Tag Archives: engagement

Content Engagement Tips from an E-Mail Marketer

Posted on February 12, 2013 by | 1 Comment

I sat in on a session about email marketing at the Online Marketing Summit yesterday, and wow – those folks have one difficult job.  Much of the conversation was about formatting, in order to increase the likelihood that the images in the email body will render.  Fact is, many email programs and company firewalls disable images, meaning that email marketers also have to pay close attention to their text messages, and there in was some good advice that that PR pros can use, too.

The speaker, Karen Talavera of @synchmarketing,  addressed the change in what sort of information works in today’s campaigns, and suggested that it’s time to leave the old AIDA model of messaging for a new approach.

So you can see the differences clearly, here’s a brief outline of the AIDA model:

  • A – Awareness:  the message attracts the reader’s attention.
  • I – Interest: the reader’s interest is piqued.
  • D – Desire: the message convinces the reader they want what’s being promoted.
  • A – Action: the call to action that turns the reader into a customer.

Instead, she offered a new model that I thought was pretty interesting – “IEEO”   which focuses instead on educating and engaging the reader, or, as Karen put it, “Serving, not selling.”  Here’s an outline:

  • I – Invite – Messaging doesn’t hit the reader over the head with the offer
  • E – Engage  - Instead, the messaging engages the reader, serving up multimedia and related information
  • E – Educate/entertain – The overall tone is educational and/or entertaining – it’s not the hard sell
  • O – Offer – Instead of “buy now” the call to action is presented in an offer that is relevant to and fits with the overall tone of the message.

The IEEO approach is radically different than the traditional AIDA method.  The newer approach incorporates and is informed by customer needs, and relies upon education rather than desire to inspire the reader to take action.

However, we’re talking about an approach to email marketing.   Those communications are designed to immediately capture reader attention, and convert the reader from prospect to purchaser in the space of one message.

While most press releases aren’t intended to generate sales directly, there’s no question that they have to compete for attention, and within most press releases are various calls to action – just like marketing emails.    Awareness-building has been a core function of press releases since time immemorial.   However, as I considered the IEEO approach to email messaging, I started to wonder if we could generate more value from press releases – for both the issuer  and readers – by borrowing some tactics from email marketing.  Is generating awareness enough for us, or should we be crafting press releases and other PR content with the goal of engaging and educating our readers – and guiding them to a specific call to action – within the press releases we issue, and the other content we publish?

Follow the tweet stream at #OMSummit for ongoing commentary from the Online Marketing Summit this week.

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

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Content We Love: TheKnot.com Says “I Do” to Great Visuals

Posted on January 25, 2013 by | Leave a comment

ContentWeLove“Content We Love” is a weekly feature written by a team of our content specialists. We’re showcasing some of the great content distributed through our channels, and our content specialists are up for the task: they spend a lot of time with the press releases and other content our customers create, proof reading and formatting it, suggesting targeted distribution strategy and offering SEO advice. In Content We Love, we’re going to shine the spotlight on the press releases and other messages that stood out to us, and we’ll tell you why. We hope you find the releases enjoyable and the insights gained from discussing them enlightening.

Something Old, Something New,
Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Forever is a long thing to plan for. Decisions about cake, about photography, about lighting… There are so many details when it comes to a wedding!

The same is true when it comes to crafting a great press release.

Bells sounded when I read the release about TheKnot.Com’s New Photo-Sharing Capabilities which included THREE images and perfect use of hyperlinking.

knot

1) Visuals are important, whether to capture your wedding or showcasing your press release. They are shareable. They are relatable. They cause your readers to take notice.

* Case in point: check out the feed on prnewswire.com.  Which releases are you more apt to read? (Hint: probably the ones with the pictures!)

Looking to stand out like theknot.com? Want a press release that no one can forget? Include images with your releases!

Once the images piqued my interest, the hyperlinking sealed the deal.
I now pronounce you wonderfully linked!

2) Hyperlinking/anchor-text can seem daunting, but it is crucial for your visibility. Visibility? How searchable, viewable, is your release? The more visible, the more people can view.

