For today’s communication professional, there’s little doubt that the social media press release (SMPR) has become a powerful tool to inform and engage online audiences.
This presentation will show you tips, tricks and best practice for building SMPRs, and why they are so critical to your overall communication strategy:
- Understand the interactivity and engagement within an SMPR
- Write for search engines like Google and real people
- Craft the perfect headline and SEO-friendly content
- Master your keyword strategy
- Make your online and offline efforts work hand-in-hand
- Use links to your advantage – hyperlinks and inbound links
- Understand the power of RSS to drive visibility of your news
- Use your existing digital assets to engage audiences and tell a more robust story
- Track your release’s performance and attribute ROI to your communication outreach
Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer.pdf
SMW Toronto: How to Make Social Media Press Releases Work for You
1. How to Make Social Media Press Releases Work for You
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3. Communicating in a Pre-Web 2.0 World Companies controlled the message Media acted as gatekeeper Audiences waited for the story Conversation was “top-down” and one way
4. What kind of digital camera should I buy? What are you doing NOW? What does EVERYONE ELSE think? Check out how COOL THIS IS!
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6. Communicating in a Web 2.0 World Conversation is multi-directional Gatekeepers are gone Audience is actively participating
11. Optimized (SEO) Press Releases Integrating key words, phrases and embedded links to optimize “findability” and rank within search engines Targets for SEO releases are consumers, not media Helping your News get found online
12. SEO: Search Engine Optimization She finds the link to your website and your product webpage Your potential customer enters your keywords into a search engine (e.g., Google, Yahoo!) YOUR POSTED PRESS RELEASE Distributed to 1,000s of places on the Internet with your hyperlinked webpage
13. Writing for the Web Google Rules but don’t forget about your reader
14. Words chosen and placed by copywriters in strategic locations on a web page in order to increase the volume and/or quality of traffic from search engines to a web page. Examples: Brand, Product, Service Name, Geographic Location, Or Topic Keywords
15. 75% of PR professionals are practicing keyword placement
16. But keywords for PR campaigns are not necessarily chosen by PR professionals
17. A Search Engine is… http://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleWebmasterHelp
22. Meta Description (as seen in Google) The presence of a search term in a webpage’s meta-description increases the likelihood that the page will be a top result
23. Inbound Links “ Inbound links...[are] one of the positive signals to Google about your site's importance... relevant, quality inbound links can affect your PageRank.” In other words, no matter how optimized a webpage is, the number of other pages linking to it will have a major effect on the ranking of that page
24. Now, think of your press release as just another webpage... ...The same rules apply
27. Meta Description of the Marketwire version TIP: Include a quick sentence or two about the news in regular form, then move into the “News Facts” – this will allow you to capitalize on including keyword-rich content in the meta description, which only includes the first couple hundred characters (including spaces)
29. On page text is based on the copy of the press release. You should be very keyword centric when writing. The question to ask is, “ which keyword searches do I want to result in this release showing up as a top SERP?”
32. Inbound Links are more powerful when used with keyword-rich “Anchor Text” Anchor text links are often used with specific product names or as an “interactive” tool... While this is a good use, more emphasis should be placed on creating anchor text links behind more general keywords such as “Java virtualization” or “server virtualization”
33. The more links you build, the more likely you are to increase the ranking of that webpage in a search for that keyword .
34. Google Search “Mayday” Recent algorithm change weighs relevancy of articles using user behavior on long-tail keywords higher than content keyword densities. In English? Interesting news, compelling content changes from being “King” to being “Godly” for all content. It used to be that long keyword phrases were easier to rank for based on keyword density alone, but now long-tail keywords will be held in the same esteem as shorter, generic keywords and phrases. In other words, use phrases 3-10
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36. Crafting The Perfect Headline “ Headlines that work in print don't work online because they're not search-friendly. Your headlines should be clear and declarative and state what your post is about.” Paul Gillin, Veteran Technology Journalist And Author
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40. Recommended Headline/ Title Length Also keep in mind that Twitter has a maximum of 140 characters – but leave room for a shortened URL…that’s a net of about 120 characters for Twitter. Headline Google Google News YouTube Yahoo! W3.org Headline/Title Length (Characters) 65-70 Max Displayed In Search Results (no documented recommendation) Min 10 to Max 110 120 Max 67 Max 64 Max
50. How Do You Pick Keywords? MW’s SEO Analyzer grades the search optimization level of a press release based on its headline, multimedia assets, and body text as well as the keywords. .
