Pressitt would like to take this opportunity to thank all the brands, agencies, government departments and everyone else who has used Pressitt’s free, SMNR platform so far.

At this stage we would like to ask for your help to showcase the positive effect a Pressitt Social Media News Release has had on your campaign or organisation.

What Pressitt is looking for:

• Any case studies using Pressitt as part of your social media outreach campaign
• Any feedback from journalists or bloggers as a result of being presented with a Pressitt Social Media News Release
• Feedback from clients that you have produced a Pressitt Social Media News Release on behalf of
• Anything else of interest related to Pressitt.

Anything you can offer will be greatly appreciated, please email andy@pressitt.com with any evidence.

We look forward to viewing your next Pressitt SMNR.

— Andy Merchant

We are always looking at innovative ways to help you to make the most of Pressitt, and with this in mind we have produced a document that will help pre-plan and create your Social Media News Release before publication to our site.

The  editable PDF document  will guide you through the creation process, allowing you to create your release in draft before adding it to the site. You can also  add notes with ideas for images and documents that you would like to see on the final SMNR.

We hope this will help you to plan the detailed elements of your release and also achieve sign-off from clients and internal teams as required.

The downloadable and editable PDF pre-release document can be found on your profile page or here.

We would love to hear any feedback on the document or recommendations to enhance it further.

We look forward to viewing your Pressitt SMNRs.

— Andy Merchant

Pressitt the Social Media News Release service is searching for a talented web developer to learn the Pressitt system and help develop the platform further.

If the first project goes well there is plenty more updates/concepts/user feedback to be integrated into the current platform.

The Role: freelance/short term

To develop and improve Pressitt.com on a freelance basis or short term contract, as and when required.

Working closely with our lead developer and front end coder, you’ll be responsible for coding various parts of the site, including bespoke and custom newsrooms from basic php functions within Code Igniter down to in-depth classes.

Built on Codeigniter, Pressitt is a fully featured site with combined client-side and server-side technologies allowing users to create rich and detailed news releases.

Required Skills

• Object Orientated Programming
• Model View Controller/Frameworks
• Linux Systems Administration
• Content Management Systems
• Social Networking (Web)
• Internet usability
• Accessibility (Web)
• Front end coding and javascript

Required Products

• Codeigniter
• PHP
• MySQL
• jQuery
• XHTML/HTML
• CSS
• LAMP
• Wordpress (not essential)
• Zend Eclipse (not essential)

So, if you can deliver on the above, live preferably near London/the South East, are hard working and able to work to strict schedules, please get in touch via email at andy@pressitt.com

We look forward to hearing from you.

— Andy Merchant

Today I wanted to highlight the fact that the SMNR is not a ‘fire and forget’ tactic. It’s not a newswire either.

The SMNR is useful because it opens up conversation and allow brand owners to engage with online users and vice versa. The conversation shouldn’t end after a few hours, days or weeks.

The beauty of the SMNR concept is that you can keep the conversation alive by re-visiting your SMNR and updating it with fresh content and then re-publishing and re-engaging with your audience. It’s the start of the conversation, not the end of your news.

Ideas to update you Social Media News Release:

• New quotes or updated quotes
• Fan videos/images
• Additional links to other news coverage or user generated content
• Update on the announcement
• New findings/research
• or even just to update your contact details
• Updated product shots
• Expert commentary from other sources

Standard newswires would charge to do this, but Pressitt allows you to make any amount of edits for free.

I hope this small snippet of advice allows you to use the social media news service of your choice more effectively, if you have any further queries, please get in touch.

— Andy Merchant

Maddie Grant published a great post over at Social Media Today offering her thoughts on creating a compelling social media news/press release. She goes on to say:

A social media release has 4 elements:

• Good headlines – write for 3 audiences / 3 readers (human readers first). Use subtitles (helps SEO). Short and to the point. Keywords up front if possible. Think to yourself, if it appeared on Facebook, would I click it?
• Body copy – 3 audiences / 3 readers – tell a story. No bullets, no PR or marketing speak. Write like a person. Write like an article, not an announcement. Write for diagonal readers (lots of scanning, 10 second readers – headlines / section titles / bold / links / pictures/ graphs / summaries). Use humour.
• Additional content elements- related content, multimedia, links to related articles, social media sharing, easy to email/print, moderated comments.
• Technical considerations – search engine ready, RSS ready, sharing ready.

