As I mentioned earlier the main difference I see between the two are audience, expected traffic and enhanced visibility and branding. I believe in many cases you can do both forms of release, however, the message and topics should reflect the audience it is targeted at. It is my opinion that what the target audience of the conventional release may find interesting/quoteable and or useable is diametrically different from what a user of "Social Media" services would find interesting about the same topic. Each also have different user expectations as to tone and quality of writing.

Besides the obvious difference in audience demographics there is another subtle difference which IMO, makes the conventional press release a head and shoulders winner over SMM. In both cases there is a review of the material. In the case of the <a href="http://www.prweb.com">PR Web conventional release there are criteria and each release is assigned a score. The score is one of the criteria for inclusion in Yahoo! and Google News.

On social sites there is a voting procedure but that is more about burying or moving a release to the front page not inclusion. So, the bottom line is that there are criteria and known best practices for conventional releases, whereas, social releases are dependent on the whims of voters who may bury your release because they don't like the topic, product (think MS Vs Apple) or person mentioned in the release. In fact many SEOs complain they are buried just because the piece was submitted by a search marketer.

Advantage Conventional Releases

Depending on the online release service you use, we use PRWeb, the quality of the release a conventional press release has the possibility of being included in Yahoo! News, Google News and distribution to offline publications editors subscribed to PR Web. I receive daily alerts from Google news on a number of topics. Google and Yahoo! News are also used as a reference by many writers.

Social Media sites are more likely to have bloggers as subscribers. So there is a definite advantage to "social" for sheer numbers of low quality links from bloggers but those pages often have little PageRank to pass and unknown longevity. Conventional releases will likely provide a lot less links but they will be of much higher value passing more juice with less chances of being devalued in the link algo. There is also the bonus of publication or exposure on TV and offline publications receiving the Google, Yahoo! and Pr Web alerts.

Advantage Conventional Releases

Social News sites are often touted for their traffic generation abilities. I agree "social" can drive more traffic, but, how targeted is it? Not very, and the audience is known to leave belligerent comments on blogs. In most cases, unless your business is display advertising, traffic is a cost/liability. Too much unexpected traffic is catastrophic both financially and brand wise. I know of several occasions where "social" news sites overwhelmed servers. My big beef with the traffic is it doesn't convert and last I checked you can't take traffic to the bank and that is what always counts for me. If all my release did was bring the server to its knees then the campaign was a miserable failure! Last press release desme did we received enquiries the same day it was released!

Split Decision Depending on How You Value Traffic. It wouldn't be one of the goals of a campaign I manage, it's a given there will be more traffic.;-)

Branding and visibility are to some extent the same thing because one feeds on the other. Brand awareness raises visibility on SEs and visibility on SEs raises brand awareness. Branding is an offline term that was brought online to label/value unproductive campaigns like display advertising. Internet Branding is fleeting at best since users are in complete control so you can't force feed brand like you can offline. IMO, the only good branding media is network television and online it usually is best done using viral marketing strategies. Therefore social releases are more effective than conventional releases at building brand. From a SE visibility standpoint I believe the nod goes to the conventional release if you get into Google and/or Yahoo! News or published offline.

Split Decision Depending on Google Yahoo! or PRWeb Outcome

In conclusion it seems like I'm pretty negative on "social". I am not totally closed on this subject because I do see the advantages to "social" releases for some products and services. As a replacement for a conventional release no way, no how! Social is excellent if you want a young tech savvy audience or bloggers to cover your service or product, however, that said, I would prefer to contact bloggers by email and follow that up with a phone call. There I'm seeking a relationship with that blogger not raising brand awareness or SE visibility. Raising brand and visibility are extra benefits provided by relationships with bloggers. The real value lies in the relationship with their audience and the viral nature that possibly can add to the campaign mix.