A few months ago, my hubby shared with me via Google Reader a feed about PitchEngine, the free social media release (SMR) builder-program-thing created by a very smart flack out of Wyoming.

A social media release? Yes! Think of it as your traditional press release to non-traditional folks like Twitter-ers, Facebookers, Google and folks/bots who like to search Google.

Just like your traditional press release, the SMR includes a headline, description text and a boilerplate including company logo, description and contact information. Unlike that traditional release, your SMR includes photos, logos and links to online videos and relevant social media accounts like Twitter, Facebook, etc.

The finished product is a one-stop online shop for the interested reader and reporter.

Here’s the catch — just because you build it doesn’t mean they are guaranteed to come. You’ve gotta share it. That’s something I didn’t quite understand until I emailed the guy who created PitchEngine and asked how reporters would find my release. Bless my heart. He was very nice about it.

Fortunately, PitchEngine provides a cornicopia of ways for you to share your SMR. Once you’ve made the release live, you’ll see a full link, a shortened link and direct sharing links to Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Technorati and the like. Here’s one I built for the Southern Festival of Books: http://pitch.pe/621.

Once you share, you can track how many views you’ve had. (Although I do wish the tracking was a bit more detailed).

I signed up for PitchEngine out of curiosity because it sounded cool.  Now I tout it out of sheer joy because it makes me better at my job. Just Google “nashville debate” and see if MTSU Poll’s PitchEngine release doesn’t show up on the first page near (if not second to) the official Belmont Presidential Debate site. YAY! (read: sheer joy)

Try it out for a client this week. Then, come back and let me know what you think!