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Push Pull Public Relations and Social Media PR

Lee Odden
Lee Odden
Marketing PR Conferences, Online Marketing, Online PR, Press Release Optimization, Pubcon, Social Media, Social Search

pushpullpr.gif
One of the key components of the presentation I gave this morning at the Las Vegas Pubcon conference presented the idea of press release optimization and social media news releases in the context of push and pull. But before that, it’s important to understand the market opportunity with news search.

According to a report released by comScore, half of all internet users visited news sites in June 2006. Of the most popular news web sites, Yahoo News is #1 surpassing CNN, MSNBC and AOL News.

There’s also an increase in the use of social media both by end consumers and the media for tracking information that interests them. This includes: blog and news search engines, social news, social bookmarks, podcasts and video. The thing that ties all of this together is RSS. RSS enables people to subscribe to the kinds of content from the channels or formats that they are interested in.

What is important to understand is that online PR is effective for direct to consumer communications as well as media relations. The bonus is that adding social media to online PR initiatives can have a multiplying effect.

Enter the notion of push and pull PR.

Push basically means the tactics used to distribute a company’s news including using press releases sent out via wire services, email or fax. It also includes pitching the media on story ideas and contributed articles.

Pull activities are based on the demand consumers have for online news as well as the search activities of people in the media looking for subject matter experts, researching past news coverage and looking for story ideas. Pull PR makes it easy for the media and your intended audience to find and pull themselves to your news.

On a continum, push and pull would be on either end with media coverage in the middle. Achieving media coverage by one or both push and pull allows you to further extend the reach of your news. First, by pulling more readers to your message via the publications that have picked up your story. Second, by using that media coverage as a direct marketing promotion via email or direct mail.

Examples of pull PR:

  • News search engine visibility
  • Organic search engine visibility
  • Social news and bookmark sites
  • Blog & RSS search engines

Examples of push PR:

  • News release distribution
  • Pitching journalists and bloggers with story ideas
  • Social Networks/Rollodex
  • Paid reviews on blogs (advertorial)

One of the most unexplored opportunities for effective push PR is blogger relations. Pitching bloggers can be a slippery slope, so keep in mind the following considerations:

  • Be relevant – Mass emailed press releases do not work with bloggers. Review the blog’s categories and previous posts and only offer related news.
  • Personalize – Blogging is much more a personal expression than writing articles in a mainstream publications and bloggers respond to personal messages. Generic and poorly written pitches will either be ignored or posted to the blog for everyone to see.
  • Make it easy – Write a summary of your news with links to full versions and related resources. Many bloggers will copy paste your summary, add a few of their own comments and link to the news release.
  • Schwag is good – If you have products or services that can be tried out, be sure to offer them.
  • Be persistent – Many bloggers have day jobs and do not have a lot of time. Do not be discouraged if your news does not get picked up or if you do not get a response on your pitch. Try again and be persistent, but not annoying.

Fundamental press release optimization includes keyword research, placing keywords in the correct positions and frequency in the release and adding links. A social media release deconstructs the content offerred in a regular press release into sections that can be more easily scanned and used by journalists to glean story ideas.

The social media press release was introduced by SHIFT Communications. We don’t follow the same page layout, but include many of the same elements including:

  • Headline
  • Abstract or Summary
  • Key points as bullet points
  • Quotes
  • About the company
  • Logo graphic and headshots as appropriate
  • Media contact information
  • Link to a del.icio.us resource page
  • Links to Technorati tags
  • Links that enable the reader to bookmark the release
  • RSS subscription links
  • A link to the release in a traditional format

After the release has been distributed and pitched, here are several post-release distribution actions:

  • Post news release on company site or blog enabled media room
  • Bookmark the release with social bookmark services
  • Bookmark pickups with del.icio.us
  • reate a MS Word doc and PDF version of the release optimized with keywords and links and embed images/media

Success can be measured through:

  • Wire service reporting – impressions, reads, prints, pickups
  • Clipping services – online and offline pickups
  • Web analytics – referring traffic and conversions as appropriate
  • Google Alerts, Yahoo Alerts – Email notifications
  • RSS: Technorati, Google Blog Search, BlogPulse.com

By optimizing your content and adding social media, you can increase the distribution channels and take advantage of increased visibility to demand driven traffic. A PR strategy that involves both push and pull provides many more opportunities for coverage than any single tactic.

About Lee Odden

@LeeOdden is the CEO of TopRank Marketing and editor of TopRank's B2B Marketing Blog. Cited for his expertise by The Economist, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal, he's the author of the book Optimize and presents internationally on B2B marketing topics including content, search, social media and influencer marketing. When not at conferences, consulting, or working with his talented team, he's likely running, traveling or cooking up something new.

Comments

  1. Peter Himler says

    November 16, 2006 at 10:02 pm

    Nicely outlined, Lee. I recently sat on a panel alongside some social media PR pundits who were steadfast in their advocacy for “pull” and pull alone. I had to remind them that “push” remained viable and, for many, very profitable.

    How to efficiently connect with audiences (filtered or unfiltered); Understanding the life (and half-life) of a news story; Recognizing that the rules of engagement have changed, but some PR competencies haven’t (nor shouldn’t), are just a few of the challenges we face as an industry moving forward.

