While Facebook might not be the best social networking site, or offer the best user experience, or even the most innovative solutions, it has been accepted as the standard by most internet users. Facebook has now reached the 600 million user mark, so it is no surprise that media organisations across the world are looking into ways to tap into this pool of potential readers.
At a recent News:Rewired event (a periodical digital journalism conference) in London, I listened to speakers from some of the world’s biggest media organisations explain how they are facing — and mostly embracing — Facebook.
The most enthusiastic evangelist was Martin Belam, User Experience Lead at The Guardian. Belam explained how their new Facebook application has been hugely successful. The application allows users to share Guardian content easily with their friends, and so far, six million people have downloaded it. One of the most exciting things, according to Belam, is that 54 percent of the users are under 24 – the kind of audience the Guardian has always aspired to reach.
Belam also explained that a younger audience means a younger kind of content becoming popular on the application. He denied there was any danger of a “dumbing down” The Guardian. “To my mind, if we are producing that content anyway – which we do – then why wouldn’twe want it to reach as wide an audience as possible?” he asked.
Belam also noted that there is growing evidence that the Facebook application alone is producing as many views for articles as the guardian.co.uk site, in practice doubling the amount of traffic a story gets.
Liz Heron, former social media editor of The New York Times and current director of social media and engagement with The Wall Street Journal, seemed to agree with Martin. “In the new landscape, the question is no longer whether we do social media, the question is how. How can we make our social media experiences stand out?”
She went on to note that fifty New York Times journalists offer Facebook subscription streams; and that all reporters have been encouraged lately to try Facebook, especially foreign correspondents. The advantage of Facebook, she said, is that it offers great crowdsourcing opportunities and can yield insightful comments and debates. However, the majority of New York Times journalists are still using Twitter. This is due to the fact that most journalists are aware of the dangers of mixing personal profiles with professional lives.
Nate Lanxon, editor of wired.co.uk was very clear about the importance of Facebook. He admitted that for 5 years WIRED had ignored Facebook. That has recently changed. He has now printed a big photo of Mark Zuckerberg which is passed around the office. The person with the photo is the editor of the WIRED Facebook page for that day. The physical presence of the photo has helped the newsroom embrace Facebook in its daily publishing routine.
Lanxon said one of their key discoveries was that having a presence on Facebook wasn’t about driving fans to WIRED, it was about driving WIRED to fans. Lanxon also noted that Facebook follows its own news cycle. Facebook items seem to increase in traffic around the late afternoon and evenings, when users log in to check their latest feeds.
These three examples seem to show a clear shift in how well regarded (and global) news organisations are fully embracing the enormous readership potential offered by Facebook.
by Chris Metinko, Media Relations Specialist, Business Wire/San Francisco
Chris Metinko
Remember MySpace?
Remember when Facebook was going to be the next big thing?
In social media — just as in everything — there always is the “next thing,” and many are pointing to the exploding popularity of niche social networks as exactly that. Many such sites have seen tremendous growth in the past year, as they cater to specific interests, hobbies and likes.
According to the online data measurement firm comScore, the online virtual pinboard site Pinterest saw the third largest percentage jump in unique visitors from December 2011 to January 2012 — behind only the IRS’s and the Department of Education’s websites. Also according to comScore, it became the fastest user site ever to hit 10 million monthly visitors.
As Business Wire media reps attended programs held in San Francisco during February’s Social Media Week, some of the talk was not on the titans of social networking — Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter et al. — but rather these niche sites that seem to be taking up more and more of social networkers’ time. According to some officials in the burgeoning new category of social media, the migration of users is easily explained.
“There’s a lot of noise in the system right now,” said Oliver Hsiang with StumbleUpon, a search engine that creates virtual communities to rate and rank search results. “People want something to filter through the stuff you don’t care about.”
Niche sites allow users to focus on certain subjects and likes instead of Facebook’s all-encompassing style, which some can find hard to navigate. Sites such as Reddit, a social news site where users post, rate and rank news stories, have gained increased notoriety and users. Jena Donlin, business development manager with Reddit, said the site even allows users into different communities and subcategories to more narrowly focus on interests.
Such niche sites also can potentially be gold for journalists, because they reach a specific, targeted audience. For instance, if a reporter is writing about weight-loss and wants to talk to someone trying to lose weight, going to the uber-popular social network DailyBurn seems logical. If someone is writing about the public’s take on a new, hot restaurant, going to food-obsessed network Foodspotting should do the trick. While these sites may not reach the audience numbers Facebook does, a journalist knows the site’s members are extremely interested in their specific topic or beat, and the site can let writers know what people are talking about on a more regional or national level — not limiting reporters by geography.
