How To Build Your #BrandNewsroom

Before I joined Mynewsdesk, I thought a newsroom was a place where news reporters and anchors gathered and frantically discussed the day's top stories and how they’re going to cover them. And I guess when you think about it, I wasn’t far off…

A brand newsroom goes by a number of aliases; media centre, press room, the list goes on, but essentially they all have the same purpose: to provide a hub of content and information and make getting coverage easier.

So, if you’ve got one of the aforementioned sections on your site, here are a handful of tips to build it up, buttercup (#sorrynotsorry).

Tell your brand’s story

“What story?” You might panic. But think of it this way; every brand started somewhere, be it in the basement of a tower block or as the offspring of a bigger name. No matter how old your business is or the size of the company, you have a story to tell. And a story is what brings a brand to life. Your business is unique and by telling the story of your brand, people will be better equipped to make sense of your journey, what lies ahead and decide whether or not they’d like to be a part of it.

Showcase your brand’s culture

Consumers and clients are humans, and like all humans, they like to be able to relate to a brand, not just on a business level but also more personally.

The newsroom offers a fantastic platform from which to give people an insight into your employees working lives and your brand’s values. Show them the office party (well, perhaps not those pictures!), tell them about Barb’ and Eric running the marathon dressed as flamingos (and boast about how much they raised), and share a select few of the office jokes. All of these little stories will help form the bigger picture; your story. What’s more, you can also push these out onto the channels that people use for both business and pleasure: social media, of course.

Be more sociable

Hey – the thought of “networking”, per se, makes me nauseous. So if your palms sweat and heart palpitates at the mere mention of the word then fear not. I’m talking about online and social media networking. With me now?

A newsroom can be used to create lists of contacts within your network, and will help ensure your content and messages end up in the right inboxes. 

Furthermore, social media, especially LinkedIn and Facebook, can be fantastic tools for finding potential consumers and influencers. So make sure you’re reaching those people and make "being sociable" a part of your comms strategy.

Keep Things Tidy

A brand newsroom is a place for news, stories and information. While it might be a noisy space, inundated with breaking news and content, the newsroom needs to be orderly for it to work. Building a brand newsroom is more about method and efficiency than simply pumping out a tonne of content. Think about who your audience are, where they are and what they want. Use tags and relate to similar content. These sound like little things but get them right and therein lies the potential to reap big rewards.

Delve Into Data

Even if numbers terrify you (or maybe it’s just me…probably just me), data can be your frenemy .

Words aren't always enough. People want facts and hard figures; how many people did your content reach? How many clicks did it generate? How many sales? How much revenue?

Back-up what your saying with some impressive numbers for people to chew on; they form an important part of the bigger picture and can help to give your content more depth.

Be The Influencer

As PR and comms people, we’re forever trying to find the right “influencers” to reach out to in the hope that they’ll spread the word about our news and products. But when you stop and think for a moment, you’ll realise that, in fact, you have the power to be the influencer.

As a user of your newsroom, with the powers to publish stories, you also have the power to share your thought-changing and provoking views and news. Use your powers wisely, you little wizard, you!