Chapter 7. The Social Media News Release: An Overdue Facelift

The news release isn't dead. On the contrary, it's evolving into a PR 2.0 communications tool. The traditional news release has transformed into a much more technologically savvy resource for journalists and the public, with the recent development of the Social Media Release (SMR) template. According to an article by Tom Foremski in the Silicon Valley Watcher titled, "Die! Press Release! Die! Die! Die!," Foremski makes a dramatic call to action. He demands changes to the traditional news release. For him, news releases of the past are a "nearly useless" resource. According to Foremski, news releases need to move away from "...committees, edited by lawyers, and then sent out at great expense...to reach the digital and physical trash bins of tens of thousands of journalists."^[1] Foremski, a former Financial Times writer, feels the need to break down the news release to make a better communications tool. Each publisher should be able to gather relevant materials within the news release framework, create their own news story, and assemble the information more efficiently through the use of an SMR. As a result, the targeted information collected and used by the journalist is much more valuable in the writing and the news reporting process. Foremski's call to action prompted a revolutionary transformation. Are you ready for the SMR to change the nature of reporting news in the 21st Century?

A New Format to Spark Conversations

This is a question faced by every communication professional, as there are different schools of thought on the subject. You might agree with Tom Foremski that it's time to implement a drastic change to the widely recognized news release that's been a standard PR tool for years. At the same time, there's another school of thought. On the opposite end of the spectrum are the professionals who aren't quite ready to see the tried and true inverted pyramid style news release completely go away. For them, the traditional inverted pyramid format still carries value in reporting. The traditional Associated Press (AP) "newspaper" style news release served a valuable purpose for a very long time. It gave PR pros a communication tool that provided journalists with the "who, what, when, where, and why" of a story, all in the lead paragraph. Of course, there's a group between the two opposing ends who are looking to gradually make social media changes to the old-fashioned newspaper style release format, but not the drastic changes called for by Foremski. Although many journalists might concur that the news release needs an overdue makeover, not every one of them is ready to transition completely into the social media template. However, what most journalists and PR pros can agree on is a news release tool that's well written and extremely informative, with less of the corporate "speak" and more of the news that's accurate and timely.

What school of thought do you attend? You're certainly in good company if you feel that your brand's stakeholders, including the media community, need information in a format that can be easily gathered, organized, and shared. In a Web 2.0 world, the traditional AP style release isn't good enough to satisfy 21st Century reporting. However, the SMR is a communications tool that provides easy access to useful information, ensures accuracy of materials that have the "official seal" of a company, and offers the journalist content proactively before he or she finds it from a competitive source. In addition, if you are skeptical about social media, keep in mind that additional benefits include that it's user-driven with content which can be reworked and reshaped continuously. With the ability to use social media for collaboration and shared-interests, communities are created instantaneously, connecting online audiences globally. Best of all, social media is easy to grasp. You don't need years of technical training or an above-average aptitude to understand how to use this for effective communication.

Be Prepared for Social Media

Similar to the discussion about interactive newsrooms in Chapter 6, "Interactive Newsrooms: How to Attract the Media," you can ask yourself a related question: Will you interact with every journalist who requires a social media template, with the most advanced 2.0 features? Of course not; there are still many journalists who are not ready to use every 2.0 tool, and there are also those journalists who are just experimenting with this new format. However, all it takes is just one journalist who wants a sophisticated feature of an SMR to aid him in his reporting process. For that reason alone, you must be prepared. You need to understand what it takes to enhance your basic news release when you encounter a media professional who prefers sophisticated social media features, which might include

• Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds (direct news feeds on content related to the subject matter as well as links to content).
• Photo libraries with high resolution images. (These images are for download into a print publication.)
• MP3 files (a digital audio encoding method to reduce the size of an audio file for easy download) or a podcast.
• Video footage for Video-On-Demand (VOD).
• Links to previous coverage on a topic with the ability to use del.icio.us or Digg (www.digg.com) for social bookmarking. (Journalists can tag their favorite information by locating, classifying, and ranking noteworthy references and resources.)
• Technorati (www.technorati.com) is a leader in "what's happening on the World Live Web."^[2] Because bloggers commonly link to other blogs, Technorati searches and organizes blogs, and tracks how blogs are linked together (recording the relevance of the links to your subject matter).

