Finding Social Media Budget from Wire Service Fees

Some time in the not-very-distant future, companies will be finding money from all sorts of departments for social media spending. That’s because when social media truly enters the business bloodstream, organizations will see that it goes far beyond marketing and touches all operations of the company – customer service, sales, R&D, HR — and it will be funded accordingly.
 
Until that day, many companies are struggling to find and/or allocate budget to social media. Even top marketing chiefs either aren’t completely sold on its benefits or can’t get approvals from upper management. 
 
A new source of funding for companies’ initial forays into social media is starting to come from the budget for traditional wire distribution services such as Business Wire and PR Newswire. Applying wire service fees to social media outreach won’t upset management because overall spending remains the same.
 
Not that social media marketing isn’t a bargain already. Most tools for monitoring, communicating and analysis are free.  If you find energized, knowledgeable people and allocate them time to do it, the possibilities for social media success are endless.
 
Ever since the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reevaluated the regulation regarding full disclosure (known as Reg FD) by large public companies, allowing some news dissemination from corporate Web sites, companies have been re-assessing their wire service spending. Private and smaller firms are also beginning to take a closer look at how social media can replace some of their wire service spend.
 
With all due respect to our traditional wire service friends, it makes sense.
 
Companies today can take advantage of inexpensive or free wire services such as PitchEngine, WebWire and PRLog when there is a minor announcement that only requires indexing by Google and Yahoo! with some direct media distribution. The money saved – and it can be tens of thousands of dollars for some organizations over the year – can be applied to listening and interacting with your customers and their influencers online with much greater impact.
 
If you add your press release distribution mix to include your company blog, LinkedIn, Twitter and the numerous other social media avenues available online, there’s a good chance more of your customers will see it than they ever did through the traditional wire services.  And much of the response – how many clicked the link, where they came from, whether the release resulted in a sale or other action – is highly traceable through social media monitoring tools.

You need to also rethink your company’s entire approach to your press releases to create maximum value. Social media guru David Meerman Scott has previously posted some interesting thoughts on this topic.

For companies looking to fund their social media outreach, taking some of the money from the wire service pot could be a good starting point, especially in these difficult economic times.

Tags: disclosure, fees, press release, reg FD, SEC, social media budget, wire service