Extra! Extra! Read About Online Press Releases June 12, 2009
Understanding the Social Media Press Release
There once was a time when businesses had to work with a PR person to get press releases written. These press releases were then released to the media usually because your PR person knew the right people at important newspapers and magazines. It’s a costly way to get attention for your business and it doesn’t always garner you the attention that you are seeking. That’s why many businesses have stopped using press releases altogether. However, your business shouldn’t underestimate the power of modern press releases. It’s just that today’s press releases are done online and they’re intended as much for their social media and search engine value as they are for the specific attention that the headlines may bring to your company.
Social media press releases are similar to the old press releases that we’re familiar with in the sense that they are designed to announce news about your company to people who may then become your customers. However, social media press releases also leverage the power of the online format to make them useful for your business in other ways. Written with the right keywords and links, these press releases can greatly improve your website’s search engine rankings. This increases the credibility of your website and brings people to the site instead of just to the press release itself. Promoted throughout different types of social networking sites and syndicated on RSS news feeds, these press releases have the potential to reach a far larger number of people than printed press releases could reach.
Despite the high visibility and multiple benefits available with social media press releases, it is actually less expensive to get a social media press release written and released than it is to have the same work done for the traditional press release. The online format and the ease of distribution makes this a really cost-effective way to release news about your business. Even small businesses can afford to do this kind of work. Any business that is assisting you with SEO services for your website should be able to also help you to leverage the power of the social media release.
If you decide to work on the writing of social media press releases yourself then there are a few things that you should know. These press releases are similar to standard press releases in that you want to keep them short, include your company’s information and focus on a key news-breaking product or service that you offer. However, you want to make sure that you also optimize the article itself for keywords, optimize the summary description asked for by PR companies (such as PR web) and include appropriate links back to your site. Implementing smart SEO practices in the writing of social media press releases will make them more effective and will allow you to truly benefit from their use.
[...] and more people are starting to use online press releases to spread the word about their products and services. These press releases are very similar to [...]