Scrolling through my Twitter feed last month, I noticed a PR Daily tweet on “Unconventional ways of distributing press releases (and a few you know)” followed by a link to a 2014 post on ways to use releases.

My reply to PR Daily? Those thoughts were hardly unconventional. (Also, were they really so low on good tips that they had to recycle from 2014?)

The suggestions were pretty standard – pitch the release, put it on social media, post it to your company/institution/group’s website, use a wire service and share it with your sales team.

If you’re not already pitching your release and posting it on social media and your website, you’re doing it wrong. I was #thoroughlyunimpressed. Plus, communications pros around the world often work on a shoestring budget, so using an expensive paid distribution service may not even be an option.

So, here’s my take on how to make your press release go that extra mile.

Try SlideShare.

Use bullet points and/or quotes from your release to make a SlideShare presentation to share on various social media platforms. It’s a great way to work graphics and photos in with your text while getting the main points across. Let’s be honest. You may be the next Ernest Hemingway, but some people still won’t read your full release. This tactic lets you communicate the main takeaways in a quick and dirty fashion. Extra points if you make it pretty with photos or graphics.

Share the love.

PR Daily suggests sharing your release with your sales team. I say share it with EVERYBODY.

Crash through those silos that may separate communications from other areas of your company/organization/group. Why? Glad you asked. First, everyone needs to know what messages, priorities and initiatives are being communicated to the general public. Second, your non-communications colleagues may have some creative ideas of how to further your message. That feedback and creative partnership is especially important if you’re a one-man shop. And third, your release might be particularly interesting to a stakeholder/constituent/friend of someone else in the organization. This could translate into new business, partnerships, contacts or other opportunities down the line, but everyone on your team has to know about it first.

Leverage your networks.

Posting your release on your institution’s social media accounts and website is a given, so what’s next? Communicators build relationships at every turn, whether they’re directly related to your organization or for personal development. Use those people. Re-post your news releases or links to them on your own social media pages. Make sure your business cards, Twitter bio and Facebook page have the web address to your organization’s news page so your friends and contacts can check it out. Know a friend or professional contact (doesn’t have to be a reporter!) who might have an interest in your release? Ask if they’d consider posting your release on their pages.

Don’t forget about radio.

One of my best friends is a public radio reporter, and she constantly gripes about PR people catering to print outlets. She needs sound whenever possible, so think about ways you could provide some high-quality audio. Maybe you could record your spokesperson/president/CEO reading a snippet of the release that could give you some extra options when trying to pitch a story or position to reporters and your CEO can’t do interviews.

Make it a full story.

OK, hear me out on this one. Many practitioners think your release should be a one-pager. This concept is generally true, but consider this: The media landscape is changing, and some outlets print the releases when they don’t have time to do the story. Many businesses are hiring journalists to create content that reads more like news stories to fill the gap in news coverage. It may be worth your time to lengthen that press release by throwing in some background, statistics or any other supporting material that gets your point across.

Let’s be honest. Some stories are easier to sell than others, but if you don’t move beyond standard practices, your chances are pretty slim. Even getting it in front of a few more eyeballs can be worth the extra time and energy in the end.

Happy writing!

Kathleen Haughney is the Research Media and Content Specialist for Florida State University, which means she spends her days promoting discoveries by FSU faculty members and their students. She is a former reporter for the Sun Sentinel and News Service of Florida and a proud graduate of Penn State University.

First, let’s talk about the basics of your marketing plan. Your marketing plan should at the very least identify who matters most to you (your target audiences) and what you want them to do (become clients, give referrals, etc.). Focus on specific, measurable actions; busy doesn’t equal effective. If you need help developing a marketing plan, let’s chat.

Now that you’ve identified your target audience, study them. Where do they get their information? That’s where you want to be. You’ll waste time and resources trying to pull an audience to you instead of going to where they are. This includes evaluating social media channels because it’s better to pick a few platforms and do those well than be mediocre at many. For this audience, we recommend starting with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+.

Next, set up your social media accounts correctly. Make sure your accounts are public, so people searching can see your posts in their search results. Keep all of your information, including your logo, your name, your website, your phone number and your address, identical across all channels – NO EXCEPTIONS. Having different information, even something as simple as St. vs Street in your address listing, can affect where you show up on search engine result pages.

Which is where this whole conversation is headed – how to get good positioning on search engine result pages. These pages are what a search engine returns when you type in a specific keyword or phrase. Most search engines use some sort of an algorithm to determine placement. Used correctly, social media can help boost your placement on these pages.

Overall, the silver bullet is to have killer original content and a plan for posting it. Create and post content that sets you apart as an expert, as someone with a well-supported opinion or someone who has a voice worth listening to. You can review a recent CLE or talk about a recent court ruling – whatever might be interesting or important to your target audience.

Once you’ve developed the content, you need a network to help you get the most out of it. Look for places to submit your content so you can drive even more people back to your website. These could be legal blogs or they could be parenting blogs, depending on the topic you’ve chosen and your target audience. Key influencers in audiences matter, and they can promote your content on their networks, reaching people not necessarily in your sphere of influence. Pro tip: start building these networks early so the first time they hear from you isn’t when you need something. It’s also important to pay attention to what is going on around you, so you can join the conversation in an authentic way.

For best results, you should post updates, new content, information, etc., at least once every two weeks. This rate won’t help you thrive, but it will least keep you alive. Anything less frequent, and Google will start to penalize you. But remember – using social media effectively in the legal world really isn’t about the sheer volume of posts – a little planning and some strategy will go a long way here.

Finally, make sure you use best practices when you’re on social media. Don’t overload your posts with keywords or hashtags. Try not to purchase too many of your friends, followers or likes; paid advertising is fine, when used correctly. Do build a “cheering squad,” people who will champion you on social media when you need them. And make sure you’re interesting.

Social media can be overwhelming, so be strategic and take it one step at a time. Don’t sign up for a platform just because someone says you have to be on it; evaluate your marketing plan and how to reach your target audiences and choose your channels wisely. Post relevant, interesting content and share it through a network of people with similar interests, and you will see improvement on those search engine result pages. #forthewin