Future of Press Releases in Digital Age

I have been asked to moderate a Public Relations Society of America Webinar on The Future of the Press Release.

So, I’m reaching out to the Social Media Club and the Society for New Communications Research to weigh in on the issues that matter most to PR firms.

Whether or not you’re planning on attending, the PRSA is a vital public relations industry association representing PR firms nationwide. I want to do my best to ensure this webinar inclusively and accurately covers how to use of press releases may evolve in the digital marketing realm.

The use of press releases on social media is a subject that was met with controversy at the recent third Thursday panel with Shel Holtz, Tom Foremski, and Brian Solis in San Francisco.

Stowe Boyd asked why blogs couldn’t just be used as an alternative to the press release, and he was before his time cause that’s what happened, to a large extent.

The best social media tools rose like cream to the top of the PR Tech stack, enabling modern-day digital public relations and growth hacking tips and tricks.

Thanks to Shel for recording and podcasting the panel as a special episode of For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report.

As some of you know, there’s been a good deal of discussion online about how the press release should adapt in the network age.

I remember when the press release was created almost exclusively for the news media. Today, they wind up posted to the internet and made available to stakeholders of all kinds, essentially democratizing the organizational news distribution process.

• So I’m asking you all, what do the news wires need to be doing?
• Are you happy with the progress that has been made to date?
• Is the New Media Release being adopted appropriately?
• What directions would you like to see the wires moving in?

We’ve seen a straw man for a social media press release from SHIFT Communications, the rise of search engine optimization consultants.

To talk about where we are today, we’ve assembled a panel of distribution experts:

• Sarah Skerik, vice president, Distribution Services, PR Newswire
• Greg Jarboe, president and co-founder, SEO-PR
• Paolina Milana, vice president of marketing, Market Wire
• Laura Sturaitis, vice president, Business Wire.

I’ll be checking in with Chris Heuer about this early next week and am still trying to get in touch with Todd Defren to see what suggestions he may have as well.