Foursquare and the NFL scored more than 200,000 check-ins worth of awareness from Super Bowl XLV parties across the United States and 125 countries, becoming the site’s most checked into venue to date. Old Spice awarded a fan exclusive, limited-time use of a promotional video. And Ultimate Fighting Championship held the first large-scale sporting event exclusively broadcasted on Facebook.

Applying social technology in innovative ways effectively attracts attention to your message — a topic that I recently discussed with Amy Martin, the CEO of Phoenix-based Digital Royalty.

Achieving results
I first met Martin in 2009 when she was organizing the NBA’s first fan Tweetup. She has since parlayed that experience into Digital Royalty, her own agency that manages digital communications for an admirable roster of sports teams, athletes, celebrities and corporations.

Martin and her team continue to create new initiatives that draw fan support to their clients’ causes, such as their work on Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Facebook campaign.

The preliminary matches for UFC’s Jan. 22 “Fight for the Troops” event was the centerpiece of its Facebook broadcast. Viewers simply had to “Like” UFC’s Facebook page to gain access to the fight. UFC has previously streamed backstage interviews and fighter weigh-ins, so streaming an event (or a portion, in this case) was the next logical step.

The “Fight for the Troops” campaign goal was to reach a new audience.  Tactics included social media, traditional media and website placements.  The campaign generated 123,000 new Facebook fans — 49,000 of those on event day.

The league clearly understands the value of going where fans are, rather than fighting to change their behaviors.  This approach works: The UFC is second only to the NBA for most pro sports league Facebook fans, according to public fan pages.

The UFC selecting the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund as its charitable partner was a significant part of  its Troops strategy. Martin finds that people come together for a cause, especially with social media.

Connecting IRL
It’s vital for practitioners to bridge the virtual and physical worlds, given that personal relationships are a cornerstone of public relations and successful business ventures.

“The magic of social media is most effective when you make things come to life,” explains Martin, who stresses simplicity over technology for technology’s sake. “Geo location apps, for example, now give us more complex ways to make connections, yet it all boils down to making online relationships come alive, whatever the method may be.”

Martin cites public relations as an essential contributor to the digital communications landscape.

“We call a lot of what we do social PR because it factors into every campaign. We rarely write press releases unless mandated by clients, and instead ask PR pros on our campaigns to reach out personally to their media outlets,” she says. “Humans connect with humans, so the pitching process changes when you’re building relationships with media who engage in social networking.”

Martin’s advice to communicators is to build your personal brand beyond the organization you represent, since it is transferrable. Modify these social media tactics to support your goals or even inspire innovation of your own.

Attract more attention online

Digital communication tools offer practitioners many methods for helping their messages be discovered. Consider the following when seeking new audiences online.

• Take Q-and-A to the next level — Create dialog in your blog and community comment sections; readers return when you engage frequently. Or try Quora, a Q-and-A site becoming a reputable thought leadership forum for posting and following questions, as well as rating response value.
• Mobilize your message — Connect with people in proximity by offering access to deals or events using geo-location apps like Foursquare and Facebook Places. Or create your own app to qualify the followers who most want to receive your communications, and update them instantly.
• Polish up a podcast — There are thousands of podcasts. Those with congenial hosts, hot topics and slick production garner the most listeners or viewers. Select a frequency and duration you can manage, and for production try Audacity for sound editing and Audiojungle for theme music.
• Be vivid with video – You know YouTube, Skype and have probably viewed a Ustream event. Go beyond these staples with Qik (recently acquired by Skype) to stream public or private videos live using your mobile phone, and create a channel on a video sharing community like Vimeo.

This post also appears as the March “Digital Dialogue” column in the PR Tactics Journal, published by the Public Relations Society of America.

Image: PRSA

Media and digital communication opportunities emerge in a flash and conclude just as fast. Factor in the time it takes to identify these opportunities and the likelihood that many practitioners are seizing them and you have a real-time PR challenge on your hands. Consider the following to make the most of each moment.

Be concise and precise — Some of the best media pitches and calls to action are composed of merely a simple subject line and a few sentences.  What specifically do you have to offer — with any tangential information removed — and why should media or potential customers be interested? Using just the facts can really pay off.

Create urgency and excitement — Writing with brevity helps your information get in front of editors and producers for consideration.  Add a dash of urgency and excitement by connecting your pitch to a scheduled event, conveying your uniqueness or offering a contrarian point of view.

