The Social Newsroom

Ragan.com recently announced their awards for online newsrooms – Cisco took top honors.  Their newsroom is a good example of what a company or organization should be doing in 2013. http://newsroom.cisco.com.

Of course this kind of newsroom is probably not feasible for a small to medium sized business.  But you can still have all the bells and whistles needed in an online newsroom that provide the content the media values in the format they want.

What should be in your newsroom?  According to Econsultancy you must have:

1. Value-added content – it is not only the media that visits your newsroom today.  Yet Econsultancy found that only 22% of the brands they evaluated offered added-value content such as blogs, news opinion pieces, tips, customer advice and education.
2. High quality multimedia content – Econsultancy reports that 40% of companies fail to provide even the most basic of image libraries. Where they did exist, they were poorly stocked. Only 9% included infographics and only 51% featured video content.
3. Social Media tools to amplify the content -  Only 55% of the brands assessed in this report offered sharing tools with links to social networks.
4. Make it easy to contact you – 24% of the brands evaluated failed to list a phone number for a representative in their newsroom. Only 19% provided regional contacts and 45% failed to include contact details on press releases.
5. Make it easy to find – put a link to your newsroom on the homepage.  Optimize all the content in the newsroom for search.  Your newsroom should be the #2 listing in Google for a search for your brand name.  It should show up at #1 for a search for “Company name + news”

There are many more features that you ought to have in your online newsroom – use this checklist to evaluate how effective your newsroom is.

If you’re wondering if all the time and expense it takes to produce free content to market your product or service works,  this case study recently posted on Forbes.com should lay that to rest once and for all.

ProjectManager.com started in 2008, they now have 10,000 paying customers and they’re projected to own 80% of the market by 2015.  I think it’s working!

What did they do right?   CEO Jason Westland says it can be summed up in two words: content marketing.

“We gained 250,000 emails by giving away lots of free resources on our website,” says Westland. “We then built the largest “Project Management LinkedIn Group” in the World and pushed our social presence on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. We now have 500,000+ Project Managers follow us socially every day.”

His successful plan is no secret -

• Establish a community/lay the foundation
• Develop your content
• Create a strategy to publish your content
• Pull it all together to see how your content can lead to new sales
• And of course never forget about your existing customers

And as brands realize the strength of content in the marketing mix, online newsrooms are becoming more than just a PR archive for press releases. You need a place to “pull it all together” and make it easy to find and share.  A place to house whitepapers, webinars, videos, images, infographics, articles, tips, blog posts, tweets.  A good newsroom will service more than just journalists today – it should meet also the needs of bloggers, investors, analysts, prospective customers and anyone interested in the latest content from your brand.

Although 98% of the top 100 firms have an online newsroom, it seems that too often it is one of the check-marked actions that then gets forgotten.  The 2013 Online Newsroom  report from My Newsdesk reveals that more than a third (35%) don’t keep their newsroom content up to date.

Just having a newsroom is not enough.  You have to keep it constantly updated with content that will be interesting and useful to bloggers, the media, investors and the public.  While most firms keep their press releases current, many leave annual reports, staff bios and product listings to stagnate.

Although the media is demanding more visual content with news releases, and research shows that adding visual can get as much as 9.7X more views on a release, 70% of the top 100 do not provide any images or video with their releases.  The members of the media panel at the PR News Media Relations Summit in December all said multimedia with a release would significantly increase the chances of the release being picked up.  A Media Bistro editor recently advised PR people to “Always think multimedia.”

The report shows that only half (51%) of the newsrooms surveyed provide video content and 40% had no image library. That’s not the whole problem though – the other half that have video and images don’t provide them in a format that’s easy for the media to use.

Other findings from the survey include:

- 21% of brands used newsrooms to provide additional content such as related news, advice and blog links;

- 26% fail to provide contact details in the newsroom;

- 45% fail to provide contact details within a press release;

- 70% do not offer an email alert service;

- 39% of newsrooms have no search option.

Back in 2004 usability expert Jakob Nielsen said corporate America only rated a “D” in PR because the online newsrooms of the Fortune 500 did not meet the needs of the media. We don’t seem to have made any headway at all.

How do you get an A in PR with your newsroom?  David Armano of Edelman Digital has some sound ideas about the need for a social online newsroom.

BotB companies are embracing content marketing.  Curata’s “B2B Marketing Trends 2012 Report” found that 87% of US B2B marketers have used content marketing this year—the most popular tactic of any queried. That was up 5 percentage points from usage levels in 2011, impressive considering the already-high level of interest in content marketing.

Creating original content is number one on the list of content challenges, followed by the time to do it and then finding great content to curate.

The news and media landscape has been turned on its head in the last ten years. Newsrooms no longer operate like they used to.  Journalists have to cover several beats, watch feeds of related stories online, troll social media, find sources and then produce multimedia assets with every story. See this story about Andy Carvin of NPR and how he reports the news.

This is a marvelous opportunity for savvy companies that can see the possibilities of a collaborative media relations model.  Here’s how it is done.

