Use a press release to promote your Facebook contest.
In addition to cross-promoting on social media sites, targeted ads, and even in-store marketing, use earned media as part of your business marketing strategy. This tactic is often overlooked, but when written effectively, a press release can be a great boost to your business.
In this article, we will give you essential tips on how to write a press release to gain more interest in your Facebook contest.
5 tips on how to write a press release for your Facebook contest:
- Make your Facebook Contest Newsworthy
- Keep Your Press Release to the Point
- Tone Your Release Objectively
- Create a Great Headline
- Include Business Contact Information
Make it Newsworthy
Newspaper sites print stories that are of interest to their subscribers. Write an interesting newsworthy angle for your Facebook contest news.
Make it timely and time based. Show how the contest is relevant to the media sites you are targeting, and not just about your Facebook promotion.
For example, let’s say you are a local coffee shop running a Facebook group offer. You might want to give partial proceeds of every group offer sale to a local charity. Write about this in your press release. A local print newspaper may be more likely to run your story.
Or, write a press release with the angle about being the first local business in your community to use Facebook contests.
Keep it to the Point
Good news releases are generally one page in length. Keep your word count in the 300-800 range.
Often, media sites will print your story as is. If it is too long or too short, it may prevent your press release from coverage.
Additionally, make sure your message is clear. State what the press release is about and why it’s newsworthy in your opening summary.
Tone the Press Release Objectively
Use third person in your news releases. Only use first person in quotes from your company representative.
Don’t oversell your contest, and don’t use excited punctuation like exclamation marks. You do not want your release to come across as being overly salesy, or full of hype. This will likely be rejected by a media site.
Keep the tone professional to give your press release credibility.
Create a Great Headline
Your headline is one of the most important aspects of your news release. Write your words to clearly summarize what your story is about. Include your company name too.
A headline may be the only thing people read of your press release. A catchy headline may actually get your story printed – and read.
Check out the article: 5 Awesome Tips: How to Make Killer Blog Headlines for headline making hints.
Include Contact Information
There may be nothing worse in a press release than forgetting to include your contact information.
The media could have a question for you, or need an additional quote regarding your Facebook contest. If you have no contact information, this may lose you the earned media opportunity. Make sure you include a name and contact as your company media liaison.
Your contact information should include an email, as well as your Facebook page (where your contest is). You could include a phone number, and all other social sites your company has.
Try writing a press release for your next Facebook contest. Let us know how you did.
Written by Krista Bunskoek @ Wishpond
At Wishpond, we want you to be the best marketer you can be. That’s why we’ve created a whole range of social marketing apps – making your successes a little easier.
wishpond