Social Media Relations = The Release + News Room

September 30, 2007

As promised, here is the “Social Media Relations” presentation I gave at the Ragan Communications Social Media Summit last week. The presentation is a quick history and overview of the social media release and news room with some facts and stats to support the reasons for using it. For much of the Q&A, we discussed whether or not the social media release should replace the traditional version. A few seemed to think the social media release would be a great new tool for all reporters - of old and new media.

As the social media release gains popularity, I don’t think we’re faced with an “either or” proposition. I told the audience to use their discretion and make the call based on their knowledge of the journalists they’re pitching. I know reporters who work for organizations that block all video and I still know reporters who have difficulty navigating the web.

A hybrid release might make sense across the board - a release that improves on the traditional template, but doesn’t quite include all of the components of the suggested social media release template (Todd Defren, creator of the social media release template, reminds people this is just a suggested template). For instance, I love the idea of using bulleted news facts at the beginning of all releases - similar to what CNN.com does with all its stories now. And I think sending contextual links to other relevant stories is important, when applicable. I’m also a big fan of providing multimedia elements whenever possible. However, I’ve just described more of a multimedia release than a social one. I haven’t provided for comments, sharing or community-building.

Todd Defren and I agree that the purest form of a social media release is a blog post. And that’s exactly why I believe the best solution for a social media news room (and therefore a social media release) is a blog engine. Instead of building a social media news room from scratch, why not build it from a Wordpress template and almost immediately gain RSS, search functionality, categories, comments, archives, easy video integration and a menu of cool widget options. Every release, or post, that you publish is instantly a social media release. And better yet, you’re engaging in the conversation at your corporate site instead of a third-party newswire. That’s what we did at Leopardo. Although,we disabled comments so our news room is more of a monologue. While I understand the importance of social media and “conversation,” I wanted to take small bites when applying social media for my company. Comments is a big obligation and responsibility because I think it’s critical that you (the organization) be committed to responding to all comments in a timely manner - typically within 30 to 60 minutes. Anyway, I digress. Here is the presentation.

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Posted by toddand | Filed Under Blogging, Educational, Management, Marketing, Media, Presentations, Public Relations, Social Media, Strategies+Tactics, Technology 

Comments

23 Responses to “Social Media Relations = The Release + News Room”

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  2. GadgetGadget.info - Gadgets on the web » Social Media Relations = The Release + News Room on September 30th, 2007 8:48 am

    [...] Stephen Totilo wrote an interesting post today!.Here’s a quick excerptThe presentation is a quick history and overview of the social media release and news room with some facts and stats to support the reasons for using it. For much of the Q&A, we discussed whether or not the social media release should … [...]

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  4. Ramatper.Com » Social Media Relations = The Release + News Room on September 30th, 2007 9:23 am

    [...] feedback@bized.co.uk wrote an interesting post today on Social Media Relations = The Release + News RoomHere’s a quick excerpt [...]

    5. MyAvatars 0.2
  6. Public Relations (PR): traditional media confronts social media « Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel on September 30th, 2007 9:38 am

    [...] Public Relations (PR): traditional media confronts social media Todd Andrlik has created a presentation that displays the change in how we communicate with the press.  Traditional PR has changed to reflect social media and a new-age press release has emerged in the eye of journalists and reporters alike.  Todd Defren has been noted as the creator of the first social media press release, which many PR departments are currently using together with the traditional form.  In my opinion, these press releases are situation dependent, based on a new product launch or new technology discovery, etc.  We must first look at what we are communicating and match it with the proper method.  Then our next step is to measure our success against either form of release and learn from it. [...]

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  8. Affiliate Freebies and Marketing Ideas » Blog Archive » Social Media Relations = The Release + News Room on September 30th, 2007 9:54 am

    [...] Original post by toddand [...]

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  10. New Media Signal - Today’s Top Blog Posts on New Media - Powered by SocialRank on October 1st, 2007 11:23 am

    [...] Social Media Relations = The Release News Room : Todd And = Marketing Media [...]

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  12. New Media Signal - Today’s Top Blog Posts on New Media - Powered by SocialRank on October 1st, 2007 11:23 am

    [...] Social Media Relations = The Release News Room : Todd And = Marketing Media [...]

    13. MyAvatars 0.2
  14. “Press Release Announces Video to ‘Demystify Social Media’; Crushes My Spirit” « SocialTNT on October 1st, 2007 12:18 pm

    [...] Take a look at the presentation Todd Andrlik gave at the Ragan Communications Social Media Summit. It offers a great discussion on the history of the news release and the importance of the new SMNR. (Thanks to Todd Defren for passing Todd Andrlik’s presentation along.) [...]

    15. MyAvatars 0.2
  16. Bästa pressmeddelandet för social media är bloggen? « PR 2.0 on October 1st, 2007 2:01 pm

    [...] Efter konferensen så diskuterades “the social media pressrelease” vara eller icke vara tämligen livligt. Todd hade en ödmjuk inställning till frågan och menar att kommunikatören naturligtivs måste tänka lite förnuftigt; självklart finns en massa traditionella journalister kvar i kåren som knappt ens använder webben (gud förbjude). Och om man vill nå dessa kanske man bör vara en aning nyanserad. Samtidigt så råder det inga tvivel om att kommunikationen med såväl traditonell media som med social media som med marknaden direkt bör ske med utgångspunkt från en betydligt “modernare” och därmed effektivare upplägg. Nämligen med “social media pressreleases”. Där han själv anser att det bästa pressmeddelandet för social media är bloggen. Läs om eftersnacket på hans blogg. [...]