1. Do an audit of all the people in your firm who have expertise in a particular area.
2. Create a database of experts and their topics of content.
3. Post this list in your newsroom.
4. Refine your media list – find the journalists and bloggers who write about those topics.
5. Identify stories that these media outlets might be interested in developing.
6. Put together a team that can investigate and develop the story, with supporting images, graphics, slide shows, videos that would make this story come alive.
7. Pitch the idea to the journalists and offer your experts and your team to help them craft the story with killer multimedia assets.
8. Add a ‘story ideas’ section to your newsroom, with elements of news stories that could be developed this way.

The new media landscape may be radically different, but it is filled with amazing PR opportunities.

To learn more and hear examples register for our next webinar

This year’s Content Marketing World conference was held last week in Columbus, OH and many of the socialmedia stars were there.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

From Jason Miller of Marketo:
Only 36% of businesses believe their content marketing is effective. Back in the day advertisers used to lament that they knew only 50% of their advertising was working, they just didn’t know which 50%.   So while marketers are hot for content marketing, two thirds of them are flying blind.

I’d be prepared to bet that the 36% who are effective base their content on research and have a solid content strategy

CMI founder Joe Pulizzi went over the CMIs report highlights:

• 54% of businesses plan to increase spending on content marketing over the next 12 months. (Let’s hope they get a content strategy in place first, so that they have a plan in place before they spend the $$$)
• Businesses are still struggling to find a process that works and to gain C-level buy in. (If they can show the ROI there will be no problem getting C-level buy-in.  The C-suite wants to see’ beans for beans’)

• The biggest challenge content marketers face is producing enough content, followed closely by producing the kind of content that engages. (Producing enough content can be resolved by finding an excellent and affordable resource to help you produce content.   A sound content strategy based on listening to the right conversations will tell you what content will spark engagement)

It is surprising to me that no-one spoke about delivery and distribution of the content as a key takeaway. Looking at write ups about the speakers, I don’t see anything about delivery and distribution of the content there either.  Producing content is obviously the first step.  Then you have to deliver it.  You can post it on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. But putting all your content on a content hub on your own website is something that is being overlooked. The Washington Post listed not having a content hub as one of the top 10 mistakes companies make in social media.

Turn your online newsroom into a true content hub.

Toprank Marketing posted today about the social media use of Fortune’s fastest growing companies.  Their analysis of the top 5 show that only one of them is actively engaged on Twitter.

This post prompted me to look at something a little more basic- their online newsrooms. Even though social media is maturing and we’d hope that companies such as these would be more active in the field, good PR and providing corporate information to the media is something every company should be doing well.

The 2012 Online Newsroom and Media Relations survey shows that journalists and bloggers want:

• Immediately visible and easy-to-find press contacts
• Press releases by year and by category
• Visuals -ready-to-use images and video
• Graphics with financial information
• Embed codes with images and videos
• RSS feeds
• Links to all social content
• Tags on all content so it is easy to find in search
• Social sharing options

So let’s take a look at their newsrooms and what they offer, relative to what the media is asking for today.

#1  Allergan

Press Contacts:    Yes

Press Releases in Categories:  No

Visuals with press releases:  No

RSS feeds: No

Image Gallery:  No

Video Gallery:  No

Embed codes:  No

Corporate and expert bios:  Yes

Connecting to social content: Yes, a link to their Twitter account.  It was started back in 2010 and was inactive until recently.

Social sharing options: No

SCORE: 3/10

#2. Susser Holdings

Susser Holdings owns the Stripes convenience stores.  Although Susser Corporate is not active in social media, the Stripes convenience stores certainly are.  However, the corporate site could improve their online newsroom to serve both investors and the media.

Press Contacts:    No.  The contacts are on each press release, but not immediately visible in the newsroom.

Press Releases in Categories:  No. And their press release are in PDFs, which require a download.

Visuals with press releases:  No

RSS feeds: No

Image Gallery:  No

Video Gallery:  No

Embed codes:  No

Corporate and expert bios:  Yes – no tin the newsroom, but on the site.

Connecting to social content: No

Social sharing options: No

SCORE: 1/10

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
#3.  CVR energy

Headquartered in Sugar Land, Texas, CVR Energy is an independent petroleum refiner and marketer of high value transportation fuels in the Midcontinent United States.  Their newsroom is very basic.

Press Contacts:    No.  The contacts are on each press release, but not immediately visible in the newsroom.
Press Releases in Categories:  No. And their press release are in PDFs, which require a download.

Visuals with press releases:  No

RSS feeds: No

Image Gallery:  No

Video Gallery:  No

Embed codes:  No

Corporate and expert bios:  No

Connecting to social content: No

Social sharing options: No

SCORE: 0/10

#4.   Con-Way

Con-way Inc. (NYSE:CNW) is a $5.3 billion freight transportation and logistics services company headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich. Con-way is in the transportation and logistics industry and delivers services through its primary operating companies of Con-way Freight, Con-way Truckload, and Menlo Worldwide Logistics. Their newsroom has many of the features the media wants today.

