I’m still pondering about how to make the Social Media News Release work for governmental and public affairs. It seems many of the journalists I meet still don’t get how to use an aggregator or don’t know much about IM. They understand media portals and really appreciate the links to relevant information. The SMNR format suggested by Todd Defren attempts to fill many of these needs, however when journalists give you a blank stare after receiving one, then you wonder how effective the technique is for a moment.
It might be tempting to say, “Well, those folks are a bunch of ninnies who just don’t get it.” No, it wouldn’t. One of the guys I pitched spends his time wardriving looking for WiFi hotspots and fought to get the news truck wired. So, I think he makes for a good test subject. The SNMR doesn’t work for him. He tells me my implementation was too disjointed, didn’t help him understand the message, left him hunting for the story. In short, he didn’t like it. (If any of you pioneers can explain what went wrong, I’d appreciate some insight.) In the end, he may have just wanted to cut-and-paste a run-of-the-mill news release and this format made him actually have to work. 
In any case, it may be more useful to sneak some of the elements of the SMNR into our usual inverted pyramid-styled press releases. A few links to relevant information mixed in with the text. A sidebar pointing to our Digg or del.icio.us tags. Or maybe journalists want something else. Communication Overtone’s Kami Huyse suggests that focus groups are needed to engage journalists and see what they really want and need from a social media format news release. That’s a good idea. Now who’s going to go out and do it?
April 5, 2007 at 08:37
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
April 5, 2007 at 08:59
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… no more than a single page. Short and to the point is the best advice for a “catchy†TV press release.
Mike D., your advice may be on target: keep adjusting our tools to fit the audience.
Michael
April 5, 2007 at 20:06
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.
April 6, 2007 at 08:43
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.
April 6, 2007 at 12:52
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.