Category Archives: news release

HubSpot’s Press Release Grader - Rate Your Press Release

June 1, 2008 – 11:17 pm

Press Release Grader is a simple, free tool that analyzes your press releases and gives you some ideas on how to improve them.

By Dave Fleet | Also posted in 301, tools | Tagged , | Comments (3)

Access CNW: A Good Step Forward

February 29, 2008 – 8:01 am

I have to give CNW Group credit for trying (if you don’t know, CNW Group is Canada’s largest news wire service). In the last little while they’ve repeatedly impressed me with their efforts in the social media space.
With the help of clued-in employees like Parker Mason, CNW keeps cropping up in my social media activities:

I [...]

By Dave Fleet | Also posted in pr, tools | Comments (0)

PR Web Takes The ‘Social’ Out Of Social Media

February 7, 2008 – 12:02 am

In the lead-up to PodCamp Toronto 2008, we’re issuing a news release with details of the event. Given that it’s a social media event, we decided to issue a social media news release.For those of you who may not be familiar with the basics of social media releases, we intended our release would differ from [...]

By Dave Fleet | Also posted in smnr | Tagged , | Comments (22)

Social Media News Release: An EXTRA Tool, Not A Replacement

February 2, 2008 – 9:59 am

It’s been over 18 months since Todd Defren released his template for a new news release format and over that time the a healthy debate has raged over the idea.
Recently, Maggie Fox’s crew over at the Social Media Group released Digital Snippets, their own take on the format, re-invigorating the debate.
I love that the social [...]

By Dave Fleet | Also posted in smnr, social media | Comments (3)

Using Social Media To Create Social Media Training

November 12, 2007 – 10:10 pm

Communications training courses on traditional strategies and tactics just don’t cut it any more. The ever-increasing rate of change on the Internet, and its emerging impact on media consumption, means organizations need to seriously consider offering social media training to their employees.
This environment, along with a few well-documented faux-pas by PR practitioners, has had me [...]

By Dave Fleet | Also posted in blogger relations, blogging, pitching, pr, public relations, smnr, social media, social networks, training, web 2.0 | Comments (2)

Panel Discussion: "Is The News Release Dead?"

October 7, 2007 – 9:39 am

Last Thursday I attended a panel discussion, organized by my department, entitled “Is The News Release Dead?”
We had a great mix of speakers:

David Jones, Senior VP at Fleishman-Hillard
April Lindgren from the Ryerson University School of Journalism
David Wolmsley, National Editor at the Globe and Mail

The panel members provided an interesting mix of viewpoints, from very pro-social [...]

By Dave Fleet | Also posted in Twitter, facebook, media, podcast, public relations, social media, social networks | Comments (2)

Support Builds For Social Media News Releases

October 3, 2007 – 9:47 pm

CBC’s Tod Maffin wrote today about his frustration with the traditional news release:
There’s the lead paragraph, followed by some bullshit quote from a senior executive (”I’m pleased to announce the blah blah blah…”) and then usually a string of meaningless brand names… er BRAND NAMES… and no real sense of the news value or the [...]

By Dave Fleet | Also posted in smnr, social media | Comments (2)

Finding The Middle Ground With Social Media News Releases

September 11, 2007 – 7:23 am

Todd Defren at SHIFT Communications posted last week about "The End Of The Social Media Release." He’s tired of the format being ’special’ and wants to see it become the norm.
I’m not sure this is an ideal goal.
I love the social media release format. In our technology-driven world, pumping out release after old-fashioned release [...]

By Dave Fleet | Also posted in media, public relations, social media | Comments (3)