23 Dec Social media releases worth it?
As social media expands more and more people are wholesale adapting traditional tactics and tools to the social channels being created online. A great example of this is the social media release (SMR); around since 2006-2007; this so-called new format has now spawned a mini “social media release” industry (most often purchased for around $500-1000 each) from your friendly neighborhood wire service.
In his post bluntly titled, “The Social Media Release is the Methadone of Online Marketing” Victoria-based social media author Darren Barefoot says,
“Any remotely capable marketer ought to be able to build a web page or blog post instead. They just embed some video from YouTube, photos from Flickr and some sharing widgets and they’re good to go. Cost? Zero dollars.”
Here is my take on social media releases: if you are looking to engage in blogger outreach and for some reason your blog isn’t the right spot to house the info you are looking to share - look to a social media release format. For any easy-to-do-yourself to social media releases - go with the US based Pitch Engine.com it’s a cheaper alternative.
And, for a bit of assistance writing catchy copy for your social media release - try the Copy Blogger’s post located here on writing winning content for SMR’s.
Posted In: Media Relations
Your friendly neighborhood wire service, CNW, developed our SMR offering not just for bloggers but as a way to package the text of a news release with multimedia assets (video, photos, etc.) for “traditional” media points and newsrooms. We all know the story of newsrooms doing more with less, and by giving them all the things they need for a robust news story we’re making their jobs easier.
A great example of an SMR doing well beyond the blogs is Jim Balsillie’s announcement of proposed plans to revamp Copps Coliseum (here’s the link to the SMR: http://smr.newswire.ca/en/jim-balsillie/jim-balsillie-unveils-dramatic-revitalization-for-copps-coliseum). Within an hour of the SMR crossing the wire assets were used on TSN, Sportsnet, The Globe, the North Bay Nugget, the National Post and the Toronto Star, in addition to several blogs.
So, was it worth it? I think we’d all agree in this case that it was.