You’ve surely heard the term “social media news release” in all the buzz about the new, social Web, but what does it mean? A social media news release is just like a traditional news release, except that it is also social media and Web 2.0 optimized. In short, this kind of news release encourages interactivity, is easily shared in the social Web, and contains a number of other Web 2.0 elements.

Generally, these additional elements include:

* Multimedia items, such as downloadable images, PDF/DOC files, or audio/video files.
* A way for readers to comment directly on the news release content.
* An obvious and easy way for readers to bookmark the news release in social bookmarking sites, or to share it via email.
* Technorati tags and links to purpose-built del.icio.us pages.

If you or your business produce online or email press releases regularly, you should be utilizing social media news releases. Like everything else on the Internet today, there is an expectation that content will be interactive, easily shared, and will offer sources to similar information. If your news releases do not live up to these expectations, your chances for major media coverage may be hurt. It’s fairly simple to create your own social media releases, or you can use a service like PRWeb. And, since a social media news release is just a traditional release with added elements, you do not need to change your present format, just include some additional sections. These added elements include:

Multimedia section: Here you will offer a number of downloadable items, including PDF or Word documents, such as book excerpts, advanced reviews, white papers, brochures, etc., and images, like author photos, company executive photos, book cover art, company logos. Also provide any relevant podcasts and video clips in this section.

Technorati tag section: Use this section to list links to Technorati pages that are tagged with a list of good key terms relevant to your news release.

Social bookmarking section: In this section, provide links to any of your relevant purpose-built del.icio.us pages. You could also provide links to relevant pages on Digg.com or any other social bookmarking and crowd-sourced news sites.

Sharing and commenting: In addition to the sections listed above, you should also make it as easy as possible for your readers to share or bookmark your release in any number of ways. Allowing visitors to comment on your news release makes it truly interactive.

Social media section: If you don’t have a social media newsroom to refer your readers to, you should consider adding a section to your news release that lists where you have a presence in the social Web. Link to your profiles in places like MySpace, Facebook, Squidoo, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, etc.

Creating your news releases using a blogging platform like WordPress makes it easy to incorporate the additional social media optimizing features. Commenting is already built in, and there are a number of good plugins for adding Technorati tags to WordPress posts and for social bookmarking, among other features.

Check out some social media news release examples here:
http://owenegertonnewsroom.com/?p=54
http://www.shiftcomm.com/Web20Releases/6102008.html
http://www.puresoapboxnewsroom.com/?p=13
http://www.hiddenlandsofnodnewsroom.com/hiddenlandsofnod/?p=33

The Social Media News Release is a template available for the sole purpose of incorporating social media and multimedia into press releases. And while it may sound like an absolutely ingenious idea, it probably is not the best use of time and money for your business. Here are 6 reasons why using a SMNR may be one of the biggest mistakes you are making.

1. People Do not Read Them. Let s face it, this is not the best way to get your information out to the general public. The number of people who actually view releases on news release websites is quite small. There are better ways to reach your potential customers that are not nearly as expensive or time-consuming.

2. They are Expensive. The optimal use of an SMNR is to send a Social Media News Release with Multimedia, and It is expensive. Even a limited distribution will cost you hundreds of dollars at minimum. Compare this to the cost of writing a blog, which will also allow you to include images and video. The blog is far cheaper and gives you a much higher return on your investment.

3. There is No Critical Mass. One of the most important aspects of marketing with social media is that you can gather a huge number of like-minded or like-interested people in the same place. If you use an SMNR to send your information out to 500 websites, you may only get one or two comments on each website. If that is the case then your interested parties are not talking to each other, which defeats the purpose of social media marketing. Not to mention the time and tedium involved in responding to comments on each of the 500 websites to which your release was sent. Consider instead how you might get those 500 commenters to have a conversation with each other.

4. They Do not Help Your SEO. The whole point of news releases in general is to get inbound links to your site. And while SMNRs contain links, those links are not optimized and generally link to resources other than your website. Use the online Press Release Grader to see how your SMNR release stands up. You will most likely find that you have too many links, and that diminishes the effectiveness of your release greatly.

5. They Do not Help You Reach Your Goals. The whole point of marketing your business is to get people to come to your website and get them to buy your products. So why would you spend money to put your information on another website? We have already noted that SMNRs generally do not result in optimal links to your site, so there is really no sense in using them for that purpose.

6. They Do not Allow You to Use Your Own Mutlimedia Accounts. Did you know that if you want to include a video in your SMNR then you have to upload that video to the news release service s YouTube account? That is right! Never mind that you have already uploaded the video to your own account; now you have to upload it to theirs as well. This means that your video is sitting in an account with thousands of other videos that are not at all related to your product or service. So if a potential customer actually finds your videos and wants to see more from your business, he has to search a lot harder than if all of your videos were lumped together in your account. Another problem is similar to the one we mentioned in #3. The comments left on the new release service s account are separate from the ones left on your account, so your commenters do not have the opportunity to interact with one another. And you have to visit your video in both places to respond to all of the comments.

