Social Media Press Releases: A Comprehensive Guide (Examples Included)
Worldwide, 4.95 billion people use social media. Due to its popularity and place in society, social media has become an indispensable tool for businesses of all sizes and industries to use to stand out.
Brands that recognize the power of social media are now using social media press releases to amplify their reach and news.
In this comprehensive guide, we explore the concept of social media press releases, their significance, the ideal length, differences from traditional press releases, essential elements, and provide examples to illustrate how they’re used.
What is a social media press release?
A social media press release is a game-changing communication tool that uses the power of social media to amplify brand messages, increase visibility, and drive meaningful engagements.
The newsworthy topics of social media press releases range from company updates and product launches to awards and other significant developments.
Unlike traditional press release distributions that rely on formats like newspapers and other online publications, these releases are designed to be shared on social media.
By crafting compelling social media press releases, business of all sizes and industries can tap into the users bases of social channels and capitalize on opportunities to connect with their target audience in a fresh and personal way.
To create this style of press release requires a unique approach that blends elements of traditional principles.
It’s not about simply posting a news update to your social channels.
It’s about creating a compelling narrative and optimizing the content for search for maximum discoverability.
With a well-executed social media press release strategy, brands can harness the immense potential of social to amplify their brand’s reach, strengthen relationships with customers and stakeholders, and establish themselves as thought leaders in their industry.
Why use social media press releases?
They’re a cost-effective way to reach larger audiences and generate interest in your company or product.
By harnessing the power of social media, you can quickly spread your message to a larger network of potential customers.
Beyond their reach, this style of press release is versatile and adaptable to your company’s unique needs.
It gives you flexibility to craft and tailor the content to resonate with your target audience.
From attention-grabbing visuals to interactive videos, this style of release includes multimedia elements designed to captivate and engage readers.
How long should a social media press release be?
When it comes to press release length, it needs to be long enough to convey your message, but short enough that it doesn’t overwhelm the reader.
Social media posts have character limits that differ by channel which means the length should be tailored accordingly.
As a general guideline, the length of a social media press release is between 100-250 words.
This maintains a layer of brevity that keeps the readers’ attention and forces the writer to focus only on the important details.
Here’s a breakdown of the ideal length for social media press releases on different platforms:
– Twitter: With its 280-character limit, you have to keep things short. Aim for succinct statements that grab attention within the limited space.
– Facebook: Facebook allows up to 63,206 characters for posts. But, we suggest keeping it shorter to improve readability. To help with this, break up your content into short paragraphs and pair it with visuals to gain attraction.
– Instagram: Instagram is a visual platform, so focus on turning your press release content into an engaging post. Turn the main points of your press release into slides of a carousel. Add more detail in the caption that can be up to 2,200 characters long.
– LinkedIn: LinkedIn is a flexible platform as you can share your updates as an in-feed post or Article. If you choose an in-feed post, you have a 3,000-character limit. Use this space to share in-depth updates, professional insights, or company announcements that resonate with your LinkedIn network.
By keeping these platform-specific guidelines, when you share your press release on social, it’ll be digestible, visually appealing, and more likely to get attention and engagement from your target audience and media.
Social media press release vs. traditional press release
We briefly mentioned it before, but there’s a difference between traditional press releases and a social media press release
Traditional: A press release is a newsworthy story written by a public relations professional. It’s sent to specific media sources to announce something new. The goal is to get coverage in relevant publications and stay in front of the company’s target audience.
Social: The main intent of these campaigns is to promote and share the news on social media platforms. This style prioritizes a storytelling component that aligns with the context of the specific social media platform. They’re optimized for social, include hashtags, and use social-media friendly language.
What should be included in a social media press release?
Your campaigns should include the following components:
1. Attention-Grabbing Headline:
Craft a concise and attention-grabbing headline that entices readers to click. Strong action verbs and relevant keywords are key to helping your release stand out in a crowded social media landscape.
2. Engaging Opening Paragraph:
Begin your press release with a compelling first paragraph that provides a thorough overview of your news. Use the inverted pyramid to make sure you cover the most important details.
3. Multimedia Content:
Include high-quality images, infographics, and videos to significantly enhance the appeal and engagement of your social media press release. Visual content breaks up text, captures attention, and helps effectively communicate complex information.
