Are the traditional, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE press releases and press kits going the way of the dinosaurs? Is it time to move to social media friendly press releases or are they just a waste of time and money?
Ford is using them http://media.ford.com/products/focus08/index.html
HP did it http://www.marketwire.com/mw/rel.jsp?id=738205
Webit PR says it's the wave of the future - see part of their release below and go to http://www.webitpr.com/realwire.asp?id=21 read the full text
What the Social Media News Release is
The Social Media News Release (SMNR) is a new kind of press release aimed at (but not exclusive to) both journalists and bloggers. It does not include the 'spin' of the traditional press release, but provides multimedia content in an accessible format that can easily be repurposed and shared on blogs, websites and social networks including MySpace and Facebook.
Unlike the traditional press release, the content of the SMNR is deconstructed so that the core facts, quotes, contact details and boilerplate are all individually segregated to allow users to disseminate its various elements. It can accommodate images, audio and video (including embedded social media video including YouTube) and incorporates many of the Web2.0 and folksonomy tools popular among social media users today.
Characteristics of the realwire Social Media News Release:
The realwire SMNR is based on the SHIFT Communications template and includes:
- Social bookmarking options to allow users to 'tag' the SMNR to popular social bookmarking sites.
- The use of hyperlinks in the copy body.
- RSS feeds to allow subscribers to receive updated content in real time as it is published.
- Optimised for visibility in search engines.
- Links to related news for further background info.
- Incoming blog links.
- Technorati tags.
- The ability for people to register and leave a comment on any particular SMNR - creating a two way dialogue unlike the 'top down' delivery method of the traditional release.
- The ability to brand the SMNR with the client's logo.
- The ability to ‘domain map' the release to the client's website URL (E.g. http://news.clientwebsite.com) giving the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) benefits to the organisation.
What the Social Media News Release is not
Because social media is turning consumers into active producers of content, the SMNR is a tool that can assist in helping PR adapt to this changing media landscape in ways that were previously not possible. However, the nature of social media does not resonate with some existing PR methods which means the SMNR is not:
- A secondary afterthought to traditional news distribution Timing with a SMNR is just as important as other forms of news distribution. Outdated or already published news should not be used for distribution on a SMNR.
- A tool used instead of conventional PR methods. While the balance of influence is shifting in favour of the individual, other communication channels should not be ignored. Any PR person worth their weight in salt will know this.
- The shiny new thing that will change bad PR practice The SMNR is only the delivery mechanism and the real value lies in the content. Knowing what your audience wants and providing them with something of value is the first step to creating an effective and useful SMNR.
- A tool to control the message PR in social media should not aim to spin or deceive the audience. The SMNR can, however, be used as a way to communicate with and gain valuable feedback from key audiences.
Monitoring
Another factor that differences us from our competitors is our ability to track where your SMNR has been discussed, referenced or used in editorial. Because the internet is a medium that knows no geographical boundaries, a SMNR can be picked up and used by any blog or online publication around the world.
Some online publications, however, may not always reference back to the original release making it almost impossible to find without the appropriate tools and software. We have always provided inclusive coverage monitoring within our press releases services that covers both social media and the regular online media. This means we can provide the sender of the release with updated details of where the SMNR has appeared and the sentiment of discussion it has generated.
We understand that your role as a PR practitioner is not to find the data - your role is to make sense of it.
On the other hand...
This blog post http://austin.socialmediaclub.com/2007/05/16/social-media-press-releases-the-power-of-tools/ by Cynthia Baker raises some good points:
...The job may have gotten easier for the reporter, but it has mushroomed for the marketers and PR practitioners. Simply put, the click of a mouse is easy, but HTML code is complex. To stay focused, we first need to understand who we are writing for and who is reading what.
Are we writing for reporters or robots … or both?
- Can we write directly to the consumer and bypass the media?
- Are consumers reading more trade publications or press releases online?
I believe that the answers will come with an in-depth understanding of a PR terrain that is far more multi-dimensional than it was in the past. Savvy PR practitioners and marketers will balance the use of the Microformat right alongside traditional press releases to create fully functional campaigns. It may bolster the professional image of your client to reach the reporters on their turf at the newswire sites. Simultaneously, it may be important for that same client to appear in the results when their consumers “google” certain topics online or read their newsfeeds.
Will our Web 2.O challenges be relieved by new tools? Exactly what can the social media press release do to get a client right smack in the faces of reporters and consumers online?
Thoughts?
Are you using SMNRs? Are your clients asking for them? How are you distributing them - combined with a traditional release or as release on it's own.
Would anyone like to contribute a post on this topic?
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