Each link is a little meal for the search engine spiders, linking the press release to your website pages like a web. Bigger web = better visibility.

  • Here is the catch, if you link to the same website, it creates one line of ‘spider web.’
  • If you link to different pages on your website, search engines create a full web from the release to each of the pages.

So multiple pages linked = stronger web = great visibility!

*Beware of spamming your reader. Every sentence does not need a link. It should flow naturally. First mention of the company? Link. Mention the new product? Link. Find us socially? Link. Need an example? TheKnot.com showcases great hyperlinking!

When crafting your releases, don’t forget to say, “I Do!” for great visuals and linking.

Big thanks to TheKnot.com for uniting a great release with visuals and hyperlinks!

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/capsule-to-exclusively-power-photo-sharing-capabilities-on-theknotcom-187882451.html

Author Emily Nelson is a Customer Content Specialist for PR Newswire. Follow her adventures on www.bellesandawhistle.wordpress.com or on twitter www.twitter.com/emilyannnelson.

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Free eBook: “The Practitioner’s Guide to Social Influencer Engagement: A collaborative work of industry peers”

Posted on December 5, 2012 by | 3 Comments

eBook_blogThe terms “social networks” and “social media” make it easy to forget that people – more than a billion of them worldwide – are the means by which conversations propagate and ideas spread.  Smart communicators factor the human element into the communications plans they develop and the content they create.

Every group of people, whether you’re talking about an informal cluster or people conversing via hashtags on Twitter, a private group on Facebook or a coffee klatch at a local café, has its own influencers.  Respected and quoted by many, influencers are the members of the community who sway opinions through a combination of personal expertise and social connectedness that put them at the center (and often at the start of) many conversations.  Influencers exist for every imaginable topic.  They might be hobbyists, academics, journalists, professionals, or simply the person next door.  Each brings a unique point of view to a conversation, and developing relationships with them is important for brands building a connected digital presence.

We invited you –the industry experts – to pen a chapter and share your thoughts, ideas and best practices on the topic of social media influence.  The result:  a comprehensive eBook called “The Practitioner’s Guide to Social Influencer Engagement, A collaborative work of industry peers,” which delves into the different kinds of influencers you’ll find, their role in shaping online conversation and how brands and organizations can build valuable relationships with key influencers within their markets and as well as become influential themselves.

Read “The Practitioner’s Guide to Social Influencer Engagement” and thank you to all of our contributing authors!

Learn more about PR Newswire’s other programs at the AGILITY@work website.

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Posted in Online Influence

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Media Moves & News for November

Posted on November 8, 2012 by | Leave a comment

http://prnbloggers.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/agility-logo.png?w=127&h=125

MEDIAware, PR Newswire’s Audience Research Department newsletter, featuring media news and job changes in the last month, is now available. Here is a sampling of this month’s edition:

Newsweek (http://www.thedailybeast.com/content/newsweek.html)announced it will cease printing with its last issue on Dec. 31st. Newsweek will be an online publication only in 2013. Newsweek estimates that its been losing $40 million annually on the print edition. Layoffs are expected in the transition. The new online product will be called “Newsweek Global”. Some Newsweek articles will continue to be available on The Daily Beast (http://www.thedailybeast.com) free website run by the same company. Newsweek began in 1933 and competed and battled with Time magazine to provide readers with the top weekly news stories in the newsweekly magazine business. The magazine peaked in 1991 with 3.3 million readers and was down to 1.5 million at the midway point this year. The lack of advertising dollars for a national weekly losing readers played a part in the demise as well.

It’s stormy weather for employees of The Weather Channel (http://www.weather.com) lately as approximately seven percent were laid off last month. The Atlanta-based company, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, had to lay off employees as part of a restructuring. The restructuring affected about 75-80 people. The last such layoff was in 2008 after NBCUniversal acquired a controlling share of the company. Meteorologists Jeff Morrow and Adam Berg were among those out.

