Firstly, the question that may come to your mind when first glancing at this title is ‘what is a SMNR’? Secondly, you may ask yourself ‘what is PR’? PR of course stands for public relations, which is an area of profession that primarily concerns enhancing and maintaining the image for businesses, non-profit organizations, events or high-profile people, such as celebrities and politicians. More specifically though, this blog is going to pertain to a recent development among the many tools PR uses to campaign, and it is called the Social Media News Release (SMNR).
The Social Media News Release is a press release format designed for the online media world (http://www.realwire.com/servicesSMNR.asp). It is unlike the printed press where there are specific markets to appeal to. Instead, it is to appeal to a wide audience, in most instances, the general public, because the large amounts of people that encompass web users. In this way it can be considered both an advantage and a disadvantage. Sometimes it is easier to tailor a message to a specific audience than to write one to appeal to all peoples, but conversely you may reach more people with your largely homogeneous message. As for other advantages for SMNRs, there are many. It is a format that is cheap, easily distributable, and quick. For example there are various websites one can register with for free and create their own SMNR. Such websites include pressit.com as well as prxbuilder.com, the latter which I have personally used myself. In fact, you may view my own SMNR upon clicking this link: http://www.prxbuilder.com/link.aspx?p=1652
My SMNR specifically had the purpose of promoting awareness of a particular event that a student organization, Student Alliance for a Green Earth (SAGE), was hosting. They were bringing a national speaker to the GSU campus and this press release was to spotlight that event and get the word out. Some specific goals included raising attendance from the same event last year as well as reaching a wider group of people, both in numbers and diversity. Lastly, as for the audience, we opened it up to everyone and anyone who could attend. It was open to students, staff, faculty, and all members of the community. As far as the press release goes it is more engaged at a younger online audience, though.
Other advantages to a SMNR include advanced features that catch audiences attention, such as social media and Web 2.0 elements that allow visitors to share and interact with its content (http://www.socialmediapower.com/articles/social-media-newsrooms-the-ultimate-web-20-tool-for-your-business/). So when you click on that link to an organization’s upcoming event, perhaps with a circus theme, you immediately see bright colorful images and thematic music that immediately grab your attention and excite you. It is certainly a step above the average press release. I would say it is a medium more appealing to the younger generation, one that is constantly seeing multimedia everywhere, and often producing their own. As for effectiveness, the format can assist in achieving around double the editorial coverage and up to four times as much on blogs. This is because it encourages clients to strive for greater creativity in their storytelling (http://www.realwire.com/servicesSMNR.asp).
Some disadvantages of SMNRS include people being comment shy. Either no one feels there are any benefits in commenting directly on a news release for whatever reason, or not many people are accustomed to the idea of commenting directly on a news release (http://stedavies.com/2007/07/smnr-update/). Also, SMNRs are not for all news, blogs are for less formal topics as well as one that is maybe less unimportant, keep to relevance and timing with an SMNR, which brings me to my next point of discussion: pointers.
To begin with you need to be succinct with your audience, it needs to appeal widely, but specifically to the online community. Obviously some sort of tech and telecoms news will always be popular in the online space as there are many blogs focusing on those areas. I guess it’s a case of defining your audience beforehand and discovering how much discussion is taking place already(http://stedavies.com/2007/07/smnr-update/). Also, use news that is new, unique and pretty significant to the audience you’re targeting and not just some afterthought to try and “get some online coverage”(http://stedavies.com/2007/07/smnr-update/) . Thirdly, the topic should be something that will generate a discussion or debate – Again, a bit of a no brainer but, hey, that’s what should make a good SMNR. Fourthly, when creating an SMNR, don’t rush through it. Really take your time and make sure all formatting is correct. You could be writing about one of the most fascinating topics on the planet but if no one can follow the format or structure of your message what your trying to convey gets lost. Lastly, this goes for grammar and punctuation as well. Making one small mistake could completely take away your credibility (logos) and harm your message.
So, after delving into the advantages and disadvantages of SMNRs and the how and where to create one, now you may be thinking whether now is the time to do that.I think firstly you need to consider your message. One reason may be that you need to appeal to a younger audience, one that is in touch with multimedia which we previously discussed. Secondly, you may want to use an SMNR if you are wanting to reach a global or large audience that the internet allows for. Online PR is about good communication. It’s about listening. It’s about relationships. It’s about providing really good news content to the right person at the right time. It’s about transparency and honesty (http://chef-mickey.com/blog/who-uses-the-social-media-news.html).
To see if your message is one that can be used for an SMNR please consider these links to other organization’s SMNRs as a reference:
http://pressitt.com/smnr/myteensaysno.com-drug-test-cup-basics/3470/
http://insocial.pressitt.com/smnr/kingston-food-festival/1307/
February 9, 2012
tinaspeak