Link to more when relevant — Shortened or clean URLs (those devoid of cryptic letters and digits) are inviting to editors.  You’ve provided a succinct and compelling offer, and those who click through demonstrate their interest. Google’s URL shortener and others provide metrics to monitor response, and you can make URLs for an audience of one if needed. Relevance is key, so rather than linking to a Facebook or blog home page, lead readers to a specific post, Web page or video; perhaps one created just for them.

Believe in brand journalism —  A small investment in professional writing, photography, video and blogging resources allows you to publish your own news, pique media interest with elements to expand on your stories, support your content creation and activate calls to action that work online 24/7 to attract additional media and business inquiries.

The following pitch exhibits the above characteristics:

U.S. Census data being released this week is expected to show a record increase in the nation’s poverty rate.  The anticipated poverty rate increase — from 13.2 percent to 15.0 percent — comes just seven weeks before midterm elections. UCLA has an expert.

UCLA School of Public Affairs Communications Associate Seth Odell wrote this to accompany his contact details and a September 2010 UCLA Newsroom YouTube video featuring professor Michael Stoll’s early census analysis.

The video served as an audition with media who could immediately confirm Stoll’s expertise upon viewing. It became a brilliant piece of brand journalism when packaged with Odell’s summary and contact details; succinct and compelling with a timely tie-in to the November midterms.

The summary aided search engine optimization, driving media outlets searching the Web for experts straight to UCLA.

Bank on your best pitches — Develop a pitch bank containing your greatest hits and items that the media didn’t initially pick up so you can recapture their effectiveness and relevance when your next moment of truth arises.

This post also appears as the February “Digital Dialogue” column in the Public Relations Society of America’s Tactics Journal.

WebInkNow.com

What good is information if you don’t use it in a timely manner?  This is a major premise of author and communication strategist David Meerman Scott’s latest book, published today by John Wiley & Sons, “Real-Time Marketing and PR.”

Real-time business opportunities happen right now — not in an hour or so. Accessible information is your most valuable commodity for discovering them and responding, according to Scott — who ought to know, having worked in financial markets during the 1980s.

On the trading floor, Scott observed how split-second decisions based on real-time information could generate millions of dollars if acted upon. He sees market-like patterns in public relations. With “Real-Time,” he endeavors to help communicators turn those “ifs” into business realities.

I contacted Scott to learn more, and noticed some common themes throughout our discussion.

Roles and readiness
Scott says that giving PR professionals leeway to seize real-time opportunities is their greatest obstacle. He suggests that practitioners and their supervisors adopt a “first responder” mindset, monitoring direct and tangential markets for ways to influence news cycles in real time.

Opportunities don’t always occur in a convenient weekday, 9-to-5 time frame. They can pop up over the weekend or on holidays, and you may need to personally take action without the aid of colleagues and in-depth analysis, or risk missing out on stories entirely.

When Boston’s water supply was deemed unfit to drink one Sunday in May, Scott noticed the clever door-to-door and reverse 911 call methods the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority used to alert citizens. He immediately blogged about the PR implications. The Boston Globe’s post-crisis analysis included Scott’s quotes on the front page.

“Carve out time each day to just be online and absorb what is happening. This practice will bring to the surface activities weekly that can get you more ink than all your other efforts combined,” Scott says.

Since you can’t accurately predict what the market and your industry will experience next week, concentrate on what it is doing now.  And although you can’t specify plans for unique opportunities, Scott says you can prepare for them with basic guidelines. He suggests taking a cue from crisis planning, albeit with a positive slant, to develop real-time opportunity plans.

Your plan should designate chief real-time officers who can act on opportunities without the required permissions that often result in missing chances.

Establish who is allowed to speak and outline protocol, including who is ideal for what topics.

Audience and format
Scott and I are both fans of companies that issue news online via blogs or newsrooms, especially timely news detailed with information like graphs and videos. (See October’s Digital Dialogue column on brand journalism.)

Says Scott, “If you have a new product announcement, then why tell a press release service before you tell your clients?”

Scott advocates alerting your best fans first — including customers, partners, Twitter followers and blog readers.  Doing this can better engage your brand with your audience.

While press releases are valuable in certain instances, Scott insists that sharing information with people directly in a human way can yield the most results — and opportunities.

