Organizations and associations make the mistake of relying solely on Facebook

They expect that once it is on social media the whole world will see it

Social media platforms have provided a unique opportunity for organizations, associations, and companies to post information about themselves and their activities, including photos and other documentation. These platforms provide a valuable opportunity to document important events that these organizations want to announce to the general public.

However, posting on social media is not enough to reach the goal that these organizations want, as very few followers read these posts directly. The algorithms of social media sites do not provide for everyone to receive these posts and for the published material to be at the top of the available material, even to the friends of that organization.

We often ask the director of an organization or association to find out the details of an important activity or news, and the answer always comes back, “Why haven't you seen our Facebook page?” The official in charge of that organization thinks that once the organization has posted the news item on their platform, everyone will automatically see it.

When the average person checks their cell phone or their desktop, they only see what the giant digital companies (Facebook and others) want them to see and not necessarily what you as a subscriber want to see, which means that you have to access a large number of pages that interest you daily to access the information. In the field of communication, one needs to be aware of the concepts of push and pull. Meaning that the sender has to push their page to you and not rely on the destination to come to your site and pull your material.

What does all this introduction mean?

It means that any organization manager or PR person has to do a lot more than simply posting content on the organization's page. It may be enough for documentation and reference, but it is not enough to reach the people you want to reach. In the simplest cases, it may be necessary to add the mention if you want to reach someone or followers if you want to reach all your followers, but even these things do not help you reach the general public and those who are not in your small circle of friends and followers.

You can also pay digital companies to promote a news story or post, in which case you can customize a specific region or people of a certain gender, age, or economic level to ensure that the material reaches them.

But there are less expensive ways than paying a company to promote your activities or news every time you post it on your social media. To reach a wider audience, it is necessary to connect with news sites such as print and online newspapers, radio, and even television stations. This means that each organization or association should issue a press release and distribute it simultaneously or even before posting on Facebook or other social media platforms. If it is published in any media outlet or website, the link can be taken from that media organization and posted on the organization's social media site. Social media algorithms are more interested in and give more importance to a post in a media outlet than if it were a regular post of the same organization, although publishing in media outlets in itself guarantees a wider reach.

Of course, this requires each organization to have an email list of potentially relevant news sites and platforms, and with the click of a button, the press release with photos can be sent to them in order to expand the reach of the publication. Of course, if you follow up by phone with a reporter or editor, the result will be better in terms of the number of platforms that publish your press release.

In terms of the content of what is published on the websites of organizations, it is noticeable that the format of most of the posts, even of prestigious organizations, about an activity is not attractive to the reader. For example, it is not uncommon for someone unfamiliar with journalistic conventions to format the material in chronological order of an event. For example, the headline is very general: Such and such an organization holds a celebration or activity sponsored by so-and-so without informing the reader of the nature of the activity and the most key elements of it. The first paragraph often consists of a chronological narrative: The conference begins with the national anthem, then a not very important greeting, maybe a prayer or general thank you to sponsors, then maybe the text of paragraphs from the speech of the sponsor of the activity, then a word from director general of the organization, and other protocol matters. All this before actually telling the readers that most of the time would have scrolled away, the actual reason for the event, and without focusing on the most important part of the conference or activity.

On the other hand, if the publication is through a professionally drafted press release, the title and introduction will focus on the key issue and not the chronological order of the event, which will make the text more attractive to the reader and certainly help in getting it published in various media outlets.

Writing a press release is not difficult and is best done by someone with basic media skills or by collaborating with a media service center or following publicly available checklists of what a press release should contain. The results will be much stronger than posting only on the organization's own website with a text that is not appealing to the general public.

In any case, it is very important, even if it is not published in any news site, that the publication on the organization's website is written attractively, including answering the well-known questions “who, where, when, how and why”, the headline is catchy, and the introduction to the news is interesting and contains useful information.

Although most media outlets are more interested in the news value of any press release they receive than if the same release is published on the organization's website, some media outlets refuse to publish an old news item that has already been published on the organization’s

platforms. Therefore, it is better to distribute the news before publishing it on the organization's social media site, or simultaneously. It is much better to wait for a credible media outlet to publish it rather than relying solely on Facebook.

Of course, sometimes the published material may be shortened, especially in newspapers with limited space and some news sites, and may not publish a photo or only one photo, while the organization's page on its website and social media platforms can publish the news in detail with many photos. However, waiting a little bit may be more useful, and waiting even for hours may provide more credibility, as the organization can be proud to have the information first published on a well-known news site. Not only will this provide more credibilty than publishing it initially only on the organisation’s platforms, especially since the news published on media organization is reviewed by a news editor, proofreader and others, which provides a stronger content than that published only on the organisation’s platforms and drafted by a less experienced editor of the organization rather than a team of well experiences professionals.

Press releases and communication published in the professional media reach a wider community and have become an important necessity for many organizations. It is also much more beneficial to funders who prefer to know that the organization and its activities have a following in the wider community and the credibility of getting into professional media. Posting on Facebook and others does not provide that credibility and reflects an over-reliance on the organization's platforms and a lack of interest in reaching a wider audience, when this is possible and does not require much.