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 [email protected] we would be most grateful.

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

— Andy Merchant @andymerch

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 @andymerch

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 @andymerch

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. [email protected]

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 @andymerch

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 @andymerch

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 @andymerch

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 @andymerch

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 @andymerch

The Pressitt team have been working very hard behind the scenes for the last few months and want to let you into a little secret - we are coming out of beta very soon!

In a matter of days, Pressitt will be launching version 1.0 with a multitude of new features and functionality. We’ll notify you as soon as the new system goes live, and we hope you like it. Watch this space!

The Pressitt team.

— Andy Merchant @andymerch

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 ([email protected] ) 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 @andymerch