adding social to press releasesPR 101: The Social Media Press Release.

In this blog, we have talked about building a media list, pitching the media and ideas for writing news releases.

As you write your press releases, have you considered creating a social media press release?

Traditional press releases have their purpose and are still important. (There are ways to integrate social media into your traditional releases as well.)

By creating a social media press release, your company has a chance to visually show journalists and prospects what your brand is all about.

The social media press release takes a press release and makes it dimensional. By adding images, videos and links to your news, you are helping build brand awareness. By offering easy ways to share your news socially, you are helping others tell your story for you.

Shift Communicates does a good job showing the elements that make up the social media press release boilerplate.

“As the consumer-generated media wave continues to crest, it will be incumbent on the PR industry to stay current, in order to remain a relevant source of story ideas for the media.” – Todd S. Defren, Shift Communications.

One company that helps you build and distribute your social media press release for free is PitchEngine. PitchEngine allows you to set up a one page “pitch” for your news in a social media press release format. You can track your pitch and see how many impressions that it receives. They offer paid subscriptions for building online newsrooms for your brand.

Publishing a social media press release won’t automatically get your release seen by the world, you will still have to pitch your media list and do the work. Find out from journalists how they prefer to receive your news and be sure to provide them with the format they specify.

If you have built up your social networks and share your news in a social media format, it will definitely be a valuable tool to add to your PR toolkit.

Image via Grow Socially