Archive for the ‘news release’ Category

News Release Vs. Press Release

09.03.12

A few days ago, I mused publicly on Twitter that the term “press release” was outdated and that “Anyone (especially PR people) who uses the term “press release” needs to update their vocabulary.”

This isn’t a new topic – as people pointed out during the ensuing discussion  it’s been around for a while, yet I keep seeing the term “press release.”

What’s wrong with “press release?”

The term “press release” implies something that is no longer true:

Your materials are no longer only seen only by the press. Many releases are now posted online, either via newswire services or in company newsrooms, where they often rank highly in search results. That means customers, stakeholders and others are likely to see them.

Why is “news release” a better term?

The term has a broader focus, which accommodates the multiple audiences of your materials. It’s a good reminder that people outside the media will see your materials.

Equally importantly, the term “news release” reminds us and clients that we should only issue releases when you have news (although the occasional pithy pitch can work). Unfortunately, this is all too easily forgotten.

Who cares?

Why am I writing about this? Beyond those of us in the industry, who really cares?

I think the terms we use with clients are important. Saying “press release” reinforces the misconception that public relations is all about media coverage. The onus is on us in the industry to help others learn that we do much more than that.

It’s not about us – it’s about our audience. Sound familiar?

What do you think?

Posted in: news release, pr, public relations

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Could SEO Devalue News Releases Even More?

08.08.01

On a recent episode of Marketing Over Coffee, Christopher Penn and John Wall mentioned something that made me stop and think – the idea of people issuing news releases for the Google juice.

Too much jargon

Beware of jargon That idea worried me. To be more specific, the possibility of too much search engine optimization (SEO) in news releases further devaluing the tactic worried me.

The problem: I often hear that we should be inserting keywords into our news releases so that they rank highly in search engines for those keywords.

That sounds great in principle, right?

Right up front: I like the concept of the social media release. I’ve issued them, I worked on moving government news releases towards that format, and I’m a member of the Social Media Release Working Group (although that seems to have gone quiet recently… Bueller?).

SEO sheep

My problem with this, as with many SEO principles in general, is that people will take it to an extreme. They’ll follow the advice like sheep and will force inappropriate keywords (read: jargon) into their writing, and their products (and clients) will suffer.

Sure, these releases may rank highly for some words but so what? People arrive, see a poorly written release or page, fail to find what they want and leave. It’s a cheap tactic – one that’s no better than spamming people with emails. That’s why I heard a well-known marketing personality refer to a recent  SEO conference as “the underbelly of marketing.”

Just write well

Why not just make sure that your release is relevant, well-written and on-topic? A well written release will have plenty of the important words in there as a natural result. With a little extra attention you can optimize your release without compromising its quality.

I don’t want to read a news release front-loaded with every possible keyword under the sun. I want to read about the news.

The problem is bad enough for regular websites, but it’s doubly serious for news releases. News releases as a tactic already have a bad rap after years of abuse by poorly trained or lazy public relations practitioners. We don’t need yet another reason for people to hate them.

Too cynical?

Am I being overly cynical in thinking that people will jump on the extreme SEO bandwagon with news releases? Unfortunately, I don’t think so. Look at the trends:

I don’t see the trend changing. As online news releases take off (even more likely given the recent SEC decision), I expect to see even more releases full of jargon. I expect those of us working at more enlightened firms to watch in dismay as the trend continues.

Are SEO-optimized releases a bad thing? No. Of course not. You want people to find your announcements. That’s half of the benefit of online news releases. I appreciate the benefits of genuine, well implemented SEO.

My fear is that, as in the past, poorly trained or careless people will take a good idea way too far. We’ll see even more releases loaded-up with popular keywords and we’ll all get dragged through the muck as a result.

The only solution I see (apart from the trend reversing, of course) is for agencies and corporations to train their PR people well so they don’t think this is a good idea. Will that happen? Again, history shows mixed results.

What do you think?

Posted in: news release, pr, smnr, writing

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HubSpot’s Press Release Grader – Rate Your Press Release

08.06.01

Press Release Grader HubSpot’s Press Release Grader is a free tool that aims to help you improve your press releases.

You may remember HubSpot from their Website Grader tool, which I reviewed back in April (I was late to that one – it’s been around for months).

Press Release Grader is a simple, free tool that analyzes your press releases and gives you some ideas on how to improve them. It’s easy to use – just copy & paste your press release into a text box, enter your company name and website URL, give your email address and you’re on your way.

Analyzing Your Press Release

Press Release Grader looks at a bunch of areas of your release:

  • Overall Score – out of 100
  • General Statistics – word count, link count and readability (by grade level)
  • Content Suggestions – contact information (phone/email), whether you include an ‘about’ section for your company and a link to the company website, an “end of content” marker, gobbledygook words
  • Link Analysis - how far down the page each link occurs, the target page title and how your anchor text matches up with that, whether you include links featuring relevant keyword text
  • Word Cloud - showing how frequently you use key words

Is It Useful?

I used Press Release Grader to analyze four releases that I’ve written, resulting in scores from 71 to 87. I also plugged-in one other random release, which got a 21 (ouch!). I did consistently get some error messages with that release, but it didn’t seem to hinder the results for that release and the others all worked fine.

A few particularly useful things from my perspective:

  • The gobbledygook checker is a nifty little tool for making sure that no jargon slips through (I’m happy to say there were none in my releases)
  • The link analysis is useful for making sure you use relevant text in your anchor text – something that may slip through the cracks sometimes
  • The word cloud helps to ensure that you focus on the right things throughout your release – if your release is about fishing, you’d better be sure that “fishing” appears prominently in your word cloud.

Suggestions For Improvement

I was a little perturbed by one thing – the format of the end of content marker isn’t limited to three pound signs (###). Canadian Press style is for “-30-”. Of course, that’s not a problem unless the final score really matters to you, but it might be nice to have other marker formats included.

One other quibble – it’s a little search engine optimization-heavy. Much of the page is taken up with pointers on positioning and setting-up your links. For me, it would be much more useful to take a closer look at the grammar, sentence structure, etc, of the release. Something like a percentage of sentences that are way too long, with links to each of those sentences, would be more useful for me.

Still, it’s important to remember that this is just one way of looking at your press release. As the tutorial video (below) says, “…remember, Press Release Grader is a piece of software, not a human being, so it might not always give a perfect evaluation of your press release.”

Press Release Grader isn’t a silver bullet solution. That’s fine. It is, however, a useful tool to kick-start a little thinking around improving your press release.

Note: Press Release Grader is currently in beta, and the company is looking for feedback on the tool.

Posted in: 301, news release, tools

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Access CNW: A Good Step Forward

08.02.29

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 recently blogged about some problems I was having with another wire service while doing PR for PodCamp Toronto. CNW got in touch with me and offered to put our news release out for free. I took them up on the offer – the news release is here.
  • As a result of the above intervention, I invited CNW to sponsor PodCamp Toronto. They accepted and we put out another release with them before the conference.
  • This Monday I got an email from CNW informing me of their new Access CNW service. The email noted that we still had one more release left under our sponsorship agreement and let me know they would be able to set me up to use Access CNW if I wanted. It also invited me to give feedback, either publicly or privately.

Yesterday, I issued the third and (probably) final news release for PodCamp Toronto this year. I posted it using Access CNW.

(PR people note: If you want to pitch someone successfully, do what they did here – tied in the product directly to what the target is involved in)

What Is Access CNW?

Access CNWThe Access CNW website describes itself as “a secure door into our editorial system, to let you issue and manage your own news materials.” Essentially, it’s a portal-based service that lets you issue do online what you used to have to do via email and phone.

One big difference between CNW and its rivals (Marketwire, PR Newswire, Businesswire) is that CNW remains resolutely focused on the ‘traditional’ wire services, and this is apparent in their new service.

CNW takes pains to explain that their service (as before) “includes formatting your news into a style that can be easily and accurately interpreted by the technology employed within Canadian newsrooms and trading terminals.” They also still shy away from feature-laden services like Marketwire’s Social Media 2.0 (I hate that name).

Does It Work?

Access CNW screenshotHaving used the application, I’m happy to say that Access CNW is extremely easy to use. The site walks you through seven simple steps to create a news release:

  1. Sender information
  2. Company information
  3. Language
  4. Distribution lists
  5. Timing control
  6. Content
  7. Finalization

All of these steps are simple and there’s a comprehensive tutorial if you do need help. Some of the most useful features:

  • Detailed management of your news release distribution lists
  • Detailed control of timing
  • Ability to set up news releases in advance, for times when the content comes through last-minute
  • Take care of regulatory filings in Canada or US automatically
  • Upload photos to go along with your release

Nothing ground-breaking here. And this is the one area where I think Access CNW falls a little short. It’s nothing new.

