Download Making Press Releases Work with Social Media

How to Add Social Media to Your Press Release Strategy
In today’s marketing world of web sites, blogs, search engines, and social
networking sites, it’s easy to overlook the value of one of the good ‘ol, tried-andtrue small business marketing techniques that has been around for years – better
known as the business press release.
Before the web came along, the only press release option for most businesses
was to use a traditional press distribution or media wire service, which was often
expensive and provided no guarantee that your news would ever be mentioned
anywhere in a newspaper, magazine, or other publication. Reporters and editors
were completely in charge of which press releases were deemed newsworthy
enough to be published, and the rest were basically ignored.
Things improved greatly for small businesses with the development of online
press outlets that allowed press release submissions from all types of
companies, large and small. One main benefit of these sites was that even if your
news wasn’t “picked up” by a major news outlet or site, at least it generated
some new, high-quality inbound links back to your business web site, providing
you with some additional exposure online and helping improve your search
engine rankings.
Now with the explosive growth of social networking sites, small businesses have
a great opportunity to gain extra publicity and online exposure by incorporating
social media into their corporate press release strategy.
When thinking about a press release strategy for your small business, consider
creating a comprehensive plan that includes your web site, online media outlets,
and social media sites. For example:
Web Site:
 Be sure to have a “Press Room” or “In the News” section on your business
web site. Include the latest press releases for your company, and also
provide a link to a press release archive for older news releases.
 If you are a Chamber member, always submit your press release to your
local Chamber of Commerce. These organizations love to promote news
from their members, and Chamber publications are typically well-read by
the membership and others in the community.
 Submit your press releases to any other organizations or professional
groups to which you belong, or to other sites in your industry that accept
news releases about your type of business.
Online Media Outlets:
 There are hundreds (or probably thousands) of web sites that are newsrelated or niche sites that publish news from press releases submitted to


them. Many are free or very low cost, and will accept press releases from
all types of businesses. Just do a Google search to find the online press
release sites that fit your budget and your industry.
Optimize your press release for the keywords that you also target on your
web site. Use keywords in the title and subtitles of your release, as well as
through out the body of the press release.
Always provide links from your press release back to your web site. Better
yet, provide links to specifically optimized landing pages that target the
keywords or the subject of your press release (e.g., a new product
announcement).
Social Media Sites:
 Include links from your press release to your social media accounts such
as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. This helps drive traffic to your social
media sites, and may provide the spark needed for your release to go
“viral”.
 Use Twitter to announce your press release, and link back to your web
site’s Press Room or the landing page for the release.
 Put your optimized press release on your Facebook page, preferably in a
custom tab where your optimized release can help boost your site in the
search engine rankings (regular “wall” posts don’t help your rankings)
 If your social marketing has been set up correctly, the press release
should be posted automatically to all your social media and bookmarking
sites with one single action on your part (such as a blog post).
Press releases are an excellent way to publicize your company, build inbound
links to your web site, improve search engine rankings, and promote news or
events going on in your company. Because of the web, small businesses now
have more access than ever before to get their news (and links) in front a huge
audience without the approval of traditional news reporters and editors.
By adding social media to the mix, you can create a comprehensive press
release strategy that not only takes advantage of your web site and online media
outlets, but also the social media sites that can distribute your news in even more
places online, help keep it visible longer, and ultimately extend the reach and
effectiveness of your marketing efforts.