Organizations have long communicated through press releases to their public and the media. Organize your official thoughts in a single document, snag a couple of relevant quotes for someone in leadership and go – it works.
But in the days of the Social Web, how relevant are one-sided blurbs of self-focused content? That’s where we thinking tempering your official messaging with two-way, less formal communication (like great Facebook updates and blog posts) come in.
But the press release beat goes on… here are a few resources and links to know and utilize when sending your organization’s news across the Interwebs:
Start at the very beginning, tweak those headlines!
Of course you can get super geeky on just headlines alone to help maximize your online press releases (like some of these tips from this great PR Newswire blog post):
- Length‘ Keep things short, sweet and Tweetable (stay under 90-120 characters)
- Keywords‘ Put your most important keyword at the beginning of the headline’ within the first 65 characters.
- Informative – Readers like data, include numbers that are interesting and relevant (of course)
- Subheads – Share more detail (and keywords!) by using a subhead below the main title of your press release – or use it to break up a really long headline.
Use Social Media monitoring tools to help you gauge your impact
When sharing a press release online, know your network’s audience for greatest impact. If you know that the majority of your likes, shares and comments happen in the morning – post then! If your Twitter followers are more active on the weekends, share your content when they are awake and ready to chat.
Online monitoring tools like Sprout Social and Crowdbooster actually look at your follower base on different networks and tell you the best time to post for optimal engagement. And be sure you are actually engaging – not just throwing a press release in the room and not hanging around to answer questions or provide more info. It goes back to that whole ‘relating to the public’ thing you signed up for as a PR rock star.
Another handy Social Media tool to use is a link shortner like bit.ly or tinyurl.com to more easily track links you include in your press release. Change them up on different press release versions (ie: one you link to from Facebook versus Twitter) so you can more easily track what tools get you the most clicks.
Don’t forget to optimize, optimize, optimize!
Online optimization isn’t just for your website text. Use your Search Engine Optimization basics and apply them to your online press release postings too, with special consideration for the power of internal links to your website and featured projects. This press release optimization tips blog post has some good ideas to help you out too.
Need help creating an online press room or optimizing a press release for the Web?
Our Creative Services and Search Engine Marketing teams are pros at helping you get your messaging out to the masses in actionable and meaningful ways. Contact us today and let us get started on broadcasting your awesomeness on the Internet!