(Note: Not all of my concerns here about social media releases are directly related to Todd’s comments. This post is part interview, part rambling, and chock full of my always-unsolicited opinions.)

I don’t think it’s really a secret - I’m not a huge fan of the social media release (SMR). I raised some criticisms / concerns about the original template in the past, and can’t say that most have really changed.

I’ve also had people tell me that those who don’t act as SMR cheerleaders are essentially “old school.” I think anyone would be hard-pressed to try to lump me in that group. After all, I’m under 30, I specialize directly in online PR, and I work with some of the most tech-savvy groups out there when it comes to PR and marketing. So if I’m not simply having an ill-fated love affair with the old print-em-up-and-fax-em-out press releases, what is it about the social media release that gets me slightly riled up?

I think my biggest concerns have always been:

1. The concept wasn’t really “new,” but was being hyped up like it was. My clients had been adding social media elements to news releases before a template was developed.
2. Some of the individuals advocating the adoption of the SMR were trying to pitch it as a substitute for more traditional releases. I won’t ever buy that (and I’m not talking about traditional as in full of spin, specific clichés, etc. - I’m talking about having something very short-form, bullet-pointed, etc. ever replacing an actual story).

However, I will admit that I’ve warmed to the SMR slightly over the last few months in particular, so when someone mentioned that Todd Defren seemed like a relatively nice guy who might be up for a chat about it, I went right to the source and social media release template creator himself, and he kindly agreed to let me pick his brain.

For starters, I wanted to hear from Todd what the actual motivation was behind the release of the first SMR template.

“The motivation was to transform a 100-year old, hidebound document (that few people liked anymore) into a valuable engine for news promotion and discussion. Ultimately I wanted to make the press release acknowledge the web - through the inclusion of shareable multimedia, hyperlinks, and contextual add-on sources (del.icio.us). But I also wanted to spur direct conversations between customers and brands: that would be the real transformation.”

I’m still not of the mind that it was ever the press release that had to acknowledge the Web. It was already doing that. People were already including links, social bookmarking, comments, etc. and it was already serving to forward direct conversations (although I don’t think that’s the primary benefit of Web-friendly releases - but that’s for another post entirely). However (and here’s where I try to be fair), I think the problem was always with the people using the releases, and I will admit that the hype behind the template has at least opened some eyes. So bravo for that.

Old School?

Todd also managed to directly address one of my concerns / criticisms of the release (and how it’s perceived) when I asked him what he feels is one of the biggest misconceptions about the SMR:

“Many old-school PR pros rejected the SMR out of hand simply because they prefer a narrative-style release. I was never against narrative; I was against the poorly-written, superlative-heavy narrative that had become the norm. You can create an SMR using a narrative style, but many people didn’t realize this simple fact.”

Ouch! There’s that “old school” reference again. So OK. I’ll concede this point then - a social media release can in fact be narrative instead of merely bullet-infested. Cool. That means I’ve been using social media releases for nearly four years now. And that goes back to my primary issue - the fact that the SMR was never really “new” to begin with. But hey - maybe that just means the template helped some of you become as hip as us “old school” types, right? And I do suppose I have to admit it’s kinda “pretty.”

Talk to Me

Let’s carry on and talk about comments. Todd thinks it’s vital that news releases offer readers the ability to comment directly to engage in a conversation. I half agree with him.

“The bigger challenge has been with regard to enabling moderated comments for SMRs, and where to do it. I believe moderated comments should be enabled, to spur direct-to-consumer dialogue. Even negatives can be turned into positives, especially since some gripes will show themselves to be unfounded (either via the commenter’s tone or via the Company’s reasoned response). Many companies are shy about this opening of the proverbial kimono. As for “where” to do it, I believe that the comments should be happening in the corporate online newsroom, not at the release that’s hosted by the wire services.”

I absolutely agree that comments have a place with a company’s news. I also think it’s best when hosted directly by the company, rather than a news service (no control over a third party if you receive overly abusive comments, etc. that way). However, I don’t necessarily think commenting and conversations belong in a newsroom.

From a consumer perspective, I don’t really care what a company has in their newsrooms. I’m not visiting their newsrooms. So comments enabled there do absolutely zip to engage me on that consumer level in a conversation with your company. It’s too formal. It’s too much of you talking “at me” instead of “to me.”

So what do I prefer? I think companies need to create alternative versions of the news contained in the release that’s simply more casual in nature - such as through a company blog. Now I’ve heard folks talking about how the SMR should be adapted to blogs. Again, this is ridiculously old news. Yet it’s also proven to be highly effective.

Let’s look at musicians (they’re often the perfect example when it comes to effectively using any type of social media - blog conversations included). They put out a news release when they’re doing pre-launch work for a new album. At the same time, most have a personal / band blog, Myspace blog, etc. They tailor that album release announcement to a blog post directly talking to their fans on a more personal level, and before long they can have hundreds or thousands of comments, messages, and even pre-release orders starting to come in. They’re experts at this stuff where more traditional businesses seem to struggle, and I think looking to artists is really all most businesses need to do to get a more solid handle on online PR and social media (I’m actually passionate enough about that point that I’ve been working on a book related to it).