This post also appears as the November “Digital Dialogue” column in the PR Tactics Journal, published by the Public Relations Society of America.

When a business publishes and shares valuable information rather than pushing sales and marketing  jargon, it is often with the intent of enlightening and helping readers. This type of brand journalism is now trending because it is accessible to readers online and companies can measure its value on the social Web.

An online newsroom publishing original stories about how an industry’s issues affect customers is an example of brand journalism (see May’s Digital Dialogue column featuring the Imperial Sugar Company). Likewise, a blog post or contributed article offering advice with only a simple byline reference of the author’s business can be considered brand journalism.

Companies practicing brand journalism develop followers who trust them and who will, in fact, consider their products and services when needs arise — a return on awareness or reward for consistently providing relevant information.

Blending expertise and influence
Businesses have been merging blogs, video, audio and graphics on the Web to offer relevant information for their key stakeholders, prospects and customers.  This is often called content marketing. It shares similarities with brand journalism, although the latter focuses on communicating in an objective news style.

Journalists are best suited to create brand journalism content, as they provide the authenticity and professionalism required to make such an effort successful.

Consider that many writers, photographers and video journalists who formally covered your space are now available for hire or project work. You may also have people in your organization with a news skill set who can help.

PR practitioners can create brand journalism content as well as generate coverage from it. Many communicators have the story-telling abilities that, if channeled correctly, can support brand journalism. Alternatively, public relatons can provide editorial direction by identifying specific journalists who can develop stories.

Practitioners can use this content, no matter who creates it, for media relations. The Oriella PR Network’s 2010 Digital Journalism Study indicates 46 percent of journalists surveyed are expected to produce more content than in previous years, and also 28 percent have less time to research stories.

Selecting a format
Brand journalism formats mirror how online publications build their own content. These include:

• Creating — This home-grown and time-intensive approach lists originality and thought leadership as benefits, making it one of the best for endearing readers to a brand and generating content for potential media reference.
• Commissioning —  This approach allows businesses and readers to benefit from the knowledge and unique perspectives of outside writers.
• Aggregating/Syndicating — Businesses aggregate content as an affordable method of re-posting others’ writings, often with the only costs being reciprocal links with bloggers and providing them another outlet for their work. Forecasting Clouds, funded by Aplicor, is a hybrid news portal that commissions journalists to cover cloud computing technology and syndicates content from industry analysts and bloggers.

Brand journalism is becoming prevalent in the new publishing era. Use it wisely and everyone can prosper.

This article also appears as the October “Digital Dialogue” column in the PR Tactics Journal, published by the Public Relations Society of America.

Image: Tumblr, Inc.

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More than 4 billion images are hosted on Flickr, 24 hours of  YouTube video are uploaded every minute and 25 billion pieces of content (links, blogs, photos, etc.) are shared on Facebook each month according to data assembled by Espresso, a Toronto-based integrated marketing agency.

That’s an enormous amount of information traversing the Web — and it’s growing exponentially. Blogs built on platforms like WordPress and microblogging tools (including Twitter) help generate a good share of this traffic. But a simpler, more flexible style of blogging — sometimes referred to as tumblelogging — has also emerged as a viable publishing option.

Tumblr and Posterous are two of the most popular alternatives to long-form blogging, according to TechCrunch, which cites 23 million unique monthly visitors for Tumblr and 5.3 million for the younger Posterous based on Quantcast data.  These sites are appealing because of their accessibility and purpose-built features. In addition, they’re hosted for free.

Mobile device integration fuels Tumblr and Posterous use. iPhone and smartphone apps offer a real-time method for creating and sharing content.  A frequent stream of short, mixed-media posts is a common characteristic of tumblelogging, which warrants consideration by communicators managing a consistent flow of content.

Both Tumblr and Posterous allow for easy posting, tagging, searching, subscribing, commenting and a fair level of page design via templates or configuration. Nearly all capabilities are available within the sites themselves, rather than requiring plug-ins or code hacking.

Users can click a bookmarklet button whenever they see something online that they want to include in their status stream, and  can also create original posts. Posterous users can e-mail text, audio, video, images and documents and the system will create posts with these elements automatically formatted.

Settings in both systems let users push posts to sites like Twitter and Facebook as desired, and also integrate Google Maps and location status.

