Comments on: The Social Media Release from a Marketer’s Perspective

By: is the press release dead? « Paige Zanelli's Blog

is the press release dead? « Paige Zanelli's Blog — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 01:31:15 +0000

[...] pitfall pointed out by Beth Harte in “The Social Media Release from a Marketers’ Perspective”, is that if either you as the communicator, or the audience your communicating with, is not [...]

By: Jason Kintzler

Jason Kintzler — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 21:34:27 +0000

My response, and the conversation continues: http://mediapitch.ning.com/profiles/blogs/pitchengine-vs-the-competitors

By: Jason Kintzler

Jason Kintzler — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:27:34 +0000

Beth, Great post as usual!
I wanted to chime in and set the record straight about PitchEngine. First, I’ll let users discover the benefits of our service. As you can see from some of the comments above – PR people will decide which service is offering something truly unique.
This is not an experiment, it is a shift in direction for an entire industry. With all due respect to Michael and others here, the future of PR is not about traditional distribution. Look what’s happening to traditional news distribution. We’re beyond experiments here.
Why are we different. All of the major wire services are simply that – a wire service. The products they offer are designed to interact with their traditional distribution model. That simply is not our model.
Do I think you can use or service along side wires? Yes. Do we distribute your news? Yes, but not by blanketing a list. We share it with Google News and on our PitchFeed which is subscribed to by a growing number of media like USA Today, NBC News, ReadWriteWeb and more.
NEWSFALSH! Can public companies use SMRs? Yes. http://bit.ly/3I42fT Thousands already do via PitchEngine.
If you haven’t yet, sign up, build a release on http://pitchengine.com and share it with your media contacts, Google News and your social networks for FREE. The experience will speak for itself.
Can’t wait to get you going on PE Beth
Jason Kintzler
Founder and Passionate PR Guy, PitchEngine

By: Michael Pranikoff

Michael Pranikoff — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:18:57 +0000

Hi Beth,
Very interesting post, and I’m sorry that I’m a little late in spotting it. You bring up some interesting points, but also a few things that I think might warrant taking a little bit of a deeper look at.
For disclosure, I’m the Director of Emerging Media at PR Newswire. The first thing I want to point out is that PR Newswire started doing – Multimedia News Releases…or the first releases to go beyond just text back in May 2001 (http://www.prnewswire.com/touchstone/pearlharbor.html) and then helped with the distribution of the “SMR” template in May 2006 (http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/shift/24521/).
Now, in fairness to the folks at BusinessWire and PR Web, I think you really have to look at the reports that are being given back by both of the organizations and then go and do some searches online to see if those numbers in those reports are really correct. I did notice that there were two different messages that were being delivered which is also going to attract different audiences and might be behind some of the differing metrics as well. Also, what one service is going to consider a “media download” is going to be different from what another service is going to consider just a “download”. In fact, I wouldn’t really expect any true media to “download” a release, rather real media are going to view the release as and then download specific elements if they are there to download.
Also, I want to point to a recent release from the Society of New Communications Research (SNCR) that just did a survey of media (http://tinyurl.com/6nwu8o) that actually shows very little awareness of the SMR (62% of respondents claiming that they didn’t know what it was….and only 21% finding value in it).
Please don’t take this to think that I’m not in favor of the SMR or other advancements in how organizations release their news. I just think it is very early in the process for us to judge really well what works and what doesn’t. I think that we are still in the early stages of figuring this out – even though PR Newswire has been working on this issue for a long time now – and getting media (new and traditional) to adapt to these new methods. There’s everything from the SMR to the TwitPitch that so many in PR are experimenting with.
Today, it’s great to experiment with the new, but still important to mix the methods – as you wisely point out. However, when all is said and done at the end of the day, it all comes down to 3 things: what the message is, will that message resonate with the audience; and the use of personal relationships with key media.
Again, very interesting post and I look forward to following the conversation.
Michael Pranikoff
Director, Emerging Media
PR Newswire

By: Stuart Foster

Stuart Foster — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:38:33 +0000

PitchEngine is incredible…what it is offering is normally about 250-400 dollars a shot…and it is free for 30 days. You can’t beat that. Period.

By: Beth Harte

Beth Harte — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:32:34 +0000

@RichBecker, that is very interesting. The areas of concentration and highlight make a lot of sense for quick digestion and comprehension. I went through all of IP’s June 2007 releases and this was the only one that I found that had a Web 2.0 feature (Skype link): http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=73062&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1018871&highlight=
Do you have a link that you could share with us? It would be great to see how IP handled the release and develop best practices. Thanks in advance!