Is This It?

I was left wondering, “is this it,” in two ways.

  1. This stuff isn’t rocket science. It’s nice that the service is available online, but that’s all CNW has done – put existing processes online. There’s nothing new in terms of service offereings. Yes, CNW has shifted a lot of control to the customer, but they’re all things that were available before – it’s just the delivery mechanism that’s changed. Also remember that by doing this they’ve lowered their costs by getting the customer to do much of the set-up work. It’s all very “web 1.0.” I wonder whether CNW made a conscious decision to focus on its traditional market and ignore the bright shiny toys that other wires are playing with, or if the company is behind and playing catch-up. I would be very disappointed if the answer is the former. That would be a huge missed opportunity. However, even if it’s the latter, it means they’re still playing catch-up as their social media offerings continue to lag behind.
  2. Secondly, some of the online offering could still be improved. For example, you still need to upload news releases as a word document. It surprises me that you still can’t enter the content directly.There is another side to this – letting people upload word files, which most releases are drafted in, does remove an extra step for customers. Still, it feels… old fashioned.

A Good Step Forward

Don’t get me wrong – this is a cool application, and a good move for CNW. It makes issuing a news release quick and easy. It removes mystery from the process, which is fantastic. I applaud them for this – Access CNW is a great step forward. It’s also great to see CNW begin to interact with the blogosphere as they have with me recently.

These are all good signs. Still, I find myself waiting for the next chapter. I hope it comes soon, because the rest of the world isn’t waiting for them.

Update: Did I mention that these folks keep impressing me? Not long after posting this, I got a response from CNW. Here’s the bulk of it:

…I would like to point out that we aren’t just playing catch up – we’ve been offering Multi Media News Releases for years, and these are fully customizable. While they have primarily been used by our clients wanting to provide broadcast and print media with high-quality audio, video and images, some of our clients have found a great deal of success in the blogosphere using this format. For example – this release by Nintendo got picked up by some of the major game blogs, arguably a better audience than print media.

Last year, we also advertised on a number of prominent PR blogs in Canada. David Jones’ PR Works was one of those blogs, and he wrote about it here.

While we have focused on the traditional market, we certainly aren’t ignoring the world of social media and all that it can do to help our clients get their message out. To paraphrase something I think you wrote (I believe in a comment on Michael OCC’s blog), social media is just one of the tools available in the PR toolbox. At CNW, we are confident that we have the traditional tools and the newer tools, Everything you need to get the job done.

Posted in: news release, pr, tools

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PR Web Takes The ‘Social’ Out Of Social Media

08.02.07

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 a traditional release in several ways:

  • Bullet point-style news that cut to the point rather than wordy, spin-filled paragraphs
  • Content divided into distinct sections: news, quotes, quick facts, learn more
  • Multiple links to useful information like the location, registration form, speakers, etc
  • Embedded social media tools – tagging, del.icio.us links
  • Limited embedded multimedia content – graphics and audio
  • Ability to share the release through social media tools like Digg, StumbleUpon or similar

(This is a gross over-simplification of the format, but for the purpose of this post it suffices)

With these requirements, PR Web was a logical choice. The company’s services seemed to match our needs perfectly:

PR Web Service Options

PR Web LogoWe plumped for the third option, “SEO Visibility” – the level above “Social Media Visibility.”

Registration for the site was quick, easy and painless. The problems began when I uploaded our release.

Within an hour, I received an email from PR Web, conversationally titled “Editorial Hold Advisory from PRWeb – Please Do Not Respond to this E-Mail”:

Our editors have determined that a few changes need to be made to your press release in order to effectively distribute it on PRWeb. Your press release has been placed on editorial hold status in order to allow you the opportunity to make the required reviews and edits to your press release.

Please review the following editorial explanation describing why your press release was put on editorial hold:

  • PRWeb no longer distributes news releases with an excessive amount of links. Please limit your link count to 1 per 100 words. This policy is in place to protect the value of the links that you include in your release and the value of links within the PRWeb network.

The reviewing editor has also made these additional comments:

  • Your release also lacks an introductory paragraph in the body text that clearly outlines your news. Please insert one. Thanks!

Yes, you read it right:

  • Our “social media news release” had too many links
  • We had to drop the to-the-point, bullet-focused approach and lead with a regular paragraph.