Despite the current popularity some of these sites, they still face obstacles in their battle for users’ time. One, obviously, is they are exactly what they are suppose to be — niche sites — meaning they are not going to interest everyone.
Donlin said increased popularity also can bring issues, as it can become increasingly difficult to “keep up with the conversation” on sites. Hsiang added niche sites also face the same problem nearly every website eventually confronts — coming up with fresh and new content to keep users coming back and spending time on the site instead of doing other things like watching television, reading or using other social media.
“You compete for discretionary time with everything,” Hsiang said.
By Amy Yen, Marketing Specialist, Business Wire Los Angeles
BlogWorld Expo is a daunting place to be. There are more than 150 sessions featuring more than 250 speakers over three days, not to mention the fact that the whole place is basically teeming with really smart people with really interesting ideas about absolutely everything. So, trying to sum up all the takeaways from the conference is a pretty ridiculous task. Seriously, try reading all the great tweets under the #BWELA official hashtag, which has attracted more than 36,000 tweets and more than 280 million impressions thus far.
Nonetheless, keeping in mind that the following does not even begin to cover all the great information and insights from the conference (& is in fact limited to the sessions I was personally able to attend), I wanted to share some of the takeaways I got from the show:
This is the era for inquisitors. More than anything, BlogWorld was about reminding this audience of communicators of the important role they play during this changing time for business. Keynote speaker Amber Naslund talked about this not being the “era of experts,” but rather the “era of inquisitors, of people who ask questions, who are willing to be curious.”
Time to drink the Google+ Kool-Aid. Although business or brand pages aren’t available—yet—speakers Chris Brogan & Guy Kawasaki say you can still be using the platform professionally now, by representing your business using your personal page and developing relationships. Use tools like Find People on Plus to find people with similar passions & use Circles to control what messages you’re sending to what groups. Chris Brogan’s #1 piece of advice for Google+ is to improve your About profile, using a good picture and including links to your website, blog and other social profiles. Finally, remember the all-important fact that Google+ remains the only social network currently being indexed by Google.
Mobilize your website for user experience. By 2013, half of all web traffic will be from a mobile device. Your priority when it comes to mobile should be a mobile website, which should be a much more condensed, simplified version of your desktop site. Focus on what your customer really needs to be able to access on the go. Keep navigation simple and make sure to cross-platform test across different phones and test phones several years back, as people are still carrying those. Load time needs to be fast for people access information on their phones.
Blogger relations remain a largely untapped opportunity for brands. According to Technorati’s 2011 State of the Blogosphere study, two-thirds of bloggers surveyed say they blog about brands. Less than half classified their interactions with brands as favorable or very favorable. Less than a quarter say brands provide value or are knowledgeable about their blog. 60 percent say they feel bloggers are treated less professionally by brand representatives than are traditional media. Meanwhile, blogs continue to outpace other social media as well as traditional media in terms of generating consumer recommendations and purchasing. Blogger relations thus represents a major opportunity for brands.
Quality content is more important than ever in a post-Panda world. Speaker Shane Ketterman described “quality” content as content so compelling, it engages you in a topic you weren’t even interested in. Following Google’s Panda updates in 2011, having quality content & putting your content on a quality site is more important than ever. Design elements—from ad radio to breadcrumbs to optimized images—are also more important in a post-Panda world. Ketterman also recommended an interesting SEOMoz article presenting a theory that Google assigns value to passion, emotion and authenticity in content.
Facebook engagement is more important than ever in a post-EdgeRank world. The fact is, brands rarely show up in Facebook users’ newsfeeds…unless they’ve engaged with brand. Speaker Dennis Yu recommended brands respond to every post on their page, whether they are asking a question or not. Responding indicates a two-way relationship to Facebook, which increases your EdgeRank. He also pointed out that most brands advertising on Facebook link to an external site, but that eliminates the all-important social aspect of the ad (where your friends can see that you’ve liked the ad or a brand in their ad).