The Seattle Times (http://seattletimes.com) reported on its own employees protest against the company, following the company’s controversial decision to purchase a full-page ad supporting the Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna. More than 100 Seattle Times news staffers – including reporters, photographers, columnists, artists, editors and online news producers – signed a letter protesting the Times Co’s decision to sponsor newspaper ads supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate McKenna and a statewide referendum for legalized gay marriage. The employees cited threats to the paper’s credibility and neutrality as reasons for the protest.

Anderson Live (http://www.andersoncooper.com), Anderson Cooper’s daytime talk show, will not return for a third season. The program will run until Summer of 2013 completing its second season. You can still see Anderson Cooper on his CNN program “Anderson Cooper 360″ (http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/).

After Newsweek announced its move to digital earlier this month, popular Senior Correspondent Peter J. Boyer makes a major move. The former New Yorker and Vanity Fair Staff Writer has been named the new Editor-at-Large of Fox News. The new hire was named by Fox News CEO Roger Ailes in a statement to his staff, describing Boyer as a “talented and insightful journalist.”

Former “CBS This Morning” Co-host Erica Hill has joined NBC’s “Weekend Today” as its new Co-host. Hill will host on Saturdays and Sundays beside Lester Holt. In addition to her new Co-hosting duties she will be a national correspondent for NBC News reporting on “Today” and “NBC Nightly News”.

Comedian Adam Carolla has joined Fox News Channel (http://www.foxnews.com) as a Contributor mainly on “The O’Reilly Factor” program (http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/index.html). Carolla is set to appear each Monday on the show to comment on political and social issues. In addition to appearing on “The O’Reilly Factor” he will make appearances on other Fox News Shows. You can also see Carolla on his daily podcast show “The Adam Carolla Show” (http://adamcarolla.com).

As countless publications continue to take major hits due to the economic recession Condé Nast Corporation (http://www.condenast.com) announces several cutbacks. Eight editorial staffers and three business staffers were laid off at Self Magazine as part of Condé Nast’s 2013 budget cuts. According to New York Post, reports state that each title under the major publishing house must cutback by an estimated 5%. Although the cutbacks are said to continue within the coming months, large brands such as Vanity Fair and The New Yorker may escape staff reductions this time around. However, other powerful names were not so lucky, such as Susan Portnoy (Vice President Media Relations for Digital and Corporate Communications), most commonly known for her involvement in New York’s annual Fashion’s Night Out.

LANG (http://www.langnews.com) which include the Los Angeles Daily News, the Torrance Daily Breeze and seven other papers has taken the obvious next step into becoming a regional news operation with an emphasis more on digital and less on geographical. Carolina Garcia will take over as Managing Editor of digital news for all LANG papers.

The Chicago Sun-Times (http://www.suntimes.com) has announced the hiring of Actress and Author Jenny McCarthy as Columnist. Ask Jenny will appear in the newspaper’s Splash section, and her blog will run Monday through Friday at splash.suntimes.com. The column will focus on and answer questions about love, sex, parenting, friendship, fitness and duties of a single mother.

Wired (http://www.wired.com) is bringing advertisers and the blogging community together by running ad-sponsored blogs. http://www.adweek.com/news/press/wired-bringing-advertisers-and-its-blogs-closer-together-136211

The Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com) circulation figures are showing an increase due to paid digital subscriptions: http://www.laobserved.com/biz/2012/10/digital_helps_lat_ga.php

Meteorologists Dick Albert of WCVB-TV (http://www.wcvb.com) in Needham, MA and Steve Cascione of WLNE-TV (http://www.abc6.com) in Providence, RI are teaming up to create a weather-focused online forum called SkyWatchers (http://skywatchers.me) which is set to launch by the end of this year. SkyWatchers will be a platform for weather lovers to connect with and share information about all things weather. They are tweeting: https://twitter.com/skywchrs

The Press of Atlantic City (http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com) powered on through Hurricane Sandy and printed 24-page editions on Tuesday Oct. 30 &  Wednesday Oct.31st.