All of which are very good pieces of advice, the third bullet rings especially true for Pressitt, which utilises them all of the key points listed and more.

Here are some additional useful links to help you understand more about the Social media News/Press release.

How to Write a Social Media Press Release

Social Media Releases - Everything You Wanted to Know

Why Use Social Media With Your Press Release?

Blogger Relations vs Social Media News Release (SMNR)

More about Pressitt

If you would like to discuss the benefits of Pressitt or the Social Media News/Press release format in general, please contact andy@pressitt.com

— Andy Merchant

The Pressitt team have put together some  key points to help you fully appreciate what Pressitt Social Media News Release service has to offer:

• It’s free to sign up and free to use - no strings attached!
• There is no advertising on your SMNRs.
• All SMNRs are indexed by Google News, all major search engines, the Pressitt Twitter feed, and the Pressitt site via its categories and tags.
• Brand logos will feature prominently on your SMNR-  next to your title.
  
• Each brand/identity has its own unique RSS feed.
• Your releases doesn’t expire after 30 days - it only expires when you delete it!
• Easily edit your release after publication.
• You can add up to 8 images to each release, all of which are easily downloaded by the user.
• You can add as many YouTube video as you like to support your SMNR.
• You can add as many contact details as you need, with the addition of social contact profiles.
• All previous releases are visible on each SMNR.
• You have the option to add relevant files to your SMNR to support your release.
• Easy to follow relevant links section.
• Digestible format: introduction, core facts, main text, quotes, press contacts, previous release, relevant links, images, videos and tags are all clearly defined for ease of use.
• Help and tips throughout the creation process.
• Search boxes with auto complete.
• Accessible social sharing icons.

I hope this gives you a taste of Pressitt’s functionality and watch out for more upgrades coming your way soon.

Click here to see some user examples.

— Andy Merchant

How to get started and build your first Pressitt Social Media News Release.

1.       Register for an account, it’s quick, free and easy.

Getting to know Pressitt

First view the Pressitt features, examples and editorial guidelines

Building your first SMNR

Once you have signed in you will be taken to your Profile page, this is where the fun begins.

1.       First you need to create a brand identity; a brand signifies who the release is from. Without adding a brand identity your SMNR will not feature on the home, loosing maximum viability.

2.       Once you have added your brand identity it’s time to move on to creating your SMNR. Choose your brand identity from the drop down menu.

3.       Choose up to 3 categories that best suit your SMNR to sit in on the Pressitt site. If you don’t see a suitable category let us know. hello@pressitt.com

4.       Add a title, overview, body text and core facts; core facts are key nuggets of information about your release.

5.       Fill in your contact details, and also add your social contact details, so interested parties can contact you via social networks and micro blogs.

6.       At this point SAVE and CONTINUE onto the next editing page

7.       Next you can add YouTube videos to your release just copy and paste the page URL to the given space.

8.       Add quotes from industry experts to back up your release content.

9.       Add relevant links; this is a great chance to give viewers of your Social Media News Release additional information on your brand, link to your company social media profiles such as Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr. Also link to any research used in your release and even other coverage your release has attained.

10.   Click the previous release check button to have other SMNRs from that brand featured on this release.

11.   At this point SAVE and CONTINUE onto the next editing page

12.   Add images and document to supports your release. Images play an important part of the visual aspect of your release.

13.   Add descriptive tags.

14.   At this point SAVE and Preview your release.

15.   On the preview screen check you are happy with the end result, go back to element you wish to correct but make sure you SAVE the edit.

Publish and share your SMNR

1.       After viewing your release click publish to make it LIVE, your SMNR will now feature on the Pressitt home page and its pre selected categories.