By: Beth Harte

Beth Harte — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:32:03 +0000

@ShannonWhitley, thank you sir! I have heard wonderful things about your tool, PRX Builder, and I think we should all check it out. Free is always good, especially in these economic times.

By: Beth Harte

Beth Harte — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:30:18 +0000

@DemianFarnworth, Absolutely! It’s just a matter of putting it together in one place. Thanks for the kind words and welcome.

By: Beth Harte

Beth Harte — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:29:50 +0000

@MichaelRussell, thanks Michael! There sure are a lot of terms floating about, aren’t there?! Thanks for sharing your link with us; it’s always good to have multiple resources for these things.

By: Beth Harte

Beth Harte — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:29:19 +0000

@JenniferMurray, thanks! A lot of times explaining the search and sharing aspect of this type of release is helpful. It’s still a traditional release, but with linky goodness. Good luck to you in convincing the powers that be.

By: Beth Harte

Beth Harte — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:28:48 +0000

@JasonBaer, thanks Jason. Yep, you are in the boat a lot of PR folks are in these days. It’s hard to let go of that shot gun approach (the wire) because it typically shows immediate results via pickups on the web. That and there’s the inherent SEO value to all those links. It will be interesting to see how media relations and PR change over the next few years.

By: Beth Harte

Beth Harte — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:27:53 +0000

@LeahDaniels, I haven’t used Pitch Engine just yet because I still need releases to go over the wire. Jason is doing an amazing job, but my media targets are quick up with pure ‘go out and get my own news’ just yet. But, I think that’s the way media relations will go and Pitch Engine will be the next step I take.

By: Beth Harte

Beth Harte — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:27:14 +0000

@LewisGreen, glad to hear that you’ve been successful with “social” media release tools. Hopefully your success will get others to take a chance. Thanks for the welcome!

By: rich becker

rich becker — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:10:43 +0000

In June 2007, International Paper (IP) demonstrated a best practice in blending traditional news releases and digital media features. It didn’t look like the SMR at all. But it did include:
* Strategic Consideration
* Multipurpose Communication
* Message Reinforcement
* Demonstrated Credibility
It was missed by social media because it didn’t come from social media.
All the best,
Rich

By: Shannon Whitley

Shannon Whitley — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:34:20 +0000

Wonderful post, Beth. I’ve been riding the rollercoaster of this discussion for the past two years. While it has been a long road, I fully expect stories like yours to become the norm.
PRX Builder is a tool that may help people who want to try the new format without spending any money. The PRX Builder wizard takes care of the techy stuff so you can remain focused on your content.
I hope others will be encouraged by your results and give the new format a try.
http://prxbuilder.com

By: Demian Farnworth

Demian Farnworth — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:31:10 +0000

Beth, insightful post. Very clever way to leverage something you’re going to do anyway, right? I never thought of this. Thanks for your creative mind. We need it.

By: Mickel Russell

Mickel Russell — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:32:33 +0000

Beth, welcome and congratulations on a wonderful post.
I believe you’ve taken a valuable first step here towards helping to clarify just what constitutes a “social media release” …as opposed to, well, an “SEO release” or “PR 2.0 release,” or any number of other substantive but ambiguous terms currently in vogue.
On my blog, I touch briefly on the benefits of media releases that are at least composed and optimized on a basic level for social media dissemination, and will be posting more on this topic. I’m hopeful that this info will be of value to Marketing Profs readers.
http://planetrussell.net/blog/2008/08/07/14/

By: Jennifer Murray

Jennifer Murray — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:20:38 +0000

Great advice Beth, I’m going to pass this along to a few people I work with to help them “get it” and heave past the 100-year tradition!

By: Jason Baer

Jason Baer — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:14:39 +0000

Great post Beth. I love getting practical about the SMPR.
Personally, I really like PitchEngine lately. Super easy to use.
To your point about people not understanding the SMPR, I agree. I’ve been creating 2 releases and 2 distribution lists. A traditional version for old school media, and an SMPR version for bloggers and tech/marketing writers.
It’s double the work (and double the $$$ via the wires) but I think that’s the situation we’re in for now.
j

By: Leah Daniels

Leah Daniels — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:12:19 +0000

Thanks for sharing your results and opinion. Have you tried using PitchEngine? If so, what are your thoughts?

By: Lewis Green

Lewis Green — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:57:38 +0000

“Try utilizing PRWeb, Business Wire’s EON, or a similar service that offers a version of a “social” release.” I have been using such tools for two years and my clients get great results.
Nice pose Beth and great to see you here.