Livingston

May
29
2007

GeoCommons Social Media Release Case Study

To announce the forthcoming public beta release of FortiusOne’s GeoCommons site at Where 2.0 this week, we decided to engage in the new social media release (SMR) format. Our goal was to create excitement in anticipation of the release.

gcsmr.jpgIt seemed like a logical move as one of GeoCommons’ core communities will be publishers of social media, for the most part bloggers, as well as contemporary media. So we opted to make the announcement as an SMR, optimizing it’s format for maximum success. Further, the use of an image in the release seemed to play to GeoCommons strengths, showing the powerful information conveyed on a singular map.

After a couple of weeks of research, getting used to the bulleted form, researching press wire services, and determining how to push the information out to target audiences, we executed a GeoCommons SMR late last Monday. As you can see it was a highly visual document.

The overall success of the project was outstanding. We received significant media coverage in a variety of traditional and new media forms. This included Information Week, Directions Magazine, O’Reilly Radar, Google Earth Blog, Mashable and 3 Point D [Since publishing, Wired joined the mix]. Several more stories are in the works. Overall, the blogosphere picked up the story creating scores of mentions in a very short time period.

Further, our outreach to the blogging community was value-based, not simply pitch centric, inviting the community to use the maps for their own purposes in whatever way they wanted. As such we started a dialog with several bloggers, and anticipate they will give GeoCommons a whirl. We really see this as a peering technology, and the world of social networks will drive the actual usage of GeoCommons maps to its tastes. So we anticipate that GeoCommons will be found valuable to bloggers and other social network users, and that the maps will start being used in place of older push-pin types of mash-ups.

The end result was the site got hit hard when we turned the lights on this week, bringing a total of well over 1000 potential users into GeoCommons [Note: As of 11:07 p.m. on 5/29 we had more than 2000 potential unique users visit GeoCommons].

Lessons Learned

Here are some experience-based tips from our GeoCommons SMR effort:

1) Reporters got the gist of the SMR. It seemed like we had less conversations about having to resend the release, and more discussions right off the bat about how the technology works. We also got many more proactive calls from the media. I attribute this to how the SMR’s bulleted form quickly distills facts and eliminates the need to de-spin stories. Bullets also help writers spin their own stories.

2) Use the multimedia options and show SMR readers your story. The embedded intelligent map greatly helped this announcement.

3) While Vocus’ PRWeb seemed like the best option with its hard-core social network tagging and search engine optimization capability, it was not optimal. As you can see, the SMR was garbled by their quoting technology, slamming the text between the quote and the map. This hurt the effort as we did not promote the PRWeb version of the SMR with its Digg, del.icio.us and other social media tags, instead referring community members to the FortiusOne site version, which was more aesthetic.

4) PRWeb’s editorial team almost rejected the SMR on Sunday, the day before release. We had to appeal the decision on Monday, and scrambled to find an alternative. This was after researching and confirming with PRWeb the week prior that they could send the SMR via their web service. It also made the firm look bad to the client. Points three and four are the pains of breaking new ground, but until PRWeb can iron these wrinkles out we’ll use MarketWire.

5) Because FortiusOne was in stealth mode for a few months, we needed to come out with a bang. This presented issues as the social network community and media corps had not heard from us in a while. We preceded the GeoCommons announcement with a funding release that was picked up by Red Herring and the Washington Business Journal. This eased our credibility factor when community members did a quick search on FortiusOne.

All in all, it was a very successful effort, and there’s no question that we’ll suggest usage of this format with all of our clients. We think this is a great and better way to help companies communicate.

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by Geoff Livingston | Case Study, PR |

43 Responses to “GeoCommons Social Media Release Case Study”

  • KFFBOS Says:

    May 29th, 2007 at 2:45 pm

    Congrats! The first one is always the hardest.

    We have found MarketWire to be the best for SMRs, as well as the most cost effective. It will be interesting to see how the wires stay relevant as this format takes off.

    /kff

  • Engage in PR Says:

    May 29th, 2007 at 4:05 pm

    [...] –This is sort of campy, but I do need to have Geoff Livingston’s blog on the inaugural list. Not simply b/c he listed me, but the fact that many of the topics he discusses and the comments he leaves on other blogs have sparked topics in my own head on things to write. He is also putting this stuff into practice for clients, a very important distinction within a crowded blogosphere. [...]

