Hey Mike, Excellent analysis here.  
 
I think that marketing is not about templates. Ever. The best marketing starts with buyers in mind and creates information online that will help them to learn and solve their problems. But you guys know that - you've been talking about it on this blog for a while.  
 
The problem with templates is that they inevitably make things cookie-cutter.  
 
While I agree with you that companies should re-think where they are sending traffic from news releases, I do feel that the SMNR has value because it causes people to change their view of what a news release is. The SMNR also reminds you of the sort of content that you can leverage when sending a release. 
 
We're all making this stuff up as we go along. Smart people in organizations like HubSpot and Shift Communications make people THINK about marketing and communications (rather than do the same old crap by rote that everyone has done for years). That's valuable.  
 
David

Persuasive argument, Mike. I think that most PR companies aren't accustomed to being held accountable to website traffic and leads. However, it's certainly arguable that they should be. And I know a few wired PR firms that consider it their primary job to produce a measurable ROI for their clients... which means producing the traffic that results in leads and sales.  
 
BTW. I though my posts were long! Sometimes, it's just hard to be brief when you have so much good to say, ha?

I love the post, a great way to take a new look at press releases and actually use them to some benefit for your site and SEO efforts. 
 
 
 
Definitely something I will look at when trying to integrate more multimedia with our releases - unfortunately not something we do right now.

Not sure I understand - are you trying to get information out onto networks and distributed? or drive traffic back to your site for site visits? Because they can run in opposition to each other.  
If you leave the cool stuff on your own site, you run the risk of it not being seen. If your video markets your company, hell, why not have a zillion copies out there. Measure what you can, let go of the rest. And we are talking press release here right? If your video pops up, with your logo on it, on some obscure site, smile and keep moving - it's just the ripple (not broadcast) in effect. In fact, I allow my stuff to be downloaded. Let the network carry my information whither it may. The main thing, it's out there being discussed. And theres enough monitoring tools now that I can see in a glance where the discussion has been picked up.  
I had trouble following the traditional media release vs SM. i always assumed the SMR was to encourage bloggers to discuss the subject. Not traditional media.

You make some excellent points. The very purpose of social media is to generate discussion and feedback and the argument regarding lack of aggregation, in my opinion, hits the nail on the head.  
 
 
 
I've actually never distributed a SMNR on the wire as our PR firm represents more smaller companies that typically don't do wire releases (this does not include our division of Microsoft that puts everything on the wire...I digress) - but the YouTube point is also interesting. It seems to detract from the community you are building. 
 
 
 
I'm sending this to all my colleagues! Thanks

Good points, though missing one major point. 
 
Anyone looking to use a social media news release as their main avenue of promotion is missing the whole idea of what a social media news release is. 
 
It should only be used as part of an overall campaign that includes both search engine optimized press releases and traditional ones. 
 
Social media news releases were never meant to be all-in-one SEO kings - instead, they should be seen for what they are - a great addition to a much larger campaign. 

Great post, and thanks for balancing things out with your points on the correct use of an smnr. Having never used an smnr as of yet, this was quite enlightening to me. At first glance of the template, I thought the concept was brilliant; but I can definitely see where it could be improved upon. 
 
That's why I love being in online marketing - constantly evolving and improving!

I agree -- good balance in your post by offering the "right way" at the end. I used SMNR format at Cisco and I thought it was just plain weird and an attempt to "fake" social media.  
 
I also agree with the notion of working towards the "wrong goal". Your website should be a desirable place for people! 
 
Regardless, I am glad Todd tried to innovate on the basic PR concept...  
 
Patrick 
@patrickmoran

@peter caputa - yeah... i still think shorter is better, but this one was LONG 
 
 
 
@Laurel Papworth - I think the point is that the way the internet works some aggregation is good, because a video that gets 1,000 views on YouTube is going to show up higher in the search engines than 10 videos that get 100 views. So yes, distribution is good, but you need to balance with focus and centralization. I still advocate for using the wire services for distribution, but then use them for aggregating people on your web site for the discussion and multimedia. 
 
 
 
@Ashley - Agreed. I think the wire service can be considered like an advertisement for your news, use it, but use it to push peopel back to your website where the fun content is.

Quite a few folks have forwarded this post to me, as if I ought to be concerned about it! ;) 
 
Mike, as you noted, I agree with about 90% of this post, and came to many of the same conclusions this past summer: http://is.gd/v1c ... 
 
I am not at all "worried" about posts like this one, because the state of the market, the wires, and the industry suggest that SMRs for the corporate newsroom (but abandoned when it comes to the Wire Services) is the right way to go, if you care about the original spirit of the SMR, which was to "make it social, dammit!" 
 
Thanks for keeping the debate going, Mike!

You make some very valid points here, Mike. 
 
I think the key here is to understand that these processes haven't been perfected yet, and that everything in the world of social media is still so new. 
 
I don't think the SMNR was a mistake - it was just the first wave of thinking about an old process in a new way.  
 
I think as more and more people discuss and debate how something like the SMNR is flawed and/or can be improved, someone will think up a process that most agree with and will eventually become as accepted as the traditional news release was for so long. 
 
