Fun PR alert -- #Hub140 - @HubSpot Acquires Social Media Marketing Company @oneforty

Yesterday HubSpot, a social media marketing company, acquired oneforty a company that created a directory of social media applications and the social media marketing tool SocialBase.

While the deal is interesting, I thought the press release was fascinating. The entire thing was written like a series of tweets complete with Twitter IDs, hashtags, and "tweet this" links.

Here's the headline of the release (click through to see the text on PR Newswire).

#Hub140 - @HubSpot Acquires Social Media Marketing Company @oneforty - http://bit.ly/Hub140

The release itself was noticed by a bunch of people including Wall Street Journal blogger Zoran Basich who wrote a story called Annals Of PR: HubSpot Buys Oneforty, Says 'Tweet This'

"We get a lot of press releases here at Venture Capital Dispatch, some better than others but nearly all of them following a pretty bland, straightforward formula," Basich wrote. "So when a company or a P.R. firm subverts the dominant paradigm, we try to give credit where due… Think of it as our selfish attempt to encourage a little creativity in a usually humdrum format (and help us avoid that glazed-eyes thing that starts to happen around 3 p.m.)"

In less than 24 hours, the release generated more than 800 tweets and 20 news stories.

While a release like might seem like a gimmick (and it sort of is to be honest), I think it works in this case because both companies are in the social media space and the company acquires is called @oneforty and is focused on Twitter.

I wonder what Todd Defren, the creator of the social media news release would say?

What about you? Does this format work for you?

Disclosure: I am on the board of advisors and am an independent marketer in residence at HubSpot.

Comments

[Todd Defren]

Love it, and thrilled for all involved.

[Remco Janssen]

Funny stuff! Like the guy who created the most amazing press release ever:

http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/12/news-about-news/

[Firefromtheice]

Love the example of walking the talk!!

[Paul Roetzer]

Nice analysis, David. I agree, it worked well for HubSpot, and was a smart move in this instance, but I pray the format doesn't catch on. It was maddening to read.

[David Meerman Scott]

Thanks guys. I think this format worked great for this announcement. But I'm not sure it would work for other companies or other situations.

[Roberta Guise]

Agree, the tweet-embedded format worked brilliantly in this instance.

The content was a bit chopped up though, so that made it even harder to read.

The fix would be to present info about Laura Fitton and her company's core product immediately following the initial announcement. Plus a quote from Laura (so few women sell tech firms, that in itself was news!).

Following the 140 info would come all the other HubSpot acquisition content.

As a release writing strategy, I can see embedding up to about three tweets throughout one's copy, separated by other content. It'll add another rich dimension and the read will still be smooth.

[David Meerman Scott]

Roberta - that would be an interesting "compromise" that gets the spirit of this style release yet still makes it easy for journalists to cover.

I spent some time with Laura on Friday - you're right, it is rare for a woman tech entrepreneur to reach the ultimate goal of a successful exit. I know she is excited to be a part of HubSpot.

[Social Media Apps]

As HubSpot co-founder Dharmesh Shah explained about the importance of .... But it will soon add alerts to let you know about possible relationship

[Top World News]

I enjoyed your article…welcome to the HubSpot-o-sphere.
I kind of think HubSpot and Marketo are apples and oranges.
In my mind, marketers have two choices:
1. Points solutions glued together by IT: SEOmoz + Hootsuite + Drupal + WordPress + Google Analytics + Marketo. The benefits are that you get tons of features....
2. All in one, HubSpot: There are two benefits…first, you have one login, one # to call, one ui to learn, one bill, etc…second, there are giant benefits from having your back-end (leads) and you front end (website) on one system around personalization, from having your blog and seo on one system (seo recommendations on blog), from having your social and landing page together (schedule posts of your best offers)...
I think Marketo’s good stuff, but it is like comparing and Apple and an orange to compare it with HubSpot...