Is the press release, the 100-year-old workhorse of public relations, on the verge of being put out to pasture? Will corporate PR join the chant of "Die! Press release! Die! Die! Die!"?
The age of wikification, where brands are defined by customers and not "positioned" by companies, has spread to public relations. Instead of sending out traditional press releases, which have well-known flaws (a favorite: "it is difficult to extract news and information from press releases"), forward-looking agencies and companies are looking at social media releases (SMR).
Essentially, SMRs incorporate Web 2.0 and other elements that give journalists and other recipients the visual, informational and other tools to create and understand a story from their own perspective. Key elements of a SMR can include contact information (including Skype and IM details), RSS feeds, a custom del.icio.us page, and various multimedia resources, including video and podcasts. These can be accompanied by third-party quotes/endorsements and other background material, available online or via PDF downloads.
The classic – if such a word can be used for a concept that just emerged in late 2006 – SMR model is available from Shift Communications. Edelman, which enjoys a love-hate relationship with the rest of the PR industry, is pushing SMR with its "StoryCrafter," which, in Edelmanspeak, is "designed to offer pushbutton, fill-in-the-blank ease." (Full disclosure: I just did a podcast with Edelman on nationbranding.) Brian Solis, who is an active proponent of SMR, has written a good guide for putting together SMRs.
SMRs have numerous advantages. They extend the functionality and impact of the news release with multimedia. They provide tools to tailor information, which makes them particularly effective at reaching bloggers. They make it easier for the resource-short media to report, which increases the likelihood of pickup. And, for the time being, they provide a way to stand out from the swarm of releases crowding editorial inboxes.
Any innovation has glitches. A great case study illustrates how effective SMR can be, but also shows distribution can be a problem. Another case study underscored the need for careful proofing and testing. A missing letter in a link can send recipients into the black hole of a 404 error. Other media recipients have complained about the use of bullets instead of copy, which makes it harder to cut-and-paste
Despite the fact that at least four journalism schools are teaching SMR, the debate has been vigorous. Proponents like PRWeek claim SMR is "PR 3.0." Those with less hyperbole in their keyboards see it as old practices wrapped in new technologies, similar to the unfortunate habit of emailing bloggers with standardized pitches and offers to "talk to the CEO." The jury is still out ("I had hoped we would be talking more about what [the SMR] would do and how it would do it, but instead found a never-ending supply of cynical PR Pros and pessimists who would rather invest their time defending the status quo instead of finding a better way forward."), but it is refreshing to see the industry moving beyond century-old habits and hackneyed "positioning" ("the leading provider of XXXX solutions"). This is one of the most interesting issues to emerge from the PR industry in quite some time, which spends too much time moaning about why they don't get the respect they deserve from executives and the media.
Some tentative observations gleaned from the debate:
- Prepare for more work: The traditional press release model is so well understood that the youngest PR hire can quickly churn out the latest announcement. Despite this facility, press releases can take weeks to emerge. It is amazing how corporate executives, lawyers and other wannabe players can spend more time on a release than on corporate strategy. Yet SMR will potentially reference a vast amount of material, ranging from videos to blogs to an array of Web sites. All that material has to be produced and/or researched. Can an SMR be sent out during times when a news event demands immediate distribution? And how long will it be before the lawyers start insist on reviewing every link in an SMR for even more delays than with today's releases?
- Provide context and substantiation: One reason journalists have a love-hate relationship with press releases is because they often make unverifiable claims. "Leading," "unique," "thought-leader (gag!)," "ground-breaking," etc. Through links and other resources, companies can not only verify such claims, but also provide the market and industry data that enrich a story and improve play.
- Think outside the media box: One of the most under-utilized tool for customer and prospect communications is the press release. It is amazing that companies will send a press release to uninterested media, often for immediate trashing, yet neglect to send the same information to their most important stakeholders – customers. SMR represents a tremendous advance in communications to a disparate customer base.
- Tagging is the new targeting: For decades, PR professionals have been told, "target your releases." Despite such nagging, they rarely are. In many ways, tagging is like Google for the rest of us. While Google uses secret, ever-changing algorithms to categorize data, tags enable recipients to target themselves. If there is a weakness to the Shift Communications model, it doesn't emphasize tagging enough. Tag your SMR (and web site!) so they can be retrieved by StumbleUpon, del.cio.us, Reddit, Furl, Digg and other bookmarking sites.
- Don't give up the traditional release: As much as they complain about press releases, journalists still depend on them. Some even prefer them over a format that puts them at the mercy of a broadband connection, or requires them to assemble multiple elements. Just as you now ask whether recipients prefer to receive communications
via text or HTML, ask about preferences in receiving releases. Survey your media list about whether they prefer traditional or social media releases. Repeat the survey every 12-18 months.
- Beware of manipulation: In an age where resumes are routinely embellished, it is inevitable that some witless agency will concoct a SMR ecosystem where every link and reference is a fake. Even Coca-Cola, which should be above such two-bit shenanigans, created a fake blog to support Coke Zero. In the awkward but understandable age of YouTube-ification, where every word, action and misdeed is prone to be promoted for worldwide posterity, the blowback from such stupidity will be immense.
The marketing industry prides itself on "creativity" and "pushing the envelope." Actually, it is quite conservative. The world has changed dramatically in the last 30 years, but the concepts of today would be familiar to anyone from the 1970s. Press releases. 30-second ads. Direct mail. "Positioning." That is why SMRs are a brilliant idea, but must fight against the staid inertia and standardized practices of most PR agencies. Still, the future is here in bits and pieces, and so you should start experimenting with SMR now. The venerable press release may have lasted a century, but with the pace of change today it may not last another decade.
Resources & background:
Social Media Release group on Google
