Yesterday, Todd Defren ran a short, but sweet, post to help PR pros “stop and think” in order to develop more successful SMPRs .
- Democratize “Access”
- Ensure “Accuracy”
- Embrace “Context”
- Build “Community”
- Be “Findable”
I also added an idea or two, and in my discussion with Tom Foremski , the list is far from complete, but it is off to a great start…so stay tuned for updates.
- Write “intelligently”
- “Eliminate” hyperbole
- Be “informed”
- “leave” the spin to the reporter
As discussed yesterday in the NMRCast podcast with Tom, Chris Heuer, and Shel Holtz, Shel highlighted the recent success he had with an SMPR he issued on behalf of SpiralFrog, in additional to distributing a traditional release. His version is well organized and stays true to the principals of social media. (see below)
Over time, I’ve issued quite a few of SMPR variants, in my quest to see what works, what doesn’t, etc., and like Shel, I’ve found that each time, a traditional release is also required. For example, we also recently issued a different style SMPR for SwapThing (and Jessica Hardwick, CEO, is very Social Media-savvy by the way!). Our experience was great, and it also did extremely well from an SEO perspective. (see below)
As you can see that we used PRWeb , and one thing I’m investigating is whether or not PRWeb’s sevice is truly Technorati-tuned. I’ll write a follow up to that point once I learn a bit more.
One thing is for certain, SMPRs, NMRs, and SEO press releases are only getting started, and, traditional releases will also still provide value (however they need to evolve in its current shape and form). My upcoming post, “Bypassing the Press with Press Releases. Writing for the Wire, Search Engines, and Consumers,” will be online shortly and will explain more about this concept.
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Tags: todd defren, smpr, Social Media, social media optimization, Socialmediaclub, smo, seo, pr-squared, public+relations, marketwire, new media, newpr, nmr, press release, pr, pr 2.0, PR2.0, hrelease, spiral frog, futureworks, Tom Foremski,brian solis, briansolis, Silicon Valley Watcher, Chris Heuer, Shel Holtz, fir, ForImmediateRelease, Swapthing, Jessica Hardwick
Very interesting post, Brian. Look forward to the next one!
I gotta listen to that most recent NMR podcast, too. Sounds like it was a good one.
So much Social Media, so little time.
Thanks Todd! Keep on rocking!
That Spiral Frog release does not look particularly good to me. The headline does not give the essence of the story – which is hidden down in the second paragraph of the release.
The real story was, of course, immediately spotted by the newspapers.
This is from the Independent in the UK, starting with the headline.
“Music revolution as firm allows free downloads
“Universal Music, the world’s largest music company, has shaken up the record industry by announcing that it will make its song catalogue available as free internet downloads.”
That’s the news angle and I have to get to the second bullet point in the Social Media News Release to find it.
The whole release seems to have been structured around getting the Spiral Frog name as close to the top as possible. I’ve been there and done that under client pressure but I’d never say that it made for a good news release.
The Independent put Spiral Frog in in paragraph two – where they belong really.
“Backed by Universal, Spiral-frog will become one of the first sites to offer free music legally. Fans will be able to download songs by the record company’s roster of artists, including U2, Gwen Stefani and The Roots.”
So they still got their plug