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

As you may or may not be aware, Pressitt, the Social Media News Release creation and publishing platform, is very much a part of Liberate Media and its partner Best Served Cold.

What is Pressitt?

Pressitt allows you to create and publish a rich multimedia asset-assisted news release. Your release acts as a hub of information, giving Journalists, bloggers, and your online community more information to easily research your brand.

Once you have created your release it’s then up to you to use it as part of your blogger/journalist outreach campaign. We are not a newswire. We are a platform to create and distribute content in a relevant and useful manner.

Once published, your release is made available via RSS, categorised and searchable via tags. It is also tweeted via the Pressitt account, indexed by Google news and all other major search engines.

Coming soon

We are currently in the process of adding an exciting new string to the Pressitt bow. The new element has been driven by the large amount of positive user and fan feedback we receive.

At this stage, I don’t want to give to much away, but all I will say is that this new element will take Pressitt to the next level and help brands further engage with target audiences. Watch this space!

Get involved

We are committed to furthering the Social Media News Release format, so if you like Pressitt, want to get involved, have feedback, or would like to talk to us about any potential partnership opportunities please get in-touch by emailing andy@pressitt.com

We look forward to hearing from you.

— Andy Merchant

We all know the traditional press release is still a staple communications tool for the PR professional, and although there has been much discussion surrounding the demise of the text-based press release, it is still used by many agencies and brands.

The social media news release offers additional links to content relating to the news announcement, core facts rather than spin, as well as images, video, and sharable elements that make the news live for the reader, as below.

However, we would love to know more about how the SMNR is impacting on the daily lives of journalists of all types. For example, are you seeing more SMNRs from brands and agencies? If so, are they useful? Do you prefer traditional text-based press releases?

Any feedback we receive will go towards the ongoing development of the Pressitt SMNR platform.

If you can spare a few minutes to provide your feedback in the comments section below, or get in touch directly via team@pressitt.com we would be most grateful.

View the features of a more helpful style of release below.

— Andy Merchant

Anchor House the hostel and life skills centre for homeless adults has recently undergone a website update including a Social Media Newsroom and bespoke news template provided by Pressitt, the Social Media News Release and publication platform.

The Anchor House Newsroom can be found at http://anchor-house.pressitt.com/ and will now act as a hub for all the Anchor Houses press release and news. The Pressitt newsroom will help Anchor House to engage with bloggers/journalists and other interested parties with its deconstructed approach to sharing news across the blogosphere. All Pressitt news is indexed by major search engines and Google News.

Anna Richardson, marketing consultant for Anchor House comments “Anchor House is a forward thinking organisation that believes it is vital to embrace new communication tools. Tools such as Pressitt help us to widen our audience reach and engage our community with relevant and useful content. We are extremely pleased with the newsroom and the work carried out by Pressitt”.

Pressitt is currently the only free Social Media News Release Service in the UK and is being utilised by a wide variety of organisations from UK start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.

— 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

Just in case you missed it over the last few weeks, Pressitt has been going through a number of changes, most noticeably with a site makeover. In the midst of all these changes was the news that all Pressitt releases are now syndicated to Google News.

This development will ensure higher visibility and greater traffic to your release, we hope you notice the difference.

However, this is not an invitation to spam us with un-newsworthy releases and as a consequence Pressitt will be monitoring and moderating its SMNRs more closely than ever before.

If you’re not sure what Pressitt does and doesn’t allow in terms of content, please read our editorial guidelines before you submit your next release.

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

— Andy Merchant

After the successful re-launch of Pressitt last week (including coming out of BETA) and the launch of our new white paper titled: Has the Social Media News Release (SMNR) finally come of age?, we wanted to share PR week’s coverage of the news with you all. See below.

— 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

Social Media News Release (SMNR) service Pressitt today announces that it is coming out of public beta and re-launching with a fully upgraded platform and host of new features and functionality. In addition, all Pressitt releases will be featured in Google News ensuring higher visibility for all SMNRs created and published via the service.

Pressitt is the only free Social Media News Release (SMNR) service currently available in the UK. Its feature-rich platform revolutionises the traditional, text-heavy press release format, providing journalists, bloggers and consumers with a new and simpler way of gathering information.

The upgraded Pressitt 1.0 service has been redesigned to offer greater performance and usability, based on user feedback. New features include improved search functionality across the site, and the ability to tag releases to assist with visibility.

Improvements have also been made to social publishing functionality to encourage users to share their Pressitt SMNRs.

A new authentication system with enhanced security features will also underpin Pressitt 1.0 to ensure it is only distributing quality content. Live form validation has been introduced to make the registration, login and creation process slicker and more intelligent to use. In addition, human moderation controls have also been increased to offer a double layer of protection against unsolicited news.

Since its public beta launch in April 2009, Pressitt has successfully encouraged a large number of respected PR agencies and businesses to adopt the SMNR format for the first time, and hence share their news announcements with a social media audience.

Wendy McAuliffe, director of Liberate Media and Pressitt, comments: “The public support that we’ve received for Pressitt during its beta phase has been extremely encouraging, and we’re delighted to see a wide range of brands and agencies signing-up and embracing the SMNR. The Google News listing that Pressitt has secured is testimony to the relevance and quality of the service, and we are confident that the new features and functionality launching today will make it an even more valuable resource to the PR industry.”

The Pressitt SMNR template offers all of the core information found in a traditional press release, but additionally takes advantage of linking, multimedia and Web 2.0 shareable features. It allows users to host downloadable hi-res images within their releases, along with PowerPoint presentations, and PDFs - YouTube videos can also be embedded. Each brand using the service is assigned its own RSS feed, and press contacts can be reached via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Additionally, up-to-date bookmarking and sharing icons are presented including Posterous, Yammer and Sphinn.

Pressitt is owned by PR and social media agency Liberate Media and web development firm Best Served Cold.

View the Pressitt SMNR re-launch release.

— Andy Merchant