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Creating remarkable content can be a great way to generate inbound media coverage for your business. In fact, we've seen many businesses successfully use this very tactic, conducting studies and publishing reports using industry statistics to attract the attention of media publications and bloggers. Heck, at HubSpot, we do it, too!
But once you've put that great, PR-worthy content out there into the online world, are you making it easy for interested media folks and bloggers to contact you about it? What if they have a question about a certain statistic you mentioned, or they want to interview one of your business' executives? Would they be able to easily find and get in touch with the right person at your company? Could they gather all the information they're looking for if they decided to write more in-depth coverage of your business?
You can publish great content that might be worthy of some coverage, but if a reporter or journalist doesn't know who to contact or can't easily find the information they're looking for, that journalist might pursue a different source for their story, meaning you'd miss out on some great PR coverage.
One of the best ways to maximize your business' potential to generate inbound PR coverage is through a carefully crafted social media newsroom. Here are our top 8 tips for creating a truly stellar one...
1. Provide clear media contact info at the very top of your page. Sometimes a journalist or blogger is simply looking for someone to talk to. Don’t bury this information. The last thing you want is a journalist losing interest because he or she can’t find contact information. Instead, clearly position contact info at the top of your newsroom, and include multiple methods of communication – an email address, a phone number, even a Twitter handle! Consider also creating a separate search engine optimized web page with just this media contact information, so journalists searching for your business' media contact in search engines can quickly find it.
2. Include links to additional information and resources. Instead of cluttering your page with tons of information, include links to other pages on which you expand upon certain information. For example, if you’d like to showcase your award wins or a list of the media coverage you’ve generated, you might provide a snapshot of highlights in your newsroom but also link to separate pages you’ve built to house more detailed information.
3. Incorporate social media elements. Your newsroom is a great place to aggregate and share your business' social media presence. Include links to your Facebook Fan Page, your company’s Twitter feed, Flickr account, YouTube channel, LinkedIn page, etc.
4. Include interactive elements. People prefer to absorb information and be stimulated in different ways. Give your visitors variety. Some ways you can achieve this include embedding a video overview of your company or product, including eye-catching icons, images, and photos, or adding links to audio elements (e.g. a podcast interview featuring your CEO).
5. Insert an RSS feed to your company blog and/or corporate Twitter account. If you publish a company blog and/or maintain a corporate Twitter account, add feeds to your newsroom that display recent posts/tweets and links to subscribe.
6. Highlight noteworthy company data, achievements, and benchmarks. Are you a startup that just recently raised a round of venture capital? Perhaps you have some interesting company stats to share like your customer count or employee size. Highlight them in your newsroom for an added PR punch.
7. Include 'about' information or your company's boiler plate. Sometimes a reporter is just looking for some additional information to round out a story and doesn't even require human interaction. Provide a brief description of your business and its products/services for their reference. This will also encourage them to use a description (or a form of) that you've influenced, so you know they'll get your company's messaging right.
8. Keep it fresh! Make sure you continually keep your newsroom updated with the freshest content and up-to-date information. Has your customer count increased over the past few months? Make sure to edit your newsroom for accuracy.
In what other ways can you make your company newsroom more effective?
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