60. Potential Audience Twitter 190 Million+ Users veoh 28+ Million Unique Users Facebook 600 Million Users Photobucket 30 Million Unique Users Top Blog Sites 24 Million Users YouTube 2 Billion+ videos viewed daily Second Life 13 Million Residents LinkedIn 90 Million+ Users AP Mobile 38 Million monthly page views
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62. The SM 2.0 News Release Multimedia Elements DIGG,Technorati, Search Engine Stats Technorati Mashup Corporate RSS Feed Bulleted News Facts Multiple Quotes Corporate Web Site Social Bookmarking Links Intelligent Keyword Navigation Resources Facebook (Social Networking)
63. Feature: • embedded pictures • streamed video Benefit: • More engaging • Convenient for media / bloggers • Own screen real estate • Improved SEO
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67. Feature: • SEO Enhancement • Anchor Text Links • Links display on 100+ sites Benefit: • Backward links improve rank of website • Anchor text associates site with desirable keywords • Picking own meta keywords allows more creativity (Google Keyword Tool) • Combination of SEO Enhancement and multimedia maximizes SEO • Long Tail – news lives indefinitely
68. Feature: • Sharable on more than 230 social networks Benefit: • Lowers barrier to interaction • Maximizes viral potential • Gives target audience the ability to share release the way they want with others who are interested in news • Increases reach • News recommended by friend carries more weight
69. Feature: • Built in real-time reporting • Easily view Diggs • Easily view Technorati track backs • View & link to Google, Bing, Yahoo appearances Benefit: • Quickly assess key metrics/value • Easy reporting • Allows audience to easily see what others are saying about release
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74. Feature: • Headlines appear on blogs with relevant content via the Pheedo Blog RSS ad Network Benefit: • Value add release in front of highly targeted audience that is more likely to absorb and share message PC Magazine NY Times – Health News PHEEDO BLOG RSS AD NETWORK
84. Goal # 2: Drive traffic to project website SEO Enhancement (Included with Social Media 2.0) allowed Canadian Virtual Hospice to link important keywords back to their chosen sites, encouraging click-throughs and providing convenience to their audience.
127. Resources Social Media Corner on LinkedIn http://twitter.com/marketwire #smmeasure chat http://www.marketwire.com/PR 2.0 http://www.marketwireblog.com/ Public Relations Marketing and Planning Tools Summary From Marketwire: http://www.marketwire.com/mkt/PDF/Marketing-PR-Planning-Monitoring-Tools.pdf
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Hinweis der Redaktion
So, what is a Search Engine Optimized Press Release? Well, it’s simply your text release written using the words and phrases that people type into a Google search to find you And it includes internet links to encourage people to come visit your website where you can convert them to a buyer, an investor, an evangelist. These hyperlinks are what connect the World Wide Web and are your greatest opportunity to be found. Be strategic about the pages you’re driving traffic back to. Make them specific internal landing pages where there’s such things as: A point of purchase A place to request more info A free offer Events like conferences and webcasts Other websites with stories that help to illustrate your Groups associated with your brand And recent media or blog posts about you
Define Keyword 75% using 25% not
Another important factor to consider is the anchor text of a link, which assists search engines in determining the subject of your page. You’re more likely to rank for anchor text that coincides with content on the page you’re linking to. The last thing you want to start competing for are keywords such as “learn more” or “this site” or “here”. In the case of marketwire, anchor text like “press releases” or “social media marketing” or “news wire” would be much more beneficial. -Deep linking is all about relevance. Think back to the content mantra that “relevant content is godly” for a minute. If someone is linking to your site specifying very specific anchor text as your subject matter, does it make sense to send them to your homepage which is a gross generalization, or to deeper pages in your site that is more specific and relevant? Search engines think the latter.
Links are often your web page’s first impression on search engines. Short of reading the content in a release, search engines look to anchor text to suggest what the main topic or content of a linked page (landing page) might contain. The main goal for SEO goodness when it comes to links is the perfect alignment of release content, a link’s anchor text as a signal promoting the importance of a landing page, and the landing page’s relevance to the release. If all three are in alignment, you’re good to go. That being said, here are some tips on links… Do: -Ideally, the anchor text specified is a wish list item to a search engine for the keywords or phrase your client wants to rank for. Type that phrase into a search engine and determine how many competing pages they’re up against. Consider clicking a few that rank well for that phrase to try to determine what makes that page rank well. Then check Google.com/sktool/ to determine the monthly search volume and competition on a keyword or phrase. -When comparing competing pages for a given search query, consider visitor intent amongst those competing results in the SERP. Do they speak to educate visitors, sell to visitors? Do they appeal to spontaneous personalities, researchers, judgers, etc? How do your client landing pages compare? -Using descriptive anchor text is a no-brainer, don’t bother linking anchor text such as “read more” or “visit our web page” or “click here”. -The use of redirects is generally a solution to a problem. If you’re using redirects for links embedded in a news release, you’re doing something wrong. However, if you must use redirects make sure they’re SEO friendly by checking them on seoconfs.com. OMG, when you’re linking, make sure you don’t: -link to general hub pages, they’re not specific enough to stand the test of time. What you really want to do is start ranking specific client landing pages for specific keywords. The content should be highly relevant to both the release, and the link anchor text, as mentioned above. -Try not to deceive visitors in any way. Not only will this demote your rank in the SERP, but it may get you a “malware” or “phishing” or “restricted” site warning screen if and when links are clicked from search engines. -You only ever use calls to action in advertisements. No one clicks on advertisements (ok fine, a few people do, if it’s targeted). Search engines don’t know how or where to rank a landing page that has links describing it as “click here” or “call now”. Don’t make it hard for search engines to guess what a landing page is about. -As mentioned above, redirects are typically solutions to web site problems.