Have a plan to capitalize on success. Everybody knows to have a back-up plan in case everything goes wrong, but several speakers talked about having a plan in case everything goes right. Make sure you are able to capitalize on unplanned visibility: have your branding, contact information and links already in place on content.
by John Benutty, Senior Editor, Business Wire San Francisco
by John Benutty, Sr Editor, Business Wire San Francisco
The secret is out – if you want to get noticed, your company must tap into the social media consciousness of our time.Consider the fact that we twenty- and early thirty-somethings – now an intricate part of the business and media fields – were in college when Facebook began, and we know the value of social media as if its playbook were written on our forearms. Young professionals tweet, post to walls, like, digg, bing, ping, blog, Google and forward more than anyone else, leaving the heartbeat of your news at the tips of our mouse-clicking fingers.
So how does your company tap into the ever-expanding atmosphere of social media? Is it possible to use it to your advantage within your Business Wire press release? Most certainly.
Step 1: Build your fan-base by adding social media links to your release
The easiest way to bridge the gap between social media and your news is to always include links to the places online where your company has a presence. In addition to including a link to your company’s home page, include the URLs to your Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages. Links provide easy access for those who receive your news to keep track of more than just your press releases – they’ll fan your Facebook page, follow your Twitter feed and subscribe to your YouTube channel to stay up on all your latest announcements.
Here are a few places where these social media links make the most sense:
as part of your boilerplate along with your company URL
in a bulleted list (i.e., “Find Us Online”) with a link to each site where your company has a media presence
alongside your media/investor relations phone numbers and email addresses
Step 2: Keep your fan-base informed by re-posting and re-tweeting your release from BusinessWire.com
One of the many great things about distributing your news through Business Wire is the “Sharing” toolbar on your press release page. To the immediate left of every press release on BusinessWire.com is a list of social media links encouraging viewers to share the press release with their own friends, fans and followers. Seize this opportunity and share your news directly with your newly acquired fan-base. It goes without saying that the people you care most about reaching are the friends of your friends, so re-post and re-tweet your release to your fans, and let them share their excitement about your news with the people they know – from there, the distance your news can travel is boundless, so give it that first little tweet and let the diggs, bings and pings fall where they may.
With 32 bureaus around the world and more newsrooms than all of our competitors combined, Business Wire is proud to provide local expertise and superior service, backed by the most accurate editors in the world. In Editor’s Corner, we ask some of our best to chime in on how to get the most out of your press release, based on their years of experience in the industry.
by Amy Yen, Marketing Specialist, Business Wire LA
Last week, Business Wire was proud to be a sponsor of Social Media Club’s Social Media Masters workshop, a one-day program in San Diego offering advanced social media training in a unique format. Brian Solis, author of Engage, was the keynote speaker for the event, which also featured dedicated workshops for Facebook (led by Murray Izenwasser), LinkedIn (Chuck Hester & Neal Schaffer), Twitter (Carri Bugbee) & social media monitoring (Paul Dyer & Kelly Feller).
Here are some highlights from Brian Solis’s keynote and the closing panel discussion on integrated marketing:
Social media is an earned privilege. A ‘tweet this’ or ‘like us’ button on its own doesn’t mean anything. Ask yourself why audience should care. You have to compete for every ‘like’ by being compelling.
Influence is not popularity. A large number of Twitter followers or Facebook likes doesn’t necessarily equate to the capacity to change behavior or perception.
What used to be an audience is now an audience with audiences. An average Facebook user has 130 friends. An average Twitter user has 140 followers. Everyone is now their own distribution channel.
Context, not content, is now king. People want to feel that the great content they are seeing was created for them specifically, on the network that they are on. Don’t blast your message identically on every network, customize it to the platform.
Social media marketing should not be done in silos. Tactics like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc should be integrated and linked with traditional marketing channels. Don’t focus so much on the tools, just focus on what you want to do, then find the right distribution point for your message.
Speaker Chuck Hester talks about LinkedIn
Here are some tips & insights from Chuck Hester & Neal Schaffer’s session on LinkedIn:
A LinkedIn profile is not an online resume. It’s an online portfolio. LinkedIn is not just for job seekers.
Optimize your LinkedIn profile for search by putting keywords in your headline & summary. Don’t leave your headline as your current title; use the terms people are likely to search for.
When adding people to your network, don’t send the generic “I’d like to add you” message. Personalize your invitation & ask what you can do for the connection.
Include up to three URLs in your profile. Besides your website, one good one to include is the URL for your media center or online newsroom.
Users can follow & recommend companies on LinkedIn. Company pages have a section where you can highlight specific products & services.
LinkedIn groups are a good way to promote best practices & position subject matter experts. Leave your group open to ensure discussions get indexed. Be descriptive in the titles of your groups: use keywords you want to come up in search.
