Social Media Press Release

This week, I learned about something that will change the way we all look at press releases. I was introduced to the new social media press release this week after reading the renowned blogger Tom Foremski's new blog post "4 Years since 'Die! Press Release Die!...' And STILL No Hyperlinks". This post came after his influential "Die! Press Release! Die!" which has been used in many communication University programs. Foremski is still wondering why the social media press release has not become the only kind or release to use in the PR profession.

Some of Foremski's points are from Mequoda Daily's "Past and Future of a Social Media Press Release" :

• Deconstruct the press release into special sections and tag the information. This would allow the publisher to pre-assemble some of the news story and make the information useful.
• Provide a brief description of what the announcement is, but leave the spin to the journalists. The journalists are going to go with their own spin on the story anyway, so why bother? Keep it straightforward rather than spintastic.
• Provide a page of quotes from the CEO or other C-level execs.
• Provide a page of quotes from customers, if applicable.
• Provide a page of quotes from analysts, if applicable.
• Provide financial information in many different formats.
• Provide many links inside the press release copy, and also provide a whole page of relevant links to other news stories or reference sources.
• And tag everything so that I can pre-assemble my stories. The tags would be things like: recent share price, founders, first quarter revenues, analyst quotes, etc.

 

I completely agree with Foremski's points. Social Media has become such  a prominent part of the marketing and public relations industry. It has molded the way the industry works and it has lead to new innovations and professions. Once I saw the template for the social media press release, I was excited to write one of my own. I have never liked the format of the normal press release because I found it to have a lot of rules and no room for creativity. This new format allows readers to become familiar with the release through links, Facebook, Twitter, RSS feeds and more. It is personalized and there is a lot to choose from. I am very excited to use this new release. I think it will revolutionize the way we publicize stories and use PR.