Comments on: Social Media News Release Unwinds

By: media mindshare: on news, technology & media relations Some thoughts on 'The News Release' «

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:32:10 +0000

[...] he was examining the efficacy of the new ?¢‚Ç¨?ìSocial Media News Release?¢‚Ç¨¬ù format in this regard and posted some interesting insights and comments from [...]

By: Michael Tangeman @ Media Mindshare

Michael Tangeman @ Media Mindshare — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 19:52:57 +0000

Michael,

You’re spot on — with staff cuts and tech-driven deadlines tighter than ever, journalists feel more harried than ever. Last thing one wants to do is give them another (tech) hurdle to go through to get the information.

My rule of thumb is match ‘form to function,’ i.e. the right vehicle of communicating the information to the function you want it to perform. If the function is to get traditional journalists to understand and run with it, I’m not sure the social media news release template isn’t counter-productive, as you say.

Focus groups are a nice idea, but why not survey journalists using a tool like ‘Survey monkey’ to find out what, if anything, they don’t like about traditional news releases; and what, if anything, a social media news release has to offer in terms of helping them to better process and report information.

By: Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound

Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 15:43:33 +0000

The SMPRs are more appealing to bloggers and online journalists than to the traditional media.

It’s going to take awhile for the SMPRs to catch on, if at all. So until then, continue pitch journalists in the format they want to be pitched. If they accept calls (few do), then call. If they prefer emails, then send an email.

Regardless of how you contact them, all journalists, bloggers and broadcasters are looking for the same thing: a good story that will help or entertain their audiences. And you have from 5 to 15 seconds to convince them that your story is the one they should be covering.

By: Jason Ryan

Jason Ryan — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 03:06:20 +0000

Michael, Great stuff. It is incredibly valuable to get this sort of feedback and to share it. I have posted about your experience with some commentary at SoSaidThe.Organization: I would welcome your thoughts. (I also think Mike D nails it where he says it is just a tool...) Keep up the great work.

By: SoSaidThe.Organization » Blog Archive » Government social media releases

Fri, 06 Apr 2007 03:00:54 +0000

[...] Michael Sommermeyer over at wordy mouth posted about his experience with a social media release, Social Media Release Unwinds, and more specifically about the less than stellar reception that it received from some of the media. [...]

By: Michael Sommermeyer

Michael Sommermeyer — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 15:59:38 +0000

Here’s another comment I got from a TV person:

Michael:

Nice effort but I think this is more work than you need to do for TV purposes. I would take the pulse of the print people. In TV we are still going to want to come down for the sound bite, know what I mean? For TV just keep it short?¢‚Ç¨¬¶ no more than a single page. Short and to the point is the best advice for a ?¢‚Ç¨?ìcatchy?¢‚Ç¨¬ù TV press release.

Mike D., your advice may be on target: keep adjusting our tools to fit the audience.

Michael

By: Mike Driehorst

Mike Driehorst — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 15:37:07 +0000

Michael,
It seems you were trying to put a square peg in a round hole?

The social media release is good, but it’s only a tool. A tool for the right audience. Or, rather a tool that may need to be adjusted depending on the audience needs.

You know your media, so take the best of “traditional” releases with the aspects of the SMR you feel are appropriate and combine them.

That’s really what we should be doing: customizing our news and delivery methods to how journalists best want to receive them.
Mike