So yay for comments. Yay for conversations. And boo for stuffy newsroom environments where consumers don’t feel like they belong. My two cents at least. Where do you think comments belong, either from a PR perspective or a consumer one?

Social Media Release v 1.5

This Spring, Shift Communications unveiled an updated version of the social media release template - dubbed the SMR version 1.5. I asked Todd to explain some of the biggest differences between the original and new version of the social media release:

“The two changes I am most fond of would be the concepts of ‘aggregated engagement’ and ‘contextual clicks.’

The former refers to the idea of turning the SMR into a blog post, with functionality including trackbacks (i.e., ‘websites that link to this news’). The goal is to make the SMR the place where any and all conversations about that news is captured and highlighted, whether good or bad. The key benefit to this for the newsmaker is that by aggregating the conversation, they can also publicly respond in an official place, for all to see (and for the historical record).

The ‘contextual clicks’ simply refers to the inclusion of the ‘Sphere This’ function. A reader who ’spheres’ the release can see other news articles and blog posts that are related to the news, but not specifically about that news or even about the newsmaker. It’s about giving the reader a broader sense for the context of the announcement. To be even more specific: your SMR may be about ‘aardvarks,’ and by clicking the Sphere This button you can also give the reader a sense for the state of the zoo industry, or for the rash of wild aardvarks crossing over from Mexico or somesuch.”

The Sphere This button sounds like an interesting addition. But do we need it? (Not saying we don’t; just playing devil’s advocate.) Or is it instead just news release clutter (similar to all of the blog clutter we have that can become overwhelming with these three plugins and those five tools overwhelming sidebars everywhere)? What do you think?

Do Consumers Really Care?

Here’s a good question for all of you out in PR land: Do you think that most consumers really care about all of the social media goodness attached to your press releases? In most cases, I’d bet they don’t.

Let’s face it - the average consumer / member of your audience isn’t going to Digg your press release. I mean, you might, but that’s incredibly tacky these days, and it can hurt your credibility, especially if you do it too much. Same with Sphinn, StumbleUpon, Del.icio.us, etc. In fact, the direct interaction is not your best chance for exposure when it comes to social media tools and your news!

Instead, like it or not, it’s still about the coverage. Who’s talking about you? I don’t care how good your press release is. You’re highly unlikely to get more coverage from your release directly using these bookmarking and social news sites than you would by effectively targeting bloggers or online media outlets who have authority with your audience. Go look at Digg’s front page, and hopefully you’ll see what I mean. The news isn’t generally from a release being dugg; people want to read it through the perspective of someone they trust. The tech-savvy crowds still dominate these kinds of services, and they’re hyper-sensitive to self-promotion in any form.

While I think your news definitely has a place on your blog, I’m not so sure a press release should be treated as a blog post. Let’s face it, as a consumer, if I want to see your news (or that about your industry), I’ll do a Google News search. I don’t want mass-published, self-purposed press releases invading my blog search results as well. Give it to me a bit differently, and make me feel like you’re actually talking to me, and I might give a rat’s furry little behind. But would I call blog posts press releases just because they’re about news? No. I think they’re two different, and equally important, tools.

Again, we’re hypersensitive to this stuff. I’m sure you’ve all seen at least something in the last few weeks about how much the PR world is pissing off the blogosphere. I think that by trying to invade their social media tools, we run the risk of eventually pissing off our customers and other audiences more directly. The more people are using these tools for press releases, the more it’s going to look like we’re spamming the services. When I use SU, I don’t want a damned press release popping up. When I go to Digg, I want to see what someone has to say about a news story; not the corporate cut version.

Now, am I saying we shouldn’t have these social media elements. Not at all. What I’m saying is that I think a lot of folks in PR are being extremely short-sighted, and that any serious success of this kind of tool could lead to its death just as quickly. We need to be responsible about it - no gratuitous media elements “just because we can,” no self-bookmarking, Digging, etc., no slapping a list of links in a release (another issue worthy of its own post), no audio and video unless they’re truly necessary for the news you want to get across, no comments if you don’t have someone who actually plans to address them responsibly, etc.

I think if we’re responsible, sure, there’s a place for social media in press release distribution. I wouldn’t have been doing it for years if I thought otherwise. But I also think we have some issues with responsibility in this field, and I’d hate to see over-enthusiastic PR reps abuse some of these tools on par with some of the less-than-ethical side of the Internet marketing game, thereby potentially ruining it for the rest of us.

So what do you think? Do you use social media releases? If so, do you use Shift Communications’ template, or something else? What social media elements do you include? What would you like to? How much is too much? Whether you love it or hate it, I’d love to hear what you think.

Related Reading

• Social Media Release Template v1.0 (.pdf)
• Social Media Release Template v1.5 (.pdf)
• The Future of the Social Media Release is in Your Hands
  
• Social Media News Releases Gain Momentum
• Has the Social Media Release Killed the Press Release?
• The Evolution of the Press Release
• The Definitive Guide to Social Media Releases
• The Social Media Release’s Fatal Flaw: No Hook
• Social Media Press Releases: A Step Forward or Two Steps Back? (my former post on the subject)