How to produce a social media news release

PR Daily Webinar
How to produce a social media news release
A webinar featuring Shel Holtz and Cassie Péan

Thursday, Dec. 8 • 2-3:45 p.m.

At the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce

Melinda Arnold, Friends of the Zoo, and Claire Faucett, Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, are hosting this webinar for southwest Missouri public relations professionals and students. Cost* is $10/person for professionals and $5/person for university students. (The actual cost of the webinar is $139 – so $10 is a BARGAIN!)

Are you producing social media news releases?

Did you know they get picked up more frequently than traditional releases?

Want a practical, introductory course on how to produce a social media news release?

Join us for this NEW PR Daily webinar airing on Thursday, December 8 at 2:00 p.m. Central with online communications expert Shel Holtz and PR Manager for Vocus, Cassie Péan.

This session is filled with step-by-step instructions to write an SMNR, tag content, add important files, distribute releases to social media outlets and more.

PR pros should use social media news releases far more than they do. Research from Realwire shows that reporters and editors like them and that they get picked up more frequently than traditional releases do.

Veteran communications consultant Shel Holtz and PR practitioner Cassie Péan explain the components of the SMNR and offer tips on how to get online reporters and bloggers to read and watch these releases.

For more details on the sessions with Shel and Cassie, please visit the webinar description online.

To attend the webinar, please email your RSPV to Melinda Arnold by noon, Wednesday, Dec. 7.

Attendance is not limited to SWMO PRSA members. Please forward this to coworkers, colleagues and friends who might be interested in attending.

* The per-person cost will reimburse Friends of the Zoo for the webinar registration. Any amount exceeding the registration price will be given to SWMO PRSA.

Press releases still relevant

On this rainy, gloomy day in Springfield, take heart PR pros! What we all knew to be the truth has just been confirmed via research: a new survey of journalists shows that journalists still rely on traditional PR methods for the facts and much of their initial story-building. Social media and less traditional methods are still gaining credibility and popularity - and some day they may be the first thing a reporter looks at - I'm sure this depends on your market - but the journalists polled in the study still wanted a press release. Read the article here
What are the takeaways:
1. Know your audience - know which journalists want different forms of communication and how to best reach them
2. Stay up-to-date with the latest communication methods - understand the benefits, styles and needs for each type of social media
3. Integrate your communications plan to best accomodate all audiences - an integrated plan means you should never get left completely behind and that you are working with early and late adopters

Press Releases 101

Some of the most basic skills are the easiest to lose if you're not paying attention to WHY you do things the way you do them. This Journalistics blog reminds us of the inverted pyramid style - something every journalism teacher likely taught each of us at one point in time or another.

Read the article here

Remember: our chapter has a Delicious account to share and bookmark great articles!

Remember, you are one press release among many

Although there are a million different ways to distribute information about your organization, you probably still write press releases in a traditional format as well. Here's one journalist's views about receiving them and an example of one that caught her eye. Read article

Don't forget: our chapter has a Delicious account to share and bookmark great articles.

The relationship between journalists and public relations

I found this interesting post reminding public relations professionals that your PR efforts shouldn't solely be aimed at journalists - it should start at home. It's a good reminder - especially in an age where most PR pros are busy with social media and the web as well - that each of our actions should be part of a greater strategic and integrated plan. And that writing a press release alone means very little.

Read the post here

Another Gem from Journalistics

Jeremy Porter has yet another great post today about timing news releases. In a never ending news cycle, is there a "best time" to send a news release?

Read what Jeremy has to say.

Re-Imagining the Magazine

As a member of the public relations community, we all need to stay up to date on changes in the media horizon. Though the incorporation of these changes to our local or regional media may be years away in some cases, we need to all be thinking of ways to adapt and stay ahead of the curve. As Jennifer Moore addressed in the meeting on Tuesday, there may be different pieces of information we should all include in our press releases to make us more attractive to journalists who make the decision on which release to pick up and use.

Taking The Tablet: 15 Ways Publishers Are Re-Imagining The Magazine
Magazine publishers were already beginning to imagine how tablet devices might reboot their fortunes long before the April 3 retail date for Apple’s iPad. Such gadgets promise a new wave of tablet magazines. But it’s early days - our trawl of 15 examples includes many that are merely concepts - so consider them preferred bets, from show-off publishers, on what the magazine might become.

While each takes advantage of the touch screen to, at the least, replicate the tactile experience of flicking through a magazine, visions for the digital mag vary somewhat, coalescing around five key trends…

•Print shovelware: Those that merely recreate the page-turning experience on the digital screen.
•Interactive editions: They’re recognisably a magazine, but navigation and animation really take advantage of what is essentially a screen.
•Motion-heavy mags: Co-produced by film makers, they’re as much a video narrative as a magazine.
•Web shells: Lazy apps that merely funnel through a publication’s existing website.
•Live info: Divorced from monthly print cycle, an article can take advantage of the real-time web.

Read article here