Written by Rachael
Brice
A social media news release or SMNR
possesses the same characteristics as a standard press release, but it is
written in a format fit for the media world.
Social media news releases are meant for bloggers, journalists,
publishers and the over all public. They
are designed and used a great deal in public relations to help represent a
company or inform the public about an emerging idea or product that is being introduced
to its selective market. Social media news releases are intended to be shared
and commented on all over social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter,
Youtube, any RSS feed, blogs, on-line journals and on-line articles. Noted social media blogger Brian Solis defined a
SMNR as follows:
“A social media release should contain everything
necessary to share and discover a story in a way that is complementary to your
original intent; but, the difference is, how they find it and the tools they
use to share and broadcast. Social media is one big extension to the web,
except it promotes voices, along with content, in a way that focuses on people
and their social networks." [1]
Public relations practitioners are constantly
inventing and re-inventing new ways to get information out to their respective
publics. In order to maximize audiences,
social media news releases are sent out via social media sites. They are indexed in major search engines such
as Google and Yahoo so the SMNR has a bigger chance to be seen by more people,
therefore getting more publicity for the idea, product or company. One important thing to remember when deciding
what should be written in a SMNR is how relevant the information is and how
informative and useful it will be to its selected audience. If the information is not received well, the effectiveness
of the SMNR will be in jeopardy, which in turn will affect how successful the
idea of product is. Through the use of
social media news releases it is the job of a PR practitioner to effectively
disemminate information to its selective publics. To ensure its effectiveness, PR practitioners
add on items such as graphics, videos or hyperlinks to aid in further research
of information to its publics if they are interested in the product or idea.
Social media news releases have increased in the
development of the traditional press release.
Audiences want their news fast and in small direct quantities; they do not
want to have to search for the information they need. The inclusion of social media, links,
graphics and videos in press releases has made it easier and faster for
consumers to be able gather the information they are searching for and may be
more likely to share or comment on it.
A
traditional press release contains the following: a headline, an optional
secondary headline, an overview or brief summary of what will be discussed, a
body paragraph to layout facts including the who, what, when, where, and why, a
conclusion and a boiler plate with the company’s contact information. Social media news releases go one step
farther to incorporate: a facts portion such as a statistical data or fact
sheet to back up findings so information can be pulled easily by a journalist
or reporter, a paragraph about the company with an added link to its Facebook
or Twitter page, multimedia links which include any video from Youtube, photos
or other graphics or any other revelvant links, tags which are recommended for
sharing or re-tweeting such as Twitter hashtags or Facebook fan pages, and
finally a boiler plate with contact information such as a name, email address,
phone number, street address or Twitter page. [2]
Vox Amplification USA is a website
dedicated to musicians to purchase different amps, guitars and pedals as well
as inform their consumers about music and artist news and new products. This is an example of a SMNR that includes
everything from graphics, video, links and up-to-date news on the music
industry. [3]
These are some smaller examples of
SMNR pieces written in blog form. They
all include links to various social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter,
RSS feeds, Stumbleupon and Pintrest as well as links and graphics within the
text to make it easier and faster to find the information a consumer may be
looking for. [4]
This video was made to educate the
public about SMNR pieces and “guide them on a tour” to teach someone how to
make his or her own SMNR template. The
video covers all the basic elements that a SMNR should have and explains the
benefits to writing and publishing a SMNR on-line. [5]
Because social media news releases
help raise awareness of new products and ideas as well as reach hundreds if not
thousands of people and poential consumers, public relations practitioners
value the importance of these releases on a daily basis.
[1] http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/11/how-to-write-a-social-media-press-release.html
[3]
VOX Amplification/ http://www.press-feed.com/howitworks/images/vox_press_release_640.jpg
[4]
Smaller examples of SMNR http://www.bloggingprweb.com/
[5]
Sample video of SMNR/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl1qOcPVJMY
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