Press Releases – no longer just for PR professionals

Like the commercial for Reese’s peanut butter cups – “You got chocolate on my peanut butter” no “you got peanut butter on my chocolate,” – no matter how you say it, on the Web the line between Advertising and PR professionals is a bit blurred at times.

Historically you were either Public Relations or Advertising. Any press releases that were sent out came from the PR people. And when they went out, they were sent to a specific list of press people. But with the increase of going digital I am sure that every PR department has a certain amount of internet use involved when they send out press releases. And there is a wealth of support out there for PR professionals that need to get their information out but, like everything else, money talks.

David Meermen Scott

Don’t despair if you aren’t part of a large corporation or PR firm, it is possible to get your information out there for no money. You just need to craft your release and start searching for free sites. So that is what I did to promote David Meerman Scott’s book The New Rules of Marketing & PR which is being used as the textbook for the New Media Driver’s License class through Michigan State University and Walsh College Novi.

In Scott’s book he states “None of this is true anymore [the old rules of PR]. The Web has transformed the rules, and you must transform your PR strategies to make the most of the Web-enabled marketplace of ideas.” He also goes on to say “If you are smaller and less famous but have an interesting story to tell, you need to tell it yourself.”

Since I was new to the press release arena I actually started to investigate first what services I could use so that I was sure I formatted my press release correctly. As I started to register with some of the free services I did encounter a portion of the set up that did stall me. Most of the sites wanted you to be part of an actual business, and since this was an assignment, I did not posses that bit of information. The Free Press Release and My Free PR sites did not require a company name so they were the lucky sites chosen.

My post on Free Press Release.

So I posted my press release on Free Press Release adjusting some of my verbosity since at places there was a character restriction.  As I check the activity of my release I see that it has  been viewed three times. I hadn’t posted that it was out there (the reason for this post) so maybe I got hits from people other than Derek.

My post on My Free PR.

I also posted my press release on My Free PR.

I do not feel my posts are perfect. I have a problem with how they look. On Free Press Release in preview mode of my draft it looked like the contact information was being added automatically. But once I published it, it did not include any contact information. I also noticed what you “pay” for free posts, they add ads to your posts.

My Free PR post has contact information, a link back to my blog but once again visually it needs some work.

Oh well, guess I won’t get famous with this one. And I think I should remain the “advertising” person.

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, My Blog — How much does the world need to know

I’ve always been a pretty private individual. I am very choosy on who gets to know what about me. And there are certain things that only I know. So when Assignment #4 for my Digital Media Driver’s License class showed up in my in-box I was a bit skeptical. I was to set up a Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter account.

I already had my Facebook account built. I’m doing pretty well with it. I get to:

• see which nephew had a major hangover the Monday after Super Bowl
• see which niece uses swear words like a sailor
• and to be taunted by my sister who was on vacation in Florida on how nice the weather was

But it is a bit unnerving that complete strangers send me requests to be my friend. I actually had a request from a pizza restaurant. I have already decided that if you don’t tell your name and how you know me, you ain’t any friend of mine.

Right now I really don’t know where Facebook will take me. It seems like it is just a tool to stay in touch. I need more time to investigate all it can do to see how it could be a better tool available to me (other than a big black hole that sucks up time).

My next stop was LinkedIn. If I thought setting up my profile in Facebook was a bit much I had a rude awakening at LinkedIn. Though it’s funny how the universe will always put the things you need right front of you. I have been wanting to get my resume updated. Granted I still need a more extensive resume but this has my general career information out there where someone may see it and be interested enough to contact me. Even though it took me a few days to get it all finalized, my profile was reviewed by 1 person and showed up in 17 searches. Now, a very cynical person would say that LinkedIn set that up so I would be interested in upgrading to the Business level but the results where quite specific. I am seriously thinking of upgrading.

I’m at 85% right now and I can get another 5% if I get a recommendation. Well, to get a recommendation I need a connection to write a recommendation. I was able to access the HAP group (the company I work at)  and request those I know to be a connection, but I have had only 1 reply at this time. My gut instinct is that many of them are on LinkedIn but they don’t check it on a regular basis. Guess I’ll need to send a few e-mails on Monday.

I also like the fact that I was able to link my blog to my profile. I really feel this will show that I am willing to step out into the newest technology which may be a determining factor for someone deciding who they may call on a job interview.

I am finding out that the further into this media I get, I see quite a few opportunities. I receive an e-newsletter from the Boston Print Buyers and in their last e-mail they referenced that they had a LinkedIn group. So I was able to join this group.

I am really surprised at how excited I get about this class and what I am learning. I’m trying to convince some of my co-workers to get a LinkedIn profile out there. Some are a bit cautious, but hopefully I can convince them.

At this time I feel that LinkedIn presents itself quite well as a tool that I may be able to use in my career. Who knows, I may even be able to find a new job.

Now its time to go tweet, tweet, tweet.

This is my cockatiel "tweet" Koko

This is my rosebreasted cockatoo "tweet" Rozee

I have a pet cockatiel and a rosebreasted cockatoo (those are birds) so anything call Twitter with posts called tweets sure does peak my interest.

As with the others I really wanted to spend some time understanding what it does and how you do it. I have read all the FAQs but once again I need fellow twitters to really see how this works and what I will want to do with it. Of course I follow Derek but I have only been able to add a few public ones. Guess I’m going have to do an e-mail blitz so I can organize this and make it work for me.

I have really been seriously thinking about how I can use all I have learned up to now. Right now these are just cool things to play with. I have found myself reading quite a few other blogs. I subscribe to about 8 of them that get sent to my in-box. I also have all my media classmates blogs in Google Reader and I try to read as many as I can. My biggest hurdle right now is time.  Since I have a full time job (thank you God) I am limited on the amount of time I have to invest in learning all about this media. Each week I am more involved in using my time to complete the assignment than to delve into the subject.

I want to sit down and get a handle on what I want this blog to be and what is my point of view. I would really like to have a blog that makes a difference and not just a place I go to hear myself speak.

I know this is quite a long post and I thank all of you that stayed with it and read the whole thing. You know, I’m really going to be a bit hindered in Twitter trying to keep it at 140 words. Had to edit my very 1st post to make it. Now I’m obsessed with making all my tweets exactly 140 words.