In the age of social media, why are press releases still necessary?

While your active Twitter and LinkedIn profiles are hugely beneficial to your digital PR efforts, there is still a place for a well-worded press release. Here are four ways they boost the bottom line.

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Is the press release an antique?

In this age of digital media where most news is gathered from the internet, it can be easy to assume that distributing your company’s news via social media alone is adequate—but news distributed solely on social media may not get the attention it deserves.

This is not to downplay the power of social media, but for many companies, social media channels may not be enough to deliver important messages to the right audiences. A press release not only validates online content, it can serve other purposes that a brief social media post cannot.

Once upon a time, a press release was the main tool of corporate communications, particularly for B2B companies. The release was distributed by a paid newswire service and coverage could be reasonably expected, at least in within the appropriate trade media circles. Today, however, some companies may not even consider a press release when distributing a corporate announcement.

That is a big mistake.

A press release—properly crafted and appropriately distributed—can support your company’s news and views in a credible and targeted way that reaches key audiences with messages that matter to them.

If done correctly, a press release can achieve the following:

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