I did an interview with Marketing Sherpa on my experience using Social Media Press Releases. They published a case study and in it they talk about 8 steps for putting together a social media release (paraphrased by me):
- Find out what writers want to write about – the more timely and relevant your release is, the more likely it will get picked up by reporters/bloggers/writers.
- Do a test run with a minor news announcement – like any marketing tactic, you generally want to do a test run where you can learn a few things without any major downside.
- Have a great subject matter expert for the release – It helps to have a person who is great in an interview or on video that can be the spokesperson for the release.
- Provide some new deeper content for folks that want to learn more (a primer, guide, checklist, etc) – It’s easier to write a story about something if there is more to find out about it.
- Incorporate video – Video is really powerful and can tell a story much better than print. It also helps writers do a more interesting online story if they can incorporate your video.
- Provide lots of links – Again, the more context the better.
- Use a social media newswire – In our case I think it improved the “find-ability” of our release.
Read the full article here, along with links to the original press releases and some of the coverage that was generated by the article.
Great list! It is amazing how a properly formatted and planned social media release can generate traffic to your site. I especially agree with choosing an interesting topic and using videos and links to your advantage.
Hi Tara – Welcome and thanks for the comment!
My social media release case study with Marketing Sherpa – Becoming a Social Media Convert – 8 Steps http://tinyurl.com/7vy7us
8 Steps for doing Social Media Press Releases – A Marketing Sherpa Case Study http://tinyurl.com/7vy7us