How to Make Your News More Social (And More Sharable)
Social media is an effective tool for promoting press releases and marketing your business. However, some press releases are more effective on social media than others. The following tips will help you make your news releases more sharable and interesting to your social media audience.
Make your “news” relevant to your audience – News is more sharable when people feel like it benefits them directly. They’ll share it with a friend or repost your news on their own social media page as a means of expressing themselves or to help others. Make sure that your press release is designed to identify a pressing problem, and position your news as a solution.
Engage emotions – There are a few ways that you can engage the emotions of your reader. Demonstrate why something is a problem and show how your product or service solves the problem and makes life better. The other tactic is to use quotes that help add personality and interest to your release. They’ll engage the reader’s emotions and make it more likely that they’ll share your release.
Include images – Press releases that contain relevant and interesting images are shared more often than those without.
Ask for shares – There really is no harm in asking your friends and followers on social media to share your release. CVS pharmacy had great success with this tactic when they announced that they were no longer selling cigarettes or tobacco products.
Use quotes that add personality to your story – We’ve already briefly mentioned that using quotes helps make your press release more social. Make sure that the quotes you use in your release are conversational and provide value to the material. You might also consider using the quotes as Tweets to help promote the release.
Make it scannable – Scannable content is more easily read online and more often shared. It’s also easier to read on mobile devices, which is where many people access social media.
Publish during prime social media times – When is your audience active on social media? Publish your press release during those peak times.
Make sure you have an active profile – You’ll get more activity with your press release on social media if you have a presence on each site. For example, you are more likely to get more shares and likes for your release if you have a Facebook page.
Include buttons that allow people to easily like, share, and follow – Always make sure that you have social media and social bookmarking buttons and links in your press release.
Write a great lede – Your lede (the headline and introductory paragraph) needs to capture attention. Many times, when a link is shared on social media, all anyone will see are the headline and first few sentences. Make them as compelling as possible so people will want to open and share.
Finally, write a great call to action – Inspire action that directly relates to the problem you’ve identified in your press release. The call to action should help readers take the next step to solve their problem. Use social media features and benefits to maximize the return on your press release investment.