You've already learned that not all journalists share the same level of technological acceptance. Some are innovators on the cutting edge of what PR 2.0 has to offer, and then others might be Late Adopters of technology who wait for a technology to be widely tested and accepted by the general public. For you, as a communications professional, it is beneficial to be prepared with sophisticated tools in your news announcements, and there are several reasons why you would want to move toward a social media template. You should consider how it helps your media contacts, your brand's customers, and how it directly affects the conversations about your brand in the market.

• A social media template enables you to present different types of communication regarding your brand (from the core facts to exciting multimedia that can really tell a visual story).
• With a social media news release, you can direct the journalist to the information you want to present and have him or her cover it in a story, which is a better way to control the brand communication.
• Because of the increasing ease of use for journalists, you are providing a better means for them to develop their stories, which might translate into more accurate and a greater depth of coverage on your brand.
• You are helping media outlets with little resources to "do more with less."^[3] Your social media template helps journalists develop their stories completely and accurately, with access to more information in a much quicker period of time.
• The SMR is also a consumer tool that makes it easier for the public to identify and share interesting content in their social networking communities. The social media template enables your brand to communicate directly to consumers so that they will continue to talk among themselves, to further promote your news and information in their forums.

Getting Started with Social Media

When you first decide to use a social media template, you might want to start simple. Starting slowly by adding in uncomplicated resources to your news announcement is easy. Then, you can always advance your way to a more highly developed SMR, such as Shift Communication's (www.shiftcomm.com) social media news release template. Shift Communications, inspired by Tom Foremski's thoughts on the traditional news release, was the first communications firm to launch a PR 2.0 news release tool. The Shift "In The News" section of Shift Communication's Web site states how the company, "believes that journalists and bloggers are now fully adapted to using the World Wide Web for research purposes. The 'Social Media Press Release' merely facilitates their research by using the latest tools (social bookmarking, RSS, and the like) to provide background data, context, and ongoing updates to clients' news."^[4] To review a great SMR, go to the Shift Communications Web site and download a PDF version of this template (the template is available free of charge, with no copyrights restricting its use). Clearly, you will see that the template is designed for the most advanced or tech-savvy journalist who has fully embraced all the incredible resources in a PR 2.0 world—he knows how to manage the social media interface and fully take advantage of the interactive portions of the SMR, all very quickly and with ease.

Remember, you don't have to be a guru to manage the new PR 2.0 technology. That's not to say that the true SMR abandons several of the original elements of the news release. Absolutely not! These new social media templates still contain a few memorable and meaningful components of the traditional release, including

• Client, spokesperson, and PR contact information
• A gripping news release headline and sub-head, if desired
• Main news release facts (however, core content is in a bulleted format)
• Approved quotes from brand executives, customers, partners, and industry analysts, if possible
• Company boilerplate information (standard approved verbiage that describes the main offerings of the company)

Let's begin with the social media basics and a few guidelines for your SMR. First, you want to include links to more information on the topic of your release (for instance, if your company has written any papers or conducted recent research). Also, it's important to provide the journalist with links to recent publicity on the subject. These links "click" to a media outlet's site where an article is posted or one of your executives was quoted. You can offer tags in your release, including del.icio.us and Digg, for journalists to bookmark their favorite blogs on related topics. Journalists are also looking for photos to enhance their stories, so you can use embedded photos in your news release, if possible, or you can have a link to a photo library that has several high-resolution images for download. (It's also a good idea to include a link to download your brand's logo.) Last, journalists can build their stories quickly and more accurately if you offer them key words to other associated and interesting information to search on the Web.

