UK’s largest commercial broadcaster ITV has brought in online distribution company webitpr to communicate announcements and news about selected shows to the online and social media community.
The year-long brief will see webitpr work alongside ITV inhouse publicity team to distribute show clips and news announcements in the form of social media news releases to its database of online editorial contacts and bloggers.
ITV is the first broadcaster in the world to be using the social media news releases to coincide with its existing communication methods.
Social media manager for webitpr, Stephen Davies will lead the account, reporting to ITV new media publicist Ben Ayers.
‘An increasing number of people are writing about our shows online and we need to do all we can to communicate effectively with them,’ said Ayers. ‘Social media releases help us reach out to journalists, bloggers and fans of our content who want video clips, links and social bookmarking tools which are quickly becoming web standard.’
‘ITV is a perfect example of a large UK content organisation making the appropriate steps to adapt to the changing media landscape,’ said webitpr chief executive, Adam Parker. ‘As a broadcaster they understand that they now have a host of online global micro audiences to communicate to as well as traditional journalist contacts.’
About webitpr
webitpr has specialised in online news distribution since its inception in 2000 and works on behalf of PR agency and corporate clients throughout the UK and Europe. The company is UK based and distributes news to its large database containing thousands of online media which cover a range of industries including telecoms, IT, Consumer Tech, Gaming, Broadcast, Pharma/Healthcare and Banking and Finance.
It provides a unique service by not only distributing news and multimedia content but by providing clients with the online editorial and blog coverage their news has generated. webitpr was the first UK distribution company to introduce the Social Media News Release – a new kind of press release to cater for the social media world.
About the Social Media News Release
The Social Media News Release is a new kind of press release aimed at (but not exclusive to) both journalists and bloggers. It does not include the 'spin' of the traditional press release, but provides multimedia content in an accessible format that can easily be repurposed and shared on blogs, websites and social networks including MySpace and Facebook.
Unlike the traditional press release, the content of the SMNR is deconstructed so that the core facts, quotes, contact details and boilerplate are all individually segregated to allow users to disseminate its various elements. It can accommodate images, audio and video (including embedded social media video including YouTube) and incorporates many of the Web2.0 and folksonomy tools popular among social media users today.
More information on the Social Media News Release can be found here:
http://www.webitpr.com/realwire.asp?id=21