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Ten Reasons Why You Need a Better Online Newsroom in 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 | 2:01 PM by Author: Chris Bechtel
Many of us start the new year with a new set of goals, and high hopes for the successes the new year will bring. If you are in PR, Corporate Communications, or Marketing, you need to put upgrading your Online Newsroom high on the list of new goals. Here's why:
Your online newsroom is your home and you want it to be in order when people come to visit.
Your online newsroom is your home and you want it to be in order when people come to visit.
The media relations paradigm has shifted. Journalists source their information more and more frequently via the web and less and less frequently by direct contact from a publicist (by phone or email). Virtually all media is working online and many are exclusively publishing online. PR is measured less by clips and more by traffic and sales. People control the conversation. Social media and search drive far more eyeballs than traditional media on a daily basis.
That means if you want people to come over, you need to be a hospitable host AND you need to be able to spread the word across your neighborhood and the neighborhoods of your friends and other neighborhoods where you think new friends might live and want to come visit you. But why would they want to come visit you?
That means if you want people to come over, you need to be a hospitable host AND you need to be able to spread the word across your neighborhood and the neighborhoods of your friends and other neighborhoods where you think new friends might live and want to come visit you. But why would they want to come visit you?
- Does your newsroom spread frequent, authentic, relevant and engaging content? Or, do you have mostly just press releases?
- Does your newsroom consider all of the various audiences (journalists, consumers, investors, shareholders, members, etc.) that might visit your home? Or, are you thinking mainstream media only?
- Does your newsroom offer those audiences content in all of the various forms/types of content expected today (e.g.; text, photos, video, audio, pdf, blogs, podcasts, news feeds, etc.)? Or, do you mostly have press releases?
- Does your newsroom enable those people who do come visit to tell others, share, and discuss and even use some of the content within your newsroom to spread the word to others for you? Or, can you just print?
- Does your newsroom allow search engines to find, use, and tell others effectively about who you are and all of what you are doing? Or, are you pretty low in the rankings for most of your main search terms?
- Does your newsroom utilize modern web design principals and best practices and allow people to easily find their way around, not get lost, and save, search, and sort the content they need from the rich collection you are providing? Or, do you have mostly just press releases?
- Does your newsroom prominently refer traffic back and into your main site and additional product, service, organization, and mission and allow people to take immediate action to get more deeper involved with you (e.g., write a story, buy a product, donate, invest, sign-up, comment, refer, etc.)? Or, do you have mostly just press releases?
- Does your newsroom protect your contact information from unwanted guests (i.e. spam bots) and also make you easily accessible via multiple platforms and channels (e.g.: landline, email, mobile, social media)? Or, is your email address consistently getting hit with unwanted spam?
- Does your newsroom help you to easily distribute your messages across the channels your audiences frequent (e.g.; search, email, facebook, twitter, blogs, YouTube, etc.), so you can get your content there and invite people to come back to your home? Or, do you have to go through IT to get anything published?
- Does your newsroom track who comes to visit, where they go, and what content they consume, share, comment on, write-about, or sign-up for? Or, you've been asking IT and can't get an answer?
If you're in PR, you've likely worked with an online newsroom, media center or pressroom of some kind or another in the last 12 months. How did that go for you? Was it easy to use? Part II of "Why You Need a Better Online Newsroom in 2010" discusses this issue next.
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