Press Contacts:    Yes

Press Releases in Categories:  No

Visuals with press releases:  No

RSS feeds: Yes

Image Gallery:  No

Video Gallery:  No

Embed codes:  No

Corporate and expert bios:  Yes

Connecting to social content: Yes

Social sharing options: No

SCORE: 4/10

#5.  Huntsman

Huntsman is a global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated chemicals. Our operating companies manufacture products for a variety of global industries, including chemicals, plastics, automotive, aviation, textiles, footwear, paints and coatings, construction, technology, agriculture, health care, detergent, personal care, furniture, appliances and packaging.

Their investor relations section of the site has many more features than the newsroom.  They could easily add the side navigation to their newsroom section too.

Press Contacts:    No.  There is a contact on the press releases but not immediately visible in the newsroom.

Press Releases in Categories:  No.  The releases are not divided by years either.

Visuals with press releases:  No

RSS feeds: Yes, but it is not visible in the newsroom.  It is only available from the investor relations section of the site.

Image Gallery:  No

Video Gallery:  No.  there are presentations and webcasts in the IR section, but nothing in the newsroom

Embed codes:  No

Corporate and expert bios:  Yes, but only from the investor relations section.  There is nothing in the newsroom to tell you it is there.

Connecting to social content: No

Social sharing options: No

SCORE: 2/10

If you’d like an evaluation of your newsroom and a demo of what a newsroom ought to look like visit http://www.press-feed.com

In a recent Pew Research report about how people get their news today, sharing was highlighted as one of the integral activities associated with news content online.

“If searching for news was the most important development of the last decade, sharing news may be among the most important of the next.”

Share This just released the results of a study of sharing behaviors which shows that while sharing is still unexplored and untapped by many publishers and advertisers, it is shaping the way users interact with each other and with content online.

Here are some of  key findings:

• Sharing generates almost half of the traffic for websites and brands that is created by search
• Sharing also accounts for 31 percent of referral traffic
• Shared links are, on average, clicked on 4.9 times each
• Everyone who shares is an influencer on that specific topic
• Sharing is a viable marketing solution for reaching audiences when they are most receptive to a particular category of content or information

So are US companies and marketers aware of this effective social media marketing tool?  Is it indeed an unexplored and untapped opportunity?

We studied the websites of companies both large and small in the US to see if they are connecting to their social content and offering share options on their websites and online newsrooms.

• 34% of Fortune 100 companies have share buttons on their website
• 13% have share buttons on their newsroom content
• 22% of INC 500 companies have share options on their website
• 6% of INC 500 have share buttons on their newsroom content

Last year the CMO Council talked about the “Engagment Gap.”  Now we have a “Sharing Gap.”

If you would like to tap into these behaviors,  ask us for a demo of the social media newsroom.

As broadband capacity increases so does the demand for visual material and video.  And while funny videos of cats and babies might seem to be top of the list, the use of video content to cover news stories by online media websites has jumped by a third in the last year to 85 percent.  They are increasing the use of in-house and externally developed video content to support their online reporting – source: 2011 Web Influencers Survey (www.dssimon.com)

“It appears that almost all forms of media have transformed themselves into online television networks,” said Douglas Simon, president and CEO of D S Simon.

This trend looks set to continue since web media companies say they plan to increase their use of video footage:  Nearly four-fifths of respondents indicated they would use more or much more video in 2011 than they did in 2010.

Other key findings of this survey:

• Nearly half (47 percent) of media websites now offer a mix of advertorial, product placement and paid content: The survey found that in addition to paid advertising, media site-owners are looking toward brand integration opportunities to raise additional revenues. Magazine sites were most aggressive in this area (68 percent), followed by radio (50 percent), web producers (47 percent), newspapers (45 percent), bloggers (40 percent) and TV (31 percent).
• Earned media on a website generates more value than just the initial placement: Video content placed by companies and public relations agencies on a website has an increasing chance of being syndicated to other websites. The likelihood of content being shared last year was 43 percent; in 2010; 41 percent of responds indicated they were likely to share video content; and in 2009, just 35 percent indicated they were likely to do so. Newspapers, at 63 percent, were the most likely media website to share content with other sites.

“Searching online for news changed the news  industry in the last decade. Sharing the news will be what influences it most in this decade.“   Pew Research

A video blog summarizing some of the key findings of the survey is available at http://www.vlogviews.com/2011webinfluencerssurvey/.

Related research:

• Forrester Research reports that video increases a web page’s likelihood for a front-page Google search result by 96 percent

• ComScore found that product videos increase the likelihood of purchase by 64 percent

• Internet Retailer discovered that videos increase time spent on a website by an average of 9 percent.

PR Takeaway:

Make all your news releases social media releases – add online video to all your news content. Remember those video news releases we used to make? Sharpen up those skills and learn how to translate it to the online digital world. Offer complete, short, interesting videos and B-roll with each news release.

Media sites prefer completed videos to other video content:

1. Fully produced videos (57 percent)
2. B-roll footage (49 percent)
3. Sound bites last (47 percent
4. TV sites almost universally prefer b-roll footage (98 percent) but newspapers  much preferred completed videos (71 percent).

Upgrade your online newsroom to a social media newsroom with a video gallery that has offers reporters and bloggers  the embed code for your video assets. That way  they can easily republish your content.

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