The Social Release

It’s become a clichéd David vs. Goliath bout: the news release vs. social media. For the first time however, we can’t be sure which is slinging the stones and which is the doomed behemoth. My LinkedIn feed is filled with “must-read” obituaries for the release piling up alongside “10 tips for social media excellence.” Although these may lead you to believe social media will stand alone after conquering the release, don’t buy this brash assertion. The best communicators will find a balance between the two.

It’s time for public relations professionals to stop pitting the two against each other and start maximizing their combined potential. The release is the established mouthpiece of public relations. Inherently limited in the one-way flow of information, but adept at driving heavy loads of information to audiences. Social media is the wunderkind erupting onto the #PR scene. Exquisitely providing immediate feedback and connections with consumers, but woefully staying in the shallow end of the information pool.

I know business Type A’s would love a definite winner and loser in this slugfest, but a tie might not be the worst thing [click to tweet].

Holistic. Synergy. Although these buzzwords may have you nauseously scrambling to close the page, the idea behind the two shouldn’t be lost: working together to achieve a higher goal. I advise keeping the terms out of your next release or proposal, but put the idea to work. Make the news release and social media work together [click to tweet].

Make your press release social and inviting. Ditch the boardroom jargon, and embrace the power of brevity in layman’s terms. Season your social media strategy to compliment it with insight only you can provide. Be careful not to send too many; if you distribute “breaking news” stories with no hard news backing every week, you will lose your credibility.

Deliver the tantalizing quantitative results we love, the white whale of clients’ lore, by finding the intersection of the two [click to tweet]. Then, watch the conversation mold around your clients.

Follow @paragonpatrick

Image courtesy of t0zz at FreeDigitalPhotos.net