Session: The Press Release Must Die
Summary: The new social media press release. How it works. Does it work? How social media tools are changing the face of PR.
Panel: Moderator - Erin Kotecki-Vest (EK), a social media press release pioneer from Shift PR - Julie Crabill (JC), and MarketWatch's Bambi Francisco (BF).
(Please note that most of what I am blogging is a summary of the discussion taking place.)
The session begins with an introduction of the panel and an overview of who is in the audience (it looks like an pretty even mix of publicists, bloggers and a few non-bloggers).
First question:
Can you explain the social media press release & what is in it?
JC: Social Media press release empowers a two way conversation allowing for it from the corporation side of things.
The idea is that it gives you contact info (very important) & for "hot" news - hot links to 24 hour contact, headline, core news fact, rss feeds & delicious feeds that the company has created, photo links mp3 files, podcasts, logos, pre approved quotes from analysts, corp execs, links to relevant coverage, & boilerplate. Not a blog post, but becomes more interactive in hopes to promote dialog with customers. Put it on the wire and/or corporate site. The bus wire, pr web, pr news wire are OK with the social media format.
(a member of the audience points out that.. if you have a good story, at the end of hte day it doesn't matter how you package it as long as you get it out.
What is the difference between an old school press release & the social media press release?
(BF) I've been a journalist for over 15 years and haven't used a press release very often. I look at them for what they are useful for (names, titles, exec names) & not for facts. I never used quotes. As a journalist, I always needs statistics (traffic, comp landscape, links to relevant resource) that help shape the story vs quotes. At the end of day I don't want to sound like other journalist - I try not to take anything from that story - but a different angle companies are now forthright with their information. Info exchange has been created. Buyers (bloggers & journalist) of info are looking for facts, photos, videos, etc. It will be interesting to watch as the broker of info changes in the profession of PR.
JC: The social media press release is making it more interesting - telling a good story, building relationships with customers & bloggers.
(audience members adds that generally journalists like exclusives. How do we manage the fine line between giving "good stuff" and needing to hold back some because the outlet won't cover me if I don't?
JC: It's about working with journalists to find out the story that they want. Here is the press release that is just the fact, give them stats, market trends, what the company is doing different, but have a conversation to share what is new & different.
BF: Spend less time sharing all the info that journalists already have & more time servicing your customer.
What are the push backs, challenges & complaints (audience members asks)
JC:
Tell the truth to your clients. This takes some guts to have a
conversation about what is "news." This hopefully can help publicist
poke around the fluff & give people the news they want. An agency
person can serve clients only if serving the media.
How is the social media press release promoting less spin when it's controlled by the source distributing it?
JC:
It makes you not put the "BS" out there because you are forced to
present the facts at the end of the day. You are not masking the truth
for the company.
(audience member adds.. I have been following this argument for a long time. It's a little hard to mask that there is no news there. Becareful! Links, video & delicious links don't make a story. You have to have news.)
JC: Put your own elements into the release. Make it a good story. Don't just put the social media press release out there.
What is its that you would want to write?
(audience
member: From a blogging standpoint, we are approached. We are not
journalists & not into promoting your product. It's insulting and
risks me making fun of it. The best thing you can do when reaching up
personal bloogers, understand what their blog is all about & look
for the legitimate connection. Be honest about what it is you are
trying to do.
JC: The finest distinction is that a blogger can slam you & a jounalsit won't. Mistake: if you are right kind of coverage & right kind of conversations going - avoid making a numbers game with the most coverage and most reach.
If you have a personal blog, you have not obligation to promote someone's product. If you send out a press release (to them) it's spam. Ask for permission first before sending it, so that you dont' spam them.
BF: I ask people not to email me, but to post comments. People are posting press release but are leaving comments about their company and i think it's great.
JC: What ever happend to asking permission? Email the blogger offline & ask if is it ok to send info / post info. Be polite & start a conversaton!
Use the delicious thing to give the good, bad & ugly to reporters. They will find it anyway - give people information & access even if its on competition.
What are some examples of nontraditional ways to distribute the
social media press release (besides wire feeds & corporate
websites)?
JC: Ask specific bloggers within your space /
client's space (who may not have access to wires) if they are
interested in recieving such information. Surf blogs within the
category daily. Put delicious tags in it. They are great & bad.
Include a line from someone in the company saying, "here is what we
think." Or, "they are totally right & this is how we are fixing it."
I don't think that the traditional press relelase with die - it's been around for a long time. Let's think of it as an evolution & not a revolution.
Will the social media press release make publicist's jobs harder?
JC: It's
less work in having to make it into something that people will care
about and whiteboard brainstorming session, and more time to make
relations and have conversations. Maybe it does make our job a little
harder. But, for me, it allows me to spend more time doing the things
that I love about PR. It forces the journalistic community to create
the story in their own sentences. Let the media do the spinning for a
while. I am done spnning & am presenting just the facts.
BF: Statistic size, the competitive landscpae, traffic, market trends, and financial facts (as a ticker, or bullet quarterly report) are most useful. Journalist are all about quotes, but we want to grab our own quotes not boilerplate quotes. This is like going to the market & picking out what I want. It's easy with a lot more informaiton. This compresses the time. We used to have to call the publisct for more information. Publicists are making this an automoated process. Some journalist they may think where do I start (when looking at the social media press release).
JC: I think it's about less time writng press releases & more about engaging your community. The only people who have been vocal in the press about social media press releases are the bloggers. Compare it to "lipsitck on a pig." You can't fix a thing that is broken by repackaging it.
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