2.       Use the social bookmarking icons to submit your SMNR to social news sites such as DIGG and MIXX, micro blogs such as twitter and of course you can also email a link of your release to all your friends and contacts.

3.       Don’t worry if you forget to do this we will send you a helpful email reminder.

For further help please check out our Help page

We look forward to viewing your next Social Media News Release.

The Pressitt Team

You can download the PDF version of the Pressitt SMNR quick start guide here.

— Andy Merchant

White paper: Has the Social Media News Release (SMNR) finally come of age?

Guest blogger Nathan Greenhalgh introduces the results of research he carried out for Liberate Media to identify the issues around the traditional Press Release format and development of the Social Media News Release as an alternative. Director Wendy McAuliffe guided Nathan in the scope of the research and collation of the data, acting as mentor/editor for the production of the White Paper.

Pressitt launched in public beta last April, and to coincide with its re-launch and coming out of beta this month, we decided to carry out our own research into current perceptions around the traditional press release, and its successor the SMNR. Our findings are presented within our white paper entitled: Has the Social Media News Release (SMNR) finally come of age?

We hope you will find the time to download and read the white paper, which brings together some of the main industry arguments for and against the SMNR. However to entice you, here is an overview of our findings…

1)      The rules have changed and the traditional press release is no longer adequate. Increasing pressures on journalists, coupled with the rise of the “online citizen journalist” indicates that there will be more demand for a greater range of information than just text.

2)      Our research found that while general press releases are still useful, and up to now the vast majority of journalists have been happy to receive them by email, new pressures on time mean that they also need quick access to images, video and links.

3)      The style of information and formatting is crucial - that means no PDFs as the only source of information. Video is increasingly important, as are embeddable links and links to other sources.

4)      The SMNR has been sitting in the wings for a few years now, not quite managing to make the most of its potential. It would appear however that journalists could finally be coming round to making the most of the advantages SMNRs offer over the traditional press release.

Regardless of whether you are a Pressitt user or not, we would welcome your views on the subject. If you are new to the SMNR, we invite you to give Pressitt a go.

Download the white paper: (PDF) Has-the-social-media-news-release-finally-come-of-age ?

— Andy Merchant

Over the last few days the Pressitt team has noticed a small uplift in spam releases submitted to the Pressitt platform and unfortunately a few slipped through the net.

As a consequence, Pressitt has updated it’s spam procedures and no longer allows content related to loans, finance, credit, along with the banned topics already prominent in the registration page.

Any account found to be abusing Pressitt in any shape or form will have its account terminated straight away.

However, if you feel you have a legitimate release covering one of the banned topic areas, please get in touch with the editorial team (contact@pressitt.com ) and we will review your submission on an individual basis.

Let us make it clear that the vast majority of Pressitt users publish relevant and newsworthy content, but we feel it is necessary to take these measures to maintain the standards of content available via Pressitt.

If you’re still not sure what Pressitt does and doesn’t allow in terms of content, please read our editorial guidelines before you submit your next release. All we basically want is relevant and newsworthy content.

To find out more about the different types of spammers out there, Joshua Titsworth at Search Engine Journal has written an excellent post entitled: Six Types of Social Spammers (none of which we want to see on Pressitt)

We look forward to viewing your next Social Media News Release.

The Pressitt Team

— Andy Merchant

This is the third part of our tricks and tips blog post series, focused on getting the most out of the Pressitt Social Media News Release creation and publishing platform.

Part 3: Dont’ forget about your previous releases!

Pressitt previous releases tick box image

In page 2 of the editing and creation processing pages is a small tick box option that says “Tick the box if you would like to have your previous SMNRs listed. Only SMNRs from this company identity can be listed”

It’s always worth ticking this box as it always allows other SMNR’s created with this identity to be included on your latest published SMNR. This functionality helps give your viewer to your release a  chance to further explore your brands latest news.

Previous SMNRs image

We hope this gives you a few more ideas when creating your SMNR. Come back soon to see the next Pressitt SMNR tips and tricks post.

— Andy Merchant