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Social Media PR:
Engaging Your Readers and Extending Your Reach
Social media networks, content voting web sites, blogs and podcasts with their straightforward content sharing capabilities and the emergence of Internet savvy consumers and media professionals have led to the creation of a new online social media press release format.
Social Media Press Release Components
A social media press release facilitates news distribution via online wire services and media consumption using multimedia and social media elements such as tags, social bookmarks, RSS feeds and links to audio and video podcasts, all arranged according to a pre-defined social media format.
The basic text- and keyword-optimized online press release is not going away anytime soon, but the social media press release has more reach, is more functional and makes it easier for media people, analysts, bloggers and consumers to compile information for the articles they research or want to write. The social media press release format facilitates this by breaking down the content into logical sections with various media formats and links in a way that it can be more easily scanned and used.
A social media press release is making "News" part of a dialogue with the broader community versus the traditional top-down communication from the brand manager or PR agency to the mainstream media. By encouraging the online community to sharing and bookmarking social media press releases brand managers and PR agencies can significantly increase brand-awareness, web traffic and boost web site link popularity, which can lead to higher search engine rankings.
Social Media Press Release Format and Platform
Social media press releases are distributed from a news wire distribution platform that supports the social media elements that are incorporated in the press release. With one click a media professional or blogger exposed to the release can submit the news release to content voting and bookmarking web sites such as Digg, Deli.cio.us, Furl and others. The news search engines automatically index keyword-optimized press release text and images.
Online newswire distribution services such as PRWeb and PR Newswire are offering platforms that are supporting a social media press release layout format that is close to the SHIFT Communications and Edelman (StoryCrafter) social media templates. Those templates include roughly the following elements:
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Headline |
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Core news facts with key points as bullet points |
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Quotes |
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Multimedia - Photo image, MP3 file or Podcast link, graphic (e.g. logo) and video |
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Links to relevant coverage on the Web |
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Add to Del.ico.us and Digg This links |
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Links to Technorati tags |
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RSS feed subscription link |
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Boilerplate statement |
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Company information |
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Trackback and comments |
Measuring and Reporting
Social media news releases are trackable through free online tracking services such as Technorati, Google Blog Search and BlogPulse and email notifications generated via Google and Yahoo Alerts. The online newswire distribution services typically provide statistical reports including number of views, number of media pick-ups, the number of times a press release was forwarded and the number of click-throughs to the web site.
Social Media Press Release Benefits
Social media press releases are offering the following benefits for PR firms and their clients:
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Through their multitude of media formats social media press releases have a higher impact. |
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A social media press release presents the content in a layout that can more easily be scanned and used by media professionals, analysts, researchers and consumers. |
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The social media elements and the links that are included in a social media press release are extending the reach of the release. The social media elements encourage the sharing of news and social bookmarks, images and video, creating a multiplying effect whereby the multimedia components travel by themselves through the social web.
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Combining the community sharing aspects of the social media press release with keyword content optimization for the news search engines creates a higher visibility and a greater competitive advantage.
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Social media elements extend the reach of the press release. More media elements mean more channels for exposure. For instance media publications that pick up the content of the press release are pulling more readers to the message. |
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Through trackbacks and comments a social media press release engages the reader. |
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Social media news releases are trackable across social media, web sites and blogs.
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| AMPTalk, our monthly audio podcast show on Internet Marketing is jam-packed with interviews and commentary on a wide-range of topics ranging from paid search advertising, ecommerce web site building, social media marketing and online media buying. |
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Advanced Media Productions, Inc.
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