Mark Ragan, CEO, Ragan Communications NEWSROOM STRATEGIES for healthcare & educational institutions Bart Verhulst, Co-founder & CEO, PressPage
May 10, 2015
Mark Ragan, CEO, Ragan Communications
NEWSROOM STRATEGIESfor healthcare & educational institutions
Bart Verhulst, Co-founder & CEO, PressPage
Present newsroom technology that is uniquely designed to add workflow efficiency and distribution
effectiveness; allowing brands to tell an engaging and optimized online story that is published straight into the
search and social worlds.
in partnership with
Business model of traditional publishers under pressureBrands spend less on advertising
Existing business model can’t finance earned mediaReduced sources for coverage & content creation
Less opportunity for free publicityWhat happens with your news?
Corporate story can fall prey to ‘content decay’
Reliability as main comms tool?
PR pro’s using the power of social
Where is your content for everybody to find?
So the new strategy is to become a publisher!“Stop begging the media, become the media!”
Every Company = Media CompanyBut what is blocking your start?
Understaffed newsrooms: Fewer reporters to feed the
media beast
Technology has removed many cost barriers
Free distribution channels: YouTube,Facebook, Twitter,
Google+ and more…
Reporters now tap into social media channels for stories
What has changed?
Stop Begging the media Become the media instead
EC=MCNewsroom
strategies forhealthcare & educational institutions
Newsroom = uninspiring & under-performsIf it is a hassle to post… You’re not going to!
Technological obstacles lead to strategy failure
Most common newsroom mistakes:
Besides relevant content for your audiences… !1. Press-release graveyard!
• A listing of your press-releases; written as a press-releases; uninviting and uninspiring to other audiences…
2. Outdated content!• The newsroom really should be the most dynamic area of your website:
“You are what you tell…” 3. Absence of multimedia content!
• There are so many more ways to tell a story than just text! Imagery and video can do so much to empower your message. Studies show tremendous increase in views.
4. Not allowing for peer-to-peer or expert sharing!• No stronger brand ambassadors than experts and friends. • “Just because your organisation does not have XYZ social presence, does
not mean your audiences should bot be able to share your content on it”
Most common newsroom mistakes:
WHY?
Newsroom based on standard web CMS toolBuilt by general web designers; not specialists
Design was one dimensional; by the clientProject became expensive & incomplete
What makes a good newsroom..?
Besides relevant content for your audiences… !• It should be a central hub where all your content resides • Is within within your website -but with a reach far beyond- where your
news content is presented in a compelling, rich and real-time manner • Allows your news to be pushed out to your (selected) social
channels and guides visitors back to your website = traffic! • A place where different sets of audiences can become inspired and
informed by what you have to tell on a 24/7 basis • Makes it easy for everybody to find, access and share your content… • Provides you the right metrics to analyse your comms ROI. !• And last, but not least, it should use technology that is directly
accessible to the comms team and specifically designed to do what it is supposed to do: empower your message!
Allow visitors to easily search content:
text, videos, images, sound, files, SlideShares,
infographics…
Offer easy access to all your
rich content.
Allow for easy navigation to
different type of content.
Provide quality RSS
feeds for your content.
Make your contacts accessible by giving them a
‘face’ and ‘social personality’ as well as contact
details
What was the foremost reason for the Shepherd Center to launch their newsroom?
“Our online newsroom is the hub for our content marketing efforts, which began in earnest in mid-2013. PressPage
provides the technology platform that allows us to promote our various forms of content – articles, photos, videos,
infographics, SlideShare presentations – via the channels where our audiences are spending time. It brings readers
back to the newsroom and often to our hospital’s general website for even more information.”
A newsroom’s Hub & Spoke
model
Push out your news… Bring back visitors
Social distribution to Facebook company page
and/or multiple personal profiles, Linked company page and/or multiple personal profiles, and
multiple Twitter feeds (all optional per article).
But the media will find you as
well!
Case studies: Education
• Education plays a central role in society. • Knowledge institutions need to share their
knowledge for credibility and attention: “In the past we could buy media attention… Now we have to earn it or publish it ourselves”
• Attract new students (by means of peer-to-peer sharing on social channels)
• Keep (future) students, staff and alumni informed and involved
• Acclaim their thought leadership (patent registration and breakthrough research) !
• Adwords campaign discontinued in July = sharp drop in traffic
• “Adwords visitors were not loyal enough to ensure steady returning visits”
• Newsroom launched in May; soon built up traffic based on good content with a hub & spoke approach (not "paid bait" but “news”)
• Performance increase; cost decrease
Case study: Nyenrode New Business School
Visitors Adwords Visitors Newsroom Visitors Total
www.presspage.com