anything, seriously- anything at all, within the commun-
ications world knows what a news release is.
It’s kind of like the foundational stone of sending information through media sources. On any given day, especially the slow ones, a good handful of news articles in the daily paper can be traces right back to the PR representative that drafted up a press release and sent it on it’s merry ole way.
Whether through fax (but really, who faxes anymore), e-mail, snail mail (another endangered format), or one of the vast other varieties of contact out there, press releases are used as a hub of information- containing all the important when and where’s- for any given event, organization, party, parade or to-do around the community, sent out to any and every newspaper or publication within a decent proximity of the actual location.
It makes life a lot harder and/or easier for the journalist who receive
s all these press releases- harder because he or she gets about 5,000 of these before lunch (okay, maybe 5,000 is an exaggeration, but hundreds a day none-the-less) and has the daunting task of skimming through the typos and the lack of information, or lack of relevance for that matter, in order to find the few that will actually be worth a shot at formatting- needle in a hay stack scenerio if you will- but easier because once those few are found there are that many fewer spaces to fill on that days news spread with a lot less work than going out and reporting on all of them as an alternative.
A Social Media News Release (SMNR), however, is a touch different.
Welcome to nearly a decade into the new millenium.
This type of news release uses linking, photos, multimedia and all the other great media capabilities of the web to make these releases more useful, relevant and reader-friendly.
One journalist, Tom Foremski, kind of the main man behind the
beginning of SMNR, released an article in 2006, “Die Press Releases, Die Die Die” (must have been one of those 5,000 releases before lunch kind of days), and he called
traditional news releases “useless and artificial”, challenging the PR industry to rethink its strategies and adapt them to new realities, such as increasing disdain for “marketing clutter” and growing number of non-traditional publishing taking place on blogs and other Web sites. As told by this social training wesite. On this site as well, depicts the entire show down of the transition into SMNR- from his proposal to the PR world (which basically says, give me enough info and let me write the story, I’m the journalist, I don’t need all of your fluff) to their response and back and forth- very entertaining.
Like a communications soap opra or viscious talk show or something. Go read it- after you’re done reading this of course.
I like to picture is as a transition from Sega to XBox (remember, Sega?) Stil
l a service, but with a lot of extra bells, whistles, and technology advancements. Easier for everyone. Except those who have been playing Sega since it’s introduction and just can’t stand the idea of changing.
Ever.
Seem to encounter those folks on a regular basis in this industry.
Nice people.
Let’s face it- anything is easier to read if it is engaging. A bunch of words on a page is just not enough, a little touch of video here and a splash of photos there, and viola- masterpiece! Have you ever heard the saying “A picture is worth a thousand words”? Well I was taking a course with Poynters News University (a very relevant and helpful site that delves into the world of journalism. Highly suggested). So anyways, I was taking a course on writing for Multimedia and in the section about photos and it actually said, that when writing a story in multimedia format your story will be shorter, because every picture that you place into the story “is worth 1,000 words”. I thought, just as a short bunny trail, that that is one of those things we always say and never know what it actually means. So lucky for you, if you take nothing else away from this, you have gained the insight into one of our cultures most classic tag lines. Your Welcome.
SMNR is dealt with in a slightly different way then a traditional news release. Where in past times a traditional news release would be written as an article, in hour glass format, sent out through the mail; but a SMNR would be containing all the information, in an unformatted format, sent through the web-whether e-mail or other social media sites- and to a different variety of people. Instead of sending directly to news agencies or press outlets, an SMNR would be sent, in addition to the previous, to :
traditional journalists
bloggers
podcasters
consumers
readers
or any other members who are related to or interested in the purpose of the news release. Not only will this broaden the spectrum of those who are able to receive the information, but it also allows journalist who are not considered traditional a chance to promote the release, with a little wiggle room for every journalist to write it how they want it.
The debate is still up in the air, as to if there are any negatives to this step into SMNR versus traditional wire releases, but a pelethora of advantages, including:
SMNR is more relevant to our culture's need for engagement.
Sending through the web uses less postage and paper- go green!
SMNR potentially reaches a larger audience.
SMNR is optimised for searching, conversation and sharing.
SMNR tells the entire story in less words and more multimedia.
SMNR provides context that is sometimes hard to portray in words.
The cons that I could think of are as follows:
Technical difficulties could harm delivery when sending through the web.
Harder to just use the release as received (you know, for those slow days we talked about).
Ya, that's about it.
In the end, kind of looks something like this:
In the adjustment to developing a SMNR, here are a few pointers and such:
Provide plenty of information: As Mr. Foremski says, “a page of quotes from the CEO, a page of quotes from consumers, a page of quotes from analysts, a page of relevant links to other references”. You provide the info, and the journalist will be happy to put it all together.
Leave the spin to the journalist- although PR practitioners have often been called the spin doctors, give the information straightforward (little fluff) and allow them to spin it. They're going to anyways.
Get creative- Add pieces to help engage the recipients of this release. SMNR is your canvas.
Smooth the kinks- Add multimedia in all the spots that may not come across clearly. Allow it to clarify anything that is hard to put into words.
knock on every door: Send it to everyone relevant- especially those who you have researched to be influential in the area of your release.
A complete template was created in the soap opra process of the “Die Press Release..” fiasco. Both of which will help tremendously in the transition. As well as a blogger at, toprankblog, who shows Chevy’s use of this system.
At the end of the day- In the changing needs of consumers and increasing ease of use for the media, SMNR is a great big step in the right direction.
So, that's what I think and I'm sticking to it.
Good luck!
References:
