Why Do You Need an Online Newsroom?

In today’s digital era, where news breaks around the clock as millions of people share news stories on social media, and the best brands use the power of journalism to create their own content — your organization needs an online newsroom to remain competitive.

Every Brand’s Future Lies in Content. Share It Through Your Online Newsroom

Ok, a simple Google search will reveal countless articles on content being the “latest trend” in marketing. But consider this: 76% of brands will rely on content marketing in 2016 to grow and engage their audience and build trust and credibility, and 24 percent of organizations currently devote over half of their overall marketing budget to content. Does it really sound like a fad?

Let’s go further — content marketing isn’t just the future of brands (check out this piece from Contently Labs), it’s the future of business. And if you’re ready to knock your audience’s socks off and get a leg up on your competition, you might want to consider these super-cool things about branded newsrooms:

1. Online Newsrooms Help You Draw Media Attention

“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, the 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.”
Need some data to be convinced? Take a look at Online Newsroom Survey Report:

• 98% of journalists think it’s somewhat important (15%), important (33%), or very important (49%) for a company or organization to have an online newsroom available to the press.
• 98% of journalists say it’s somewhat important (8%), important (34%), or very important (56%) for a company to provide access to news releases within their online newsroom.
• 98% of journalists agreed the ability to search news archives within an online newsroom is somewhat important (10%), important (36%) or very important (52%) to their work.

PRO TIP: Just remember: a build-it-and-forget-it attitude doesn’t do the trick anymore. Be sure that your newsroom always has a few interesting pieces of information that journalists can use to write a killer article about your brand (an “About Us” section with actual contact info, media kit, media mentions, images, press releases).

HINT: Make the media aware of your online newsroom and your editorial content.

2. You Build Your Brand Awareness With It

Not only does your newsroom help get news coverage by providing everything a journalist may want in one place, but it also benefits your online branding. If you do it right, the constant updating of your latest news and media coverage also shows the direction your brand is moving. That’s why it’s supremely important that you keep your newsroom updated!
Tip: Find the stories for the foundations of your content

3. You Gain Your Audience’s Trust

Journalists are not the only ones visiting online newsrooms. They’re also frequented by bloggers, investors and consumers who use the online media centers to research the organization. “Newsrooms, in some ways, are simply a natural evolution of social media” — said Carmen D’Ascendis, director of global marketing at Jack Daniel’s. With Prowly newsrooms and Brand Journals, your fans can find all the content you serve them in one place, because it can be integrated with your Facebook fan page, Twitter profile, Instagram, YouTube channel, blog and every page with RSS (Slideshare and Pinterest). How about some stats again: over 70% of your consumers want interesting content that brings them closer to the brand and 80% prefer to familiarize themselves with a brand via an article instead of an ad. Well, it turns out you can win some serious brownie points with your audience when you publish interesting stuff or share your SM posts through your online newsroom.

PRO TIP: The public wants to see how your product or service fits into their lifestyle — not just simply get the info about your product’s/service’s features. Make sure you provide them original content. Recycling pieces of other brands’ content or inanely riffing off obvious news isn’t going to work.

4. It Gives You More Traffic & More Engagement

An increase in traffic from the newsroom to other areas of your website is one thing. Here is the other: according to 37% of marketing managers, the most important way to engage customers is content-led websites. (Source: The CMA). 58% of consumers trust editorial content. (Source: Nielsen). 54% of brands cited increased engagement as the number one value of content. (Source: Econsultancy and Outbrain).

Big numbers. Big promise. Maybe a case study? Let’s take a look at Reebok’s online newsroom, particularly at their Wine Workout content centered on a millennial mom, April Storey, who showed how people could exercise with household items, like wine bottles.

Reebok’s posts saw tremendous success on social. Refinery29 picked up the story, and the above Instagram post saw 7500 likes and 1400 comments. Reebok further boosted their engagement by utilizing the Wine Wednesday trend that’s big on social media. On YouTube, for example, it has now nearly 25 K views. Reebok’s partnership with Storey came after her #WineWorkout video went viral with 19m views.

HINT: Determine the value you’re delivering to your audience.

5. Online Newsrooms Save Your Time & Money

Your newsroom is your information management system. You can have all your company’s materials at your fingertips. Now, this won’t happen overnight, but once the hard work is done, you will be able to quickly provide all types of content to both journalists and internal partners. And… have more time for more serious responsibilities, like strategy.

What does it mean to you? Time is money! You can treat your online newsroom as an investor relations HQ, as a crisis management communications center, as a product rollout/launch assistant or as an SEO content engine. Money, money, money and some more money saved.

PRO TIP: Don’t forget to analyze and measure the impact of your content’s performance. Monitor it across social, and benchmark how you’re doing against others.