You can view the whole October issue of MEDIAware here: http://www.prnewswire.com/knowledge-center/mediaware/

And all of the Regional Updates here: http://www.prnewswire.com/knowledge-center/mediaware/November2012AgilityUpdatesByRegion.html

You can also follow all of the latest media moves and news from PR Newswire’s Audience Research Department on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/PRNmedia

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Press Release Engagement: When Your Reader Takes “The Next Step”

Posted on November 6, 2012 by | Leave a comment

A few weeks ago, we added the Instant Access button to our popular ReleaseWatch reports, providing immediate access to the comprehensive Visibility Reports press release measurement reports  PR Newswire provides with each message we distribute.  At the same time, we also started sending a “Five Day Reporting Snapshot” via email, to make it easier for everyone to see the results their releases are generating.

(Related reading:  New Press Release Measurement Reporting Features!)

Press release engagement, defined

In addition to simply telling you how many times your press release was read (which we call “views,” we also summarize the number of times your readers took a “next step.”  We call those actions “engagement.”

Simply put, when someone reading your press release on PR Newswire.com takes another action with the release, we consider that to be engagement.     So what are these other actions readers can take when reading a release on PR Newswire.com?

  • Clicking through on an embedded anchor text link within the press release
  • Clicking on a URL within the press release
  • Sharing the press release on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Google+ using any of the sharing buttons we embed on each release page
  • Printing or e-mailing the press release
  • Bookmarking the story on sites like StumbleUpon, Digg and Delicious, using the buttons embedded on the release page
  • Embedding the press release in a blog post or other web page, using the Embed button on the release page

Engagement actions are important, which is why we call them out separately within the press release reports we provide.  When one of your readers takes one of these next steps, they get closer to the ultimate objective of your press release, whether that is selling a product, generating support for a cause, encouraging downloads of a white paper or driving traffic to a web site.

The Engagement Index

On the Five Day Snapshot, you’ll also see a reference to the “Engagement Index.”   This index is designed to give you an idea of how your messages are performing when compared to press releases issued by other organizations within the same industry category.   While these categories are fairly broad – the “retail” category will group giant retailers and small mom & pop stores together – they do a good job of giving you some feedback on how your messages are faring within your sector.

Index scores range between 0 and 100, and 50 is an average score.   Scores above 50 are highlighted in green on the reports, and scores below 50 are colored yellow.

An important sample of audience reaction & message effectiveness

While the reports just capture the activity your releases generated on one web site (PR Newswire’s), the information is nonetheless informative, and provides a solid indicator of how audiences responded to your messages.

The index scores are especially useful when you log into the Online Member Center, and access your entire Visibility Reports dashboard, which aggregates all of your press release reports in one place.   (The Instant Access link only provides access to the report for a single release – to access all of you .) When you’re in the dashboard, you can see clearly which releases generated higher engagement scores.  Why is doing this important?  Simple.  Comparing the engagement results of different releases will help you develop an understanding of what sort of content your audience prefers – and what content is most effective.  Taking the analysis a step further and looking at the activities the releases generated can give you more insight into how your audience is using the press releases you issue.

We think engagement is important to think about, because ultimately, engagement describes whether you captured your audience’s attention, and inspired them to act.  It’s a far more involved measure than many, but we think it’s one of the most important, because it helps you understand whether or not a message was effective in inspiring action, not just acquiring eyeballs.

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

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ProfNet Connect Roundup: Cyber Baiting Teachers, Employee Engagement, Acing On-Camera Interviews

Posted on December 14, 2011 by | Leave a comment

ProfNet Connect, our free online community for journalists, bloggers, PR pros, experts and communicators of all stripes, features blog section where members can write and post as their hearts desire.  The site is chockablock with interesting people and content.  Here are some of the most popular posts from last week. Enjoy!