    Thanks for making it all sound so easy.

  2. Lee Odden says

    November 16, 2006 at 10:19 pm

    Hi Chris, I did see your post and you did an excellent job, thank you! If you’ll be at Pubcon tomorrow, please say hi.

    Peter, I appreciate the comments. Greg Jarboe echoed those sentiments in a short video interview I did with him right after the session this morning. I’ll post that tomorrow.

  3. Chris Winfield says

    November 16, 2006 at 9:56 pm

    Hi Lee –

    Great job on your presentation – I also did coverage of it here if you’d like to check it out:
    Again – great job speaking today!

    Chris

  4. Israel Rothman says

    March 25, 2007 at 11:10 am

    Right, instead of pushig people to your website with ads, you pull them there with available, relevent information: aaaaahhh – water on the desert!

  5. Geoff Livingston says

    May 12, 2007 at 6:26 pm

    An outstanding entry to be sure. Thanks, Lee!

Trackbacks

  1. PR Push and Pull at Pubcon » Small Business SEM says:
    November 16, 2006 at 11:52 pm

    […] Lee Odden shares an overview of his presentation today on Social Media Release Optimization — press releases, pitching your news to bloggers, etc. Really good stuff. […]

  2. 14th Colony Scout » Blog Archive » PubCon Roundup says:
    November 17, 2006 at 6:45 am

    […] Lee Miller talks about the dynamics of push and pull in his presentation about social media release optimization. […]

  3. Starked SF, Unforgiving News from the Bay » Blog Archive » Talk of the Town: Friday says:
    November 17, 2006 at 10:31 am

    […] Social media release optimization. Sounds kinky. […]

  4. The really short PubCon Roundup ¤ sorvoja.com says:
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  5. Using social media for greater exposure and optimization | Website Content Writer & Freelance Copywriter says:
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  6. Pubcon Roundup: Videos, Photos and Blog Posts » Online Marketing Blog says:
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  7. Outofthequestion.nl » Blog Archive » Push PR / Pull PR says:
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    […] Cool artikel, (vooral een cool logo)

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  9. PR Leap Blog » PubCon 2006 - Press and Public Relations Campaigns Session says:
    November 22, 2006 at 6:54 pm

    […] Lee went on to discuss his concept of Push PR and Pull PR, followed by Blogger Relations Tips. I recommend reading clicking through those last two links who better to explain it than Lee on his own blog. While you are there, make sure to subscribe to his blog its a good mix of SEO and PR posts. […]

  10. Push and Pull PR on eMarketing Talkshow » Online Marketing Blog says:
    November 30, 2006 at 11:39 am

    […] Cindy caught up with me at the WebmasterWorld Pubcon conference to talk about doing this show and it seemed like a great idea. I had just presented on Push and Pull PR in the context of social media release optimization during the public relations panel. I had not done any interviews yet on this topic, so it seemed fresh and timely. […]

  11. Moderne-Unternehmenskommunikation.de » Fundst says:
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  13. The SBS Interview: Lee Odden » Small Business SEM says:
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  14. SEO Secrets for Better Public Relations » Online Marketing Blog says:
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    […] I’m looking forward to this one since I know Sally has some great case study information and it’s likely Jamie does as well. Including Sarah Skerik will be good for a perspective from one of the major news wires. I’ll be presenting my “Push Pull PR” model for understanding how SEO, public relations and social media can be leveraged for more effective traditional PR tactics as well as online PR. […]

  15. TopRank Down Under with SEO, PR and Reputation Management » Online Marketing Blog says:
    March 18, 2007 at 8:47 pm

    […] These shifts in media and consumer trends provides marketers an opportunity to make sure their clients are visible where consumers and members of the media are looking. Enter the notion of Push and Pull PR. […]

  16. The Buzz Bin » Blog Archive » Get On Board: The Social Media Release says:
    May 14, 2007 at 5:55 am

    […] In a blog entry dedicated to social media releases, Online Marketing Blog writer Lee Odden said, “By optimizing your media release and adding social media, you can increase the distribution channels and take advantage of increased visibility to demand driven traffic. A PR strategy that involves both push and pull provides many more opportunities for coverage than any single tactic.” […]

  17. Media Relations Summit D.C. Day One » Online Marketing Blog says:
    June 12, 2007 at 8:59 am

    […] The SEO, Social Media and PR session with Sally Falkow, Jamie O’Donnell and myself ran from 2-3pm and it was packed. In fact, they had to bring in extra chairs. Jamie went first and I was interested to see “Push and Pull PR” as topics. Not that those topics are new, because they are not. Push and pull PR is a model I’ve been using since last year to describe how SEO and social media fit into new media public relations. I’m glad the idea is catching on with other companies that do SEO and public relations like we do. […]

  18. bloggers and PR « marketing garden says:
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    […] bloggers and PR One of the unexplored PR opportunities are blogger relations. […]

  19. Blog Horizonte RP » SEO nas Relações Públicas says:
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    […] visibilidade de um nome, empresa ou marca nos motores de busca é uma forma de pull public relations: se as suas páginas puderem ser encontradas nos lugares cimeiros dos resultados, a entidade […]

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