For the next two posts I will be using TEKgroup International’s, 2009 Top 20 Elements to Have in an Online Newsroom. This post covers the top ten must haves in a corporate social media online newsroom.
1. Searchable Archives
The Importance of Search Archives, From TEK Study
The newsroom needs to provide the ability for the viewer to look back at older documents on the Web site. This information is just as important as the current information and it will give them a sense of what the company is like. Transparency is the goal; a company should never give off the idea that they are withholding information from their publics.
2. PR Contacts
see How To: Part 1
3. News Releases
News releases are a given. The reason for the newsroom is so corporations have a space to always publish their new information. In Web 2.0 the information is immediate. The coming of this new online world has disintermediated the spread of information. There is no need for the middleman. Companies can post as soon as they get the information and journalists can find it.
4. Background Information
Let the journalist or blogger know what the company is about and who is working for it. They may have a special interest in a charity that the company gives to or they may just be interested in how the company got to where it is today.
5. Product Info/Press Kits
Provide the important information. Many companies send samples out to bloggers get them to endorse them on their Web sites. If a blogger doesn’t know what in a product they will come to your newsroom first.
6. Photographs
Provide pictures. The switch to online has caused many people to become unresponsive to text heavy Web sites with no images. In her article titled, How To Create an Online Newsroom, Andrea Aker says that adding logos and downloadable images of your products will help journalists strengthen their story.
7. Help/FAQ
Always provide help or a Frequently Asked Questions section. These sections will reduce the amount of emails or calls about a particular subject.
8. Crisis Communications
The online newsroom has the ability to help lessen the impact of a crisis. It can provide all of the information about the issue in one place. Another positive is that the information will be the same. People can be directed to the online newsroom for information instead of individuals speaking out on the subject. Also, because it can be updated often, it is a good way to keep on top of the spreading of information during a crisis.
9. Event Calendar
The one problem I have with many sites is that I usually have a hard time finding a current schedule of events. Even on James Madison’s site I have had trouble finding event calendars. If I was a blogger writing about an upcoming event that a company was sponsoring and the event wasn’t listed in the newsroom, I might not list that company as a sponsor for the fear of printing wrong information.
10. Executive Biographies
Biographies are the next best thing to CEO blogs. Consumers want to know whom they are buying from. Seeing the CEO’s biography or an executive’s biography allows for the customer to place a face on a company. If I am a blogger writing a story about makeup company owners and I see that one company doesn’t have any executive biographies up I’m liable to wonder if maybe all of their executives are men, who never use the product.
The social media phenomenon that online users are participating in is not going to change. The online newsroom needs to embrace these new features to be included in the press. On the Pressfeed blog, post titled, The Importance of a Social Media Newsroom lists what factors are important to providing a relational communication tool for a company’s audience. They stress that finding all of the information that journalists, bloggers, citizen journalists, or freelance writers need should be stored all in one, easy to find place. What better reason to have a newsroom is there?
In the video below, TEKgroup’s, Ibrey Woodall, discusses online newsrooms and what are the most important items the newsroom needs to have.
Kait Sutherland 