Social Media is affecting almost every aspect of communication, marketing and public relations. I would like to briefly highlight a few of the elements that make up PR 2.0.
Social Media Press Release
A press release that includes elements of Social Media. Shift Communications issued a template for the Social Media Press Release roughly a year ago, which has now become an accepted standard. I’ll break down some of the elements within the template.
- Social Bookmarking
Adding buttons to the press release that allow people to bookmark and share the press release with others. This allows people to easily archive the press release for later use. If they use a common social bookmarking site, it will be easy for them to share the press release with their friends. Social bookmarking sites include: del.icio.us, digg and our very own local muti. - Multimedia Content
Journalists, bloggers and the average person are bored to death by press releases that are text only. Add multimedia content to your press releases. This can be in the form of video, which I am sure is much more entertaining and appealing. Audio, podcasts or just normal sound clips. Images and related products graphics. I would also suggest using Social Media sites to host your multimedia content. Sites such as YouTube for video, Flickr for images. This will allow the content to be shared and linked to much easier by bloggers and journalists. - Comments & Trackbacks
Enabling comments and trackbacks on the press release will allow people and bloggers to create a conversation around the press release. The responses could be good or bad. You need to be prepared for that, it’s all about joining the conversation.
Bloggers & Online Journalists
News doesn’t spread any faster than on the internet. Those who spread it are the influential bloggers and online journalists. I receive a number of press releases a week. None of which grab my attention nor are they personalized to make me feel special.
If you really want to know how to pitch to a blogger, I suggest you read Paul Stamatiou’s how to pitch bloggers. It is full of information on how to address bloggers. It is all pretty much common sense but it does require some effort, the effort most PR firms are too lazy to produce.
In addition to that, Ogilvy PR released their Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics a couple of weeks ago. I believe that all PR firms that are engaging bloggers adopt these ethics that Ogilvy PR have put forward. Just like Paul’s suggestions, it requires effort. We at Younique have adopted the ethics whole heartedly, not only because they are common sense but because we are mostly bloggers ourselves.
There are quite a few more elements that form PR 2.0. I will touch on these in the near future. If you are a little skeptical then I suggest you begin to embrace the power of Social Media because it is here to stay.
Tags: public relations, Social Media