#ConnectChat: How to Ace On-Camera Interviews
Being interviewed on camera can be an intimidating experience, even for seasoned speakers. But with some preparation and coaching, there’s no reason to shy away from these types of publicity opportunities. No one was born a pro! Grace Lavigne, editor at ProfNet, hosted this latest #ConnectChat and provides the recap.
@GnightGracie

Getting the Most from a National Campaign at the Local Level
“Managing the pull-through of a successful national brand campaign at the local level is always challenging for a sales force. Consider how much time, energy, and financial resources are contributed to the market research and development of ATU’s (Attitudes, Trial, and Usage figures) for any particular brand – let alone the money spent on Madison Avenue sales swag and potential direct-to-consumer ads running in the evening news and Sunday papers.” Brian Irwin, director of sales and strategy at Trinity Pharma Solutions shares his ideas for us.
@brianirwin9

Cyber Baiting Teachers
“Over the past couple of days, there has been much chatter from ed tech bloggers about the newest Norton report about cyber baiting.  Cyber baiting is when students instigate or taunt their teachers, capture the teacher ‘losing it’ with the class, (usually on a smartphone) and post the teacher’s outburst to the Web.” Jennifer Cronk, director at Transparently Teaching provides some suggestions on how teachers can avoid falling into a trap.
@jenniferacronk

Can’t Get There From Here –Employee Engagement
“‘Can’t get there from here’ is a New England statement that has to be said with a very thick New England accent.  It’s used because, especially way up north, all roads do not connect.  And wouldn’t you know it. This idea applies to business too.” Liz Cosline, head coach and team enhancer at From the Front Management tells us exactly how it applies.
@lizcosline

Sources, Verification and Credibility
Gone are the days when newspapers, magazines and broadcast outlets were the lone gatekeepers of news. Thanks to the emergence of mobile devices and the Internet, just about anyone can be distributors of news and information. But where does credibility come into play in all this? How do you determine and ensure credibility if you’re a journalist, publisher or reader? Here’s a recap by Jason Hahn, editor at ProfNet, regarding a recent Poynter webinar.
@jasonhahn

Stay abreast of conversations, trends and opportunities by joining us on ProfNet Connect, a free online community for journalists, bloggers and communications professionals to meet, connect and share their expertise. Creating a profile on ProfNet connect adds a search-engine friendly element to your digital resume, bolsters your online reputation and enables you to showcase your expertise to media and bloggers. Did we already mention that membership is free?  http://profnetconnect.com

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The Death of the Impression & Scaling True Engagement

Posted on May 19, 2011 by | 4 Comments

Just as the advent of social media has triggered sea-changes in the media landscape and roiled  public relations, big advertising has also been affected. Generating impressions is a metric that’s fast falling by the wayside. Instead, advertisers are setting the bar higher.  Generating engagement is now an outcome many are building into their plans, but delivering engagement on a larger scale poses a number of challenges.

A recent blog post on the Harvard Business Review site titled “Coca-Cola Marketing Shifts from Impressions to Expressions” awoke me to this trend and got me thinking about what the implications are all communicators – public relations and otherwise.

“Impressions only tell advertisers the raw size of the audience,” stated author Joe Tripodi, CMO and chief commercial officer for a little company in Atlanta called Coca-Cola. “By definition, impressions are passive. They give us no real sense of engagement, and consumer engagement with our brands is ultimately what we’re striving to achieve. Awareness is fine, but advocacy will take your business to the next level.”

At last week’s Mashable Connect conference, Deep Focus CEO Ian Schafer drove the engagement point home, stating, “Advertising impressions are dying a painful death. The impression apocalypse is nigh.”


This new emphasis on developing engagement stands traditional campaign timelines on their heads. Earning attention and engagement happens over time – taking longer than budgets last, as Shafer pointed out – and also outlasting traditional measurement cycles.

Coca-Cola, according to Tripodi, is starting to measure “expressions,” which it defines as any level of consumer interaction with Coke content – such as a Like on Facebook, the action of sharing something with friends, or uploading a photo or video showing or mentioning Coke.   Consumers can generate a lot more messages about a brand than the brand itself can, noted Tripodi.

The mechanics of earning interest, attention and engagement are different from traditional media buying, as well.    “The people who buy breadth aren’t good at buying depth,” Schafer noted.  “Tonnage isn’t engagement. You have to earn depth.”

And thus, the real underlying challenge that the social layer presents to all communicators – the fact that brands need engagement to happen in scale – but the consumer needs to be respected.

