Yet another example of social media influencing society and the way we work, comes in the form of the social media influence on press release distribution specifically important for those in the public relations industry.

Research conducted by PR resource PRNewswire and Crowd Factory has found that 48% of press release sharing happens on Facebook, 37% on Twitter and 15% on LinkedIn. Despite the increase use of Facebook for this purpose, it has been found that Twitter results in 30% more engagement.

The two organisations that undertook the survey, looked into thousands of press releases over a number of months, in order to analyse where, when and how news releases were generally shared.

Results have shown that each share generates an average of nearly two click backs to the original press release. This has increased the viewing and sharing of press releases by 70%.

It has also been discovered that multi-media press releases that include photos, videos or generate more views, shares and clicks than text only press releases including all three receiving 35 times more engagement than text only results.

Twitter is more often than not heavily used for news and business purposes and the figures confirm that twitter is one of the most effective arenas for  press release distribution.

With this in mind it is essential that your social networks are the best they can be, so that you aren’t missing out on any potential business opportunities.
Here are Xposure’s top social networking tips:

What are the needs of my business?

Unlike many, your business will not be joining social networks in order to chat with family and catch up with school friends. Find out what your needs are and keep this consistent, whether it is for employment purposes or to decrease your marketing budget.

After you have considered the first question, and you know what you needs area, you now need goals!

Do you want to advertise a new product or service, or do you want to connect with useful customers and experts in your industry.

Who’s attention are you trying to get?

You need to know who the target audience is for your product or service and then narrow your targeting methods (there are a lot of people on Facebook 800 million currently and growing by the minute).

Now you know your target audience, you need to consider the main social networks that you will wish to target.

If you know where your desired audience is generally seen, then your work is done for you, and you know where to place yourself, if not you may have to undertake some market research. Only use the networks that will be of use to you, if you spread yourself too thin, you will fall into the void of nothingness, which many businesses have done before, and in which (due to extensive workload) your profile will be un-used for days giving people the perception that there is little effort or enthusiasm for your business.

Who would be in charge of your social networks?

Would any of your employees have the time to conduct a social networking campaign? There is always the option to bring in new staff to monitor and update the networks, as their entire role. If you don’t have the budget to do this however, you can always employ a work experience policy and hire those who will work for free!

Who should have access to your sites?

As long as you have policies in place and trust in your employees, you can allow anyone in the business to have access to the site. Take your time to consider who has the right kind of character for the social networks and how you can avoid unsavory situations when they are no longer working there.

Who’s going to be the personality of my page?

Does your company have a public representative that usually handles speeches or press conferences. It may be beneficial to rein in that person as the voice of your social networking site. How many times have you moved supplier, to follow a representative that you trust? People buy from other people and not usually from businesses.

If you aren’t on social media by now, read through our blog for lots of helpful tips, to use on the most popular sites. If you need any help let us know!