Op-Ed Promotion: 6 Tips To Spread Your Opinion (Part 7)

The final portion of this series will cover what to do next after your piece has been published.

Once your op-ed is published, what’s next?

Share it!

1. Sharing Rules: First, check with the publication to see what their reprint rights are if you’re planning to go beyond just sharing via social media. With online pieces, almost every publication wants their work to be shared. The exception might be if it’s behind a paywall but check with the editor if you aren’t sure.
2. Social and Email: Put your op-ed on your social media channels. Share the link via your email newsletter — always to the original source.
3. Meetings and Introductions: Is there someone that you want to have an in-depth conversation with over the piece such as a legislator? Send it over as part of your introduction.
4. Media Kits: Link to it in your media kit so that other news organizations and podcast interviewers can see your opinion piece and ask you about it
5. Send to donors: If you are part of a nonprofit or political advocacy group, send your piece to your donor list
6. Create an editorial calendar for future pieces: Brainstorm future timely opportunities to write a piece–find one hook per month that you could tie a future piece to. Usually, industry and national holidays, local, state, and federal budgets and legislation, expected product release dates, and planned events, can all be planned for ahead of time. Write out a draft and then modify as issues change as the timely event gets closer.

Congratulations! You’ve gone through the whole process from start to finish to write, edit, and publish your op-ed.

You can also take your piece and turn it into a speech, use it as the basis for a podcast/media interview, or turn it into a longer piece such as a book chapter or entire book!

Photo credit: Photo by Wan Chen on Unsplash