How to write a killer social media press release (+ examples)

At its most basic level, a press release is a story that you tell about your brand. Typically, it'll talk about:

• a new product that will change the lives of consumers forever
• the astounding results of a breakthrough industry study
• how your business is saving the world

Of course, the aim of pretty much any press release is to gain coverage, or at least awareness. In days gone, that would mean getting it covered in print. Today, it can be anything from getting a feature on Forbes to a brand shoutout from a trending teenager on TikTok. Isn't the world of PR fascinating?

Clearly, a shoutout on TikTok will mean a lot more to, say, an upstart make-up brand than it would for an accountancy service. (Actually, scratch that – I'd pay to see a well-choreographed set-piece of an accounting team flossing.)

As always, it comes down to knowing your audience.

And here's where a social media press release format (read our guide about the perfect press release format) can help you get traction. Want to know what not to do? Try this:

5 Bad Press Release Mistakes (and how to avoid them)

Whether you’re writing your first press release or your 1,000th, sometimes it is good to evaluate your process.

So, what makes a social media press release different from a traditional press release? Well, besides text, a social media press release can contain video, images, and anything else that might help influencers discover, share, and write about your story.

And, unlike traditional press releases that are mostly intended for journalists and industry insiders, these social media press releases are made to go directly to the consumer. This ultimately means that you'll want to craft your message in an engaging way by learning how to write a social media press release that doesn't just relay the facts as a traditional press release would.

Check out these social media press release examples for inspiration when you're considering how to write a social media press release for your brand or product.

The simple reality is this: social media press releases outperform plain text releases. By a lot.

Social media press releases live on the web in an online newsroom, rather than inside a pitch email. This means that journalists and other influencers can:

1. Find your press releases via a simple Google search
2. Link to them
3. Share them on social media

The resulting bump in views is far from trivial. In fact, two-thirds of traffic to social media press releases come from social media and search. And adding multimedia on top of that can boost your traffic even more.

PR Newswire found that press releases with multimedia get up to 9.7 times as many views as text alone.

Content editors and journalists know this. They’re already under pressure to include more visuals in their articles.

Give them what they want. It’s a triple win:

• You’ll increase your odds of getting coverage
• You’ll gain trust with your influencers
• Your story will be more engaging to readers

Not to mention you'll gain control over your story: when your story lives online, you can update it however and whenever you like, meaning it will never become out of date no matter how many times your prime event gets rescheduled.

For more social media press release inspiration, see these 142+ eye-catching press releases and these fab social media press release examples!