Posts Tagged ‘press release’
Is the Press Release still effective?
January 12th, 2010
The Liberate Media team would like to ask you a small favour, which will take 30 seconds of your time in the name of research.
We have put together a very small survey asking 4 questions on the effectiveness of the traditional press release.
Over the last few years there has been much talk about the need for an updated press release format, similar to our own service; Pressitt, but as one journalist tweeted the other day: “If you don’t like press releases, you’re in the wrong industry.” Is this a common view shared amongst journalists, or do you think otherwise?
The survey is best suited to journalists who read/use press releases on a daily basis, but if you have strong views on the traditional press release, feel free to take the survey.
Of course we will share the results with you once they have been finalised.
Many thanks in advance, the Liberate Media team.
May 14th, 2009
Today we have a guest blogger posting on behalf of Liberate Media - his name is Ian Howie, Account Director, at 1upSearch, which was one of the first ever UK companies to become a Google Website Optimizer (GWO) Authorised Consultant, making it one of an elite group of Website Optimizer specialists.
How to SEO your Press Release
An essential part of your PR strategy should be optimising your press release for Google.
Optimising for Google will also help you to build awareness on Yahoo and other smaller search engines.
Instead of just dropping copy in your release and hoping it will be picked up by the Search Engines, simply follow my five tips to make sure that your online press release works harder for you.
1. Optimise for your Audience not the Search Engines…
This may sound counterintuitive - but optimising a Press Release is all about writing copy that is going to appeal to your audience. Simply stuffing your Press Release full of words that are popular will stop your Press Release from making sense to both your audience and to Google.
I’d suggest using Keyword Tools (see my next point) to find the right Keywords - and then using them in your Headline and at least two or three times in the body copy and again in your About section.
2. Use Keyword Research
So, for my example, I have a Press Release about a new service from Pressitt.
You can use these free Keyword Tools from Google and Wordtracker to help you workout which keywords to put in and in which order.
Let’s have a look at the Google Keyword Tool:
You can either enter the Keywords you want to research into the top box or you can enter a URL from your website if you want to research a subject area.
The second half of the screen shows the actual Keywords being searched in Google, the competition on Google Adwords and an indication of Search Volume (how many Searches per month).
Now, rather than peppering the Press Release with all the phrases, I’m going to combine them into one:
Social Media News Release Service
Covering the Keywords:
Social Media News Release
News Release Service
By doing this, the release will optimise better since (a) it includes both phrases, and (b) it describes more of what the service actually is.
Here is the Optimised text applied to the Press Release:
Social Media News Release Service in Public Beta - From Pressitt
Xx April 2009
Social Media News Release Service - Pressitt - today launches in public beta, following a successful month of private beta testing.
….
Wendy McAuliffe, director of Liberate Media and Pressitt, says: “The private beta phase has been incredibly successful, and we’re delighted to be coming out of it after just one month of testing. The Social Media News Release Service has been a hot topic within the global PR industry for a while, and we’re pleased to see that businesses and brands of all sizes are eager to trial this up-to-date press release format. Early user feedback has been constructive and encouraging, and we’re making service updates as quickly as possible to ensure we’re continually innovating and responding to the needs of our users.”
….
About Pressitt
Pressitt is a Social Media News Release Service, provided by digital PR and social media consultancy Liberate Media and web development company Best Served Cold.
Pressitt allows you to create your own social media news release (SMNR) - also known as a social media press release (SMPR) or social media release (SMR) and publish it to an online community of journalists, the blogosphere and the general public.
…
The full release is just over 3,500 words - however we repeat the optimised terms only 7 times. The context of where you put your Keywords is very important - in the headline (which carries the most weight) and the first line. And is then repeated again within the body and the about section.
3. Use Wordle
To see how a Search Engine would see the words within your release, you can use a clever little site called: Wordle.net. You can cut and paste your copy into it. If I put in my Social Media News Release text, I get this visualisation:
Ideally, the Keywords that you want to be indexed should show up in the largest text in the Visualisation.
4. Embed links
Put links into your copy that link to the relevant parts of your website, you can also link to client/partner websites. These links will help people reading your Press Release to find out more about you and also tell the Search Engines which of your clients’ pages are related to this Press Release, e.g.:
Social Media News Release service Pressitt today launches in public beta, following a successful month of private beta testing.
Developed by digital PR and social media consultancy Liberate Media and web development firm Best Served Cold, Pressitt has already been trailed by an impressive list of high-profile and challenger brands and organisations. These include Johnson’s online parenting community BabyCentre, the Government’s Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, online music provider Napster, digital creative agency Collective, digital entertainment and internet solutions firm iBAHN, digital engagement agency Kerb and LED lamp producer Greengage Lighting.
5, Clear Online Path Back
Name, email address and phone number are now not only ways you can be found online you can also add links to an online version of your Release, as well as your homepage URL, Twitter address, Linked In Group and your blog.
Press contacts:
Wendy McAuliffe
Director
Liberate Media / Pressitt
Tel: 07900 886791
Email: wendy@liberatemedia.com
Online:
Web: www.pressitt.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/Pressitt
Blog: http://pressitt.com/blog
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pressitt-Social-Media-News-Release-SMNR/77338107702?v=wall
So here are the results: the press release is third in the Google Results ranking, after being posted on Pressitt’s sister site Liberate Media:
And ranking at number one and two on Yahoo UK:
This post was written by Ian Howie Account Director at 1upSearch
Twitter: ihowie
Web: www.1upsearch.co.uk
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ianhowie
Thoughts on the future of the SMPR
April 2nd, 2008
At Liberate we’ve been keenly following developments in the Social Media Press Release (SMPR), which is yet to reach tipping point within the PR industry. We therefore listened with interest today to a podcast on the subject with Tod Defren of PR Squared, sharing his insight on the take-off of the SMPR through his day job at Shift Communications.
We firmly buy into efforts to make news releases more social and useful, with greater differentiation between quality announcements and spam. However, while there has been a lot of talk about the SMPR and its benefits, we’ve had our ear to the ground for case studies where it’s worked successfully among early adopters.
To summarise Tod’s feedback (although it will take you just eight minutes to listen to the whole thing)…
- The volume and level of companies using the SMPR is growing, and includes brands such as Coca Cola, Gatorade, Semantec, Horizon.
- The most successful case studies have seen SMPR content being discussed on Twitter and in blog posts, with content such as logos being taken and re-used.
- As part of the sales process for PR agencies, it’s important that brands realise the SMPR format is not just useful for the blogosphere, but for traditional media alike, offering more content and context than the traditional news release.
- Comment functionality is most successful when moderated.
At Liberate we have our own developments in the pipeline, and have recently pioneered the Social Media Video Release, which we believe is the next step for the SMPR by enhancing its video and interactive components. Our case study for iCrossing is available here.
Our experience to date on the B2B side of things is that there’s a big education gap still to bridge, but gradually organisations are coming to understand the benefits of the social release format and want to give it a go.
We’re particularly keen to hear more stories on how PRs are currently approaching the sale of the SMPR, so please share your experiences with us here.