One very important question should come to your mind: "How do I begin to enhance my news release template, whether only slightly or to its fullest 2.0 potential?" If you are just beginning and want to proceed slowly and with care, you can use simple programming methods—simple techniques to start the SMR process. You can do it yourself or work closely with your in-house programmer to get the job done. Once more, as a PR professional you will better control your brand communication by including the features and functions that will help to get your brand increased coverage from the journalists and bloggers who received your social media release.

You Don't Have to Be a Web Developer to Create 2.0 Tools

The ability to add in your own 2.0 resources was a concept unheard of during the Web's infancy and even in the beginning of Web 1.0. Only Web developers were trained and relied upon for these tasks. Until now, there was always a clear divide between the communications professionals and Web developers. Times certainly have changed. Of course, there will always be those PR pros who don't want to roll up their sleeves to learn new PR 2.0 tactics. They're perfectly happy enabling the Web developers to do the programming. But, for those who do want to learn, your newfound 2.0 knowledge makes you that much more valuable to your brands!

Some easy tips for you beginner PR 2.0 programmers follow:

• Familiarize yourself with the information that is accessible to journalists on your Web site.
• Use resources already available to you, which reside on your brand's Web site (whether the information is in the public domain or is housed on the backend of your brand's Web site). Your in-house programmer or Web site development team will be able to assist you in finding the backend resources.
• Cut and paste links from your Web site directly into your social media template, including links to site pages with
  • Photos
  • Bios of management team
  • White papers or research studies
  • Video clips, if already posted on your Web site
• Find and use resources on the Web, including links to the following:
  • Past or recent publicity discussing the topic, your company, or quoting an executive
  • Groups or organizations that have a similar perspective on a topic or are partnered with your brand on an initiative
  • Influential bloggers who are writing about your topic, your product, or your service
  • Other Web sites for journalists and bloggers to gather more information, including Yahoo! News and Google News
  • Links directly to del.icio.us or Digg for journalists and bloggers to bookmark interesting information

If you currently use a content management tool in your newsroom, you are not limited to the information that is currently posted on your Web site. Rather, you can develop your own content, specific to your news release topic or communications initiative. For example, for a product launch, you can prepare approved quotes from C-Level executives on a page, or endorsements from customers who use your product, or industry analysts researching how your product affects the market. Using the content management tool, you can easily create pages with the new information and post these Web pages in your newsroom. When the pages are approved and are "live" for audiences to view, you can cut and paste the appropriate newsroom link right into your social media template. Journalists will click on the links embedded in your release and be able to access valuable information right from your Web site. Proficiency with the content management tool will enable you the flexibility you need to enhance your news release of yesteryear and make it more interactive and news-friendly for 21st Century news reporting.

When to Rely on the Experts

If you do not have the resources in-house to build your own SMR, once again there are Web 2.0 experts ready to assist you. There are a number of PR service providers, including PRX Builder (in conjunction with PR Newswire) and BusinessWire that are forging ahead with their social media templates. As a matter of fact, in PR Newswire's release of October 10, 2006, they use a social media news-release template to unveil the beta testing of PRX Builder's Social Media News Release Wizard. Using a social media template, the release offers a lead paragraph but then provides journalists the immediate ability to click on photo links and logos for download. The next section of the release is bulleted and provides the core content of the release. For example, the bullets discuss how the PRX Builder service "enables PR and marketing professionals to easily create Social Media news releases through a series of guided steps."^[5] The PRX Builder Social Media Release costs only $6.00 per release. The releases are created in a simple XML document format. Communications professionals are able to easily develop and preview how the Social Media Release looks prior to distribution through PR Newswire. PRX Builder's Social Media News Release template also has approved quotes from the President of Whitley Media (the creators of PRX Builder) as well as approved quotes from Dave Armon, Chief Operating Officer at PR Newswire. Journalists (or anyone looking for quotes) do not have to wait for quote approvals as they have the approved quotes from executives right at their fingertips. For example, they are able to capture instantaneously what Mr. Whitley has to say about the PRX Builder service. One of the approved statements includes "The PRX Builder service is designed to make the creation of Social Media News Releases as easy as possible. We're excited about the prospects for expanding the use of social media services within the more traditional realm of press releases." Other great features in this news release include related links, photo notes, and a Technorati search of blogs discussing this news release. The PR Newswire release truly represents the tremendous possibilities of the PRX Builder service.