Not very encouraging. Too many links? I have more links in my email signature. PR Web clearly doesn’t understand the concept of the social media news release.

PodCamp Toronto 2008 is only two weeks away so time is tight. We’re debating what to do at the moment. I’ve already contacted the company. What do you think? Should we:

  1. Re-structure the release into a traditional format?
  2. Negotiate with PR Web?
  3. Ask for a refund and use another company?

Let me know what you think.

Update (Feb 7): Jiyan Wei, Online Product Manager for PR Web, contacted me this morning to discuss this situation.

Firstly, thanks to Jiyan for getting involved, both via the comments here and with me directly.

Jiyan explained PR Web’s rationale for the links rule – while Google loves links, Google News apparently doesn’t. If a news release has too many links in it, Google News may decide it’s spam. He also informed me they’re willing to be flexible on it with our release, and that they’re considering whether to make the ‘rule’ more of a ‘guideline’ for users in the future.

Their second original request, about an introductory paragraph, also relates to Google News. As I understand it, the service won’t pick up releases that don’t fit their idea of what a news release should be. Bullet points don’t fit that idea.

All in all, a productive discussion.

In the meantime, several other newswire services contacted me. I’m very impressed that they’re paying attention – thanks to them, too.

Update (Feb 8): We released our release on PRWeb this morning – we went with a more traditional format in the end.

In an interesting twist, CNW stepped up to the plate and offered to let us try their service. Our SMNR-style release is now live on their site.

This was a fascinating experience. It’s great to know that the news wire services are listening. PRWeb handled the issue very well – they joined the conversation early, listened to my concerns and were flexible. Marketwire, webitpr and CNW all noticed and contacted me too. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take advantage of all their offers without spamming media outlets with multiple copies of the same release.

This is a great example of why companies should get involved in conversations like these. I think it worked out well for everyone.

Posted in: news release, smnr

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

08.02.02

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 media news release seems to be gaining traction. I love the flexibility, the multimedia content, and the way it forces writers to cut out the crap. I evangelize the format at every opportunity.

Still, a few months ago I wrote about how we needed to find a middle ground with the social media news release. In my eyes, the new format isn’t a panacea – it should add to our toolkit rather than replacing the 100 year-old press release.

My concerns in that post:

First and foremost, communicators need to think about their audience. However, we also need to think about how we’re going to get the message to that audience, and that means segmenting the media.

There’s a big difference between the larger media outlets and smaller, community-based media.

The social media release is a great idea for the larger outlets where the reporter is always going to break down the story and look at it from all angles. However, smaller community papers simply don’t have the resources needed to do this. We frequently see releases published almost verbatim by these outlets.

If we were to stop issuing traditional releases for community-based stories, I’m willing to bet we’d see a drop in coverage in local media.

My thinking has evolved a little since then, but my fundamental concerns remain.

It seemed to me that a lot of people agreed.

However, I’ve heard rumbles about organizations using it to replace the old format, and started to wonder if maybe I was behind the times. Maybe I missed an evolution in thinking since then.

So, as I have a habit of doing nowadays, I asked my friends on Twitter:

“Social media news release: a replacement to the traditional release or an addition to the toolkit? I say the latter. You?”

The responses reassured me, and I was particularly happy to see Todd chime in:

Addition, Not Replacement

The social media news release isn’t yet a replacement for the traditional format. It’s a valuable addition to our toolkit which we can use as appropriate.

That said, a couple of sub-themes emerged here:

  • We need to write better news releases.
    • Todd and Brian Solis say it well in the post Todd linked to above: “A crappy press release is still a crappy press release regardless of multimedia or social bling.”
  • Social media is growing but “traditional media” is still the mainstream. Sometimes the old format is more appropriate to communicate with them.

Learn More

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Posted in: news release, smnr, social media

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Using Social Media To Create Social Media Training

07.11.12

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 thinking about this topic a lot recently.

I got to thinking, "What should a social media 101 course offer?" I work with a lot of people who have no knowledge of social media. If I had one day to teach people a few key basics, what would they be?

Then I thought, "Why not use social media to create that program?" So, I’m trying something different here.

I’ve established the Social Media Training Wiki at http://socialtraining.wetpaint.com and given it some basic structure.

I’m throwing out a challenge to the online PR community: As a community, let’s develop a best-practice social media 101 training program.