Steve Rubel, Edelman Digital’s senior vice president and director of insights, has been a Posterous power user for over a year. Rubel transitioned from long-form blogging to the statusphere, as he and others have called it, and refers to Posterous as the ideal front end for active publishers. He delivers a hybrid mix of videos, images and tweet-length thoughts. He can also post the technology essays for which he has earned acclaim as a blogger and columnist.

Communicators should consider simplified blogging platforms as more affordable, flexible and immediate means of connecting with audiences. Potential uses include:

• Lifestream aggregation — Originate all of a client’s or brand’s content and updates from one central stream for followers interested in everything, while syndicating select posts elsewhere.
• Event and topic blogging — Create a blog supporting a specific industry event or campaign, and consider this format for busy executives who want to engage an audience while on the go.
• Crowdsourcing portals — Use a simplified blog structure to request and receive ideas from a fan base or customers.
• Real-time newsrooms — Experiment inexpensively with online newsrooms. While sites such as WordPress may be the better content management option, tumblelogging lets you explore your options.

(This article also appears as the September Digital Dialogue column in Public Relations Tactics, published by the Public Relations Society of America.)

Related articles:

• Tumblr Leaves Posterous In The Dust – ReadWriteWeb
• How To Make Money On Tumblr – Inc. Magazine

This post also appears as the July Digital Dialogue column in “Public Relations Tactics,” a publication of the Public Relations Society of America.

Can you, your clients or your spokespeople be considered thought leaders in the digital era without a blog?

Joe Pulizzi, author of “Get Content Get Customers,” founder of Junta42, a content marketing advisory, and creator of the Content Marketing Institute, posed this question in a recent blog post.

“You can’t be taken seriously by business audiences unless you have a blog in the mix,” Pulizzi explained during a phone discussion, also noting that blogs are simply delivery mechanisms. Sharing your insights consistently is the true yardstick, according to Pulizzi, regardless of format. And while it is certainly possible to do business without a blog, having one is a key ingredient for establishing and sustaining online presence.

On a World Wide Web full of Twitter following, Facebook friending and YouTube viewing, it is easy to lose sight of blogging’s benefits. Blogs remain the most flexible online format for professional communicators.

Technorati’s most recent State of the Blogosphere report, released in April, found that 70 percent of nearly 3,000 bloggers surveyed say they are better known in their industries because of their blogs.

Amanda Miller Littlejohn, a PR and social media consultant based in Washington, D.C., is a believer. She started her Mopwater PR + Media Notes blog in November 2008, and has since seen her client roster grow and has had more speaking and training opportunities.

“People remember the Mopwater name, which has become an excellent icebreaker during networking events,” she says. “Blogging helps me stand out in the competitive D.C. region. People may forget about a specific PR project I managed, but my blog is always there archiving my expertise and advice. When people read its quality, they are instant believers.”

Her sentiments echo a common theme: Traditional journalists often prioritize interviews with bloggers because they see proof of expertise through a blog. Well-written, tagged and search-optimized blogs are their directories.

Pulizzi concentrates on frequent blog posts rather than press releases to promote Junta42, and says he receives three or four solid interview requests per week.

He finds that the most charismatic bloggers do not merely regurgitate the latest stats or trends about their industries, they offer opinions and analysis. They also expand their content’s reach, sharing it across Twitter, Facebook and other networks.

Blogging, then, is not only their central self-publishing outlet and home base; it is their resume for attracting new opportunities.

In addition, lacking a blog can potentially be perceived as lacking relevance within an industry. Blogs are the fabric of online communication, serving as outright thought leadership vehicles and behind-the-scenes content management systems. They require a time commitment, plus mind-set and priority shifts for those who haven’t yet tried one. Blogs are inexpensive (often free) and fully at our disposal. As professional communicators, we ought to maximize their use.

Ryan Zuk, APR, is a media and analyst relations professional and Phoenix PRSA Chapter member. Zuk can be reached at ryanzuk at gmail dot com and @ryanzuk on Twitter. He also blogs at criticalmasspr.com

I attended Gartner’s 360 Customer Summit this week as a Sage North America representative. Two sessions lead by Paul Greenberg, author of CRM at the Speed of Light – 4th Edition, were among the highlights. Many opportunities for PR  and communicators at large to help advance Social CRM (customer relationship management) surfaced within the sessions. Note that I’m not trying to evoke the “who owns social” debate here, but rather reinforce as many have that this is everyone’s space to engage in and benefit from.

