6 Tips For Twitter-Friendly News Releases

Social media is a fact-of-life for the PR/Communications professional today. It is no longer just specially-invited “social media influencers” who live-tweet, even mainstream media journalists are in on it!

With that being the case, why not inject some guidance to steer and manage the backchannels while also providing a means to measure the conversations that are going on around your particular piece of news?

So here are 6 tips for more Twitter-friendly news releases, by way of PR Newser.

1. Have great headlines. Keep them within the range of 120 characters – perfect for a tweetable link. People like to leave a little comment when they retweet so leave about 20-30 characters from the 140 character limit. Also, give people enough information on what the press release is about – include something eye-catching and newsworthy, like facts and stats. If necessary, tailor the voice and approach of the release to the audience, which is more than just journalists.
2. Numbers, numbers, numbers. People like numbers and they make ideas real.
3. Make sub-stories tweetable. Several sub-topics within your main story can be worth individual tweets of their own. The subpoints, which are typically highlighted as a subheading of their own, should be of a tweetable length, making it possible for people to like something, grab it, and tweet it.
4. #Hashtag properly. Make sure keywords and search terms are in the release so it can be found. Keeping SEO in mind and being concise work perfectly for Twitter.
5. Make quotes tweetable. Make quotes interesting and substantive! Also, don’t be afraid to include the brand’s or person’s Twitter handle.
6. Include multimedia. Everyone agrees that video, audio, and other multimedia add value to a press release and further draws in your audience once they’ve clicked on the link in Twitter.

Remember: Twitter is more about trading information so tweeting a link to a news item is pretty much stock and trade. In fact, many look to Twitter as a news source, so it’s best to ensure that your news item is designed appropriately to leverage that fact.