Let’s create a one-day, scratch-the-surface program that will help employees who are new to this social media thing to find their feet.

Let’s put it out there for the good of the community.

Let’s encourage people to adapt it and adopt it.

Let’s see if we can raise the bar for social media knowledge in our organizations.

Check out the wiki. Participate. Input. Discuss.

A wider understanding of social media benefits us all.

Posted in: blogger relations, blogging, news release, pitching, pr, public relations, smnr, social media, social networks, training, web 2.0

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Panel Discussion: "Is The News Release Dead?"

07.10.07

Last Thursday I attended a panel discussion, organized by my department, entitled “Is The News Release Dead?”

We had a great mix of speakers:

The panel members provided an interesting mix of viewpoints, from very pro-social media through to quite sceptical, leading to some interesting exchanges of views.

Rather than sticking purely to looking at the news release, the panel explored the broader topic of the role that web 2.0 can play in government communications. I continued my social media education by live-blogging the event.

I normally shy away from writing about government communications or anything too closely related to my work, but after careful reflection I decided to make an exception here for three reasons:

  1. The panelists gave their own opinions; they didn’t speak on behalf of the government
  2. These issues aren’t confined to the public sector
  3. I think we should be proud of having these conversations.

Some key points raised by the panel included:

On news releases:

  • The news release, in its traditional format, doesn’t work. It’s due for a significant overhaul
  • News releases are often used incorrectly – at a minimum you need to put news in it. If there’s no news, don’t do it
  • Social media news releases can combine multiple media with succinct content, tagging and content sharing to provide a new way to bring our messages to the public
  • The news release isn’t dead. However:
    • Our focus needs to change from getting content to the media to getting it to the public
    • We need to re-examine why we issue news releases. It’s a tool in our toolkit, but shouldn’t be the default

On traditional media:

  • Traditional media outlets are slowly realizing that the world doesn’t end when the newspaper hits the doorstep. Consumers expect continuous new content
  • The Globe and Mail now allows readers to comment on some stories on its website
  • A majority of consumers still don’t trust online sources as much as traditional media
  • Communications professionals need to stop thinking about the media as the end audience. They’re an essential part of our communications but we communicate through them, not to them

On social media:

  • If organizations delve into new media, transparency is critical. If you aren’t transparent, you will get found out
  • Views differed on whether it’s appropriate (or useful) for government to use social media tactics like blogs, podcasts and social networks
  • The time-shifting capability of podcasts has given radio stations a new lease of life. What’s more, they’re still evolving:
    • Imagine re-mixable podcasts where users can pick and choose the content that interests them
  • The conversations organizations have about Facebook now resemble the conversations they had about the web back in 1994
    • Any organization that ignores Facebook (or any other communications tool) is shutting off a way to communicate with its audience

I have a few thoughts on the discussion:

  • We’re playing catch-up: The discussions that we’re having now in the public sector are the ones that the PR industry as a whole have already had over the last couple of years. The leaders are figuring out how to use these tools; we’re talking about whether to use them
  • We need to educate our peers: There’s a lot of fear about new web technologies, especially around transparency. For new tactics to have any credibility, transparency and openness are critical. Failure to have this will mean failure of the tactic
  • We shouldn’t rely on snap-shots: People cited studies that show a minority of the public trusts online rather than traditional sources. However, the studies are just a snap-shot – don’t show the underlying trend, which is that more and more people are looking to online sources. We need to think about what people will want in a couple of years, not what they wanted six months ago, to avoid vainly chasing the end of the rainbow
  • We need to experiment: Wal-Mart set up a Facebook group. Did it go perfectly? No. They got a lot of negative feedback, but they tried. We need to try new tactics if we want to succeed
  • People want choice: In our fragmented media environment, people want to access information through their choice of medium. To ignore new channels is to miss opportunities
  • “Web 2.0″ isn’t a panacea: It won’t work for every announcement. However, it does add a significant number of new tools to our toolkits, which we should acknowledge and use appropriately
  • Podcasts, blogs, social networks etc. are just tactics: Some people seem to think that when we talk about social media, we’re talking about using it to the exclusion of other tactics. That’s just not the case. Podcasting, blogging, Twitter and all of these wonderful tools aren’t strategies; they’re tactics.

Overall, the panel discussion was fascinating. It was great to hear the different perspectives of the panelists on how (and whether) we should make the best of the opportunities that web 2.0 gives us.

