by Sandy Malloy, Senior Information Services Specialist
The term “social media press release” surfaces from time to time to describe a release crafted especially to appeal to the tweeting/blogging/posting crowd that comprises its purported target audience. On its face, there is nothing wrong with this concept. We advise crafting Google-friendly, keyword-rich headlines to make sure search engines can find press releases.
But using a separate label and special (sometimes truly ugly) formatting to create a press release specifically for sharing misses the point. That idea may have had merit when introduced five years ago, but it now seems as dated as hailing color TV or air mail. Today, EVERY press release should serve as a “social media press release” (search-engine-friendly and easy-to share press release) if the person crafting it does the job properly.
Business Wire recently revamped its news display to encourage and facilitate sharing. Many of these features enhance the social media value of releases without making them unreadable by a person with a normal attention span. The most significant enhancements from a social media perspective are the prominence of sharing icons for popular sites (Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook) and the ability to share photos and videos as discrete assets.
Below we’ve listed basic tips for building effective, web-friendly, news releases that will be found, seen and shared. Take a look:
- Create a short but descriptive headline
- Put the most important information in the first paragraph
- Don’t just tell, SHOW–include multimedia
- Know the audience you want to reach
- Be clear about why that audience should care
I recently reviewed videos submitted by public relations students for Business Wire’s College Video contest on The Future of Public Relations. Even though the students acknowledged the importance of social media, some speculating on future technological changes, an important thread emerged from their presentations: effective press releases rely less on technology than on the personal connections that the press release content makes with the audience.
At its best, a “social media press release” makes that connection so those reading it feel compelled to pass it along.
Enjoyed the article, Sandy. The same goes for online newsrooms. Some try to distinguish a difference with the term social media newsroom. If your online newsroom does not have social media integrated as a standard feature, it’s just not a full-fledged online newsroom.
Ibrey Woodall
VP Web Communications
Business Wire
Thanks, Ibrey! So you are saying social media newsroom is is redundant redundant, right? (OK, sorry, could not resis. But I do agree.)