SMNR: Flash to the Future
Posted At: April 9, 2008 12:23 PM
by Suzanne Flanagan
The traditional press release has been given a face-lift. The social media news release (SMNR) was created in order to generate a more positive, productive relationship between PR practitioners and the media. The new SMNR allows the press to receive all of the facts in an organized manner, eliminating promotional, opinionated information.
Webitpr.com defines a SMNR as “a new kind of press release aimed at (but not exclusive to) both journalists and bloggers. It does not include the ‘spin’ of the traditional press release, but provides multimedia content in an accessible format that can easily be repurposed and shared on blogs, Web sites and social networks including MySpace and Facebook.”
This new development is especially popular in the blogging community because of its clarity and efficiency. The SMNR gives bloggers the opportunity to have news release information at their fingertips. It also includes images, audio, video, RSS feeds, hyperlinks and social bookmarking capabilities. This multimedia press release is a great leap for the PR community into a more tech-savvy, user-friendly style of operation.
Shift Communications knows the importance of social media awareness in today’s world: “As blog readership continues to explode, savvy companies are capitalizing on the PR opportunities that social media and the blogosphere offer. Increasingly, blogging and other key social media elements are an integral part of our clients’ overall pubic relations strategy” (https://www.shiftcomm.com/services_blogs.html).
Like many others are beginning to realize, Shift understands that blogs can make a huge impact on a company’s image. The majority of today’s clients and target audiences are involved in some aspect of social media. It is critical to understand their values and how they stay connected to one another in order to relate to them. The SMNR is an innovation in the PR world because it will allow news releases to be distributed not only to journalists and news organizations, but also through the Web’s infinite social network.
What is a SMNR? www.youtube.com/watch
Sample SMNR: blogit.webitpr.com/
Sources:
Official Web site of SHIFT Communications (2007). Blogs and Social Media. Retrieved March 24, 2008, from https://www.shiftcomm.com/services_blogs.html
Official Web site of Webitpr.com (2008). Social Media News Release. Retrieved March 22, 2008, from https://www.webitpr.com/realwire.asp?id=21
Are you interested in incorporating the SMNR into your next PR strategy?