We shall see.

The one thing that came to mind when reading this was the links back to the site and with great key words requirement. You covered that, so I don't totally disagree.  
 
Honestly, as a guy who gets pitched all the time, I don't want to receive the full SMPR. Instead, I want a tiny opt-in email asking me if I want more, and then a link to the more. It's the URL age, baby. I can get my own resources once you show me where to dump them.

@Todd Defren - Certainly the title is provocative, but I agree, I am not sure why peopel think I am giving the smack down. As you always say, the point of a "template" is a place to start, then change and adapt to how you want it. 
 
 
 
Those of use who know the both of us know we share similar viewpoints on many things: 
 
http://www.vimeo.com/1522562?pg=embed&sec=1522562

Thanks Mike - you've continued a conversation most of us in communications wanted killed off a while ago ;).  
 
I've joked with Todd Defren and Tom Foremski (big tip of the hat to him for questioning the spammers who thought PR = press releases) that we don't need a SMNR. Instead we need a short social media e-mail/Twitter/social network pitch and more importantly, a community-driven ethos for companies to live by. It's the relationships, honesty, timeliness and access that get corporate messages attention and sharing that can even drive leads.support deals. Really good products and services are even more powerful. 
 
News distribution (whether online, on wires, mail or from the local news stand) continues to be about giving people the ability to access your messages in formats that suit them. The corporate website, wiki and critically important RSS feed should be the preferred channel over wire distribution. 
 
I'm sure the wire services will question your thought about reach and frequency not being a benefit. Actually, most of the wire services are petrified of keeping market share and a fear of an eventual free GoogleNewswire so they don't tend to jump in on excellent blog posts like yours.

Great to see some thoughtful commentary on this topic instead of blind jumping on the bandwagon. One of the most helpful articles I have read. 
 

Making a mistake? This is a poor attempt to pump up a product that simply reinforces the same old PR methods, but with more "keywords" and magic hashtags. 
 
Either way, nice of you to bring the SMR discussion back to the table. As the founder of http://pitchengine.com I am obviously a big proponent of the SMR and SMNR.  
 
You're points are valid, but obviously come from a SEO / traditional web perspective. The social web is much more powerful than that.  
 
Have you ever been in PR? Ever needed to provide journalists (not just bloggers) with timely and complete information in a consistent way? Not all brands/PR firms have the capability to build and maintaining a newsroom on their client's sites.  
 
I can tell from your tone that this is aimed out SMRs offered by wire services, not pitchengine - as they are made for one purpose - an up sell that drives sales to their distribution services. 
 
Out of respect for our users and my customers: 
 
1.) As Todd Defren points out the SMR was never about distribution. Point taken. 
 
2.) Again, it's not about distribution. It's about sharing, not sending dynamic content. Besides that, the shift is happening now as more and more brands move to the social web. Name one brand not talking about social media today? One brand that hasn't looked at Facebook. If it was all about sheer distribution and "critical mass" newspapers would still be making money :) 
 
3.) PitchEngine is free to build and share SMRs. Custom Newsrooms are a small monthly subscription. Start a blog? Have a talked to a member of the media? Consistency is what made the press release last for 100 years. There has to be a template - Kudos to you Todd. 
 
4.) We're not marketers. We're PR pros building relationships. Social media (the name of the release itself) is about engaging people. And, SMRs do link to your websites and other related resources and sites. 
 
5.) This goes back to relationships. Call someone on the phone and use your "buzzwords", see how far you get.  
Real people read this stuff, not computers. There is no difference in SEO potential of a an SMR vs. a blog.  
 
6.) Not the case with PitchEngine. Just use the embeded video link. 
 
Your advice on how to correctly use the SMR is great. You can do all of this with PitchEngine and we could even recommend they try your press release grader. As for wire distribution, that's an expense we don't offer. 
 
I speak for our happy users when I say, this is the next step in media relations. It's opening new doors for brands, and allowing media to interact and understand the social web like never before.  
 
Need proof, let's do it the social way: http://bit.ly/3MlnRI

I did some research on the subject of content duplication and found that it is better to post your content to your site first and wait a couple of days for indexing by the search engines before distributing the content on other sites so that your site gets credit for it. 
 
Mike you said we should make use of a text press release and then post the SMPR on our site, my question to you now is; which press release distributing site do you think give the best bang for their cost for distributing plain text PRs on the internet? 
 
Also which plan or package will you suggest we use on that PR distributing site? 
 
I ask because there are so many out there and I am sure you might have tested some of them.

@Adam Zand - I think it will be interesting if there is a free or near free distribution service. At some point because of search engines and RSS there might not be a point in actually using a wire service. Just putting your article on a blog should get it "distributed" at some point. 
 
 
 
@Jason Kintzer - I agree with some of what you say, but I guess what I don;t get its that press releases don't form relationships. So the "social" aspect of a release is confusing to me. I have some good relationships, but none of them are based on press releases. They are based on Twitter, Facebook and conversations. 
 
 
 
@Owen Mcgab Enaohwo - I agree. We publish our news releases on our site at least an hour before they go over the wire, and also link back to the post on our site from the news release to signal to Google that the original content is on our website. As far as testing the different wire services, let me see what I can do.

