Integrating Social Media PR
Whether your company is launching a new product or service, or your business is participating in or sponsoring a local charity event, the way to get your news out there is through PR, and more recently, Social Media PR.
An editorial is the ultimate advert. Though advertising gives you complete control over the way your brand is positioned, a top quality, third party, editorial endorsement offers greater credibility.
Social media has transformed the way PR is done. Managing your brand is no longer just a focus on print media; it involves listening to what your customers are saying on forums, blogs, social networking sites, etc. The old rules of PR no longer work in today’s world of social media. Rather than distributing a news release and targeting reporters, journalists, editors of magazines, newspapers and TV stations, PR today is about targeting bloggers, online news sites, micro-publications, public speakers and consultants.
Benefits of Social Media PR
- Share news releases on your company blog and send an RSS notification to your subscribers
- Syndicate your news releases through status updates via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
- Bookmark your news releases on social bookmarking sites like Delicious, Digg, Redditand Newsvine
- Promote your social media presence by adding profile links to your PR boilerplate
How to Compose and Distribute a Social Media PR
- Define your main PR points. What’s your news? Make sure your announcement is relevant and exciting, something the public would want to read about. Be sure to outline a clear call-to-action for the release and include only important points in the PR.
- Draft your press release. Since you’re writing a PR for an online audience, keep paragraphs concise and include bullet points. Avoid unnecessary jargon. Keep it simple and web-friendly.
- Make your PR social. Include links to your company’s social profiles in the boilerplate of the news release, and incorporate other social media components throughout the body of the release, such as videos, podcasts and photos wherever you can (ie: video testimonial rather than a written quote).
- Post your PR on your website.Once the PR has been approved by all necessary parties, it’s time to publish it. The first place to post your release is your company website. By publishing the PR content on your own site first, you claim ownership of that content.
- Distribute your press release. Along with submitting it to your local newspaper and magazine, share it with the online community as well. On the following page, you’ll find several PR distribution sites.
- Blog about your news. The next step is to publish a post about your news on your company blog. This doesn’t mean copying the entire PR word-for-word from your site to your blog. Summarize it and write it in the tone and language of your blog. Then link back to the PR on your site.
- Syndicate the PR on your social profiles. After blogging about the news, it’s time to share that information with your online communities. Update your statuses on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. and utilize social bookmarking sites to further syndicate the content.
- Pass the message on. Social media is viral, so encourage your online community (friends, followers, subscribers, etc.) to share your PR with their networks. It also doesn’t hurt to have your staff, suppliers and partners share the news with their online community as well.
- Follow up. The great thing about social media is it allows you to communicate in real-time. So keep your online community aware of the latest updates of your news item.
Tips to Remember with Social Media PR
- You are what you publish – Once you publish something online, it’ll be on there for a very long time. So make sure you validate all facts in your PR and receive approval prior to distribution.
- Write in a language that resonates with buyers – Remember: social media allows you to speak to news media, but also the buyers directly.
- Don’t just send PRs when “big news” is happening – Releasing news online should be frequent, so try to find good reasons to communicate with the online community regularly.
- Have a purpose for each PR – Other than brand building, PR can be used to drive readers through a sales process. So include links to relevant landing pages with specific call-to-actions.
We are always happy to answer any questions. Contact the team by phone on (01) 808 1301, or email us at info@emarkable.ie
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