Using our social platform is as easy as creating Facebook profile or a blog post (maybe easier)! This isn’t an “easy button” – it’s a tool to enable better collaboration and engagement for your public relations. Discover why more than 13,000 brands have flocked to PitchEngine as their preferred alternative.

1. Create an account.

• This is free and easy.

2. Build your first Social Media Release (SMR)

• Take a look at an example SMR.
• Gather your assets (YouTube videos, images, etc.,)
• Type your SMR directly into the form field (we suggest your don’t just cut-and-paste
  from a word doc). Be conversational and compose it to share with friends, fans or
  followers on the social web.
• Include bullets, and fill in the “Twitter Pitch” even if your brand isn’t on Twitter.
  This will enable others to share it easily.
• Just like composing a Word document, save often and preview your content.

3. Publish and share your SMR

• Move the toggle switch from “Draft” to “Live” and we’ll time-stamp your SMR
  with the current date automatically. This means your SMR is now published!
  (If you are a subscriber, it will be indexed in search engines like Google, Bing
  and Yahoo!)
• Take the time to share your SMR with your coveted PR contacts via email, Twitter
  or whatever delivery method they prefer.
• Share your SMR with social network influencers by clicking on the Twitter,
  Facebook, Digg or other icons embedded on your release.

Quick FAQ:

Can I put it on my website or blog?

For sure! You can grab the RSS feed and embed it on your site with a feed-reader widget, simply add a link to your SMR to your site. If you subscribe for the social newsroom, you’ll get a hub for all your SMRs and other social content including, Twitter streams, Flickr slideshows, YouTube Channels and other Related Links. This enable consumers, media and investors to locate and follow your brand all from one place! Sample Newsroom

How do I track it?

We will show you the number of views each of your SMRs receive. We’re in the process of adding new monitoring and tracking capabilities. For now, we suggest using a free service like Google Alerts or Filtrbox to monitor your brand and keywords. You’ll also be notified of comments or questions that are posted by readers of your SMR via email!

I want my release to be search engine optimized. What should I do?

If you’re a subscriber, we’ll share your content with search engines quickly. If you’re a savvy seo type, you’ll be able to build in the keywords and back links you prefer. However, if you need something more, you can write a traditional Press Release and include a link to your SMR in the text. Then, use a service like PRWeb to gain the SEO juice they offer.

Can I use this in conjunction with a wire service like PR Newswire, Business Wire or Marketwire?

So far, traditional wire services like those listed above have allowed users to include PitchEngine SMR links within their traditional press releases. This way, you can provide all the social rich content of the SMR for the price of a text press release with links. It’s up to you to decide what’s best for your PR goals.

Other services have “social media press release” offerings, what’s the difference?

It is our belief that you can’t make a press release social. This means you can’t simply add a video and a “share this” button and think influencers (friends, fans and followers) will engage with it and re-share it. The viral nature of PitchEngine content is powerful. For example, our traffic comes from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social web sites, in additional to Google, Bing and Yahoo!. When people get concise, sharable content, they’re more likely to check it out. We’ve created the PitchEngine SMR from the ground up with user-driven, crowd-sourced feedback and nothing else. Does it get more social than that?

Who Uses It? | Case Studies | Tutorials

From Arik Hanson:

“One of the very interesting dynamics of engaging online is meeting folks in real life that you’ve only followed and interacted with on Twitter and other social platforms. Yesterday, I had the pleasure to meet Jason Kintzler, CEO of PitchEngine, in person. And I was not disappointed. Genuine, personable and “social smart”, Jason lived up to expectations.

I even stole a few moments with him right after his keynote address to discuss the future of the traditional news release, how smaller brands are using PitchEngine as a tool to tell their story, and one nugget you might not know about the social media/PR thought leader.”

Read about more “PR Rock Stars” at http://arikhanson.com

The SMR provided multimedia elements with context

By utilizing the PitchEngine Social Media Release format, Ultra Studios was able to deliver multimedia content, hyperlinks and tags with the proper context to their release. Instead of trying to send bulky email attachments or image cds, Ultra Studios was able to provide everything the journalist needed for a great post. Even though their video wasn’t included in the published article, it gave the writer more context about the event.