  • Todd Defren Says:

    May 29th, 2007 at 7:37 pm

    Fantastic. I am dazzled and grateful.

  • a shel of my former self Says:

    May 29th, 2007 at 8:34 pm

    Kramer auto Pingback[...] Todd Defren pointed me (and everyone else reading his Twitter tweets) to a post by Geoffrey Livingston detailing his success with a social media news release. The case study involves the launch of a client’s website; in it, Livingston goes through the process of creating the release and chronicles the results, which included solid media and blog coverage. [...]

  • Chris Heuer’s Idea Engine » links for 2007-05-30 Says:

    May 30th, 2007 at 2:14 am

    [...] The Buzz Bin » GeoCommons Social Media Release Case Study Good to start seeing these come out now - great job Geoff! (tags: socialmediarelease casestudy pr) [...]

  • brendan hurley Says:

    May 30th, 2007 at 8:40 am

    Fantastic! Using social networking to break through the clutter of social networking!

  • navigate communications » Blog Archive » Sample new media release for GeoCommons Says:

    May 30th, 2007 at 8:49 am

    [...] Here’s a great blog posting referenced in the New Media Release group about lessons learned on a recent new media release produced by GeoCommons’ agency. They blogged about the experience and provided a link to the release. [...]

  • Joe Beaulaurier Says:

    May 30th, 2007 at 1:05 pm

    Congratulations, Geoff, on your launch.

    I see from visiting the PRWeb-hosted PR page (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/5/prweb527737.htm) you have since disabled the pull-quote feature that mangled your bullet points. We at PRWeb are all ears if there are other aspects of the PRWeb-hosted version you would have liked done differently to support your SMR format.

    Regards,

    joeb at prweb.com

  • Michelle Gorel Says:

    May 30th, 2007 at 7:29 pm

    Thanks — I really needed a real-life example. I’ve been promoting the idea of social media releases and incorporating more social media into our website for several months now. I think I’ve got most of the marcomm and some of the exec team on board, but now we’re working on execution. And yes, like many companies we still struggle with the issue of access to social media for our employees.

    Michelle

  • The Press Release: Anachronism, or a Citizen Media Bonanza? « Shannon Whitley Says:

    May 31st, 2007 at 1:25 am

    [...] So, what are press releases today?  If they are not for the Press, then why bother?  The Press is one communications channel, but aren’t you really just trying to use the Press to get your message to more people?  What if you could reach the people directly without dogging the exhausted reporters?  With the internet, the possibility is there.  I’m not saying that you should ignore the Press, but online communications channels can be as effective, perhaps more so, than a mention by your favorite reporter.  Take a look at this great post mortem to see how a holistic approach can lead to greater success. [...]

  • FortiusOne to Launch GeoCommons at Where 2.0 Says:

    May 31st, 2007 at 3:46 am

    Kramer auto Pingback[...] Post Comment:Trackback URL: http://www.prweb.com/pingpr.php/TG92ZS1NYWduLUZhbHUtRW1wdC1UaGlyLVplcm8= Trackbacks/Comments Received The Buzz Bin » Blog Archive » GeoCommons Social Media Release Case Study from http://www.livingstonbuzz.com on May 29, 2007   [...]

  • An ongoing Press Release › Social Media Releases begin appearing on PRWeb Says:

    May 31st, 2007 at 7:53 am

    [...] Geoff reports he had two challenges with this. First, the PRWeb editor reviewing this release was all to unsure whether this fragmented structure would have much online distribution success. After all, we've seen Google News reject release for containing "fragments" all too often. After some conversations with other staff, he came around. [...]

  • Geoff Livingston Says:

    May 31st, 2007 at 8:35 am

    Thank you all for your great comments, and also for the kudos. We’re honored. I’d like to say the marketing team at FortiusOne, and specifically Marketing VP Jim Ishikawa and CEO Sean Gorman deserve praise for being visonary and allowing us do this. Also, I will give kudos to PRWeb for reading this and reacting, shifting their service to meet the market’s needs.

    Lastly, we had a client see this case study and decide to move towards the SMR format. I think that’s our real goal here, to share best practices and make more people successful.

  • Michael Pranikoff Says:

    May 31st, 2007 at 3:06 pm

    Hi Geoff,

    Congratulations on a successful SMR! I have to say that your format was good for this release, but most importantly it’s your content that is good.

    Like any news release - whether traditional or non-traditional - if your content is presented well and you have a clear and co-hesive message, you will have some success.

    There has been too much focus on the form of the news release and not enough attention to the content and message. A successful message will always ring true. While there are many methods for SEO and making your news “social” the message is still what counts most. This is something that we try to work with our clients on while making their news as accessible as possible.

    Bravo on a successful campaign.

    Michael Pranikoff, Director of Emerging Media
    PR Newswire

  • Geoff Livingston Says:

    May 31st, 2007 at 8:37 pm

    I agree, Michael. The only knocks we’ve gotten were on the tags not being in the release on F1’s site (though they were in the PRWeb version on the wires). Did it matter? No, we had a great story and people acknowledged it.

    More importantly, if PR pros hadn’t corrupted the current version of the news release with so much — shall we say SPIN (short for Stupid PR Infiltrating News) — then we wouldn’t be in a situation where reporters don’t bother to read. Further, even if the SMR takes off, if flacks treat it the same way then this new form will have little success in the long term, relegating it to news release status.

  • Trendency by Urban Lifestyle Says:

    June 4th, 2007 at 4:46 am

    Kramer auto Pingback[...] 04 Jun 2007 | Tagged as: Internet, PR The Buzz Binn recently wrote about an interesting exemple of the use of a Social Media Release (SMR) to promote a map mash-up. Since their target group is users of social media this makes perfect sense. Some of the most important lessons of this example is to use bullet points instead of regular text, and to incorporate some form of interactivity. [...]

  • PR Squared: One Year Later: Social Media Releases, Part I Says:

    June 4th, 2007 at 3:24 pm

    Kramer auto Pingback[...] Recent weeks have seen some nice case studies, and some cool new releases (from major brands, no less!).  Also, I’ve recently been asked to present about the SMNR to a FORTUNE 1000 company.  These developments give me great hope that progress will continue, and momentum will build. [...]

  • My Name is Kate: links for 2007-06-06 Says:

    June 7th, 2007 at 4:53 am

    Kramer auto Pingback[...] The Buzz Bin » Blog Archive » GeoCommons Social Media Release Case Study (tags: socialmediarelease casestudy socialmedia pr) [...]

  • Engage in PR Says:

    June 8th, 2007 at 11:33 am

    [...] There have been some great case studies of folks using the SMNR, but in general we still see the aging four-page mess that we’ve seen for a century.  PR people need to go on the press release patch and break the habit. [...]

  • PR 2.0 - Silicon Valley Says:

    June 10th, 2007 at 7:22 pm

    Kramer auto Pingback[...] New Media Release Cast #15 Now Online - Evolution of the Press Release It’s been a while since we last recorded the NMRCast, but with the growing discussions around the new media release, we felt it was time to reignite the conversations.The NMRCast was initially started to document the evolution of the press release in today’s social landscape. It reviews the strategies and experiments driving the social media release aka new media release so that PR professionals can learn from each other in order to improve how we share news and information with the public, and in turn, how they share it with each other.Todd Defren, from SHIFT Communications joined Shel Holtz and me to talk about the one-year anniversary of SHIFT’s social media press release template. We also discussed SHIFT’s template for a social media newsroom, my “how to write” an SMR guide, the lack of social features when using wire services to distribute SMRs, and the status of the social media release working group. We also covered recent examples of SMRs in action, including the Virtual Coke, SpiralFrog, Real Networks, and Geocommons campaigns. You can listen to the podcast here.Relevant Links:The new Social Media Release site, home of the social media release requirements Google Groups mailing list for New Media Release discussion Social Media Release discussion live from the NewComm Forum in Las VegasShannon Whitley’s PRX BuilderAlso, for a refersher on SMRs, please read, “Everything You Wanted to Know (or Should Know) About Social Media Releases.”Subscribe to the NMRCast feed here.social+media pr onlinepr nmrcast newpr pr2.0 briansolis, brian+solis, futureworks, publicrelations, public+relations, todd+defren socialmedia smpr seo smo shelholtz forimmediaterelease fir socialmediarelease shel+holtz public relations press release social hrelease media 2.0 [...]

