Announcing PRX Builder -- the "Push-Button" Social Media News Release Builder
"Is there an easy way to do this? A way to 'fill in the blanks' to create a Social Media release?"
That was one of the biggest questions I faced from PR pros who were intrigued (but confused) by our Social Media News Release template (pdf). Luckily, a talented programmer named Shannon Whitley took it on himself to build an application that automates the process of creating a Social Media News Release based on the SHIFT template.
Introducing... PRX Builder. The Social Media News Release Builder (beta).
PRX Builder allows you to literally fill-in-the-blanks within its WYSIWYG wizard, and voila, you get a Social Media release, formatted and ready for distribution!
"But what about distribution?" you might ask. "Will this newfangled PRX Builder service work with the traditional newswire services?"
Great question. A Social Media News Release is only as good as its distribution platform. I introduced Shannon to the good people at PRNewswire, with whom he subsequently struck a distribution deal.
So, you can create a Social Media News Release via PRX Builder (for a few bucks), and "push a button" that will transfer the newly-minted masterpiece to the PRNewswire system.
PRNewswire has even created a new pricing package for PRX releases: a "Web-only" distribution (suitable for most users) will start at just $395.
DISCLAIMER: Since my ugly mug is splashed on the front-page of PRX Builder (temporarily, one hopes!), you will rightly wonder, "Does SHIFT get any financial compensation from PRX Builder or PRNewswire?" --- The answer is an emphatic NO.
As was the case with the template and our PR 2.0 Guide (pdf), at SHIFT we are big believers in karma. Helping out Shannon through the alpha build; making those introductions; and evangelizing Social Media (in general) and Shannon's PRX Builder (in particular) to PRNewswire were reward enough. If ya'll enjoy the PRX Builder; if it earns a few bucks for an earnest, hard-working guy like Shannon, that will be icing on the cake.
Please go check it out, next time it comes time to create a new press release. Your feedback welcome!
Tags: prx, public+relations, businesswire, prnewswire, prweb, marketing, pr, social+media, social+media+news+release, foremski, hrelease, social+media+club, shift+communications
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Comments
This will be a great addition to the world of PR if we can get it to work. Right now the site isn't comptely working; but I expect that this open source kind of coding will proliferate and become an important tool. NIce that PRNewswire is teaming up with Shannon, it adds credibility.
Posted by: Kami Huyse | October 10, 2006 11:18 AM
Todd,
Congrats to you and Shannon on "formatting" the new release. As you know, we're the developers of PR Newswire's award-winning MediaRoom product line. Most of our attention has been focused on servicing the public clients that must do releases for compliance purposes. Our mediaroom pulls the releases into the site using a feed, archives it by category and year, and then redistributes it via email and RSS to subscribers. We'll certainly make sure that the client MediaRooms are on the "web-only" distribution list should a client decide to send out a release using your new format.
Cheers!
Posted by: Dee Rambeau | October 10, 2006 04:20 PM
Most cool, gentlemen.
Todd, is this your way of giving back to your Web 2.0 challenged colleagues? What a labor of love.
Shannon, simply put all I can say is: Nicely done!
Posted by: Kip Meacham | October 11, 2006 03:24 AM
"This will be a great addition to the world of PR if we can get it to work."
I agree. In fact, because I don't have the right Flash components installed, I can't even get beyond a gray screen, which is a definite turnoff.
I would be inclined to direct them to SEOmoz's article last week on why a splash page is just not a good idea: http://www.seomoz.org/blogdetail.php?ID=1442
To be fair, I reinstalled Flash and now think that it would be better not being so Flash intensive. (It makes my work laptop run real hot.)
But the idea is definitely a good one.
Posted by: Tamar Weinberg | October 12, 2006 12:49 PM
Thanks for the feedback, Tamar. I hope you now get a chance to try it "for real"? Meanwhile rest assured I have passed your feedback along to Whitley Media!
Posted by: Todd Defren | October 12, 2006 12:53 PM
Internet development is a double-edged sword. It's great for distributing applications to anyone, anywhere, but internet technology, in general, still has room for improvement.
Whitley Media wants to bring innovative technology to the world of PR. Yes, it's cutting-edge, but once you get started, you'll appreciate the added features.
With Flash, we can bring you a lot of improvements in usability over HTML forms. Adobe's latest version of Flash is required, but I think you'll find that it's well worth the seconds it takes to download.
To prep your machine ahead of time, you can go directly to the Adobe download site at:
http://www.adobe.com
Thanks for the feedback!
Posted by: Shannon Whitley | October 12, 2006 03:19 PM
What I would suggest -- if possible -- is to have a Flash-intensive element (which already exists) but also a dynamic HTML element (ASP in this case, I suppose, from what I saw in the account signup).
My intention here is to point out a primary reason why some people won't use it, as I'd imagine I'm not alone in this opinion.
It definitely has potential and the concept is a great idea. I just think that the functionality as it stands presently might be a deterrent to a possibly large percentage of your market.
Posted by: Tamar | October 12, 2006 08:56 PM
Thanks again for the comments, Tamar. This is exactly what a beta release is about. We agree with you that the "wow factor" only lasts so long and it's more important to get people directly to the tools. The splash page has been axed.
-- Shannon
Posted by: Shannon Whitley | October 13, 2006 08:11 PM
Shannon, thanks very much for considering my comments. I have told a few colleagues about the service and wish you much success!
Posted by: Tamar | October 16, 2006 03:16 PM