Consider creating subgroups to enhance the SEO of your LinkedIn groups. Each subgroup & main group gets indexed separately, so you can target keywords in your descriptions to different audiences. For example, a subgroup for “LA tech jobs” under the main group “tech jobs” further targets by geography & would show up under a search for “LA jobs” when the main group might not.
Include your LinkedIn, Twitter & other social media profiles in your press release contact blocks.
Treat your connections on LinkedIn & other networks like they are physically in front of you.
This is a guest post from Travis Van. Travis is the founder of Business Wire partner ITDatabase, a research platform for tech industry PR.
Social media fever runs so high these days that it’s tough for tech PR pros to distinguish real opportunities from the useless fluff regularly offered up by pundits.
Particularly unclear is to what extent the tech PR community is actually getting results with their social media efforts. Anecdotally, we all know that social media can engage customers in unique ways. But what about the big picture? Are intensive social media campaigns consistently productive, or are they wild goose chases punctuated with an occasional success story? Has social media really become a staple of tech PR pros’ everyday interaction with journalists and bloggers?
ITDatabase recently polled tech PR pros to share their experiences with what’s working (and what’s not), and focused our questions on these most popular social networking channels. While the sample only really scratches the surface (230 tech PR pro respondents, of which 30.4% were in house at a tech company and 69.6% were on the agency side), some of the results may surprise you.
Here are some of the key findings:
Presence of Journalists / Bloggers on Social Media
As a pretext for the survey, we did our own research and found that of the 5,000 most active tech journalists and bloggers:
61% are on LinkedIn
56% are on Twitter
28% are on Facebook
27% do NOT publish email addresses as a method for contacting them
Email
Despite the social media hype, pitching by email is still the norm. 97.8% of respondents still pitch either exclusively or primarily by email, with only 2.2% claiming to pitch “primarily” via social media channels. 50% said tech authors are less responsive to email pitches than they used to be, and only 15.2% said they were more receptive. 89.1% were either “mildly” or “very” concerned that their email pitches were sometimes zapped by authors’ spam filters and never read.
Twitter
Tech PR reps are indeed using Twitter heavily, but more for research than for outreach. Only 4.3% said they “frequently” pitch authors via Twitter. 26.1% have never pitched an author via Twitter. 54.3% think the media relations results they’ve gotten out of Twitter have justified the time investment. 80.4% think that Twitter is “overrated” as a tool for pitching authors.
LinkedIn
More than one quarter of tech PR reps use LinkedIn to reach authors. 28.3% have pitched someone using LinkedIn InMail.
Facebook
Out of the Big Three (Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn), Facebook draws the most skepticism from the tech PR community. Only 10.9% connect with tech journalists and bloggers on Facebook “often”. And 80.4% believed that Facebook has the least practical use for tech PR (compared to LinkedIn and Twitter).
by Heidi Mayer, Account Executive, & Billy Russell, Client Services Representative, Business Wire Phoenix
On Friday, September 24, Business Wire Phoenix hosted a lunch seminar that provided local companies with an opportunity to meet the media and discuss how reporting has evolved amid the popularity of social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook. Chad Graham with The Arizona Republic, Keith Yaskin with FOX 10 and Shawn Martin from ABC15 News discussed how social media has affected traditional news reporting while Cindy Kim of JDA Software provided her own unique insight on pitching stories from a public relations perspective. The seminar was moderated by our own Regional Manager Grant Armendariz.
L-R: Grant Armendariz, Cindy Kim, Shawn Martin, Chad Graham & Keith Yaskin
Here are some key insights from the discussion:
Why they use social media
Both Kim and Yaskin said that they use social media as a tool to build relationships. According to Kim, it’s a way for her to not only reach the decision-makers – analysts, bloggers and journalists – but also to raise brand awareness with her clients and prospects. Martin talked about a new show on ABC 15 that will experiment with integrating social media and news, with the goal of giving the audience a voice. His greatest challenge is to get viewers to interact on three screens: TV, computer and mobile. Graham mentioned that AZ Central has been using this year to develop a strategy for using social media and train reporters on its use. He’s found social media an effective means for the immediate exchange of information, and has also discovered benefits to geo sharing.
