Press release distribution services, also known as newswires, play an important role in today’s ecosystem of how news is disseminated and digested by a wide range of end users.
Originally set up as private networks to enable companies, organizations, and others to transmit their news announcements directly to media organizations, today’s newswires have morphed into so much more.
Newswires maintain omnichannel distribution systems that include direct feeds into major news organizations such as the Associated Press and Reuters, as well as automated posting relationships with many popular portals and specialized websites. In addition to its traditional audience of journalists, newswires are critical for reaching institutional and retail investors, peer groups (B2B), bloggers and influencers, and consumers.
In the United States, newswires are recognized as important providers of source material by news gathering operations, who rely on these services for original text announcements from publicly traded companies and other newsworthy organizations. Companies use newswires to satisfy their statutory disclosure requirements, as well as for marketing and publicity purposes. Newswires are an essential part of the PR practitioner’s toolkit. enabling them to get their message out to diverse audiences.
Newswires have evolved over the years, offering global solutions to target new consumer and capital markets. PR professionals are able to send releases to individual countries, specific regions such as the Middle East or Asia Pacific, or globally based on their client’s needs and budget.
While newswires provide a convenient and cost efficient vehicle for PR professionals to get the word out, communicators have responsibilities and obligations to maximize their return on investment.
They need to write an effective release in a format that clearly highlights the major news elements of the announcement. The universal standard is “AP Style,” meaning that the most newsworthy points should be in the lead paragraph, followed by subsequent paragraphs in descending order of importance.
Additionally, press releases should be optimized for search engines by using relevant keywords and phrases, and also include multimedia elements such as images or videos to make their release more engaging and shareable. Numerous studies have confirmed that releases with multimedia assets generate the most reader attention.
Releases should also be optimized for social media to take advantage of such platforms as Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. To facilitate the sharing of releases on these channels, releases should include social media links and hashtags.
As part of their value proposition, today’s newswire services include monitoring reports that include online postings and other metrics that can be shared with clients and colleagues. The data in these reports can be analyzed to determine a campaign’s effectiveness and whether any adjustments are needed for future outreach.