SEO should be part of a long term online marketing strategy, and must be nurtured, monitored and maintained over time. Competition is fierce for web pages, but other content types show real promise, such as images and multimedia.
Competing against tens of millions of other web pages can be tough, which is why it makes sense to compete with different types of media. Ever since Google started using Universal Search Results (aka blended search results, including video, images, etc), there has been a proportionate amount of competing media types on the first page of Google’s SERP. -There are billions of Web pages that compete with each and every news release, that may or may not be more relevant. Subsequently, getting a news release ranked for generic terms is really hard. It takes a significant, long-term SEO campaign to compete. -Images are somewhat easier to rank for. A picture says a thousand words, so if a message can be communicated in an image, it might be a good place to start. Competing image counts are usually orders of magnitude smaller than their web page counterparts for the same keywords. In addition, when clicked on, they link back to the page that embeds them, thereby sending traffic to a story because of it’s image. -Video results are similar to image results. Much less competing items for any given keyword, plus prime real estate on the first page SERP. Keep in mind that YouTube is the #2 search engine on the internet (according to ClickZ), and video receives double the benefit because it’s listed on YouTube and on Google. Unfortunately, video hosted on YouTube is one click removed from a client’s website, but that’s better than no exposure at all (compared to web pages).
Take a good look at the stats on this slide. For all I know, these are incorrect at this moment because more and more people are discovering this world. That’s a big audience!
New format Breaking news no longer primary goal Be interesting, provacative, engaging Makes you content easily shareable and spreadable
White House press conference. Highlighted quote from President Obama.
Media pickup of press conference – highlighted quote is basis for stories
IDO Security ties in release with news story. Anchor text links – associates your site with those keywords and phrases
Over 100 downstream partners display the live links to your website – there backward links improve the rank of your website
RIM social media 2.0 release
Diggs
Blog posts – not Video also picked up in blog posts
Expedia.ca SMR
Videos posted to Marketwire YouTube channel on first page of Google search for release.
Share this
Offers source code to easily take and post to a blog – embed code
Big trend - YouTube – second biggest search engine People are looking for content on video – fastest growing medium
Obviously, success in social media is what you make it. Being conversational, approachable, and building relationships with your community takes time and effort. Small and medium sized businesses are doing this well. They understand that social media is the new word of mouth. Several are reducing customer service costs, and getting hyper-local reach. Sometimes the best companies are on our doorstep and we don’t even realize it. Enterprises are doing their share to embrace social media as well. Fortune 100 companies are starting to become more engaged in social media and have started to go beyond traditional networks to build communities on their own platforms.
But how are these companies leveraging social media monitoring to build their brands? Several applications come to mind: The most obvious one being brand/reputation management. You can’t join the conversation if you don’t know where it’s occurring. If you haven’t started listening or joining conversation yet, I would recommend you do so. This is the reason Marketwire started the social media fitness program earlier this year, to ensure companies started engaging their communities online. If you haven’t checked it out yet, visit sm10x30.com for more information. Agencies have embraced social media monitoring. Several have started offering social media monitoring reports and analysis to clients based on specific campaigns – a very smart idea. Several agencies have started measuring results directly, and are relating key performance indicators directly to return on investment for their social media efforts. Many have used social media monitoring solutions to run comparative reports showing how their services excel against their competition. These are significant, game-changing advantages. Small and medium-sized enterprises use social media monitoring to identify influencers and advocates in their industries and markets. Several companies are actively monitoring social media to resolve customer service issues and reduce support costs. Many are also leveraging competitive intelligence to gain insights on competitor activities. What are some specific examples of how companies are employing social media strategies, monitoring and analytics to build stronger relationships and drive ROI?
Everyone knows about Dell’s now infamous $3M in revenue through Twitter, but there are several other great examples that you may not have heard of… for example: Cisco found that providing user forums and participating in their online communities actually reduced customer support inquiries and tickets by 43%. Social@Cisco website – includes 22 external blogs, 108 twitter feeds (w/2 million followers), 79 Facebook groups (w/100K fans), 300+ YouTube channels (2K videos, 4 million views) Ebay finds that users that are engaged in their online communities in forums, on blogs, and on twitter are likely to spend an average of 54% more. (ARPO stands for average revenue per order). I’m guessing that had something to do with Ebay starting eBay Classifieds (or Kijiji in Canada). Build-A-Bear actually went one step further and created a platform, a destination for kids to interact with their brand and each other. Doing so boosted units sold to 60,000, generating half a million dollars in revenue. Shortly after the oil spill in the gulf, BP launched several reputation management strategies including an estimated $50M spent on television ads, $1M in paid search, and on the social media side: launched a website dedicated to the Gulf of Mexico Response, a YouTube channel, a FlickR pool, a Facebook page, and started Tweeting. Granted, some of these examples are somewhat older, but the reason for that is that companies have learned enough from their own social media engagement and analysis to realize that it’s starting to become a competitive advantage, so they’re less likely to publicize their successes.