courtesty of PRWeb
Quick Tips for Making Your News Releases Effective
• Headlines should be no more than 80 characters in length, including spaces
• The optimal length for a news or press release is between 300 and 800 words
• Blog posts should be reformatted into traditional news or press release style to be effective
• Limit the number of Web page links in your news or press release to one for each 100 words
• Using industry jargon in your news or press release is fine, as long as you include samples and definitions that will help those outside the industry understand
4 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Press Release with Social Media
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online: by Susan Payton, President of Egg Marketing & Public Relations
You’ve published your first (or 50th) press release and you’re pretty darn happy with yourself. But are you really doing everything you can to get the most out of that release? Are you working with the tools that will significantly bump up the number of reads and click-throughs for that release? If not, keep reading.
Today, social media is a fantastic tool that’s helping public relations experts and small business owners maximize their releases. Here are a few examples:
Twitter
If you’re active on Twitter, all your followers will see that release as soon as it’s distributed. From Twitter, they can click on the link to read it.
Additionally, you can schedule more tweets over several days (Hootsuite is one Twitter tool that allows you to schedule tweets in advance) with the release link.
• Write a tweet that would compel someone to click on the link.
• Make sure the release is relevant to your followers
• If you schedule several tweets, change the wording for each one
Facebook
Assuming you already have a Facebook Page in place for your business, your press release should be on it. You can add the link through your status, as well as on your Links page, or even customize a tab just for releases.
• Keep news up to date on your Page
• Share it with the fans of your Page
• Include images if appropriate
Blogs
Looking for blog fodder? Your press release should be your next post. You don’t have to cut and paste the release, but rather summarize your news and link to the PRWeb version of the release. (Bonus points: Google likes it when you link to other important sites).
Additionally, you can send your press release to bloggers in your industry. Do so only if it’s really newsworthy and of interest to that particular blogger. A story about getting a new client usually isn’t something another blogger will want to share unless it’s a really big client.
• When pitching to a blogger, don’t paste the release in the email. Link to it so that they can click on it if they want to know more.
• Research any blogger you contact to make sure they’re a good fit.
• Make sure all of your releases turn into blog posts or are otherwise linked to your website.
Share It
[PRWeb has a wonderful feature built into each of its press releases: the ‘Share This’ button. When you click on this button from any release, you have the option to share a link to the release through dozens of social media and bookmarking sites like Digg, StumbleUpon, Google Buzz, and more.]
Take the time to set up accounts at the most popular sites, then share each of your releases on as many of these sites as possible. Encourage other staff and contacts to do the same. This way, your release is found in more places by more eyeballs.
• Don’t create accounts with ALL the sites listed. Stick to the most popular: Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, FriendFeed, Kirtsy, LinkedIn, Reddit, Slashdot, Technorati and Tumblr.
• Write a useful description on each of the sites encouraging people to click on your link.
• While you’re on these sites, create a community and add relevant contacts who will see what you bookmark.
Once you develop a strategy using these tools, you’ll automatically increase the number of reads of your press releases as well as the traffic to your site. It’s easy to track where the traffic is coming from using an analytics tool. After a few releases you’ll be able to see which sites are bringing you the most traffic and adjust the plan accordingly.