In a 2009 survey of thousands of journalists conducted by TEKgroup International, 43% said it was difficult to find a company’s newsroom, with more than half saying it was difficult to find the name of the company’s media contact and how to communicate with him or her. That’s a lousy level of meeting the needs of those who are in a position to give your organization invaluable exposure and credibility.
To avoid frustrating media outlets who visit your site thinking they might want to feature your business in a story, follow these eight best practices.
1. Navigation. Use obvious signage in your website structure for your online newsroom location. By far the best option is a main navigation link called simply “News,” “Press,” or “Media.” Second best is to offer the information the media need in the “About Company” section of the site.
2. Press releases. Provide a searchable gallery of the organization’s communications, with the most recent first. Never provide this material in PDF format, only as normal HTML pages. Since one cannot cut and paste names and quotes from PDF files, media people consider companies that provide publicity material in this way terribly clueless.
3. Contacts with the media. Journalists are on a deadline and won’t submit a web form to get in touch with someone who may or may not get back to them right away. They want the name, email address, and phone number of the person who is in a position to help them immediately. If there are different media contacts for different divisions of the organization, list them and their areas of responsibility in your online newsroom.
4. News clips. Media people like to scan past coverage of your company. Always clearly state the difference between your communications and third-party coverage.
5. Biographies of the executive and history of the company. Make them factual, readable, and attractive in style. Don’t fill them with “marketing talk.”
6. Photographs. Recognize that print publications need high-resolution (300 DPI) photos, while online media require low-resolution (72 DPI) photos. Provide both types of photos for instant download.
7. Video and audio. Reporters like the way they complete the portrait of their organization. Shorter works better than longer here. If you have videos or audio that are longer than 10 minutes, please provide a transcript in addition to the clips.
8. Social networks. Indicate how reporters can sign up for your Twitter account, visit your Facebook page, read your blog, etc.
How can you be sure your online newsroom meets the needs of media people? Round up a few of them who have never visited your website and sit them down at a computer. Assign them various journalism-related tasks to perform without any prompting from you, such as finding the name and phone number of the media contact, information about your social responsibility activities, and the correct spelling of the name of the senior vice president of operations in Southamerica.
If users can perform those tasks with at least 90% success, great. If not, please revise your site to be more media friendly and test again. Running an effective online newsroom costs little, and its reward (a higher public profile) can be quite large.