In the afore mentioned HBR blog post, Tripodi captured this dichotomy nicely, noting, “Now information flows in many directions, consumer touch points have multiplied, and the old, one-size-fits-all approach has given way to precision marketing and one-to-one communications.”

One-to-one communications – that certainly doesn’t sound like scale.  But one-to-one communications are, in fact, the currency of the social layer.  And the platforms that deliver these one-to-one communications work – Schafer highlighted the fact that Facebook offers better engagement rates than standard display.  And there are some efficiencies to be found in the social layer – the platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Zynga et al do gather audience in one place.   And they are building real power.  Case in point: Facebook, according to Schafer, is delivering 1/3 of all display advertising.

Schafer went on to pose a few questions professional communicators are going to be grappling with over the coming year – if they aren’t already, including:

  • Can agencies who trade in reach and frequency also establish engagement and connections?
  •  How will we measure the lifetime value of engagement?
  • And what are engagement parameters? What makes our customers better customers?

Ultimately, Schafer concluded that we need to start thinking about what each dollar spent in an advertising budget (and I’d throw PR and marketing into that mix, too) contributes to the lifetime value of the customer.  Understanding that value point will be necessary in order to deliver scale.

Sarah Skerik (@sarahskerik) is PR Newswire’s vp-social media.

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Multimedia content drives better press release results

Posted on May 2, 2011 by | 100 Comments

PR Newswire press release results

A recent update to our web analytics program enables us to compare the copious data which details the activity press releases generate on PR Newswire.com.  We eagerly looked deeper into the  data, which revealed something we had suspected but can now confirm:  press releases that include multimedia elements generate more views.  In addition, the data offers insight into how people consume information online, and underscores the preference for multimedia content.

So why do multimedia releases get more results?    Our data reveals several reasons.

  • Multimedia content is more broadly distributed – because each element of a multimedia release is distributed separately, and can attract its own audience – in social networks, and on search engines.  Videos, for example, are distributed to more than 70 video-specific portals.    The effect of distribution is illustrated clearly in the stark contrast between traffic sources for text press releases versus traffic sources for multimedia content. Search engines are the primary drivers of traffic to text (“non-MNR”) press releases.  However, “other web sites” are the primary drivers of traffic to multimedia content.
  • Multimedia news releases content is shared much more enthusiastically on social networks.    This number is driven somewhat by the fact that multimedia press releases generally include a variety of “sharable” elements – photos, video, slides, etc. – in addition to text.  The wide distribution of these elements as described previously also plays a part in driving sharing. Nonetheless, the differences in the degree to which multimedia releases are shared more frequently than plain text is striking: across the one-month sample of content on PR Newswire.com, multimedia releases were shared 3.53 times more often than text releases.
    • Text releases were shared, on average, .99 times per hour per release
    • MNRs were shared, on average, 3.5 times per hour

(Note: Sharing data derived from ShareIt and Crowdfactory data from PR Newswire.com.  It is important to note that at the moment we are not capturing social sharing that occurs when a visitor copies a URL and shares it manually within these numbers.)

  • Multimedia content also has a longer “shelf-life,” holding the audiences’ interest for more than twice as long as text press releases.  On average, text press releases generate visibility for 9.4 days.  Multimedia press releases, on the other hand, generate visibility an average of 20 days. The higher degree of sharing also contributes to extending the message life.

Our “Visual PR” series of blog posts offers ideas and tips for incorporating visuals into your public relations messages.  Learn how to create video, utilize photo, create infographics and more by reading the Visual PR series of posts.

Ragan.com: Multimedia news releases grab 77 percent more views, report says

Learn more about visual PR, and using multimedia to differentiate, illustrate and enliven your messages.

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

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Press Releases and Social Media

Posted on April 21, 2011 by | 15 Comments

Strategies to build content interaction on social networks

Yesterday PostRank released the results of research they performed on the frequency with which press releases that originate on commercial newswire web sites are shared in social networks.  PostRank found press releases on PR Newswire’s web site were shared much more frequently than content posted to our competitors’ sites. The study counted the number of times press releases were shared on 20+ social networks.  (Read the full PostRank study.)

