Ryan MacMillan

PR professionals are being bombarded daily with pitches for template social media release (SMR) services, often by the same companies - PR Newswire, Businesswire, et al - who distribute traditional press releases to the media. 

Perhaps as a result of this, we’re increasingly seeing social media releases used instead of traditional press releases.  This isn’t necessarily all to the good, and we thought it might therefore be helpful to look beyond some of the hype and offer a little guidance as to when, where and how these two very different communications tools should be used.

To some extent, our mantra of doing new things in a traditional way applies to the release of news into the social media space. To increase its popularity, a social media release should be concise, compelling, and composed with creativity and an eye for perfection before it’s furnished with social media tools.

Yet press releases and social media releases have different objectives and audiences, and therefore need to be approached in slightly different ways.

How the SMR evolved out of the press release is easy to understand.  Press releases have been widely shared and posted online, and their digital marketing value is self-evident.  The logical next step has been to make them more palatable for online audiences - hence the social media release.

This accidental benefit of the press release has had an unfortunate side-effect, however.  In trying to convert it into a social media tool, many communicators have forgotten the particular needs of the audience for which these announcements were originally intended - the press.

Because they serve different communications purposes, SMRs and traditional press releases should be viewed as complementary tools.  Resist the temptation to abandon press releases in favour of their cooler, hipper offspring.  If used properly, both will serve you well.

The key objective of an SMR is that it should be valued and shared by what might be called “end audiences” - usually consumers, but potentially partners, employees, regulators, investors, peers, the local community and other stakeholders.  There is no intermediary involved.  It’s just you and your target audience.

As we preach constantly, a social media release should meet the same criteria as any piece of social media content: i.e., it should have KUDOS. The K, U and D are nothing new to PR writing pros: tell your audience something interesting and useful, empower them with knowledge, and write something desirable. Embracing the O and the S can help you to engage audiences and propagate your news throughout the universe of online dialogue by communicating in an open, conversational manner and offering commenting functionality on the release. Also, by adding Delicious buttons and suchlike, the content becomes shareable.

Press releases, by contrast, are for journalists - intermediary filters who stand between you and your target audiences, and who require above all else simple, trustworthy information that they can use to construct a story. 

These differences are important.  Many of the characteristics that give a social media release KUDOS mark a press release out for instant rejection by a reporter.

Journalists look for news first, while other audiences may be seeking something else entirely: a quick laugh, an interesting but scarcely known fact or, most likely, “What’s in it for me?”

You can talk directly to your audience in an SMR, but you should never write ”you” in a press release.  You can be relaxed, informal and entertaining in an SMR.  A journalist, however, wants facts and key arguments as early and succinctly as possible; anything that delays the revelation of useful information represents time wasted. 

Of course, the power and clarity of a news release can and will often be the heart and soul of your social media release.  But before you use either, consider who you want to talk to and what you want to say.  Chances are you’ll want to use both. 

We’ll be providing further information about the practicalities of creating a social media release in the near future, so stay tuned.