Social Media Release vs. Traditional Press Release

Despite the increasing use of social media releases(SMR)I find most often businesses still aren't aware of the term let alone how or when the communication method should be used. Here is a high level overview which may shed some light.

THE TRADITIONAL MEDIA RELEASE: A traditional media (press)release leads with news (what's new/different/timely)about your organization/product/issue and is designed to show journalists the merits of a potential news story. It's written as a print article would be with the most relevant information at the top and more objective in tone.

THE SOCIAL MEDIA RELEASE: A SMR leads with the most common Internet search terms and has the direct purpose of driving traffic back to your website. The title is also based on common search terms. Features of an SMR can include:

Key terms (called anchor texts): Terms/word combinations that are commonly entered in search engines such as Google and are hyperlinked back to their original source, or better, to a place on your own website.

Viral in nature: The ability to share, discuss or comment directly on the release or sites such as Twitter, Digg, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. are build in.

Photos and videos: Photos and videos with a caption can be embedded directly rather than sent as links or attachments. These too can be linked directly back to your website or a dedicated YouTube channel for further promotion.

RSS feeds: SMRs can be distributed to websites and blogs via RSS feeds. Depending on the content of the release and the key terms used, different websites will automatically select certain stories from these RSS feeds and feature them on their site.

Here are two SMR examples Brown & Cohen Communications & Public Affairs created using Marketwire's service for SwiftJet and Manchu WOK.

It is usually quite clear when one media release strategy should be used over the other: Is there a strong news hook for your release that is going to be attractive to print and broadcast media? Or, is this just important information that you would like people to know when they search the net? Sometimes the answer is both, and in these cases we often write both versions.

Mother of the Year Award

A great campaign by MomsRising was brought to my attention by an incredible mom herself, Dr. Rochelle Monson.

It's always a treat to see campaigns that combine government relations, media relations and social media. In this case, the ability to also incorporate humour to ensure serious messages spread virally is outstanding.

Make sure to watch my 2009 Mother of the Year Award video.

Clients who use the V-word

Memo to clients:

You are scaring me with your increasing use of the word “viral”. You like the way it sounds. I do too, but you can't have your cake and eat it too.

You realize that viral means people are talking about you/your company/product/issue and passing on the information. But, you’re not totally comfortable letting people just talk in fear of what can be said.

Just like high yield investments, the bigger the risk (open dialogue), the bigger the potential reward (discussion on your topic and all the peer-to-peer credibility that comes with it!). Perhaps the social media world needs a term akin to a “sophisticated investor” that refers to personal and professional brands that can withstand a few online punches.

My perspective is that companies should start with baby steps: a blogger campaign, integrating videos, integrating social networks, etc. These can be combined with more traditional media relations and marketing. You’ll be surprised how quickly you gain confidence both in the public’s ability to generate meaningful discussion and their ability to stand up for your brand when its credibly is being threatened.