As PR professionals, we often find ourselves explaining the importance of an online newsroom to the companies and organizations with whom we work. Newsrooms are a great way to highlight earned coverage and offer another medium to build thought leadership and share company updates and milestones. They serve a variety of audiences, including current and potential clients. However, another important and often forgotten newsroom audience is journalists.
A recent survey conducted by The TEKGROUP, an internet software and services company, collected responses from thousands of journalists to shed some light on their relationships with newsrooms and help us understand how to build out a newsroom that meets their needs. Below I’ve outlined the three biggest takeaways from the survey results: the value newsrooms provide to journalists, what journalists expect to see in a newsroom, and how social media ties complement a newsroom.
Newsroom Value
The study revealed that of the journalists surveyed, 95 percent said a newsroom was important. It’s no surprise that journalists value newsrooms, considering 50 percent stated that they are visiting an organization’s online newsroom once a week and 30 percent stated that they are visiting a newsroom every day.
Also, these visits are not limited to large companies’ newsrooms, as 83 percent of journalists are looking at the newsrooms of both small and large companies. Clearly, journalists are looking for an easy way to access everything they need to know about a specific company in a centralized hub. Many publications have been forced to cut back staffing, leaving most journalists pushed for time. Making it easy for them to find the information they need to craft a story may increase the likelihood that they’ll write. It also positions the company as a valuable resource of information.
Desired Content
Now that we’ve established newsrooms as a source of information that journalists frequently rely on, what should a newsroom include? The survey found that journalists expect to see breaking news, featured stories, images, product information, executive bios, PR contact information and videos. More than 80 percent of journalists stated that each of these items was important to them. An online newsroom is a library of information, resources and content that informs visitors about the specific organization. These items give the journalists the background information they need to develop a story, insight into what has already been written and the other media elements they will need to accompany their story.
Social Media’s Role
According to the survey results, 86 percent of journalists think it is important to access a page within an online newsroom that links to all of an organization’s social media handles. Social handles are also a wealth of information, and typically share more than just company-related news. They often provide insight into industry news a company takes interest in, what customers are reaching out to a brand about, and the brand’s personality and voice. It pays to make it easy for journalists to access this extended portion of the company’s newsroom.
Online newsrooms may not be the top priority for some companies, but they are an excellent and desired resource for journalists. If a company is focused on securing editorial coverage, appealing to 95 percent of journalists with a well-built online newsroom is definitely a strategy that should not be ignored.
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