NEW YORK and SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- PR Newswire, the global leader of innovative marketing and communications solutions, and Crowd Factory, the premier social marketing platform today released data that provides new insights into social engagement around press releases.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111109/NY03003-a )

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110719/NY37427LOGO

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111109/NY03003LOGO-b )

PR Newswire, which uses Crowd Factory to enable and measure social sharing of client press releases, looked at tens of thousands of press releases, month over month, to analyze where, when and how news releases were shared across Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The data reveals that although press releases are more frequently shared on Facebook, shares on Twitter drive significantly more traffic back to releases than shares on Facebook. The data also confirms that optimizing content for sharing pays off when it comes to amplification of news.

Key conclusions from the analysis include:

1. Each press release share generates 2 new views; expands total audience by 70%.

Creating shareable content and enabling sharing capabilities through the relevant channels can dramatically increase the number of views for releases. PR Newswire and Crowd Factory found that each share generates an average of nearly 2 click-backs to the original press release.  Additionally, sharing of press releases across social networks increases the total audience, or social reach, for this content by nearly 70 percent.

2. Press releases are shared more on Facebook, but Twitter sharing drives more traffic.

Among the three largest U.S. social networks, Facebook is tops when it comes to sharing of press releases: 48 percent of press release sharing happens on Facebook, 37 percent of sharing happens on Twitter and 15 percent happens on LinkedIn.

But not all shares are created equal: in spite of Facebook's greater popularity for sharing, each share on Twitter actually drives about 30 percent more press release views than a share on Facebook.  

3. Multimedia press releases generate 3.5 times more engagement than text-only releases.

Not surprisingly, multimedia press releases that include photos, videos or audio generate more views, shares and clicks than text-only press releases. Adding a photo to a press release increases engagement by 14 percent; adding a video and a photo actually doubles the engagement rate. Press releases that contain photos, video and audio generate the most engagement, with 3.5 times more engagement than text-only releases.

"We have known for some time that Twitter was more heavily used for news and business purposes, and the numbers confirm that Twitter takes the lead for driving traffic back to press releases," said Ken Dowell, executive vice president of PR Newswire. "This data reiterates the importance of creating interesting content that people will want to share, whether that means pairing your release with a photo or video or simply creating a more tweetable headline.  Given that a single share can drive two new people back to your press release, optimizing content for sharing can easily amplify the impact of your investment in news distribution."  

"In today's social media era, understanding how many views or even shares your content has received is simply not enough – it's important to know where and how your content is circulated among top influencers and which networks have the most impact," said Sanjay Dholakia, CEO of Crowd Factory.

PR Newswire was recently ranked the top source of socially shared content among news distribution services and significantly leads its competition on Twitter, with 270 percent more followers than the second highest network in the industry.  PR Newswire also has the highest Google page rank in the industry, with nearly 130 percent more search engine referrals than the nearest competitor.

Media Contacts:

PR Newswire
Rachel Meranus
Vice President, Marketing & Communications
PR Newswire
201-360-6776
Rachel.Meranus@prnewswire.com

Meryl Serouya
Marketing & Communications Associate
PR Newswire
201-360-6009
Meryl.Serouya@prnewswire.com

Hillary Murphy
Sparkpr for Crowd Factory
415-309-5061
hmurphy@sparkpr.com

SOURCE PR Newswire Association LLC