Did you know? Featured images are included in all our press release options.
4. Call-to-Action:
End your campaign with a clear and compelling call-to-action. Make it easy for your audience to engage with your business by providing direct links or contact information.
5. Relevant Links and Hashtags:
Include relevant links to your website, social media profiles, and any additional resources mentioned in your press release. Additionally, incorporate industry-specific hashtags to expand the reach of your content and make it discoverable by users interested in related topics.
6. Boilerplate
Your boilerplate is a brief overview of your company and includes your mission, vision, and unique value proposition. This section helps readers understand the context of your announcement and gain insights into your brand’s identity.
Social Media Press Release Example
A compelling example of a social media press release is when we announced the launch of AImee, our complementary AI-writing assistant and recommendation engine.
To share this news on LinkedIn, we started off with an attention-grabbing first line of copy. This was then followed up with the introduction of AImee, what it is, and how it can help our customers optimize their press release content.
We finished the post with a link to the full release and included relevant hashtags.
How to Announce a Press Release on Social Media
Follow these steps when crafting your social media post:
- Start with a captivating post that teases the news.
- Include a brief overview of the announcement and a link to the full press release.
- Use visually appealing images and emojis to catch people’s attention.
- Share on the social platforms where your audience spends the most time.
- Look at your data and uncover the best time to share your news on that platform. This increases the likelihood of your content getting shared.
- If you receive comments, respond thoroughly and promptly.
- Monitor and track your results. Use the information you glean like reach, engagement, clicks and conversions to assess its success and identify ares of improvement.
How we Turned One Press Release into Three Social Media Posts
We recently shared an exciting announcement that the Media Advantage Plan (MAP), our full-service communications program received a refresh and is now the Press Release Optimizer (PRO).
PRO gives companies more flexibility in choosing a product offering that supports their goals and budgets.
The PRO program has three tiers:
Content PRO is for those who need more support with planning and crafting their messaging
Media PRO is for those who are looking for more visibility and outreach to the media, and the most comprehensive plan
Total PRO provides both content and media support.
This company update ticked off the box as a newsworthy topic so we distributed a press release using our Digital Plus distribution network.
NOTE: Our Digital Plus distribution channel includes distribution to thousands of digital media outlets including Associated Press, Google News, and Yahoo! Finance. Learn more.
Check out our full press release, Newswire Launches New Press Release Optimizer (PRO) to Help Companies Manage Their Content and Connect with Media for more information!
So, how did we turn our press release into three social media posts on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter?
We explain our thought process for each post below.
Check it out!
Rather than copying and pasting the information from the press release into the text box of a LinkedIn post, we took a different route.
We pared down the main message into an easy-to-digest format.
Here’s how we did it:
The first sentence is the most important.
It’s the hook of your post and reels people in to read it in its entirety.
For this one, we used green checkmark emojis to catch the users’ eyes.
We paired those attention-grabbing emojis with content that piques interest enough for users to click the “…see more” prompt.
From there, we kept things short and focused on PRO – we share who it’s made for and the various product tiers.
We used emojis again to supplement and summarize the information visually.
The call-to-action encourages users to reach out if they’re interested in learning more about PRO. We sent them to our Contact page on the website from our post and in the comments, we shared a link to the full press release.
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when creating content for social.
Simple tweaks of the content to fit the context of the platform will do the trick.
In this case, we used the same imagery but removed the green checkmark hook.
Instead, we led off with the main message – refreshing our Media Advantage Plan (MAP) and introducing the Press Release Optimizer (PRO).
Again, we used emojis to draw attention to the three tiers of the PRO plan.
Brevity is the name of the game for Twitter. For this tweet, we condensed the message in a way that covered the main topic but didn’t dig into the details like the LinkedIn and Facebook posts.
Because of this, instead of sending someone to the Contact page on the website, we instead sent them to the press release so they could read more about PRO and what each product offering entails.
Companies have a great opportunity to establish their presence, and utilizing press releases as pillar content can be an effective starting point to take advantage of the momentum and enhance the brand’s visibility.
If you’d like to learn more about our PRO plan, contact us today!
