Online press rooms are an important part of an organisation’s website and overall public relations strategy. Research shows that online press rooms are amongst the most highly visited parts of a website – is yours working as hard as possible for your organisation?
It’s important to remember that editors and journalists often need information or are writing at times when you or your PR representative might not be available (e.g. late at night or over the weekend) and this is when your online press room becomes an invaluable resource.
How well your online press room is written, its structure and how effectively it delivers the information a media contact needs will directly impact how much coverage your organisation will receive.
So what are the top tips to having an effective online press room to help maximise your media coverage?
Tip 1: Make it easy to find
Don’t hide your press room too many clicks away from the homepage. Too many companies hide their press room layers under the ‘About Us’ or ‘Company Info’ menu tabs however in order to maximise the exposure your press room receives it’s best to include a direct link from the homepage.
Tip 2: Make it comprehensive and current
Ensure that all your press releases and company announcements are listed in chronological order in your online press room and are kept up to date. Don’t delete any dates from previously released information and don’t delete any older releases from your site – simply archive them. This ensures your library of information is complete whilst also benefitting your SEO.
Tip 3: Have the correct contact details
You need to be responsive when it comes to any incoming PR queries, so it is essential that your contact information is correct in your online press room. If you have multiple regions, you need to include contacts for each one. Plus, if you have changed PR firms, ensure that all your older releases are also updated with the new contact details.
Tip 4: Give the media what they need
Your online press room should serve as a hub for all the relevant information a media contact might need to provide you with media coverage. Providing quick links to relevant information such as logos, recent articles and a list of spokespeople directly from your press room is invaluable to media contacts.
Tip 5: It’s about more than words
Effective content is not limited to words or press releases. Including relevant charts, graphs, audio feeds, photographs and visual clips in your online press room will enable media contacts to utilise a mixture of content that best suits their needs.
Tip 6: List your spokespeople
It’s important to list your organisation’s spokepeople in your online press room so media contacts know who they can speak to regarding certain issues or a specific story. Ensure that you include a short bio, any former media appearances/quotes/talks, a professional headshot, the individual’s Twitter handle or relevant email address for each spokesperson.
Tip 7: Structure it well
Your online press room is part of your company website but when it comes to navigation, you should treat it like it’s a separate website. Don’t cram everything into a single page or make it hard for media to find what they need. Structure your online press room so it’s easy to navigate with separate sections for press releases, spokespeople, company announcements etc.
Tip 8: Offer a sign up option
Offering media the option of an e-newsletter sign up within your online press room makes it easier for you to push information out to them on a regular basis. Not only does this help draw them back to your site but it also demonstrates that they are already, at this point, interested in what you have to say – getting your foot in the door to building a a more long-term and fruitful relationship.
Tip 9: Make your information accessible
Don’t request any information from visitors who want to retrieve your press releases eg an email address or sign up form which appears once they try and access this information. Not only will media view you as inaccessible and cagey with your information, but chances are, they will not visit your press room again.
Tip 10: Make your content editable
What do we mean by this? Simply that media often needs to easily cut and paste from your press releases, information sheets and more so post them as text onto your web page. Don’t load them as locked PDFs – you can provide PDFs as an addition but don’t force media to download pdf’s – they need to be able to read and lift contact directly from the page.
It’s important to cut through the noise online and these top 10 tips will help you ensure your online press room is shining the brightest light possible on your business and helping to maximise your media exposure.
Susan Popovski, social media strategist for Chris Hocking Strategies (and slight Twitter tragic), specialising in social media and online marketing for financial services.