Interview with an Expert

Business Wire launched its Smart Release because "target audiences—reporters, editors, consumers, and investors—are looking for multimedia news 2.5 times more often than text only news.^[6] The Smart News Release, just as it sounds, offers smart tools embedded in the news announcement. These resources range from text and photos to motion and sound. Business Wire developed the Smart News Release because the company thought it would be better for journalists who need quick access to multimedia. Journalists are looking for content that's ready to download, and the Smart News Release has one-stop access to Web and print-ready photos, logos, graphics, and audio and video. If you select Business Wire's Smart News Release, you will find the ability to track and measure the success of your announcement and a wider or "Smarter" reach.

Business Wire took the Smart News Release one step further with its EON service (Enhanced Online News Service). Business Wire and EON together offer PR pros the ability to use XHTML, Search Engine Optimization, social media, podcasting, RSS, and blogs in their news release formats. Laura Sturaitis, Senior Vice President, Media Services & Product Strategy for Business Wire, participated in a Q&A session on how EON truly enhances online news, reaching much larger audiences. Sturaitis heads up Business Wire's Media Relations, Content Licensing, Product Development, and ExpertSource teams in the U.S. She is responsible for the comprehensive and timely delivery of Business Wire clients' news release to print, broadcast, and online media organizations worldwide using Business Wire's multiplatform delivery methods; and for developing new media tools and services for the distribution, availability, and use of those news releases as part of Business Wire's file of breaking news content.

Q: Why did Business Wire enhance its news release template with social media?

A: Because of the proliferation of news online and all the places we deliver to; they are all multiplatform. We actually found very quickly that the visibility of those releases now better serve the audience that we reach. In addition, we're able to help clients enhance their releases and start thinking "bigger" about what the news release can do for them as they're writing it.

Q: Are news releases reaching more than just the media?

A: It's a new world. Today's news release goes well beyond just getting into the newspaper. We developed EON, which simply stands for our product called Enhanced Online News, a coproduction or a partnership we have with PR Web.

Q: Do you have to be a Web 2.0 guru to understand EON?

A: When we educate a client on EON, we start with the hardest and most advanced features first. In some cases many companies are already incorporating elements of EON, but might be missing subtle opportunities. For example, last year Business Wire began to deliver its files in XHTML. Many clients don't realize what XHTML is and how it serves an important function. Basically, clients already send us their releases in a Word format. Before they use a print version of that release, they often include different types of formatting, including bold, italics, symbols, sub-headlines, and the like. However, many times they forward to us a completely stripped-down version of the release because often they would see that once it was delivered on the wire, it was in plain text. Not because we delivered it that way; on the contrary, we delivered it very robust with lots of content. However, a lot of the media organizations, newsrooms, or the online sites are not set up to display the release with all the bells and whistles we were sending. Some of them, frankly, had a policy against including things like anchor text or hyperlinks because they didn't want visitors who surf off their site to go elsewhere.

Now, we're trying to tell our clients, "We're reinviting you to put all this stuff back in again because not only is it something that makes that news release easier to read, but it makes it more user friendly, more like a page of Web content as you're composing it. Actually, that's how it's being viewed when you can display it with its XHTML. You should be using links, putting in bold, and using subheads because these additional features equal importance and relevancy to the search engine.

Q: Does including XHTML give you better results with search engine optimization? Will your audience be able to find your releases easier?