Strategies for Engaging the Social Customer that Actually Work (Session 1)

Paul’s first session included Heidi Tucker of InsideView, Brian Komar of the Center for American Progress and Comcast’s Frank Eliason as panelists.

During a pre-panel hallway chat with Eliason he shared that PR has been one of the biggest advocates for his team’s well known customer support efforts at Comcast. He also gave nods to JetBlue and Southwest within the airline industry as prime examples of PR-lead social networking programs. Frank centered on PR’s concern for brand sentiment and reputation as reasons PR can play a major role in social media management; and he certainly wasn’t dismissing the value marketing colleagues bring to the mix as well.

As the panel progressed Paul cited Gartner’s Ed Thompson who earlier reminded consumer thinking has penetrated the enterprise, therefore we need to recognize at the end of the day we’re always dealing with consumers. At the end of BtoB there is still a C, as Paul put it.

And here we get deeper into Social CRM – Paul’s definition which includes elements he crowdsourced is good reference and grounding. You can find it in Jacob Morgan’s recent presentation (slide 27) for the Public Relations Society of America’s T3 tech communicator’s conference, and elsewhere. Open collaboration is a centerpiece of the definition supported by processes, systems etc.

I like how the “moment of truth” explanation many customer experience experts use fits here. We’re all looking to connect and solve problems through social technologies and the personal relationships they help develop, whether the “problem” is what movie to spend our leisure funds on or a much more complex personal or business issue.

Social CRM: Where is it today and where is it going tomorrow? (Session 2)

During his second session, co-presented with Gartner’s Michael Moaz, Greenberg explained that the social transformation of recent years has not been a business revolution but rather a communications revolution. Clear, concise, and I find this a nice nod to how the PR profession can participate in advancing the social web. PR practitioners, given their history and competencies, are in position to help nurture a good portion of the collaboration we seek, now in a more direct manner with customers and sort of as social glue if you will.

Dr. Natalie Petouhoff, a chief strategist for Weber Shandwick, suggested from the audience that brands need to be wary of becoming fractured if everyone in an organization is off pursuing different social media agendas.

Some orchestration is required and I think PR folks are in a great position to insert value throughout the organization-to-customer communications spectrum. Most of us have heard the saying that everyone’s job (sales, marketing, support etc) includes some PR elements. Social CRM helps emphasize and expand upon this, while presenting a wonderful opportunity to prove it out.

Moaz brought the session in for a nice landing with a well-placed Marshall McLuhan analogy – a fave among PR historians – recalling McLuhan’s “the medium is the message” proclamation. Moaz pointed out that McLuhan was talking about TV then and that we’re now always connected via mobile devices. We’re all the medium. “You’ve gotta be part of the stream,” he noted. “Businesses will go social because that is how you survive today. Resistance is futile!”

Image: Adobe.com

This post also appears in the June issue of PR Tactics, published by the Public Relations Society of America.

Internet video conferencing services have become standard issue for digitally savvy communicators. PR professionals are employing Skype, which lists more than 520 million users, and similar livestreaming tools such as Ustream and Livestream, to supplement traditional broadcast media — or circumvent them altogether. Their flexibility combined with reasonable audio/video quality has aided adoption, and practitioners should examine their capabilities for expanding reach.

Major TV networks use Skype to cost-effectively bring guests and reporters into national broadcasts. Oprah uses Skype with guests and viewers regularly.

Winfrey notes on her website that Skype “changed the way we do television.”

Last year, she appeared on a video screen in a New York Best Buy store having impromptu, comical discussions with passersby. She has also talked with newsmakers on location around the globe, such as a scientific researcher in Antarctica.

However, you don’t need a national stage to benefit from livestreaming. Professional sports, consumer technologies and even small businesses are among those tapping its potential.

Jeramie McPeek, vice president of digital communication for the Phoenix Suns, has been a Skype guest on several programs including the Row Show, a live weekly Internet show about technology in professional sports hosted by digital marketing agency row27 Studios.

His virtual appearances are timely, topical and easily produced, benefitting the Suns’ PR efforts.

McPeek finds livestreaming intriguing and plans to use it across the Suns’ digital properties.

“We’re thinking about players livestreaming from the road via their iPhones and a Skype interview with a Phoenix Mercury WNBA player traveling overseas,” he says. “Player and fan chats also seem natural.”

