Press Releases With Multimedia Get More Views

Press releases that offer readers a variety of multimedia options (e.g. video, images, downloads) generate almost 10 times more views than plain-text messages.

A couple years ago, we looked at big chunk of press release data, and learned a lot about what drives results.  We’ve discussed press release writing tips and tactics – such as headline structure, release timing and embedding links – that contribute meaningfully to generating more readership and engagement for press releases.

But nothing – NOTHING – does a better job of driving press release reads than adding some sort of visual.   Today, we’re releasing the results of another survey of press releases,  and the benefits of adding visuals are clear – press releases with an array of visual offerings get almost 10 times the views logged by their plain-text counterparts.

Ten TIMES.

I think we can all agree that competition for audience attention is fierce these days.    In addition to competing for attention in the newsroom,  our messaging also needs to compel social media denizens to share, like and tweet the content.   Search engines also pick up signals from readers of your content that ultimately determine where the content lands in the search engine results page (SERP) that users see when they use Google or Bing to find something online.    Suffice it to say,  the press releases and other content we publish are now wearing just as many hats as we do.  And when planning a campaign, it’s important to think about that.  The press release you write to communicate with key media will also be seen by bloggers, analysts, employees and customers – both current and prospective.   Including multimedia content that captures and focuses attention on your message will give your content real competitive advantage in today’s crowded information marketplace.

Need some help getting started with planning visuals for upcoming campaigns?  Take a look at our collection of blog posts about Visual PR.  We’ve collected all sorts of advice from best practices for brands on Pinterest to scripting video yourself to creating infographics.

Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media.