A: A hundred things can be done to a page of content that can make it more important to the search engine, and XHTML is a part of this. Bold, italic, and certainly the anchor text (if you use anchor text, you're just using the plain words, then you hyperlink it underneath), and hyperlinks are key parts of that search engine optimization. These are things that writers of the release sometimes might not utilize. When you think about a headline or a subhead, that's what you see on the Google results, and its that headline or subhead that's going to convince you whether you want to click over to that full text or not. You need to remember this point when you're writing the release. We basically say to clients there might be 100 things you could put on a list of things that will help your search engine optimization. We also recommend the use of social media tags in news releases. Now this document is an interactive one because it's shown on Web sites that are not simply one-way street content but content audiences can interact with if they want. They can save it or even share it. Perhaps they might want to e-mail it to their friends, or they can Digg it—submit it to those social networks. It's no longer a straight communication from the communications department out to the media. A lot more back and forth happens because of the social media.

Q: What happened when Business Wire first introduced the Smart News Release in 1998?

A: When we launched the Smart News Release in 1998, it opened a whole new realm. When we incorporated the Smart News Release features (the video, audio, and graphics) a long time ago, it changed how that page was displayed and the click-through rate. When you have a multimedia, a graphic, or a logo running with the news release where it's showing alongside of the Google headline, people are going to click on it more. There's a much higher click-through rate for something that has a thumbnail next to it as opposed to a plain text headline.

Q: Would you say Business Wire is ahead of the curve because in 1998 not a lot of companies were jumping on board to see interactive video or audio?

A: We've always been very innovative. Actually, Business Wire was the first wire service to have a Web site. The very day we launched our site, we never launched for the story of Business Wire; rather every day from day one, the front page had news relevant to our customers.

Q: What do you think social media means for PR professionals?

A: It's very exciting, and it's very powerful. Right now, there's probably not a better time to be in PR. It's so funny when I hear people say it's the death now of the wire, or it's the death of public relations because now everybody has a voice and user-generated content. But, who's in a better position to capitalize on a world full of user-generated content than professional communicators and professional marketers, and those who have something to tell, a great story to tell, and the talent and skills to tell it.

Q: Are you finding that more Business-to-Consumer (B2C) companies are using EON or Business-to-Business (B2B)?

A: It's definitely started to be incorporated more quickly with the consumer companies. We have product announcements, rollouts, renovations, and updates. We have many different kinds of announcements, so it's "a no brainer" that brands will definitely use enhanced releases to tell the story; to show or use visuals rather than just tell a story with words. For B2B, it's being used in earning releases; you have links to the Webcasts and conference calls. That's been going on for a long time. Now, it's just become more formalized.

Q: Because journalists are such an important part of social media, does Business Wire talk to the media, do you research their needs, or do you just take it from the communications person's perspective?

A: Oh no, we feel like we serve two masters at Business Wire and always have—there's the client side, but the media is equally important because they're the ones we serve and inform of the clients' news. We have a staff of 15 media relations professionals worldwide that do nothing but make sure the journalists can get the client's news in any form they want. That's why it's called multiplatform. If they want a customized email, RSS, if they want a feed directly into their newsrooms, if they want to go on the Web, anyway they want to slice and dice it, we'll get it to them the way they want it. We're serving print journalists, broadcast journalists, bloggers, and citizen journalists.

Q: When you take the polls of these journalists, do you find more and more are asking for the sophisticated social media tools?

A: I think the main thing is that 98 percent of journalists are going online to search just like everybody else. They're going to Google to find story ideas. They're going to blogs. So, as much as you have to be present, that's very important. As far as social media tags and other features, I think that there's an increasing amount of people who are utilizing RSS and social network tags, including journalists as they are trying to find information that covers their beat. It goes back to Media Relations 101: When you write newsworthy content that can easily be found, contains the concepts and interests, and is targeted, it's all good no matter how it's delivered (even if that's delivered by carrier pigeon). With the social media news release, there's kind of a component that gives all the information to you in pieces, and then journalists reassemble those pieces on the other side and build their own story.