The Fayetteville Flyer article includes multimedia elements and contentdelivered via SMR

Are you questioning the effectiveness of a PitchEngine social media release? Curious to know how distributing your PR content through the social web can actual drive traffic to your website, newsroom or blog? Below is a case study compiled by PitchEngine users PFS Marketwyse generated using Google Analytics.

*based on the average page visits of the previous 30 days

Traffic Summary Week of March 23-29

Monday, March 23             433% spike in traffic
Tuesday, March 24          1100% spike in traffic (day shared via Facebook)
Wednesday, March 25      416% spike in traffic
Thursday, March 26          516% spike in traffic
Friday, March 27                483% spike in traffic
Saturday, March 28            466% spike in traffic
Sunday, March 29                na (less than the avg.)

Referring Sites accounted for 63.24% of traffic to the PFS Website the week of March 23-29

84% of traffic generated from social networks via SMR
3% of traffic generated from PFS blogs
10% of traffic generated from traditional PR distribution methods
2% of traffic generated from pitchengine.com
1% other

As you can see, traditional PR distribution accounted for just 10% of website referrals that week while SMR clicks from social media networks provided 84% of the traffic spike to the PFS Martwyse website.

Listen to hosts Al Krueger and Sara Meaney from Comet Branding as they ask PitchEngine’s Jason Kintzler about the future of PR and what role PitchEngine will play.

The PitchEngine team unveiled new customizable social media newsrooms today to serve as a one-stop communications hub for influencers and customers. The new design enables brands to integrate their social feeds from Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and PitchEngine into one place making it easy for consumers, journalists and bloggers to find them through the social web.

Read the full SMR for more: http://pitch.pe/16225

PitchEngine will remain a free service enabling PR to effectively package stories and share them with journalists, bloggers and influencers worldwide via the social web.

We’ve recently been targeted by spammers who are using our tool solely as a means to affect their Google rank, which is simply not in the best interest of our users, especially our paid subscribers. While it’s been a great asset for our users, it’s simply not going to work if this content goes unregulated. We’re also going to step up our SMR and brand authentication efforts to maintain the validity of content hitting our feeds – even for paid subscribers.

If you are a paid subscriber of PitchEngine SMR Archivingy/Hosting or Newsrooms you will see no changes to you account. However, if you are a user (or brand) that is not a paid subscriber, your content will not be visible in our pitchfeed or Google News feed. You will still be able to create and share content within your own networks and with your contacts. Remember, it’s a minimal fee ($35/mo) for your client or brand to subscribe.

I assure you, if we could keep it free for all we certainly would. But, for the integrity of PitchEngine and the protection of our users we needed to react quickly.

Moving Forward
We’re in the process of beta testing a new user account center in preparation for some major product launches! We will continue to keep users updated via email and through our Facebook page as we add and test new features and products. The next few months are going to be really exciting for us as we have so many innovative tools to bring to the PR industry. Stay Tuned!!

Thank you all for your continued support and great social content!

Best,
Jason Kintzler
t: @pitchengine

Backbone Media, a Colorado PR agency, understands PR 2.0. From the services they provide, to their integration of Social Media Releases, Backbone has almost completely discontinued the use of traditional “word doc” PR. Using PitchEngine as their content platform, Backbone grabbed their PitchEngine Agency RSS feed and dropped it into their existing website for a seamless user experience. Not only has it saved PR reps time, it’s enabled readers to quickly grab sharable images, video and other multimedia content quickly and efficiently.

“PitchEngine has allowed Backbone to better share information and digital assets in a modern, real time fashion. Additionally, their responsiveness and intuitive knowledge to the ever changing SM world is ideal from a partnership standpoint.” – Penn Newhard, Partner

Check out their Press Release room and click on a release!

Here’s how:
Use PitchEngine to compile and embed video, powerpoints, podcasts, high resolution images, related links, longer text entries and more. Grab the link we provide – either the search-friendly url or the shortened “pitch.pe” url – and include it in your traditioanl press release! It’s a HUGE cost saving for you and your clients, and a great way to start transforming your PR content into a more social, progressive format!

Make sure you subscribe your brand for archiving to ensure your link is always available!
($35/mo or $400/yr for standard archiving/hosting for unlimited release!)