Best Practices for Corporate Newsrooms

 

Online newsrooms are imperative for corporate public relations, says Ibrey Woodall, vice president, Web Communications Services, at Business Wire. Communicators no longer ask if they need a newsroom. It’s simply a given that they do.

Online newsrooms are essential to provide journalists quick access to information they seek. After the corporation’s main website, the online newsroom is most important online resource for journalists researching an organization, according to the 2014 Business Wire Media Survey.

Journalists are not the only ones visiting online newsrooms, Woodall stressed in a Business Wire webinar. They’re also frequented by bloggers, investors and consumers who use the online media centers, also called press rooms or media centers, to research the organization.

Maintaining quality newsrooms requires PR to invest time and resources. Online newsrooms must be updated frequently. A build-it-and-forget it attitude will not suffice. In addition, communicators may sometimes need to argue its case for a comprehensive online newsroom before corporate leaders. Business Wire offers a platform for building and maintaining corporate online newsrooms.

Corporate Newsroom Best Practices

Woodall offered the following key tips on incorporating an online newsroom, into the organization’s website.

• Place a link to the newsroom in the corporation’s top navigation bar. Other departments may wish to bury the newsroom elsewhere; communicators may need to fight for that prominent placement.

• Follow SEO best practices. That includes using alt text for images, descriptive labels for images, an XML site map, and proper page titles. No magic formula guarantees top search engine ranking, she cautions.

• Use branding for the newsroom that matches the look and feel of the corporate website to help avoid confusing journalists on the hunt for information.

Corporate Press Releases

Press releases are still the most desired type of newsroom content among journalists and a mainstay for corporate media centers. How many press releases to post depends on the company. Generally, organizations post anywhere from two to five years of news releases to provide journalists with a comprehensive archive. To clean up their pages, PR can include only milestone releases such as announcements of new CEOs and mergers and acquisitions.

Categorizing releases by subject matter as well as date will help hurried reporters find them quickly. A search engine within the newsroom section also helps journalists find specific information. “They have no patience,” she said. “They are on deadline.”

Including social sharing buttons on press releases will help promote them, she said, noting that not only journalists visit newsrooms.

Contact information should be “front and center.” In addition, stating who is responsible for what area will also help reporters.

Providing downloadable content and content in HTML/text formats helps reporters on deadline by enabling them to “scrape and paste” or “grab and go.” Posting documents in only PDF is a sure way to annoy them. Earnings releases can link to PDF files that maintain chart formats.

Providing multimedia content within press releases and as separate files in the news center can increase use by journalists. Photos remain the favorite, but many news sources now also use videos. Categorizing images by subject improves organization and access.

Other Newsroom Content

Other main components and content types in media centers include:

Videos in multimedia gallery with links from the newsroom.

Factsheets are more popular, as they quickly relay key information.

Company logos in different formats with instructions on their use.

Executive bios are sometimes in company “about” section. If they are, it’s important to link to them from the newsroom.

Links to past media coverage about your company. Some companies have installed an RSS feed of industry news but that can include negative news and news about competitors.

A company history or timeline. Journalists may download and use a well-designed, attractive timeline.

Subject matter experts. Reporters often seek quotes from experts. Include profiles on the experts and links to their white papers or case studies in the online press room, and instruct reporters to contact PR to facilitate interviews.

Addresses and photos of your facilities and perhaps walk-through videos can also help reporters.

News of industry events, in addition to your company events, can help establish your company as an information resource about its sector.

Many Newsrooms Fall Short

PRESSfeed offers similar recommendations in its 2015 Media Trends and Online Newsroom report. Unfortunately, even some Fortune 500 firms fail to provide the basics, such as updated content and media contacts, according to the report. Quality newsrooms are even harder to find among INC 500 firms, even though fast-growing firms should naturally be eager for media attention.

The poor condition of corporate newsrooms is especially disconcerting because media outlets have suffered drastic staff reductions and remain short on resources. Journalists visit corporate media centers for background information, research and other materials. That presents a significant media opportunity for corporate PR teams.

“We need to be thinking of newsrooms in terms of news hubs that act as a repository of sources, information, and industry trends,” stated Wendy Marx, president of B2B PR and marketing agency Marx Communications, in a PRESSfeed blog. “With journalists often under the gun and pressed for time, let’s make their jobs easier, which in turn makes the chances of us getting ink that much greater.”

Bottom Line: Corporate newsrooms are an essential tool for providing journalists, bloggers and other visitors information they need in organized, convenient formats. Newsrooms are especially important due to staff reductions in newspapers, trade journals and broadcasters. By following these best practices, PR can create quality media centers that help reporters quickly find the information they seek.