Engage in PR

The actual question we heard yesterday was “Why wouldn’t people use the social media news release” when sitting down with a mid-size tech company in Massachusetts. What brought on the question? We were taking their team through a detailed example of how we would launch one of their campaigns with a SMNR, a landing page, customer wiki, and blog. I found the question particularly poignant with the celebration of the birth of SHIFT’s SMNR template (virtual clinking of champagne glasses). The question was followed up by many statements such as:

“This is how I like to gather information.”
“It seems so simple.”
“Kyle, you are a genius.”

OK, the last one I made up…but you get my point. On the drive back to the office and then last night as I bubbled out in the final WWDN tourney I asked myself the same question. I wanted to find something poignant and clarifying in answering this question, but I think it does simply come down to breaking bad habits.

As Todd Defren points out in his post, the press release has been around for more than a century…and before that we had long diatribes of information being printed or read aloud in the city common. We have always believed that ‘more is better’…however we have learned that you can actually provide more information and clarity by streamlining the way in which we present the information. It is why blogging has taken off as a medium.

The beauty of the SMNR is in it’s simplicity. I believe that the question from this astute CEO is exactly why the SMNR, and other social media techniques, will eventually become commonplace.

The question that is more important, and again Todd discusses in his post, is how the SMNR is actually going to be delivered. I agree that the wires are not stepping up to the plate and it leads me back to some ideas we discussed earlier this year; where is the SMNR Wiki? That may be a way for a PR agency to solidify their future.

/kff