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Press releases may have become standardized and unoriginal, but the digital age provides the opportunity to renew creativity and maximize impact. This article from Mashable gives ideas on where to start.

Image source: Mashable

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. Did you know that just 14% of releases posted on major wire services have been optimized for search? Or that press releases including an image or a video get shared three times more than text-only releases -– and viewers spend up to 30 seconds more time with this content -– but nearly half of marketers do not routinely add images to their press releases? Many marketers are missing out on opportunities to get their news more widely viewed and shared. So before you issue your next press release, consider these four simple tactics to amplify the reach of your news.

1. Write Your Release With Search in Mind Image source: Mashable It’s no longer enough to write press release copy that tells a clear and compelling story; you must now also write your release in a way that helps searchers find you online. Reporters use search engines to find sources and story ideas, and comScore reports that in February 2012, U.S. searchers conducted 371 million news-related searches on search engines. Start by making a list of the keywords and phrases that are most relevant to your company, and then cross-check these terms using Google’s keyword tool to assess monthly search volume and competition for your core keywords, and to see suggestions for other related keywords. Once you have your list of keywords, use them in the headline and subhead of your release, as well as throughout the body of the announcement -– just make sure that the release still sounds natural and makes sense. Avoid over-repetition by using secondary and tertiary keywords, too. When including hyperlinks in your release, Mark Scott, Global Public Relations Manager for NCR, also recommends you link to what your product does or your keywords, not your product name. “I've seen both big and small businesses only link to their product name, which limits the SEO value of your release,” says Scott. “Don't put a link to just the product name because if it's new, there's not a single person who is going to Google that name. Link to a keyword phrase like ‘inventory management software’ instead, because that's what people are searching for." 2. Include Search-Optimized Images With Your Release Including images along with your release can make a big difference in coverage. PRESSfeed’s data shows that 80% of journalists and bloggers are more likely to cover news that includes an image. What kinds of images work? Courtney Walsh of Media Darling PR encourages clients to use images that really illustrate that news they’re putting out. “For example, if it's a new product, don't just include a product shot, show customers using it,” says Walsh.  “Also remember that images need to be high-resolution to be useful for most press.” Images can also work double duty in your search strategy if you optimize the images for search by naming and tagging them with keywords. Becca Bernstein, social media marketing manager at Picaboo, also suggests including the release headline or the related blog post title in the name and tags, so people can find your content through an image search. For example, this approach helped her company get a recent “How to Photograph Fireworks” blog post to the top of Google's Image Search. “When people search for photos of fireworks, my tips and tricks for taking photos of fireworks is now prevalent,” says Bernstein. Bernstein also recommends adding hashtags and the URL back to the blog post or news release in the Photo Title and Alternate Photo Title. “When I do this, it allows any image pinned to Pinterest to include a searchable hashtag and a link back to my blog. This drives more clicks and ultimately, a higher ranking on Google,” adds Bernstein. 3. Boost Press Release Engagement With Video

Video source: Mashable If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much is a video worth? Data from PR Newswire and Crowd Factory shows that while adding a photo to a press release increases engagement by 14%, adding a video along with a photo actually doubles the engagement rate. “Based on my experience, video dramatically increases impressions, interactions and syndication of news releases,” says Jim Kemp, communications manager at software company ColumbiaSoft. “We frequently include video with our news releases whenever possible, and have seen headline impressions regularly increase by 130% over releases without videos.” When creating your video, James Crawford of Crawford PR suggests that you stick to the news -– no self-serving advertorials –- and avoid talking heads, to hold viewers’ interest. He also recommends using graphics or charts in the video to illustrate your point, and keeping the video to under two minutes. While you can use a service like YouTube or Vimeo to host the video, Kemp strongly recommends also distributing your video over the wire with your press release to boost syndication and SEO. “Simply placing a link to a video is not good enough. Having the video embedded in the distribution is a must,” says Kemp. Once your video is uploaded, make sure to tag it with your keywords, and even consider including a transcript of the video so that search engines can index the content. 4. Use Social Media to Amplify Your News Image source: Mashable The more backlinks that point to your content, the more value search engines will assign to it … so you should consider executing a mini social media “blitz” right after your news hits the wire, says Tom Corson-Knowles, author of How To Make Money With Twitter. “I've developed a system over the years that has been incredibly useful in boosting SEO results of press releases and other announcements for my small business clients,” says Corson-Knowles. “Basically, it involves creating a coordinated social media promotions campaign that launches within 60 minutes of the press release or news announcement.” Corson-Knowles recommends this process:

Post the news on your web site

Tweet the news with a link to the announcement on your web site (and have employees tweet it too)

