• Make it easy for journalists to find and quote the information

Journalist Relationships

While having relationships can be helpful, Kalina says good content is what matters most. She advises:

• Provide valuable content to journalists
• Build relationships organically through successful collaborations
• Don’t be discouraged if you don’t have relationships

Mistakes to Avoid

Kalina’s link building mistakes:

1. Paid links
2. Promoting products or services in the pitch
3. Not thinking about what’s valuable to the journalist and their readers
4. Giving up after one try

Where Does Kalina See the Future of Link Building?

Kalina shares her perspective on the future of link building:

1. Continued Importance: Links will remain a crucial ranking factor for the foreseeable future.
2. Emphasis on Traffic: The value of links that drive actual traffic will likely increase.
3. Focus on Relevancy: The relevance of linking sites to the target website will become more important.
4. Quality Over Quantity: As link building becomes more challenging, the focus will shift even more towards acquiring fewer, higher-quality links.
5. Refined Strategies: Link building techniques will need to evolve to meet changing standards and algorithm updates.

Conclusion

Link building remains a crucial aspect of SEO and digital marketing. Kalina MacKay’s insights demonstrate the value of a content-first approach, focusing on creating valuable resources that naturally attract high-quality links. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, professionals in this field must stay adaptable, persistent, and focused on providing genuine value to both journalists and their audiences.