Where press releases go viral: results of a survey by PostRank

We’ve known for a while the audience we’ve cultivated on PR Newswire.com is more likely to share content than the average internet user. A study of PRNewswire.com users we commissioned Forrester Research to perform revealed that despite the diversity of the PR Newswire audience (it’s comprised of professional journalists, bloggers, individual investors, and consumers researching products and services) they share a common trait – they’re more likely to share the content they consume than the average U.S. internet user.

(More details on information consumption on PR Newswire.com by different user groups:  journalists & bloggers, individual investors & consumers.)

However, we were honestly surprised by the fact that press releases posted to PR Newswire.com are shared much more frequently than those found on competitor sites.  Why is this the case?  Well, in addition to cultivating a quality audience, several other tactics we’ve employed have helped boost the sharing of PR Newswire content.  And we think these lessons we’ve learned from running a news site are useful for anyone developing a content strategy:

  • Make it easy for your audience to share your content – and to credit you when they do so.
  • Employ humans, not automated feeds, to distribute content thoughtfully in social networks.
  • Set the bar high for content quality.
  • And don’t forget search engines.  More of your content will be shared the more easily it can be found.

This list might look simple, but each of these tactics requires some real effort on our part.  Let’s look at each aspect in more detail.

  • We encourage sharing, and make it easy.  This may be a bit obvious, but we’ve had a variety of social sharing tools embedded in all the press releases displayed on PRNewswire.com for years.  Readers can tweet, blog, share, like, email, print, download, Digg, Stumble and post press releases without leaving the page.   Additionally, we don’t put barriers between the audience and the content by requiring registration, or restricting access to certain types of news.
  • We’re carefully distributing press releases and multimedia content in social networks, and are blending the messages with curated content. Blasting audiences with content they don’t want has never been a good idea.  You have to take the same care in developing your audiences in the social layer you did when developing the audience for your web site.  They aren’t necessarily one and the same! PR Newswire has taken a measured approach to distributing press releases within social networks, and we’re using actual, real-live humans to guide and curate the content we share online.  Some of the content we post is fed automatically, via RSS feed based upon industry and subject.  However, we also have a variety of folks sharing interesting press releases we see, and other industry news, within the news feeds, to add extra dimension and value to the content we share.

Our efforts are paying off – the different Twitter feeds we host are well received, and, well, the results speak for themselves.  Clearly, press releases do have a place in social networks.

  • We set a high bar for content quality.  This is less obvious, but we’re pretty sure the fact that we keep the bar high on content quality (and have done so for years) is why people – from professional media to consumers browsing the web – consider PR Newswire news to be credible and trustworthy.  We vet organizations when we establish accounts, we authenticate and verify all of the press releases we receive, we refuse copy that is advertorial or can’t be verified (e.g. unsubstantiated claims) … the list of the measures we take and criteria we use go on and on. And, as we noted earlier this week, PR Newswire editors proofread press releases carefully, finding and fixing thousands of mistakes in press releases submitted for distribution each week.
  • Search engine visibility. Before someone tweets or shares a press release they’ve read, they have to find it first.  PR Newswire has been devoted to delivering the best online visibility in the industry.  We established the lead in unique traffic and search engine referrals years ago, and maintain it today.  Obviously, in the news business, the more interest you can generate in content is an important measure, and visibility is a key driver in creating interest.
press release seo prnewswire search engines

There’s no question that press releases are popular fodder on social networks, despite the frequent assertions they’ve gone the way of the dodo.  A quick search on Twitter for “prnewswire” yields scores tweets with links to press releases.

PR public relations press release twitter social media

Press releases shared on Twitter

A similar search of Facebook posts yielded the same result.  PR Newswire is a credible source of information for social network denizens.

pr press release facebook social media

A snapshot of press releases shared on Facebook.

So, we’re  pretty happy about the PostRank findings, and are glad of the opportunity to tell you a little bit more about the work happening behind the scenes here at PR Newswire, and are happy to share our tips for building engagement with content.   We’d love to hear from you about strategies you’ve employed to increase social interaction with the content your organization has developed, too!