  • The Future of Communications Says:

    June 12th, 2007 at 11:10 am

    Kramer auto Pingback[...]   Geocommons [...]

  • Horn Group Weblog: The Week that Was: PR & Technology Says:

    June 12th, 2007 at 5:09 pm

    Kramer auto Pingback[...] Happy Birthday To You SMNR!While meeting with a very exciting prospect last week  (stay tuned for news on that…) their CEO was looking at our example of a Social Media News Release and wondered aloud, "Why wouldn’t people use this?".  It’s a great question and with the celebration around the one year anniversary of the SMNR it was particularly timely. There have been some great case studies of folks using the SMNR, but in general we still see the aging four-page mess that we’ve seen for a century.  PR people need to go on the press release patch and break the habit. [...]

  • Social Media Meets Traditional Media – The New Tools of Integrated Marketing (SocialComputingMagazine.com) Says:

    June 15th, 2007 at 10:00 am

    Kramer auto Pingback[...] Related Links From Gutenberg to Google: Media in Transition Conference Enterprise RSS: Three Key Benefits For Any CxO Eight Best (Or Most Interesting) Web 2.0 Definitions and Explanations Technorati Facelift Facilitates ‘Using the Wisdom of Crowds As a Mirror on Ourselves’ The future of marketing integrates traditional and social media elements. The new mix will include what you know along with the tools to succeed in social media and customer relations. They can include blogs, social networks, wikis, lifestreams ala Twitter and Jaiku, video, livecasts such as Veodia and ustream.tv, news aggregators such as Digg and Reddit, social media releases, videos, and podcasts. There are also opportunities for companies to participate in virtual worlds, such as Second Life.Remember, the future of communications introduces sociology into the marketing strategy. The technology is just that, technology. The tools will change. The networks will evolve. Mediums for distributing content will grow.As you participate in each of these new discussions, the key ingredient to ensuring transparency is realize that whatever you do, is less about the company, per se, and more about how your customers can succeed in their business or how people can simply improve their personal lives. They learn. You learn. It’s about building a community around them – literally. The rest are just tools to facilitate the conversation.With everything you do in social media, you have to participate in order to build bridges that connect people and the company.Blogs - I’m pretty sure that by this point, we’re all pretty familiar with blogs. What we should all know however, is that they are not effective when used as a corporate platform for marketing messages. And also, they’re not a channel for featuring ghostwritten posts for company executives. The best corporate blogs are genuine and designed to help people. Make sure to pay attention to the comments as well. Some of the best conversations take place in the comments section as people react to what you wrote as well as the feedback from their peers.Trackbacks can not go unmentioned here. As you blog, make sure to send trackbacks to any outside blog post that may have inspired your post. This builds tunnels between the blogs allowing new readers to discover your content.Social Media Release – Originally introduced by Todd Defren, the SMR is a new way of facilitating conversations, while also packaging content in a more concise format, rich with media and other social tools (it also recently celebrated its first anniversary).The social media release, aka new media release, is not a miracle pill to cure the ills of poorly written press releases. It is merely a tool that is most effective when combined with a strategic arsenal of relevant company blog posts, traditional releases, relationships, and an emerging category of press releases that tell a story (written by people for people using SEO to reach them).Social media releases are designed to get the conversation going, providing readers with the ability to disseminate information and multimedia, bookmark and share the content, and in turn, spark threads. They also serve a purpose of providing new media influencers with the information they need, in one package, in order to write a full story, their way – without having to carve out the BS of a traditional release or pitch.News releases can tell the same story in different ways – appealing to specific markets and the users that define them.Here are a few examples for your reference:HPGeocommonsVirtual ThirstVNR 2.0 - Video is the new frontier, again. I recently introduced the idea of reinventing the VNR (video news release), which is designed to help viewers humanize companies and also explain the value of their products or services in a way that speaks to them directly.