Press Release Syndication Best Practices
After spending considerable time, energy, and money on your press release, you want to make sure that you actually achieve your goals and get a good return on your investment. Syndication is often part of a press release strategy.
What is Syndication?
Syndication is a term that’s used in a number of industries. With press releases and other online content, it means making your content available through other websites. More specifically, syndication means distributing your press release to media outlets, new channels, bloggers and other sites.
How Do You Syndicate?
Syndication is something that you can try on your own. You can manually submit your press release to a handful of media outlets and channels and hope that they publish it. You can also leverage the distribution reach of a quality press release distribution service. Services provide much more than syndication. They also provide assistance writing and editing your release. They can help you make your release more social media friendly with features and functions that a standard press release may not have. And, perhaps most importantly, a good distribution service will also provide you with an analytics dashboard.
Best Practices
When working with a distribution service to syndicate your content there are a few best practices to keep in mind. First, let’s simply list the best practices that go into any press release:
- Newsworthy content
- Well edited
- Relevant supporting facts
- Good quotes
- Attention grabbing headline
- Solid introductory paragraph
- Proper press release structure and format
- Supporting images, graphics, and multimedia
- Contact information
Beyond those press release writing best practices there are some syndication practices to add to your list.
- Choose Your Syndication Service Wisely – Look for a directory or distribution service that has a reputation for quality. They distribute your release to only the best media outlets, channels, publications, and journalists. (And they give you a choice about who you want to distribute your press release to.)
- Don’t Spin – Don’t repurpose or spin your press release and send it out onto the web again, hoping for better results. Spinning content is generally effective if you can add value and interest to the piece. Spinning a press release is generally not a good idea. It can hurt your reputation. Write the best press release possible and let it stand on its own.
- Track Your Results – Don’t just syndicate and then move on. Track and assess your results. Who is publishing your release, linking to your site, and visiting your site? What media outlets have paid attention to your news?
Finally, syndication should always include some type of media outreach effort. Identify a few key media representatives. Send them your press release or story idea first, before you distribute it. Give them an opportunity to cover your news before it hits the internet.
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