The News Releasein the Social Media Era

Shel Holtz, ABCIABC World Conference

June 9, 2009

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Agenda

• Is the press release really dead?• SEO and the news release• The social media release

The most basic purpose of the machinery of press releases is the identity authentication that wire services provide. We can replace that with something more open, less oligarchic, and more 21st century. The rest of the junk surrounding press releases is just that: junk. Fake quotes (or even real ones, pulled from context), a disembodied third person voice, and a sensationalist, superlative-dripping style: let's please drop the whole edifice, fix the identity verification issue, and move on.

Press releases are nearly useless. They typically start with a tremendous amount of top-spin,

they contain pat-on-the-back phrases and meaningless quotes. Often they will contain

quotes from C-level executives praising their customer focus. They often contain praise from analysts, (who are almost always paid or have a

customer relationship.) And so on...

Press releases are created by committees, edited by lawyers, and then sent out at great expense

through Businesswire or PRnewswire to reach the digital and physical trash bins of tens

of thousands of journalists.

This madness has to end. It is wasted time and effort by hundreds of thousands of professionals.

Traditional press releases

• Written for print• Distributed over wires• Mainly for compliance• Have they run their course?

Previously, the SEC held that corporate websites could only be used as part of the disclosure process, but with the new guidance corporate websites or blogs can now be the sole means of disclosure.

So why bother?

Mainstream media still matters

• Newspapers, TV news still highly credible

Online, press releases deliver

• Increased visibility and credibility• Reach customers/consumers directly• Ready access to online content• Reach bloggers• Enhance thought leadership

-- SNCR/Vocus study: ROI of Online Press Releases

Evaluating online press releases

Online press release tactics

Use new media to raise awareness

• Mayo Clinic News Blog

Use new media to raise awareness

• Mayo Clinic News Blog• USDOL on Twitter

SEO and press releases

• Descriptive headline containing key words• Link key words to relevant web pages• Incorporate multimedia• Avoid jargon• Focus on first 250 words and optimize• Add tracking links to unique pages• Test your press releases

And they work!

• Southwest Airlines had previously only optimized releases around corporate nickname “Southwest”. Upon optimizing for “Southwest Airlines”, and implementing tracking pages, they were able to account for approximately $2.5 million in ticket sales.

-- Online Marketing Blog

So what’s the Social Media Release?

• An ongoing effort– Started with Tom Foremski’s post– Todd Defren developed a template– Chris Heuer started a working group

(through Social Media Club)

So what’s the Social Media Release?

• An IABC initiative– Sponsors the working group– Working group membership includes• All major wire services• Representatives from PR agencies• Journalists• Technical experts

– IABC announced involvement with a Social Media Release!

So what’s the Social Media Release?

• A source of much controversy

Core ideas

• One stop shopping for info, resources,and digital assets related to news and announcements

• Simplify online reporting process• Augments but does not replace a traditional

release• Published to the Web rather than distributed– Linked from traditional release, other locations

Social Media Releases

• Geared to online reporters– Journalists– Bloggers– Whatever

• Make it easy to tell your story– Cherry-pick content

Social Media Releases

• Should contain everything necessary to share and discover a story in a way that is complementary to your original intent

-- Brian Solis

Core Facts

Multimedia

Quotes

Research Aids

Contact Info

Boilerplates

Links to Sharing Sites

But wait! There’s more!

• Tag clouds• RSS feeds• Comments• Downloadable documents

The hRelease Tag Structure

• Tags are machine-readable• SMR uses XHTML schema hRelease• Goal: Tags built into all SMR utilities– A consistent approach to finding and using

content from social media releases

Examples of tags

• Location• Contacts• Created and Expires• Dates• Places• Quotes• News-body• Quotes• Multimedia

How might it work?

• hRelease is for bloggers and the media– Identify and pull only what is needed.

• hRelease is for consumers– Modern tagging structure enables browser and

desktop tool integration.• hRelease is for release distributors– The release contains meta-data (information about

itself) – (Example: geocode for applicable regions)– Import and transfer release data based on a common

format.

hRelease is for bloggers and the mediaNew tools help authors find exactly what they need. The release “parts” have been predefined.

hRelease is for consumers

• The code behind the release identifies actionable items.• Schedule an event.• Call a contact.

•The consumer’s computer reads the release code and picks the right tool (Google, Outlook, Lotus Notes, etc.).

hRelease is for release distributors

A release can be reformatted to meet the needs of specific distribution points using templates.

The same release – multiple views in a single mouseclick.

Who’s issuing SMRs?

• Ford Motor Company• Symantec• Electrolux• Coca-Cola• WebEx• Nutrisystem• Cisco Systems

From Scratch?

Copyright applies to this document – some rights reserved.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons

Attribution-non commercial-share alike 3.0 licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

Questions?

• Shel Holtz, ABC

Phone: 415.367.3820Email: shel@holtz.comWeb: www.holtz.com Blog: blog.holtz.comPodcast: www.forimmediaterelease.bizSkype: shelholtzTwitter: www.twitter.com/shelFriendFeed: shelholtz2nd Life: Shel Witte