THE MEANDERWALKER

I’ve been researching social media and social networking tools lately for use in marketing and PR — things like social media newsrooms, corporate blogs, social media press releases. There’s a lot going on in that space right now, mostly just talking though, and it seems like most people (and by “people,” I mean “marketing and PR professionals”) just don’t get it.

Like today for instance, a few of my colleagues and I sat in on a webinar hosted by Vocus PR that focused on “the evolving social media press release.” I’ve become a little bit of a social media PR junkie in that past few months, so I like hearing about this kind of stuff.

But what swiftly came to light as they discussed the social media press release, is that they really don’t know what they’re talking about — or at least not enough to teach other people about it. They just kept saying the same things over and over again, without giving the viewers any significant advice for implementing social media tools in their press releases.

At one point, they offered a side-by-side comparison of a “traditional press release” and a “social media release.” And what I found frustrating (if not infuriating) was that their “social media release” didn’t even include social media tools. It just looked like a regular press release without a header that used bullet points instead of actual paragraphs.

Most of my colleagues were either frustrated or completely confused as to what a social media press release actually is. Well, I feel like it has nothing to do with template/structure, per se. Here’s my super simple answer:

A press release that incorporates social media tools.

That’s pretty simple. The tools allow the recipients of the press release to share the information via bookmarking, e-mail, or even on their own blogs. It also would have an RSS feed available so that they can receive the information in their feed reader instead of in their inbox.

But I think there’s another key aspect missing, and it’s a really simple concept, too:

You have to already use social media in your personal life in order to “get it.”

Seriously, I feel like that’s the missing link. Most senior-position PR and marketing professionals probably haven’t integrated social media into their own lives as a way of gathering and sharing information on a daily basis, so how are they supposed to understand how to use it to target people who do? They can’t.

That’s the biggest hurdle I’ve encountered so far in the process - trying to convince people (aside for the 2 to 3 that are on my side) that it is essential in a forward-looking sense and not just an optional add-on. And to me, it makes perfectly good sense - but I’ve been blogging and using social networking sites for 5+ years and I’ve been using the internet as a primary form of communication for about 13. Not that I know everything about everything on the internet, I just have a different perspective than people who are, say, 15-30 years my senior.

So, here’s my point. You can’t strategically and successfully implement a social media anything until you actually use social media.

(Sorry to my non-work friends for boring you!)