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  18. links for 2007-10-02 « media mindshare: news media, technology & public relations on October 1st, 2007 6:46 pm

    [...] Social Media Relations = The Release + News Room Todd Andrlik preso from Ragan Social Media Summit …with nod to Defren. [...]

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  20. Kami Huyse on October 1st, 2007 9:35 pm

    I have to agree that a blog engine is the best for the Social Media Newsroom. Shannon Whitley has developed a plug in for Word Press for a SNMR.

    21. MyAvatars 0.2
  22. Social Media Relations = The Release + News Room = Marketing + Media » Researcher on October 2nd, 2007 6:55 am

    [...] read more | digg story var authorId = “7E969B26-7DD0-4AB2-AFA5-72775A60EAC6″; var pageOrientation = “0″; var topMargin = “0.5″; var bottomMargin = “0.5″; var leftMargin = “0.5″; var rightMargin = “0.5″; Kommentera [...]

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  24. Links 02-10-2007 at Communicatiemannen on October 2nd, 2007 8:15 am

    [...] 6. Social Media Relations = The Release + News Room (amen) Presentatie die het verleden van mediarelaties schetst en wat bedrijven morgen gaan doen… [...]

    25. MyAvatars 0.2
  26. Traditional PR vs Social Media Relations « fluido on October 2nd, 2007 8:33 am

    [...] Traditional PR vs Social Media Relations interessante presentazione di toddand sul nuovo modo di creare le press release nell’era dei social media. qui il download: social-media-relations15481.ppt [...]

    27. MyAvatars 0.2
  28. Brian Solis on October 2nd, 2007 6:04 pm

    Todd, excellent presentation!

    Here are two very interesting links for ya:
    Social Media Releases - Everything You Ever Wanted to (or Should) Know: http://tinyurl.com/yq8pkh

    And, the first SMR to cross the wire as a true social media release, which required hard coding from MarketWire’s editorial staff: http://tinyurl.com/2xx8j4

    29. MyAvatars 0.2
  30.   Sociale media relaties - presentatie by Blogads on October 3rd, 2007 2:30 am

    [...] Vorige week gaf Todd And(rlik) de presentatie “Social Media Relations” tijdens de Ragan Communications Social Media Summit. De presentatie is een kort overzicht van social media release en news room. [...]

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  32. Shannon Whitley on October 3rd, 2007 9:06 am

    Great presentation, Todd. Okay…I’m a little disappointed in not being included in the SMNR history *sniff*, but this is a pretty compelling set of slides. Nice work!

    One question I had on the Newsroom: You show a slide of the SHIFT Newsroom. The next slide shows an “alternate” newsroom using a blogging engine. I just thought I’d point out that the SHIFT Newsroom in the slide was built on WordPress. So I’m not clear if there’s supposed to be a contrast between the two types of newsrooms or not.

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  34. Todd And on October 3rd, 2007 9:25 am

    Hey Shannon - PRX got an indirect plug via PRNewswire. :)

    As for the newsroom, I demo’d the SHIFT news room as a “ground up” version - it looks less ‘blogish’ and honestly I didn’t even know it was WordPress based until you just commented. I inspected the SHIFT room and found no mention of WordPress - although, now that I look closer I see a theme credit, which should be a clear giveaway.

    So, bottom line, no contrast between the two news rooms - however, the second news room on the presentation labeled “alternate” does look a bit more like a WordPress blog so it can help people visualize how to use WordPress for their news room. Thanks for stopping by.

    Todd

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  36. Shannon Whitley on October 3rd, 2007 10:31 am

    Thanks, Todd. I agree. Your slides will still convey the ‘blogginess’ of the alternate newsroom, and your point will be made.

    Damn, I’ve got to hire a press agent. I either get lumped in with Todd D. or PRN (not that I mind being associated with those two). :)

    Here’s a little more history from my perspective:

    http://www.voiceoftech.com/swhitley/?p=255

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  38. _Users have the Power on October 13th, 2007 5:02 pm

    [...] interessante presentazione di toddand sul nuovo modo di creare le press release nell’era dei social media. qui il download: social-media-relations15481.ppt [...]

    39. MyAvatars 0.2
  40. PR Squared on November 2nd, 2007 9:14 am

    A Confederacy of Todds…

    I was thrilled when Todd Andrlik of the popular ToddAnd Blog agreed to take my place at Ragan’s Social Media Summit in Chicago last week.  As part of his prep, he asked me to share the Powerpoint presentation I’d been……

    41. MyAvatars 0.2
  42. Fluido » Blog Archive » Traditional PR vs Social Media Relations on November 11th, 2007 12:55 pm

    [...] interessante presentazione di toddand sul nuovo modo di creare le press release nell’era dei social media. qui il download: social-media-relations15481.ppt [...]

    43. MyAvatars 0.2
  44. Pressemitteilung on January 6th, 2008 12:20 am

    It’s no longer a matter of if, nor when, but now a matter of practice and evolution in order to determine success and failure.

    45. MyAvatars 0.2
  46. webdesign on January 6th, 2008 12:21 am

    The social media release, aka SMR, aka social media press release, aka new media release, aka hrelease, is not a miracle pill to cure the ills of poorly written press releases.

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