‘Un’ produced videos that tell stories are incredibly viral when placed in online communities and also on the corporate Web site. The more produced they feel, the lower the interaction and sharing ratio. The more real they are, the greater the dynamic and propensity for sharing.These videos can be short demos, screencasts (a demonstration or walkthrough on screen), entertaining snippets or collages, mini episodes, etc.Create a channel on Youtube, tag each video with the key words you think people are searching, and watch the views skyrocket. I recently uploaded a simple screencast, which generated 55,000 views in one week.Social Media Newsroom - Todd Defren who introduced the original template for a social media release also introduced the concept of a social media newsroom.This allows press, analysts, bloggers, conference organizers, and also customers to discover, subscribe, and share corporate news, bios, images, video, RSS feeds, del.icio.us links, blogs, tags, IM accounts, etc.Social Networks - Building a dedicated social network, which could be considered a more sophisticated and easier to use discussion board, is imperative to service and relationships. Take a look at services such as Ning in order to quickly build and launch a network if you need to take matters into your own hands. But just because you build it, doesn’t mean they will come. You have to start by recruiting. Go find your customers and bring them to you. Also make sure to maintain a presence in other social networks – where relevant – so your customers can also find you.Also take a look at Dell’s Ideastorm for mashing up a digg-like community around customer ideas.For more on the subject, take a look at Jeremy Toeman’s smart and useful post on DIY Viral Marketing Activities.Podcasts and Video Blogs – Podcasts and video blogs are easy to produce and can provide a world of value to customers. They can focus on company milestones, executive interviews, customer success stories, how to’s, and anything else that may be worthy. Not only can they be hosted on the company’s web site, they can be placed in a variety of content distribution networks such as itunes, to reach people using the tools of their choice.Wikis – Wikis are important to facilitate collaboration in a more friendly, socially-focused content management system. It’s not just about teams and document management. It can now provide a forum for inviting content and suggestions from customers.Microblogs and Flow Applications – Twitter, Jaiku, and tumblr aren’t just for geeks. They represent a new channel for listening to customers and also sharing new information with them. Often referred to as microblogs, these new tools are designed to share short updates, whether you’re publishing new information, content, or media. People “add” people and companies as friends when they want to learn or stay up to date with their activities.Again, these are just a few examples where conversations are taking place. Not one represents a collective community for your customer-base. You have to understand where they are, what they’re looking for, and why – in order to reaching them.Livecasting and video casting – There was a time when only the elite or Fortune 500 companies had access to video production and the ability to mass broadcast. Now companies are building networks and the tools that enable you to broadcast video live or as episodes, which can facilitate 24/7 or episodic livecasts on the Web and through mobile appliances. Video segments allow companies and customers to engage in a whole new way. All it takes is a notebook, a fixed broadband connection (or even EVDO for mobile casts), and either a Web cam or a camcorder.Companies such as Veodia and Ustream enable livecasting anywhere, anytime. While kyte, Mogulus, and BlogTV facilitate episodic broadcasting.For business, these tools are ideal for (whether live or not) for webcasting training sessions, HR and executive announcements, product reviews, marketing events, lectures, conferences, speeches, panels, etc.Media – Artwork, and all media in general should be placed in social communities for customers to find and use. Some of the more successful companies are sharing less-polished, more customer-focused exclusive content in communities such as fickr, zooomr, Izimi, Photobucket or all of the above.Also collage tools, such as SplashCast, allow you to integrate all forms of media into one portable, rich, and captivating video. SplashCast enables anyone to create streaming media ‘channels’ that combine video, music, photos, narration, text and RSS feeds. These casts can be placed on blogs and in social networks.If you want to read a killer case study that gives us a glimpse of the future of integrated marketing, take a look at what Marshall Kirkpatrick and Alex Williams did for the Splashcast launch.Here are the highlights: [...]

  • The Social Network Press Release « the non.profit fox Says:

    June 16th, 2007 at 2:25 am

    [...] The Geocommons Social Media Release case study Social Media Newsroom Template The GC release on Fortiusone Posted by hightechdirt Filed in social networks, PR, Marketing [...]

  • The Future of Communications – A Manifesto for Integrating Social Media into Marketing « Jens Alkjær Says:

    June 28th, 2007 at 9:10 am

    [...] Geocommons [...]