Thanks to the panelists and to everyone else who worked on making it happen!

Posted in: facebook, media, news release, podcast, public relations, social media, social networks, Twitter

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Support Builds For Social Media News Releases

07.10.03

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 real story.

He also proposes a ‘new format‘ for news releases:

It contains the bare essentials, in bullet-point form, to catch the eye of journalists. It still includes the obligatory crappyquote from the executive, but it’s written in a simple, non-hyped style.

Todd’s proposal adds to the voices calling for social media news releases. I’ve had a lot of conversations about these recently, both at work and here on my blog, and I increasingly find myself evangelizing this tactic.

(Pointer: I discovered the NMRCast a couple of weeks ago through Brian Solis‘ blog. What an amazing resource! If you want to find out more about the social media news release, check it out)

Todd Defren (it’s all Tod(d)s all the time today) drew my attention to a great social media release issued today on MarketWire. I love this release for a couple of reasons:

  1. It provides a bunch of easily-used links and resources for journalists
  2. It’s written in clear, plain language

The first point is critical (the second is a topic for another time).

One of the main reasons I like the social format is that it makes life easy for journalists. They don’t have to spend time digging through the release for the news – it’s right there.

I’ve already blogged that I don’t think the social media news release is a ‘one size fits all’ solution. There’s a definite place for a well-written traditional release, especially if you’re looking for coverage in local or multicultural media. However, for the mainstream media, this format has (in my mind) clear benefits.

I recently talked to a former Toronto Star journalist about this new format. He loved the idea from two perspectives:

  • For the reporter, the format makes information and resources easy to find
  • For the assignment editor, the format makes additional content – images, video, audio – clear, reducing their uncertainty around the story

I can see the draw-backs to this – extra work, increased lead time, higher costs. However, with the potential benefits, why not try it out?

I try to play a small role by promoting the concept of the social media news release in my organization. I’ve received a good reception so far; time will tell where that will lead.

What are you doing?

Posted in: news release, smnr, social media

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Finding The Middle Ground With Social Media News Releases

07.09.11

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.

social_media_template I love the social media release format. In our technology-driven world, pumping out release after old-fashioned release onto the wire just doesn’t meet the needs of the media. The media aren’t our audience, but more often than not they’re our conduit. For our messages to be heard we need to work with the media, not against it.

The idea of the social media news release has been around for over a year now, and people are catching-on. For the uninitiated, here are the basic ideas behind it, courtesy of Edelman:

The social media news release is a next-generation news release that combines traditional and emerging forms of communications. By incorporating social media features such as hyperlinks, social bookmarking, multimedia, comment and trackback, among others, the social media news release serves as a bridge between traditional and emerging communications tools.

This format helps the reader by breaking down the release into well defined sections. This is critical – it doesn’t force people to work to deconstruct the release to find the key message.

However, I respectfully disagree with Todd that the social media release should be the ‘standard operating procedure’ for communicators.

My issue is that, even with the remarkable flexibility of the new format, it still keeps to the one-size-fits-all approach to communications.

First and foremost, communicators need to think about their audience. However, we also need to think about how we’re going to get the message to that audience, and that means segmenting the media.

There’s a big difference between the larger media outlets and smaller, community-based media.

The social media release is a great idea for the larger outlets where the reporter is always going to break down the story and look at it from all angles. However, smaller community papers simply don’t have the resources needed to do this. We frequently see releases published almost verbatim by these outlets.

If we were to stop issuing traditional releases for community-based stories, I’m willing to bet we’d see a drop in coverage in local media.

I think we need a middle ground – one that Cisco, who Todd mentions in his piece, seem to have found. They provide a traditional release in addition to the new format.

Now, a (misplaced) concern I’ve heard about the new format is the time it takes to pull all the resources together – worry that we’d have to start producing video for each release, or do a photo shoot for each release. This isn’t true – the beauty of this format is its flexibility, which allows any appropriate content to slot in on a case-by-case basis. However, if we were to start producing both release formats, it would be excessive.

We need to start looking at the social media release as another tool in our toolbox, not as a panacea.

We should replace the traditional release in some cases – the mainstream stories where you expect major outlets to pay attention. For those cases, the old way is outdated and obstructive. For purely local announcements, however, I think the traditional release still has value.

Bottom line: one-size-fits-all doesn’t work.

Posted in: media, news release, public relations, social media

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