At our institutions, we commit a significant amount of resources to creating news content — press releases, internal and external newsletters, homepage feature stories, and more. We rely on this content to tell our story, communicate important information, and forge connections with readers in a timely, high-impact fashion. But how do we ensure that news content is on-brand, reaching the right audiences, and providing real value?
News content can have high strategic value for supporting institutional goals, but only if we plan and publish it with that intent. How much do we publish news content out of habit or reflex, rather than with clear purpose? Are we making good use of our time and resources — and our readers’ attention?
This webinar was originally delivered April 29, 2014.
3. “To set his paper apart
from its more sensational
competitors, [New York
Times publisher Adolph
Simon] Ochs adopted the
slogan “All the News
That’s Fit to Print” (first
used October 25, 1896)
and insisted on
reportage that lived
up to that promise.”
Encyclopedia Britannica
9. Less than 1% of visitors view a
news release.
We can see by looking at landing
pages for visits that include a news
release that, when a visitor lands on
a news release page, it is typically a
dead-end with most of those
visitors leaving the site from that
page.
“
9
Chris Scott, Headscape
http://boagworld.com/content-strategy/website-news/
#meetcontent
10.
11. Less than 1% of visitors view a news release.
We can see by looking at landing pages for
visits that include a news release that, when
a visitor lands on a news release page, it is
typically a dead-end with most of those
visitors leaving the site from that page.
- Chris Scott, Headscape
“
http://boagworld.com/content-strategy/website-news/
NEWS INHIBITS
TASK COMPLETION
http://www.flickr.com/photos/robandstephanielevy/4616960925/
12. It is not enough, for example, to
write a press release saying how
your organisation has won an
award. Instead you need to clearly
explain how that benefits the user.
“
12
Paul Boag, Headscape
http://boagworld.com/content-strategy/website-news/
#meetcontent
14. HOW DO WE MAKE
NEWS SOCIAL?http://www.flickr.com/photos/33917831@N00/2911248047/
VALUE
OVER
VOLUME
15. We focus on publishing content our
readers love so much they think it is
worth sharing. It sounds simple but
it’s hard to do and it is the metric
that aligns our company with our
readers. In the long term it’s good
for readers and good for business.
“
15
Jonah Peretti, Buzzfeed
http://cdixon.org/2012/07/24/buzzfeeds-strategy/
#meetcontent
17. Universities have an opportunity to
leapfrog the mainstream media and
explain our research, teaching and
wider contributions to society in
forms beyond the text-based press
release. ... We have websites, and
access to the tools needed to reach
the public.
“
17
Kyle Christie, formerly King’s College
http://kylelchristie.com/2011/08/07/is-it-possible-to-go-beyond-press-releases/
#meetcontent
37. “The old mantra that every page needs to
be a homepage has never been more
true...The goal is to give [the reader] a
clean and interesting reading experience
for the article... and beyond that to make
sure that we are giving the reader a sense
of what else is on our site.
- Bob Cohn, editor, Atlantic Digital
http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/08/coming-in-the-side-door-the-value-of-homepages-is-shifting-from-traffic-driver-to-brand/
44. The ultimate goal is to retire the
press release. It’s a great holder for
facts, but you’d never want to read
one. We want to tell stories.“
44
Tomas Kellner, GE
http://contently.com/strategist/2013/07/29/we-want-to-retire-the-press-release-an-interview-with-ges-tomas-kellner/
#meetcontent