@Mike Volpe You cannot share a press kit with a friend unless you mail it to them, or build a webpage with access to high-res image banks, related news, and other content, then send a link to them. 
 
Sure, you could do that, but why spend time/money when you can package it all in one SMR and share it digitally, streamlining the process. 
 
Social media by definition is about sharing digital content (From Wikipedia: "The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio.") You simply can't do that via wire service. That's where the "social" part comes in.  
 
The reference to relationships was in response to your "working towards the wrong goal" comment. The point was, the SMR is a PR tool, not a website traffic provider. 
 
That said, one of the other huge components you leave out of this equation is that brands are reaching consumers directly using SMRs. Getting a consumer to view a "press release"?...tough sell. Shoot them a tweet or Facebook comment about a giant burrito (http://pitch.pe/941) and you've got their attention.

Many good points already made here. It is important to post content to your site first. And media relaitons today needs a new strategy. Expecting one press release to meet the needs of all audiences is lunacy. ASk the journalists and bloggeres you deal with how they like to receive information. Some like the SMPR. 
 
Putting the multi media on your site makes sense. A Social Media news room on your site has become a must. And as more and more pubications post the majority of the news content online, bloggers and journalists are hungry for content. If you can supply them with the multi media content in a way they can easily access and use it, then you should include it in your media relations actions. 
 
 
 
Marketwire and PRWeek are holding a webinar tomorrow and there will be discussion about the SMPR. I am on the panel. 
 
 
 
Register here  
 

My question still stands unanswered. If we are to follow Mike's suggestion (.. which I think is brilliant by the way ..) of posting the SMPR on our sites and then distributing text PRs, which PR distribution sites gives the best bang for their cost? 
 
Also which of the plans on the recommended PR distribution site will be the best to use when distributing text PRs. 
 
I am eagerly waiting a response

Thank you Mike for opening up a lively discussion. 
 
First, let’s dispel a potential myth here... not all newswires are afraid to engage in these types of discussions or blog posts, nor are we necessarily "petrified of keeping market share or of eventual free services like GoogleNewswire" as was suggested by another poster. This response, and that of my colleague from Business Wire, speak to our comfort with this topic.  
 
When we launched our social media tools (notice the word ‘template’ is not here) earlier this year, our mission was simple: to help clients who had been using newswires for decades to: engage audiences important to them in one-way conversations...shift (my ode to Todd Defren) to engage these audiences in two-way (or even multi-way) conversations, and expand and open up opportunities for direct dialogue between them and consumers, a role historically reserved for the ‘traditional’ media.  
 
We see ourselves as educators and facilitators. As educators, we try to help communications professionals understand how to get involved in social media, and how to incorporate it into their overall communication strategy. As facilitators, we work with social media experts, our peers in the newswire industry and professional associations (IABC, NIRI, PRSA, and so on) to improve and hopefully standardize social media tools to make them easier to understand and more useful. 
 
Since newswires move hundreds of thousands of messages via traditional and social media press releases every year to tens of thousands of journalists and now, to millions of citizen journalists and consumers; we’re actually feeding the viral nature of communication on the social web; not working against it. 
 
The notion of stripping your SMPR of any rich media content and hosting that content on your site only is dangerous to advocate. Why? Because unless you’re IBM, Microsoft or a company whose newsroom is regularly viewed or sought out…posting any kind of content (text or multimedia) to your newsroom only, simply isn’t enough to generate the interest you seek. Your content is sitting static in a pool of few swimmers. 
 
As for the YouTube example? Pretend you are a specialty shoe retailer who has a storefront or two with hundreds of visitors and less marketing budget to promote yourself against a chain like Stride Rite with hundreds of storefronts and tens of thousands of visitors. Wouldn’t it make sense to have your specialty shoes inside a major department store who, by virtue of its foot traffic helped build awareness and possibly even consumption of your products? Sure, shoppers would have to sort through aisles or departments of other items (clothing, cosmetics, etc.), but the fact is your shoes, even inside that department store, are being exposed to more “shoppers” than in your storefronts alone. The analogy, while loose, illustrates a point. As the specialty shoe retailer; I’d much rather have my limited storefront foot traffic supplemented by foot traffic in a bigger, more noticeable and more frequently traveled and visited destination (the department store; correspondingly…the newswire’s YouTube channel) than not. It’s additive, cumulative, and it all helps. One is not a replacement of the other. Nor should it be. 
 
Thom Brodeur, svp, strategy & development, Marketwire 
 

Great post. I agree with many of those points. I think ultimately, we'll all meet somewhere in the middle where press releases can (and should) incorporate some multimedia/meta/linkable content, so the SMPR was a great start. And I agree with Brogan's point about the press release "tease." After all, it should be about relevance, not excessive content.

As I noted on a post a few months ago, all this angst over the SMR would probably never have bubbled up had it been called the Social Media Press Kit.

I am just a curious observer who has been reading a book by David M Scott "The New Rules of Marketing & PR", I would be so thrilled to hear how he rules on this debate. I will seek ways to send him a link to this "thread". Did I say that correctly?