Don't Forget the Value of the Traditional

It's easy to be swept away with the glamor and fame that social media promises those with the potential to do it well. Don't neglect the traditional forms of communication. Rather, try to find ways to weave traditional practices into the new territory of social media and vice versa. Here are some ways to add some polish to some of the old PR practices to make them shine:

Make your press releases compelling.  Don't wait for reporters to share your stories. Let some of the emotion and feeling infuse into your press release. These days, press releases live in multiple platforms and they're often online as well as in the reporter's hands, which means they need to be interesting to the everyday person. Copyblogger provided some excellent additional advice for creating a social media press release, which is absolutely worth checking out to start thinking outside the traditional box.

When you're writing for non-profits, there is always a story behind the story. Figure out what forces and experiences were at work in driving a fundraiser, get-together or program. If you're writing about a company's efforts, does one of the employees have a personal story that fueled the project? Grab a quote from that individual or even a quick video to embed in the press release. Don’t be afraid to link to social media content either, like an interesting thread of comments on a Facebook event page. Reporters want as many opportunities as possible to feel an event out, so photos, faces and a strong fan base all make great cases for why an event should be covered. If you're looking for the press release basics, check out Kivi Leroux Miller's "Five 'Musts' for a Great Press Release."

Reporters and bloggers are your friends. Develop relationships with reporters and bloggers through Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media platforms. Remain professional but personable. That way, by the time your group is ready to make their pitch, media may already have the bulk of the information they need to decide on whether to do a story or not. Make it as easy as possible for reporters to find content, acting more like a helping hand than a pushy salesperson. Give the events its own legs to stand on by posting a multitude of resources to back up your position so you’re not doing all the heavy lifting. If you'd like to hear what one reporter has to say, read about Huffington Post reporter Ryan Grim experience working with PR contacts via social media here.

Help your advocates help your organization. Empower, empower, empower. Work with advocates who want their story shared. Instead of relaying their story for them, talk through what makes the event compelling and talk about what might be interesting from a reporter’s perspective. Act as a liaison, not a spokesperson. You might uncover great news hooks you never knew even existed. Help the group craft a pitch and give them appropriate contact information and follow-up protocol. Be sure to keep the lines of communication open in case they have questions or concerns about proper etiquette. Being there for your advocates shows them that you care and will help them in future endeavors.

Make media alerts meaningful. Without getting too flowery, make the descriptions of what media will see interesting, relevant and visual. Painting a picture is the best ticket in to get good press. Hopefully, by the time you’ve issued a media alert, you’ve already publicized your event through various communications tools, including newsletters, websites, community websites and social media. Gather and include a few key URLs, which I recommend shortening and customizing through bit.ly, to point to examples of what reporters will see, who they’ll get to talk to and why it is important. The more voices you can incorporate in your supplemental materials, the better. Show media that the event is bigger than you and your attempts to woo them with images, testimonials and conversations people have had in anticipation for the event.

Be your own reporter. Just in case media doesn’t show up, and even if they do, have plans to cover the event for your audiences. Live twitter feeds, impromptu video interviews and fun photos will keep participants thinking about the event well after it’s over and may give those who weren’t involved a reason to get on board for the next opportunity. You don’t need to be the only person out there either. Recruit some advocates to help you cover the event with photos, videos, tweets and more to give depth and breadth to the event. Kodak Chief Blogger Jenny Cisney covered the Oscars herself a few times before deciding to recruit some help from bloggers, which extended the reach of event coverage exponentially.

Be sure to provide calls to action, which can include more literature about the cause, links to donation forms and invitations to share stories and experiences. If your supporters want to help the cause, let them! It’s also a great idea to gather contact information from participants and to get a feel for what kind of relationship and experience they hope to have with your cause.

Say thank you. Never underestimate the power of saying thank you. Share news clips or links, videos or photos you gathered and positive feedback with you fan base and event organizers. Key players love seeing traditional media and even though who aren’t especially keen on social media will be pleased to see positive messaging that went on in unfamiliar platforms. Report everything from bit.ly views to Facebook comments, in addition to media hits. If you’ve gathered contact information from participants, touch base with participants to thank them and introduce them supplemental information and communications that they might be interested in.

Pat yourself on the back, then reassess. There are always lessons to be learned and opportunities to improve, even in the best situations. Make note of what worked among the different platforms and audiences you reached out to. Asking for feedback and advice from audiences and key organizers lets them know when all is said and done, their opinion still matters to them. Plus, you’ll learn a lot from what they have to say. Remember, everything is a work in progress and improvement comes with time, so don't be afraid to try out new ideas.