Changing the way people approach the media
In today’s environment, Martin pointed out, the PR professional who has to make a pitch is often at a loss: social media is so new that there are no rules or guidelines to using it effectively. However, there are many right ways to go about it. Graham made the point that good stories are always going to be good and will get coverage no matter what. He considers social media as more of a tactic than an overall strategy, and sees it being used to make an end run around reporters to get word out on a particular topic immediately. Kim said that social media has broadened her approach and allowed her to be more creative with traditional channels. She added that it’s also created some great relationships and made possible good conversations to create better fits for stories. Yaskin agreed, saying that relationships matter. He’d be much more likely to help out someone he’s made a connection with through social media than a random pitch off the street.
The rise of citizen journalism
While the rapid rise of citizen journalism is sometimes considered a threat to traditional sources of news, the three journalists on the panel all agreed that they see it as a positive change. Martin said that AZ Central is embracing the trend, allowing audiences to drive the news. Because reporters can’t be everywhere, ordinary bloggers and tweeters can play an important part in bringing stories to the public’s attention. Yaskin, meanwhile, finds himself becoming a citizen journalist. People aren’t willing to wait for the news anymore, with so many platforms available to them, so he acts as a “mobile newsroom,” reporting on additional aspects of the story (i.e. A reporter was being mocked by a fireman for wearing too much makeup). From the PR perspective, Kim said that her company sees this trend as an opportunity as well. When a cyberhack story broke, JDA started a “lessons learned” blog which was then covered as part of the story. However, Graham, while excited about “man on the street news,” warns that it should be taken with a grain of salt. Journalistic standards still apply, which means: always check the facts.
What not to send through social media
All four panelists had suggestions for anyone using social media to disseminate information. Kim recommended thinking about personal branding when posting, because how a person communicates is just as important as what that person communicates. The three journalists talked about the kinds of stories they didn’t want to be pitched through social media: immediate, breaking news, which should always be called in (Martin), anything that’s already been covered (Graham) and any legal information (Yaskin). Yaskin also cautioned about tweeting story ideas that others can figure out and pitch for their own benefit. Other than that, he said, anything can be sent.
Here’s a terrific video clip from panelist Keith Yaskin at FOX 10, speaking on how social media has changed the way he interacts with public relations professionals:
Thank you to all those in attendance and especially our panel for a lively and entertaining discussion about this new trend. We look forward to our next event in Arizona, Business Wire Holiday Open House, which gives everyone an opportunity to meet our newsroom and learn about our product offerings while enjoying a festive holiday breakfast. Look for your invitation and don’t forget to RSVP!
Join Business Wire experts in your area for media breakfasts, panel discussions and other insightful events. We bring local media members and industry thought leaders to your market to discuss today’s most relevant topics, from writing for SEO to marketing with social media. Best of all, Business Wire events are usually free of charge. Check out some of our upcoming events in your area:
Join Business Wire Houston team for this practical session on maximizing your press releases’ chances of being found, seen and shared online and get on the fast track to becoming a PRO (Press Release Optimizer). We will take a look at the relationship between your company’s overall SEO and Press Release Optimization strategies. As we walk you through the steps of building an optimized press release you will have the opportunity to pick up a few tips and tools as well as learn the long term benefits of being a PRO. This event is free for all attendees.
Wednesday, September 15 at 8:30am CT
Houston City Club
One City Club Drive, Houston, TX 77046
Hosted by Business Wire Cleveland [Columbus Event]
Your organization has started blogging, tweeting and updating your Facebook status, but is it working? If you’re like many communications professionals today, you may not be sure how to quantify the success of your social media efforts. Join our expert panel in Columbus for a discussion on setting goals for your social media campaign and arming you with the tools you will need to generate both quantitative and qualitative results. Bill Balderaz, Founder, Webbed Marketing will moderate the panel, which also includes: Dave Culbertson, Owner, LightBulb Interactive; Lora Deeds, Senior Public & Analyst Relations Specialist, Quest Software; Amanda Murphy, Assignment Editor, WCMH-TV; andNate Riggs, Principal & Lead Social Web Strategist, Social Business Strategies. This event is free for all attendees.
Join Business Wire Phoenix for a free luncheon and meet the media event about how reporting has evolved amid the popularity of social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook. Chad Graham with the Arizona Republic and Tim Vetcher from ABC 15 News will be discussing how social media has affected traditional news reporting while Cindy Kim of JDA Software will be providing her own unique insight on pitching stories from a public relations perspective. This event is free for all attendees.