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

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The Gods of Context Say Social Media isn’t for Marketing

Posted on March 22, 2011 by | 2 Comments
@garyvee gary vaynerchuk

Gary Vee telling it to the SXSWi audience.

One idea from SXSW has continued to gnaw away at my conscious since returning home with a head full of new information and ideas.  Many of those revolve around a recurring theme I seemingly couldn’t escape: social media isn’t for marketing campaigns.  Some speakers, like Gary Vaynerchuk, were very direct, stating that push marketing had no place in social channels.

“There’s no such thing as a social media campaign,” Vaynerchuk noted. “Those are just one night stands.”

Angela LoSasso, who heads up social media marketing for Research In Motion, makers of the ubiquitous Blackberry, was more subtle, describing real time presence as being in the right place, at the right time, namely, when the customer wants you, not necessarily when you want to be there.

Anglea LoSasso of RIM shows off some analog marketing gear promoting the new apps for Blackberries now available

Context was the common denominator panelist after panelist mentioned, and no wonder.  Context is the nexus of interest between a brand and its customer, and brands can use data to develop context around their content.  And doing so doesn’t need to be difficult. Simply watching what sorts of questions people ask about a brand can be a rich source of information, LoSasso pointed out, noting that incoming questions are used to guide content curation.   Riffing on this theme, LoSasso advised, “You need to be proactive and curate the questions you get and the answers you give.  Optimize FAQs and create video how-to’s that answer the most common questions.”

The folks at FourSquare take data use a step further, blending time and location data of a subscriber with their friends’ checkin histories to create a real-time recommendation engine that is designed to be useful at a specific moment.

“There’s a lot more context we can take into account,” said Siobhan Quinn, who manages products at FourSquare. “Real time marketing can help customers on the ground. If your venue (business) has a lull on a rainy day, real time marketing can help business owners drive specials proactively. Real time marketing is proactive and provides discovery to audiences who might not even be looking for something.”

Rob Garner from iCrossing offered perspective from the operational side, inviting his audience to think information dissemination as a stream that ebbs and flows, and acts like a digital organism. Many brands, he noted, are thinking of social media as a channel, rather than as a continual presence flowing through everything.

I wasn't the only one listening with rapt attention to iCrossing's Rob Garner talk about real time marketing

“It’s network reach, not just a channel,” he said, before challenging his audience. “You might be connected – but is your brand alive and present?

“It’s not about social media or social networks,” Garner continued. “It’s about the fact that society is networked. Society is wired. Communicating therein is simply communicating in a social environment.”

Vaynerchuk offered a poignant analogy, comparing social networks to cocktail parties.  One mingles, dipping in and out of conversation.

“We are living in the first time ever of consumer interaction,” he said. “Twitter lets you get into the conversation – and it’ acceptable!”  But he’s quick to caution those who are too eager to jump in, noting that companies try to close sales immediately at the mere mention of a product, barraging people with coupons, shipping deals and other spam.  Doing this ignores the context of peoples’ conversations.

“If content is king,” Vaynerchuk said, “Context is god.”

And therein is the disconnect with most social media marketing campaigns. The messaging is pushed by the company into the network. The message is most likely written from the company’s perspective, and goal of the campaign is to get attention and elicit response.  However, the real opportunity to connect with a larger audience depends upon building the contextual connection with your audience, communicating to them that your brand gets it, that you understand their needs.  Folks like Vaynerchuk, LoSossaso, Garner and Quinn would all argue that this is best achieved by creating an authentic presence for your brand in networks, and using your audience as a guide to content creation and interaction. Garner summed it up nicely.

“Use market research, study your audience and know who you’re talking to,” he advised.  “They will tell you what’s on their mind; they’ll show you what language people are using and others who are asking the same questions. It’s really an obligation any more. It’s an obligation to listen and act on that data.”

So what do you think?  Do marketing campaigns have a place in social networks?  Can you create lasting value marketing to your audience?

Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s VP, social media.

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