Post your news with a link to the announcement on Facebook (and have employees post it too)

Pin any relevant news-related images or videos to Pinterest (with links back to your news page)

Create and post a video on YouTube talking about the announcement and linking back to the announcement on your website

Embed the YouTube video into a blog post and publish the blog post linking back to the announcement page

Post the announcement page on other social networks such as Reddit, Digg and StumbleUpon

“In my experience, the combined effect of all of this promotion as soon as the announcement is made is generally a 4x to 5x increase in traffic thanks to the improved search engine rankings of the news,” says Corson-Knowles. Finally, write tweetable press release headlines. Data shows press releases that are shared via social media bring an average of six people back to the news distribution site to view the release.  When writing your headline, think about whether it's short enough to fit into a tweet, including a Twitter handle and link. Next, be sure the company or product name is in the beginning so it won't get cut off. Double check for keywords so the tweet is searchable, and make the headline punchy enough to generate retweets. What are some other strategies you’ve employed to get your press releases to spread?

Atomic PR is a leading public relations firm that provides creative programs guided by analytics. By utilizing sophisticated methods of analyzing situations, formulating strategies, and measuring results, the company has assembled an elite client pool.

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In traditional public relations, clients are often those who belong to society’s upper crust—captains of industry, showbiz personalities, and behemoths of the consumer products sector. Only a decade ago, many sectors, such as schools, hospitals, and human resource facilities, did not need public relations in the traditional sense. They often needed no more than advertising or word of mouth to drive its business forward.

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But today’s reputation landscape has changed. Atomic PR has, in its client list, Jobvite, a manpower sourcing company, and Hotwire, a hotel and car rental service. These are firms that once had niche markets established enough to prove public relations campaigns irrelevant. But because competition is rising along with simplified forms of advertising, even these markets are no longer enough for the companies to be able to hold out on their own. Hence, a more directed approach toward building a brand and an image has become a business imperative across the board. Hotwire’s strategy involved building client insight into the company’s services, aimed at reintroducing its service lines to its chosen market. The media campaign included several outlets such as print, broadcast, and social media. Jobvite’s approach was focused more on positioning the brand as an industry pioneer in the modern job and recruitment spheres. By highlighting high-profile clients, the campaign proved Jobvite’s power to adapt to a highly accelerated employment and recruitment environment.

From Atomic PR

One of Atomic PR’s distinctive campaigns is for client Mint, an online platform for consolidating personal finances into a space where they could be organized and recommended for optimization. As a more attractive balance sheet, deploying the nice touch of infographics for their end users, it has attracted wide usage among those in business and finance.

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Mint’s success is hinged on its pioneering technology for personal financial organization. Whereas most software and applications still need humans to pore over figures and apply formulas to know one’s net worth, Mint was designed to analyze transactions and suggest ways for the user to accrue savings. This is no mean feat, considering the kind of programming and algorithm-crunching its founder, Aaron Patzer, had to develop.

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Complementing the campaign of Atomic PR are numerous plaudits for the brand. Reviews from major international media such as The New York Times and Time magazine have secured its credibility as the first platform of its kind, with over half a million users flocking to its beta version in its launch year in 2007.

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Mint’s surging popularity caught the interest of similarly motivated companies such as Intuit, credited for Quicken, QuickBooks, and TurboTax. Intuit’s acquisition of Mint had propelled the brand to newer technological possibilities and approaches.

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AtomicPR is banking on its recent internal upgrades to put meat into last year’s plaudits, namely as 2011 Bronze Mid-Sized Agency of the Year, and 2011 Silver Tech Agency of the Year of Bulldog Reporter. The latter is the award-giving body that is also a leading referee for media and public relations industry stakeholders. These accolades also come at the heels of last year’s recognition. Growth and expansion have been in the cards for the PR agency since 2009, securing topnotch clients and unveiling strategies that opened opportunities for exploring modern public relations practices, such as heavy reliance on social media. AtomicPR’s current branding as a specialist in the latter has been instrumental in landing hefty accounts with Sony Electronics for the catchy social media campaign for its new tablets. The mid-sized agency has also lent itself to productive restructuring after its purchase of Red Consultancy in San Francisco and allowing itself to be absorbed by Huntsworth. The direction the agency is taking has been clear since then, as indicated by its growth trajectory.

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One of the most discernible strategies of the agency is its ability to balance its big fish accounts with promising startups. Alongside Sony, it has introduced EyeFi and Shopkick into its portfolio, seeking to aid these starting firms across PR birth pains. As it builds its own expertise in communicative strategies and new avenues for market creation, it has also complemented awards with an impressive balance sheet.

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