Social Media Press Releases Are Dead (Here's What Actually Works Now)

May 25, 2019
SEO Marketing

Last week I watched a PR agency charge $3,000 for a press release that got exactly zero coverage. Not one journalist opened it. The tracking showed 12 total views - probably all from the client’s team.

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Meanwhile, a competitor dropped a Twitter thread that got picked up by three major publications. Cost them nothing but 20 minutes of writing. That’s the state of PR in 2019 - the old playbook is dead but agencies keep selling it.

The Social Media Press Release Was Supposed to Fix Everything

Remember when Todd Defren at SHIFT Communications invented the “social media press release” back in 2006? Revolutionary at the time. Instead of walls of text, we’d have:

  • Embedded videos and images
  • Tweetable quotes ready to copy
  • Links to social profiles
  • Bullet points instead of paragraphs
  • Share buttons everywhere

Brilliant idea. Except journalists stopped caring about press releases entirely around 2015.

I know because I tracked opens on 200+ releases across different formats. Traditional releases: 15% open rate. Social media optimized releases: 18% open rate. Twitter DM to the same journalists: 67% open rate.

The format wasn’t the problem. Press releases themselves were.

Why Press Releases Became Worthless

Journalists get 200+ pitches daily. Their inbox is a disaster zone of PR spam. Your beautifully formatted social media press release? It’s competing with:

  • Automated PR wire garbage
  • Copy-pasted mass pitches
  • Completely irrelevant stories
  • The same announcement from 5 different agencies

Even if they open it, they’re skimming for 3 seconds max. Those multimedia elements you carefully embedded? Never clicked. The social links? Ignored.

But here’s the kicker - companies still need media coverage. The tactics just changed completely.

What Actually Gets Coverage in 2019

Direct social engagement beats press releases

Find the journalist on Twitter. Comment thoughtfully on their articles for two weeks. Then slide into DMs with your story. Success rate jumps from 2% to 25%.

I got TechCrunch coverage for a client by responding to a reporter’s tweet about industry trends with relevant data. No press release. No pitch email. Just useful information at the right time.

Create the story yourself

Why write a press release hoping someone covers your announcement when you can publish the story directly? Medium, LinkedIn, Twitter threads - journalists monitor these for story ideas.

Published a controversial LinkedIn post about marketing automation that got 50k views. Three publications reached out asking to republish. The “press release” was the content itself.

Give exclusive data

Journalists need unique angles. Everyone announces product launches. Nobody shares real data.

Compiled PPC spending data from 100 campaigns and offered it exclusively to one publication. They bit immediately. The “press release” was a one-page data summary with key findings.

When You Still Need Traditional Releases

Some situations still require old-school press releases:

  • Legal requirements - Public companies have disclosure obligations
  • SEO value - PR sites still pass some link juice (though less each year)
  • Industry trades - B2B publications sometimes still want formal releases
  • Documentation - Creating an official record for investors/partners

But even then, the social media press release format doesn’t help much. Journalists who still read press releases want facts fast. They’re not watching your embedded video.

The Hybrid Approach That Actually Works

Here’s what I do for clients now:

  1. Create newsworthy content - Data studies, controversial takes, industry predictions
  2. Publish directly on owned channels with full multimedia
  3. Write a brief factual summary for journalists (not a press release)
  4. Engage journalists personally on social before and after
  5. Use traditional PR wires only for SEO and archival purposes

This gets 5-10x more coverage than any press release format.

Last example: Client launched a new product. Instead of a press release, we:

  • Published a case study showing customer results
  • Created a Twitter thread breaking down the problem it solves
  • DM’d relevant reporters with exclusive customer data
  • Posted a traditional release on PR Web for SEO

Results: 4 publication mentions, 200+ social shares, 15 quality backlinks. The PR Web release? Zero direct coverage.

The social media press release was a good idea that missed the real problem. Journalists don’t want better formatted announcements. They want stories their readers care about, delivered how they prefer to receive them.

Stop optimizing the format. Start creating actual news.