  • FusionBrand: SMR: The Next Generation of Press Releases? Says:

    July 19th, 2007 at 7:13 am

    Kramer auto Pingback[...] innovation has glitches. A great case study  illustrates how effective SMR can be, but also shows distribution can be a problem. Another [...]

  • Monitr » Blog Archive » Social Media Releases – Ãœbersicht und Einschätzung Says:

    August 3rd, 2007 at 11:25 am

    [...] Aufgrund der geringen Verbreitung von SMR lassen sich keine gesicherten Aussagen über deren Wirksamkeit treffen. Durch den gebotenen Zusatznutzen für die Bezugsgruppe, aber auch für herkömmliche Journalisten und Redaktionen, lässt jedoch auf positive Resonanz schließen. Dies zeigen auch die Erfahrungen der Firma Fortius One bei der Bekanntgabe des Services GeoCommons (Siehe: Case Study GeoCommons SMR). [...]

  • Top Ten Buzz Bin Posts » The Buzz Bin Says:

    September 1st, 2007 at 2:08 pm

    [...] 1) GeoCommons Social Media Release Case Study [...]

  • GameCyte: Social New Media hRelease Squared 2.0: Should we kill the press release? Says:

    September 11th, 2007 at 3:58 am

    Kramer auto Pingback[...] Media Release, or hRelease, (groan) is a new way for companies to distribute news.I’ve been reading several articles about the subject, and it’s worth giving some serious thought to, especially in an [...]

  • Communication Overtones: Case Studies: Social Media Done Right Says:

    September 14th, 2007 at 4:35 pm

    Kramer auto Pingback[...] GeoCommons Social Media News Release (May 29, 2007): An outline of the pitfalls and successes of releasing news via SMNR, Livingston Communications [...]

  • The Participation Ethos » The Buzz Bin Says:

    September 16th, 2007 at 8:52 am

    [...] GeoCommons Social Media News Release (May 29, 2007): An outline of the pitfalls and successes of releasing news via SMNR, Livingston Communications [...]

  • How the Buzz Bin Became a Top 20k Blog » The Buzz Bin Says:

    September 22nd, 2007 at 4:02 pm

    [...] kindly upon us. One of the great things they did was bring attention to successes like our GeoCommons Social Media Release. Thanks to the friends who helped [...]

  • Down with the Press Release!! Says:

    October 11th, 2007 at 12:18 am

    [...] GeoCommons Social Media Release [...]

  • Social Media 360 | Lena West | InfoWorld | Social Media News Releases: Do Them or Not? | November 20, 2007 03:00 AM | By Lena West Says:

    November 20th, 2007 at 8:02 am

    Kramer auto Pingback[...] don’t know about any hard and fast numbers (if you do, please share them below), but here’s a link to an informative case study about the use of the SMR format. When I read this case study, [...]

  • Janet Johnson Says:

    December 14th, 2007 at 4:39 pm

    Am about to launch an SMR for a client - do you still think Marketwire handles them most effectively? Thanks so much for sharing all of this with the rest of us.

  • Geoff Livingston Says:

    December 14th, 2007 at 5:38 pm

    Yes, Marketwire is good and PRWeb has also made significant strides.

  • The Future of Communications Says:

    January 6th, 2008 at 2:47 pm

    Kramer auto Pingback[...]   Geocommons [...]

  • Social Media Release Criticism: Nine Points to Consider » The Buzz Bin Says:

    January 24th, 2008 at 10:35 am

    [...] Before moving forward, I advocate for SMRs. They’re in Now Is Gone and one of the most successful posts on this blog was an SMR case study.  [...]

  • PR-Kloster » Neues von der Social Media News Release Says:

    January 26th, 2008 at 4:49 am

    [...] Livingston Communications, die selbst bereits Erfahrungen mit der SMNR gesammelt und dazu eine Case Study veröffentlicht hat) u.a. so [...]

  • Fleet Street PR: Case Studies? Anyone? Says:

    January 31st, 2008 at 5:51 am

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    March 5th, 2008 at 11:51 pm

    [...] This is especially true in the case of social media releases. There are a few out there - Geoff Livingston has one on his site, for example. However, more are needed if we’re to convince (a) our [...]

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