How to turn a press release into a viral video

Whether a press release gets printed by all the media outlets you courted or it completely tanks, there’s always a sense that there’s nothing else you can do with it. Its purpose has been used up, and aside from plopping it up on your website’s “news” page, there’s no reason to keep it around.

There’s actually quite a bit more you can do with a press release. Some companies use old releases as ideas for social media posts. Others use them to create a series of blog posts to give readers a more complete view of their products.

One avenue that too often goes unexplored is the viral video route. It’s possible to take a press release, regardless of its prior level of success, and make a great video that catches fire on the Web. Let’s look how you can do it:

Find the angle

Don’t worry about having to take the same approach in your video as you did with the original release. Find the best direction for your video.

For example, let’s say your press release is about a product upgrade. The new iteration—the Super Key Remote 6000—is replacing the beloved but outdated Super Key Remote 5000. Your job is to convince everyone that the familiar product just gets more amazing as it’s updated.