Marketing &Media &Public Relations Tools &Technology PR Insights 05 Sep 2007 01:06 pm
The Newsroom 2.0
Does your PR/marketing person drone on about the upkeep of your company’s Web site newsroom opportunity? That’s likely because they know the majority of journalists research their articles and search for press releases nowadays. According to DMNews, “Corporate Web sites are a key source of information when reporting breaking news when no other primary source is available.” On a news deadline, the company with the most accessible information gets the coverage.
Web site newsrooms are commonplace by now, but you can separate yours from the masses by making it better. Here are five ways to do it:
1. Make sure the newsroom link is obvious from the homepage. If the link to your newsroom is subtle, or worse yet, inaccessible from your homepage, change it. If you were a reporter, how much trouble would you go to for your press release?
The likelihood of media visiting your site is high, especially if preparing for an interview with one of your executives. Approach your newsroom with that in mind. Does your content meet the needs of someone doing quick research about your company? Avoid the temptation to “track” media by requiring a username and password set-up to access your newsroom. It’s annoying, and if information is confidential or sensitive it doesn’t belong in the newsroom.
2. A newsroom is more than your online press release archive. Newsletters, executive speech transcripts, event photos and abstracts from recent media coverage are all appropriate additions. Think creatively about how to keep content fresh.
Post an online media kit to your newsroom for easy downloading. Include the same materials you would in a media folder: executive bios and photos, your latest company news release, a backgrounder or fact sheet about your business and a high-res logo.
3. Remember to date all posted press releases and newsroom items—readers need context. This will also force you to keep content up-to-date. Neglecting to post news as it is released wastes everyone’s time and defeats the purpose of the newsroom. Content should also be easy to navigate. Consider making your content searchable by multiple fields, like date, topic or headline, and available in multiple formats like Word and PDF.
4. Set up an RSS feed so media (and others) can subscribe to your site’s updates. An RSS (Really Simple Syndication), like Feedburner, is free and downloadable as an icon to your Web site. RSS feeds “read” the sites their users subscribe to and send an update when new content is posted. In other words, journalists can subscribe to your RSS and receive a prompt on their homepage when you post a new press release.
Many journalists actually prefer RSS subscriptions to receiving press releases via e-mail, because it allows them to “opt-in” to your news and provides real-time updates. In 2005, Robert Scoble (Microsoft tech evangelist) notoriously blogged that any marketing person who did not add an RSS feed to their Web site should be fired. Harsh. But it’s a valuable tool we should all be using.
5. Identify one media contact in your newsroom and provide his/her contact information on the Web page, not just within press releases. Generic “info@” e-mail addresses or request-for-information survey pages are disconcerting for journalists who may be on deadline and want to contact the right person in a timely fashion.
The moral of the story is to evaluate your newsroom from a journalist’s perspective: someone unfamiliar with your company’s history, leadership and chain of command. Does your site paint a clear picture of your corporate identity? If not, it may be a good idea to do some housekeeping; statistically it is the most popular place people go to learn about your company.
Posted by Rebecca
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