Q: Do you feel most editors are set up to see video and anything that is advanced on the media side?

A: Oh, certainly at this point. They're seeing the releases in various ways, and we'd say multiplatform because they're so redundant. They're not only getting the feed on their desks, but we think that journalists are pretty savvy to get what they need and see information in a variety of ways.

Q: How does the EON platform work?

A: Through PR Web, we have a search engine-optimized platform; a place for those releases to live so it's easier for those search engines to find them over a longer period of time. That's the trick because relevancy and "recency" are equally important. You could have really relevant content, but if it's older, it's not going to compete as well with something that's new. We did some really clever things to accomplish that: Everything from including the keyword in the URL so it's another instance of the keyword, to having a PDF. You know when you get search results on Google and it asks whether you would like to view as an HTML or as a PDF, having that available right under the headline makes it portable in effect.

Q: What about blogs? Are you able to see if someone is talking about your news release topic?

A: Because of the nature of blogs and of social media, it is first important to recognize that you must be part of the conversation. It is not advisable to push your news release to a blogger without permission and certainly not without being familiar with what they blog about. Communicators are sometimes hesitant to engage with bloggers, but treating bloggers using the best practices of media relations can be a very valuable audience to cultivate and target, if you are willing to engage. You can use RSS news readers and other technologies to monitor the blogosphere the same way you monitor for clips in MSM (mainstream media). But, the fact is the conversation is still going on—it's better to know it exists and have the ability to monitor it and become part of the conversation.

Q: Do most clients want to monitor a conversation to see if it's increasing or decreasing and then take the appropriate action?

A: Yes, you can't get all worked up about somebody on a blog saying something wrong. The beautiful part about the interactive nature of blogging and social media is if you're engaged in a part of the conversation in the blogosphere...if you are present and clearly identify yourself as an interested party or company spokesperson, if you don't like what they're saying, you go to their blog and comment. The happy surprise is often when anybody is being treated unfairly by a blogger, members of the community, fans of the company, happy customers, and others come to your public defense or correct incorrect information or impressions for you because they are also part of the conversation.

These new tools, technologies, and delivery and measurement options for news releases has really served to put the "Public" back in Public Relations.

Social Media Template: A PR Pro's Opinion

Many communications professionals are weighing in on the subject of the social media template. According to Phil Gomes, Vice President of Edelman, although the name Social Media News Release has all the right buzzwords, in his opinion, a news release is not an inherently social concept. He instead prefers the term "New Media Release" as a more apt descriptor.

Edelman decided to make its own Web-based proprietary software wizard, dubbed "StoryCrafter," for its clients. One of the first Edelman clients to take advantage of the enhanced news release format was Palm. "They were the first to use our software publicly for their Palm Treo Accessories announcement," explained Gomes. The announcement was released in April 2007, and since then the Edelman client has been eager to try new communications tools, including blogging.

Gomes discussed how philosophically, companies want to explore new technologies and tools that are available. However, if you walk up to a Vice President of a company and say, "You must blog and you must podcast," you might be speaking in another tongue. When you discuss the news release and call it by name, everyone universally understands. Gomes stated, "There are wild eyed evangelists talking in social media terms instead of communications terms—regardless of the many voices, this isn't necessarily going to move the peanut forward."

Although there are success stories, Gomes feels that companies and communications professionals are still reluctant to embrace the social media release. After all, it was in October 2006 that BusinessWire celebrated the 100^th anniversary of the news release. There has not been any attempt until now to give the traditional news release a facelift. He mentioned that although there have been significant improvements in distribution of the news release, there haven't been any substantial changes to its format. "Now is a great time to take a look at social media in the news release and explore how the Web affects communication." Gomes pointed out that the social media template makes multimedia a standard component and not an add-on. Additionally, communications professionals have complained for decades about the length and the language of releases; often news releases have become far too long and the language too technical to understand. When you use social media—for instance, hyperlinks in the body of the news release—you take the explanatory burden off the release as you can simply link your release to a data sheet with more technical product or industry information.