You are much better off simply creating your own release, without images or video, and sending it over the wire, specially if you do not have the know-how to optimize them. Save the really cool release for your own website where you have control over what happens to it. You will save time and money, and the results will be greatly beneficial.

When it comes to having a social news site, there are a number of things you can do to further progress it. Obviously you want to make it as interactive as possible.Part of having success on the internet is being social and interacting with people as much as possible.One way you can you can interact with the visitors of your site is to set up a blog.

A fantastic way to network and socialize with people on the internet is to have a blog.Too many entrepreneurs tend to hide behind their web site. While it is important you invest a great deal of time into your web site, it is even more important you show people your true personality.Blogging gives you the opportunity to do just that.

Just as you have to market your social news site, you will want to market your blog as well.This allows people to know about the blog and what it has to offer.You want people to know that your site has more to offer than the same repetitive content you see all over the internet.And having fresh and enticing content can be a great way to get people to come to your blog.

There are a few ways you can go about blog marketing. First, write as many interesting and helpful articles as you possibly can and submit the articles to directories.As mentioned, there is a lot of repetitive content on the internet.By writing articles, you can display your knowledge on various topics and show what kind of ideas you have.People will come to your blog when you place a link to your blog in the resource box.

Being social is very important with your social news site, it is extremely important when marketing a blog too.Posting in forums is similar to blogs in that you post on a particular topic and get the chance to interact with a number of people who are interested in what you have to say.You are not the only one leading the conversation, this is the only difference; you are just contributing and adding to a thought and idea.

You can market your blog absolutely free with the first two ways.You may have to purchase advertising if you are looking for immediate exposure to your blog.You can place banners of your blog on other people’s blogs and web sites or you can pay for a spot in the search engines.Paid advertising is not cheap, so make sure to pay enough to reach a top position; otherwise it is pointless.

If you are hoping to have success with your social news site, it is vital you are social and try to network.Having a blog can be a great way to do this. You can reel in people to your blog, get new business contacts and socialize through your blog by using the blog marketing methods listed in this article.

Social networking sites offer people online a gathering spot to casually share their opinions and interests with other like-minded participants. Recent events however have indicated how effective these online communities are for breaking news on a national and international level.

Although interest or opinions may vary from group to group there still remains a common interest in national or world news. Considering these social platforms connect people from all over the world on a 24/7 basis you’re looking at their considerable potential as information sources.

What we’re focusing on here is the ability of these social sites to gather and circulate late breaking news. Compared with the more traditional syndicated news networks it can be argued that social network sites are in fact more efficient and expedient in delivering news to the public. Take that CNN! By passing information along through word of mouth using the speed of the internet news that travels this fast is hard to beat.

Let’s examine 5 reasons why a social network online can outperform the more traditional news broadcasting networks.

News Collected as it Occurs

Social platforms do not ‘assign’ people to gather news or information but instead are merely designed to share information or interests. Site members do however possess an insatiable and natural curiosity.  Just through sheer numbers members combine to create a catch basin of global proportions. As a result they are capable of collecting information of little or great consequence anywhere in the world on a 24/7 basis.

Information Transmitted Fast

Any information picked up either through heresy or observation is usually immediately ‘released’ on the internet. To date there is no more efficient means with which to dispense information to the general public quicker than the net.

As is often said in basketball, ‘Nothing but Net!’

Syndicated networks for the most part still have certain ‘hoops’ thru which they must ‘jump’ before releasing information. This may tend to slow their process.

No ‘Red Tape’ or Protocol

Without the traditional ‘red tape’ or protocol that syndicated news networks contend with online communities hold an unfair advantage. The legalese involving fair play, accuracy, and ethics do encumber syndicated networks. The lack of such restraints however concerning online communities does ‘allow’ for information to be dispensed much faster to the general public.

Word Gets Out Quicker

News tends to flow from person to person and often time is simply broadcast to the masses. The net result is that information spreads virally and this word of mouth effect should not be overlook for its efficiency and speed. There is no ‘formal’ channel through which information is directed which means word is spread continuously, not at scheduled intervals. This process ‘increases’ both speed and just as importantly exposure.

No Regulated Responsibilities

Within any social network community there is no delegation of duties, responsibilities or authority. You are looking at a world-wide community with the capability of filling any role that may seem appropriate at any given time. From observing an event or translating its meaning to distributing the information this flexibility and spontaneity enables news to be collected and spread like a wild fire.

This lack of structure is built for speed but on the other hand can lead to occasional inaccuracies in reporting facts.

Social networking sites have both the channels and the manpower to deliver late breaking news at lightning speed. Using word of mouth to spread information social sites possess the ability to transmit news unencumbered by any red tape further accelerating the transfer of this information. It is not suggested that online communities replace syndicated news networks as news source but merely that they can compliment them if needed. Social network sites based upon their prominence on the internet possess the potential to be much more than they were designed for and this should not be ignored.