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Loading ...What in the heck is an SMPR? Well, it refers to a Social Media Press Release. What is an SMPR? Well, it is a regular Press Release but with links for downloading, for easy access to RSS, and the like. The SMPR is another example of PR firms not getting it by just white-knuckling to the good ole Press Release, but that’s okay because the SMPR looks pretty useful. Shift Communications has a snazzy template you can check out.
Here’s some interesting talk about the SMPR from PR Squared:
This newfangled press release format has been baking since late February, thanks to the rantings of Tom Foremski at Silicon Valley Watcher. You can get the template in PDF form here, or at our website.
The template is 100% open to the PR/marketing community. No copyright baloney. We hope it can serve as a helpful guide to kickstart thinking about how we can evolve the PR sector. Maybe it can serve as a talking points memo to show to clients, to convince them to give it a try? Maybe you hate it? Maybe you’ve got some ideas on how to improve it? Let me know.
Love it or hate it, what is important is that the banal, unhelpful, cookie-cutter press releases of yore have outlived their pre-Internet usefulness. So, to announce the “Social Media Press Release template” (and to show how it might look in the real world) we also put out what may be the first ever press release to use this next-generation format, via PR Newswire.
As noted last week, Edelman has their own plans in this vein (also inspired by Foremski). We look forward to seeing how their version differs from our template. No doubt that with Edelman’s deeper pockets, it will at least have more multimedia components.
For now, we’re not so much hoping to impress, as to help. “Victory” will be achieved if our peers in the PR sphere start to download the PDF and tack it to their walls for future reference. As this concept evolves, it will be tracked at a purpose-built del.icio.us site. Please pay a visit, or subscribe to the del.icio.us RSS feed for the “Social Media Press Release.”
UPDATE: Some kind words so far, from the PR blogosphere (thanks)! If you can, please do take a moment to look at the del.icio.us site … not just to keep tabs on the concept but, more importantly, in order to spur some thought about how a similar strategy might work for your own clients’ PR efforts.
Meanwhile, if you want to see how the first official Social Media Press Release looks in practice, click this link to the PR Newswire version.
The article is from back in May, 2006, which is interesting because I am only starting to hear about the SMPR being something that clients are clamoring for and PR folks are offering, but what do I know?
Filed under: Online PR, PR Blogging, PR Industry, Public Relations, SMPR, Social Media Press Release
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Welcome to the Social Media News Release “party.”
You can get “caught up” on other folks’ reactions here:
http://del.icio.us/shift.communications
In the past year, companies including Cisco, H-P, Belkin, Novell, Coca-Cola, etc. have tried out this new format. Change is slow but that’s just fine. It’s about evolution not revolution.
It’s funny, Chris, you and I are in the same place - I’m just starting to hear people asking about them, so am working on my first one now. I’ll let you know how it goes.