Friday, September 24 at 11:30pm PT 1475 N. Scottsdale Road, Alliance Room #365, Scottsdale, AZ 85257
Join Business Wire’s DC office for breakfast and a panel discussion featuring technology journalists from some of the area’s top publications. Listen as they share their thoughts on what makes a good story and learn how your organization can increase its chances of being covered by the media. Panelists include: Paul Sherman , Editor-in-Chief, Potomac Tech Wire; Cecilia Kang , Technology Reporter, The Washington Post; Nick Wakeman , Editor-in-Chief, Washington Technology; Gautham Nagesh , Technology Reporter, The Hill; Bill Flook , Staff Reporter/Technology, Biotech, Venture Capital, Washington Business Journal. This event is $10 for all attendees.
Wednesday, September 29 at 8am ET
Marriott Tysons Corner
8028 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, VA 22182
The Business Wire Seattle office held a social media event in Portland, OR at The Governor Hotel on November 19. The event was entitled, “Social Media: Your Questions Answered.” Led by moderator, Hallie Janssen of Anvil Media, the panel addressed multiple questions from an audience at all levels of social media knowledge. A show of hands showed half the audience considered themselves well-versed in social media and half considered themselves beginners. Twitter was the most talked about and asked about aspect of social media.
At the end of the day, must be able to show ROI. Set measurable metrics before you start.
There are soft metrics like awareness and building relationships, which are important. Approach it by asking “Are we helping people?”
Building a Following on Twitter
Follow people with similar interests.
Make use of keywords important to your audience.
Re-tweet and share content. It’s a “scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” kind of thing.
Make lists and reach out.
Local Business Wire offices host several events each year on PR, IR, SEO & media topics. Check out the Business Wire Events page to find upcoming events in your area.
Follow Business Wire events on Twitter! Hash tag #bwevents
Business Wire San Antonio hosted back-to-back Austin and San Antonio seminars November 18th and November 19th, 2009. Attendees were provided tips to help optimize future press releases so they are found, seen and shared.
The well-rounded panel included Bill Leake, Founder, President and CEO of Apogee Search, the most prominent search engine marketing firm in the Southwest; Charla Adams, Communications Manager of Sweet Leaf Tea, a Business Wire client completely immersed in social media; and Clint Howell, New Media Specialist and Senior Account Executive at Business Wire.
Bill Leake, Founder, President and CEO of Apogee Search recommends:
Get someone else to sing your song and it’s better than singing it yourself – the web is 20% your content/80% what the rest of the world says about you.
If nothing else, get the keywords right – choose keywords that matter (the ones people are actually using to search not what you think they’re searching) by using a keyword search tool.
The web is not just textual – create content with photos and video.
If you have a call to action in your press release/message, build conversion pages – you have them there, now what do you want them to do?
Don’t forget direct media pitches and don’t forget the bloggers (research beyond Technorati Top 50 and you’ll find the fat middle of niche bloggers that cover you and your industry).
The future owner of social media will be PR because it’s a better fit than advertising – PR is all about conversations and dialogue.
Charla Adams, Communications Manager of Sweet Leaf Tea recommends:
Sweet Leaf Tea uses a variety of resources to send their communication message – 15 employees tweet, they have Facebook Fan pages, blogs, YouTube channel, MySpace profile, Flickr photo pages, RSS feeds and even Sweet Leaf Tea TV and Sweet Leaf Radio.
Tweet/post/repurpose your press release permalink (especially if you have an EON release, which is posted forever and can act as a free-standing webpage – Sweet Leaf Tea’s EON release got 2x the hits of the wire version because Charla pushed it out).
Gauge your success by the level of participation vs. demographic breakdowns because someone outside your demographic target might be your most active engager – are they pushing out your message, writing a blog post for you, writing about you?
Clint Howell, New Media Specialist and Senior Account Executive recommends:
Media is posting your news as you write it, which is a testament to having good content in your releases and links to further details on your site.
You can build your release for search and should.
The headline is the most important piece of your release, the first paragraph second because websites/search engines use them as your title and meta description tags.
If you would like Bill’s presentation or the seminar takeaway packet with Joseph Miller’s SEO Tip Jar, please email Barbie Dunn, barbie.dunn@businesswire.com.
More questions? Contact Clint Howell: clint.howell@businesswire.com
Local Business Wire offices host several events each year on PR, IR, SEO & media topics. Check out the Business Wire Events page to find upcoming events in your area.
Follow Business Wire events on Twitter! Hash tag #bwevents
Posted by Phil Dennison, Senior Marketing Specialist, Business Wire 
