I’ve been spending a lot of time lately thinking about the messages produced to support PR campaigns, and what can be done to make them work harder for us. Along the way, I’ve looked into the changes in how content is consumed, how people process and retain information and what the underlying economics of the news business mean for PR pros. I’ve synthesized some thoughts around making messages “stick” with audiences in a little video today.
And I’ve organized these thoughts under the Visual PR tag here on this blog. I’m curious to know what tactics you think work best in creating lasting traction with audiences – please share!
Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president of social media.
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.
Video is one of the most popular and engaging content formats on the Web, and in social networks, today. In addition to offering a compelling experience to viewers, video offers communicators an important way to present visual messages. And – maybe even more importantly – video is given extra weight in the algorithms search engines and some social networks use to select the content we see. Consistently using good video as part of your communications strategy can deliver immediate – and lasting – visibility benefits. Understanding how to integrate video into your online messages, optimize the related content and distribute video is a key skill set for PR and marketing pros.
Search engines and video
Video sharing sites – especially Google’s YouTube – are irresistible fodder for search engines. Video posted on your web site can also be indexed by search engines – however, creating correct and effective display of videos on a company web site is more advanced SEO work and is something we’ll leave for the pros. That said, there are plenty of brutally effective ways one can drive awareness, branding and message visibility using video.
Posting videos on YouTube (or other sharing sites like MetaCafe and Vimeo) and then embedding those videos on another page – such as your blog or web site – delivers two very important benefits, including:
Your video is accessible to the huge – and social – audiences on those video sites.
Embedding the video hosted on the video sharing site (e.g. YouTube, Vimeo et al) on your web site creates a link between the page on which you’ve embedded the video, and the sharing site. This is important, because search engines see the link, and the content on either end of the link – which informs them more about the video content, and can affect how the video is displayed in search engine results.
While the engines can’t read and index the videos themselves, the information surrounding the video is indexed and defines how the video is displayed in search results.
This metadata includes the video title, description and tags. The publisher of the video also sends a signal to the search engines – those have built out branded YouTube channels complete with descriptive information and site links, and then go on to build popular video archives focused on specific subjects will be seen as credible sources of information for those topics, another factor that may influence search rankings.
YouTube's upload form invites you to add a lot of detail about the video you're uploading.
Best practices for tagging and describing videos on video sharing sites:
Fill out all the fields available to you completely.
Just as you do with other content, use descriptive language – and target keywords. But don’t sound like an automaton.
Descriptions should also be specific. For example, if you work for a haberdasher and are uploading videos offering advice on tying ties, don’t just settle on a generic title like “How to Tie a Tie,” if the video shows how to tie a Windsor knot. Don’t just think about search engines. Consider your audience, too – because your real goal is to post videos your audience loves, finds useful, and will share readily.
Once the videos have been uploaded to the sharing site, you’re ready to embed them into your blog or web site. Taking the time to include descriptive language is beneficial at this point, too. Instead of simply embedding the video and leaving it at that, surrounding it with a relevant description and other content (and even links to still more content) will provide important context for your readers – and for search engines. Anyone (or anything) looking at the page should understand at a glance what the video is about. And, as always, keep SEO basics in mind. Employ keywords in the page headline, and within the descriptive text.
Facebook – video is the key to super exposure
When you log onto your Facebook wall, chances are good that you don’t see everything posted by your network. Most people use the default “Top News” news feed view, which cherry-picks the most interesting posts – i.e. those with the most likes, comments and shares – from the people in your network. Facebook doesn’t want to you to be bored.
The rules of engagement on Facebook start and finish with interactions – those likes, comments and shares – and nowhere is this more evident than in how the news feed works. Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm dictates what content makes it into the news feed – where it can be seen by your fans’ friends. Emphasis is placed on the quality of the action (e.g. a comment is more valuable than a ‘like,’) and the timeliness of the action, as well as the affinity between the interacting parties. Simply put, items that generate little or no interaction won’t make it into the news feed, and won’t be seen much beyond the poster’s wall.
On Facebook, video is your secret weapon – it’s more engaging for your audience, and appears to be weighted highly by the Facebook algorithms. Plus, videos uploaded to Facebook directly (versus being embedded in other players) carry a bonus – when they’re shared by fans, a “like” button for your page appears in the Facebook player in your fan’s newsfeeds – effectively creating a mini-ambassador that recruits new fans for your Facebook page.
Good content
As always, it’s important to keep the cardinal rule of social media firmly in mind when creating video and other content to share in networks – be interesting, and be useful. Content that isn’t of value to your audience won’t be shared, and won’t gain the exponential visibility awarded by search engines and social networks. Keep the bar high on content quality, and be meticulous in the descriptions surrounding your videos, and you’ll enjoy a higher level of visibility for your brand.
Author Sarah Skerik is PR Newswire’s vice president, social media.
Robbie Thomsen
Amanda Hicken
Emily Nelson
Brett Simon
catherinespicer
Christine Cube
Diane Harrigan
Malcolm Atherton
EvelynTipacti
Ken Dowell
Kevin Frey
merylserouya
Michael Pranikoff
NatalieBering
Polina Opelbaum
PRN Bloggers
Rod Nicolson
Sarah Skerik
Sandra Azzollini
scottmozarsky
Maria Perez
tomhynes
Trevor Loe
Victoria Harres