Palm's StoryCrafter-based releases are full of useful resources for journalists following Palm's news announcements. The template includes hyperlinks, multimedia, RSS, resources including del.icio.us and Digg, Technorati tags, track back, and comments on the release. Not all companies are ready to make the full conversion to social media, however many of the larger leading companies are paving the way.

Gomes believes that all industries will benefit from the social media template. The efforts seen in 2007 are mostly by the technology industry. However, just about any company can make a more useful news-release tool. "Eventually, professionals will begin to prepare their releases as they do B-Roll packages and will need to get used to telling their brand's news quickly and be able to share the information with audiences on-the-fly. Someday, we all might want to walk around with our handheld video camcorders. In the new PR 2.0 toolkit, a camcorder is in your pocket." When asked if it will be more difficult and if it will take longer for larger companies to approve social media news releases with B-Roll video that's "rough cut and on-the-fly," Gomes commented that it depends on the organization's investor relations or legal department. Approval might have "extra check boxes." However, communications professionals will work with departments that touch regulatory issues and develop a series of rules for multimedia usage in releases. "Communications departments will quickly get hobbled if it's a constant, protracted exercise of Mother May I," mentioned Gomes. "The role of regulatory is critical, but at the same time, companies need to communicate quickly. A balance must be struck."

Gomes talked about his perspective regarding the relationship between traditional media relations professionals and journalists. He's spoken with several professionals who feel that new media is great; however, there's the underlying feeling that new media takes away a touch point between the PR person and the journalist. Gomes disagrees, "Who will win the hearts and minds of the journalist? It's the person who removes the barriers." That's exactly what social media does. Anything that makes a journalist's job easier is a win-win situation for everyone involved in the story. Of course, with or without social media, the release must deliver in a format that is easy to understand, simple to digest, and most of all is well written. Gomes further pointed out, "No format will ever solve the fact that many professionals have lost the craft of writing." For Gomes, the bottom line is that we improve the way we communicate. The social media template is a step in the right direction.

The news release's first facelift was a big change in the communications world. Keep in mind the following points as you consider the use of social media in your news releases:

• Use a social media news release template to enable your intended audiences to gather relevant materials within the news release framework, create their own news story, and assemble the information more efficiently.
• Not every journalist wants or needs the most sophisticated SMR. You can begin to add social media to your releases slowly based on the requirements of your audience and their technological acceptance level.
• Be prepared at any time to upgrade your news-release template with new media tools, including RSS, podcasts, multimedia, hyperlinks, Technorati tags, and the like.
• The true SMR does not abandon several of the original elements of the news release. These new social media templates still contain memorable and meaningful components of the traditional release.
• You can use simple programming methods or techniques to easily start the SMR process yourself or work closely with your in-house programmer to get the job done.
• If you do not have the resources in-house to build your own SMR, there are PR 2.0 experts ready to assist you. Many PR service providers are forging ahead with their social media templates to help brands move forward with a better tool for communications.
• With a social media news release, you are assisting journalists with little resources to "do more with less."^[7] Your social media template helps them to develop their stories completely and accurately, with access to more information in a much quicker period of time.
• By incorporating social media into your communications tools, you help to change the way that news is reported in the 21^st Century.

Endnotes

1. Tom Foremski is a former Financial Times reporter. Die! Press Release! Die! Die! Die! appeared in the Silicon Valley Watcher in February 2006.

2. www.technorati.com/about.

3. "Why Use Social Media with Your Press Release," October 2006. www.toprankblog.com

4. Shift in the News, "News Facts," April 2007. www.shiftcomm.com.

5. "Exclusive Distribution Through PR Newswire Ensures the Widest Reach of Social Media Enabled News Content. PR Newswire. October 10, 2006..

6. "The Smart News Release." Business Wire. http://home.businesswire.com.

7. "Why Use Social Media with Your Press Release. October 2006. www.toprankblog.com.