October 18, 2011
New Survey Reveals Obstacles to Managing an Online Newsroom — Lack of Control, Resources and Social Media Integration Top Challenges
By Ibrey Woodall, VP of Web Communications Services, Business Wire
It's common knowledge that communications professionals rarely have enough manpower to implement public relations tactics and strategies. According to the 2011 Communicators Online Newsroom Practices Survey by Business Wire and Bulldog Reporter, the same holds true when managing an online newsroom.
The online newsroom is headquarters for all of an organization's news and information including press releases, multimedia, press kits, executive biographies and more. While multiple audiences visit the news center today, almost 90 percent of public relations professionals surveyed still consider media to be the primary target. Consumers, bloggers and influencers are next in line, while investors are usually supplied financial information via an investor center.
Lack of resources is indeed the largest challenge faced in keeping company news and information online, up to date, and interesting. Although several communicators who responded to the survey spend five hours or less a week managing their online newsroom, nearly 70 percent update their online newsroom once a week or more frequently. Understandably so, since posting new content regularly is beneficial for search engine optimization.
The second largest obstacle is not having the control to self publish new content when desired. This handicap was the genesis for the creation of online newsroom content management systems years ago. Public relations professionals had to rely on the schedule and mood of someone in their internal technical department to get a press release posted to the website.
Fortunately, over half of the survey respondents are able to edit content and manage other functions within their online newsroom. Frustrations still prevail though since most of the respondents have had to rely on their IT department to develop their online newsroom. When possible, PR practitioners, and companies with more than 1,000 employees, are more likely to use an online newsroom provider.
Social media integration is normally a standard feature within an online newsroom, so I was surprised when the third greatest challenge was the inability to simultaneously feed Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn postings into the online newsroom. Sadly so, 50 percent of respondents are also unable to generate tweets and postings to Facebook and LinkedIn from the online newsroom interface. This indicates a lack of efficiency in workflow.
More than half of the respondents currently have an online newsroom, and 13 percent indicate plans to create one in the future. Less than 1 percent surveyed believed their online newsroom is too expensive. Of those that were actually aware of their online newsroom budget, their annual costs were $10,000 or less.
The intent of the 2011 Communicators Online Newsroom Practices Survey was to show the everyday problems that communicators face when creating and maintaining on online newsroom, more so than what components should be available within it. With that said, press releases are accessed the most within online newsrooms of those surveyed. Regrettably, some respondents still have to manually input press releases instead of benefitting from automatic posting.
Download the 2011 Communicators Online Newsroom Practices Survey executive summary here.
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Content Key to Online Newsroom Success
The use of online newsrooms has indeed skyrocketed over recent years due to the increasing use by journalists, bloggers, consumers, employees, investors and other influencers – but the survey leaves lingering questions on the effectiveness of the a majority of the newsrooms in delivering fresh vital content to these new diverse audiences.
Content is the single greatest challenge faced by communicators in keeping the newsroom continuously updated. Nearly 30% of respondents conceded lack of adequate resources to keep the newsroom current and fresh. In addition the inability to self-publish content onto the online newsrooms and integrate social media were significant challenges.
Online newsrooms are not just about software and press releases. The key to effectively utilizing the online newsroom to reach a brand’s many audiences is to view it as a content engine that drives a company’s online social media – from Facebook to Twitter and back again. It is the one place to effective deliver the corporate message to an ever-broadening readership – to repurpose paid, earned and owned media.
According to survey findings, communicators found the newsroom not just for traditional media, but a tool to deliver a wide range of news to a variety of audiences extending far beyond news release. But according to the survey content and traffic numbers haunt the newsroom effectiveness – more than 65% of those currently using online newsrooms do not know traffic numbers, or have less than 1000 unique visitors.
The online newsroom is a cost effective tool to tell the company’s many stories, told from the perspective only they can offer. Unlike Facebook and Twitter it is a secure social media platform.
The Bulldog Reporter and Business Wire 2011 Communicators Online Newsroom Practices Survey shows the importance of the online newsroom in communicating the corporate and brand messaging. This report, combined with the Bulldog Reporter and TEK/group International’s Online Newsroom Survey of journalists, proves the online newsroom will continue to become an important tool in telling a company’s many stories.
Given the importance respondents placed on content creation, the survey did miss a valuable opportunity to examine more closely how newsroom content is generated, repurposed and targeted.
Ed Lallo
Newsroom Ink
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