Cats love videos, too.
While perusing the latest newspaper, you’ve probably encountered a choice. Either read the article that’s all text, or read the one with the interesting photo. Out of the two, you’ll probably read the one with the photo first. This same principle applies to press releases. A November 2012 study by PR Newswire revealed that press releases with visual elements are nearly 10 times more likely to be viewed compared to text-only releases.
Read further to find out how adding more visuals can increase your release views.
Study Methods and Findings
PR Newswire looked at 100,000 press releases published in 2011 and 2012, tracking their views and content. A release was “viewed” when someone clicked on the headline and opened it. Their findings suggest that the more multimedia elements there are, the more likely a particular release would be viewed.
Here’s a break down of how different multimedia elements affected views:
- Text + Photo = 1.8 times more likely to be viewed over text-only
- Text + Video = 4.3 times
- Text + Photo & Video = 7.4 times
- Text + Photo, Video & Downloadable Content = 9.7 times
Clearly, more multimedia drives more engagement. This is great news for releases with visuals, especially considering that, according to a 2010 Forrester study, one-fifth of the viewers of press releases were journalists or bloggers. That’s the very people you want seeing a release, and hopefully they’ll write about it later.
Get Started: Add Multimedia to Your Releases
Photos: Add a photo to a release when it supports your content. If possible, use an infographic.
Videos: Include videos for product demonstrations, a personal story or interview, or for a viral campaign.
Downloadable Content: To offer more information to viewers, attach PowerPoints or PDFs.
People like pictures and they especially love videos. But putting them together (especially with downloadable content) creates a winning combination for your next big news announcement.
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