Technology evangelist Robert Scoble used Ustream to livecast from Facebook’s f8 2010 conference this past April. He streamed the event’s press conference for nearly a thousand viewers, offering his insights and talking with other guests along the way.

Practitioners can consider the following to achieve similar results:

Get your gear — When Oprah calls you want to be ready.  Equip your spokespeople and clients with webcams now instead of sprinting to the store during your hour of need, or missing an interview opportunity.  You can pick one up for less than $100, and newer model laptops have built-in webcams.

Enhance your message — Good communications strategies require good content, and livestreaming can help you affordably achieve volume.  Web audio and video generates some of the best audience sharing statistics. Capture short discussions with your clients for video blog posts or record podcasts. Get customers involved by encouraging user-generated content. Report from your own event by sharing a livestream feed with your social network.

Expand your reach — Geographic, time and cost barriers are now more navigable thanks to livestreaming: the keynote address that your media cannot attend in person; the last-minute news station interview request; the international industry analyst you want to feature during your press conference.  All are doable with technology and openness to virtual attendees.

Imagination is the lead ingredient since livestreaming has mitigated previously limiting production factors.  And we’re PR people at heart, so there’s plenty of that to go around.

That headline may have tripped off some grammarians’ alarms but if you’re here reading, mission accomplished!

Some thoughtful readings about business relationships and applying social media to care for them gravitated my way this week, inspiring a few thoughts that expand on each.

Identifying And Attracting Your Audience

Perusing a print copy of BtoB’s 2010 Lead Generation Guide surfaced “Social media tips for demand generation” by Marketo’s Maria Pergolino. Maria includes seed nurturing among her methods for developing business leads, noting this is a vital early-stage part of the sales process. Content marketing (or Inbound Marketing as well branded by the HubSpot folks) is then emphasized to which I say “Bravo,” and I’d add a reminder that content offered in various social sharing forms (eBooks, podcasts, communities, etc) succeeds most when it refrains from chest-thumping. Share information prospects need to answer urgent questions even if only mildly associated with your product or service. When you do, as Pergolino notes: expect prospects to return for more content and be more willing to share their own information.

I then started thinking about personalized ways to develop and maintain relationships that now days often begin online before any face-to-face interaction occurs. Valerie Simon from BurrellesLuce shared a nice post recently with suggestions for bridging virtual relationships into real acquaintances. She outlined these with her attendance at today’s PRSA T3 conference for technology communicators in mind. You can draw upon these in nearly any situation. Important here is that you will get the most value using the social media tools that best suit your audience. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explore other channels yet emphasizes you don’t have to be all things, and everywhere, for all people. Valerie suggests many good options to consider. Knowing where your audience “participates” and spending a large degree of your time sharing there is the ticket!

Engaging That Audience

Denis Pombriant’s “Membership is not participation” post next caught my attention. Denis aptly reminds us that membership in and of itself does not translate to participation. Commenting and contributing content are typical activities that qualify online community members as participants. Call this giving something of value to the community at large. Denis references crowdsourcing and diversity, to which I’ll add that people most naturally contribute to communities based on their areas of expertise. This alone goes a long way towards generating value out of diversity. From there it’s a shared responsibility between a community’s purveyor (a vendor, organization, business person, fan, thought provoker) and its members to keep conversations worthwhile. Recognize and encourage insightful participants to further enlighten the group and keep at offering your own thoughts too. In an attention-deprived culture large membership numbers are impressive but not the only criteria for defining a community’s or company’s success.

Imperial Sugar Newsroom

I recently spoke with David Henderson and Ed Lallo of The News Group Net about how online newsrooms are being applied – or at least how they can be – within today’s digital news landscape. This formed the basis of my May Digital Dialogue column “Online newsrooms in the digital era” for PR Tactics, a publication of the Public Relations Society of America.

My discussion with David and Ed was lively and we enjoyed having a good go at the topic as our allotted time quickly passed. David is author of “Making News in the Digital Era” and analyzes the application of online newsrooms quite a bit in it and his consulting. He and Ed, a photojournalist with People Magazine and national newspaper assignments among his many credentials, provided more insight than I could fit in the confines of a 500 word column.

What follows are some bonus nuggets using Imperial Sugar Company (ISC), a News Group Net client, as an example.

On press releases

Henderson: While researching my book I became curious about newsrooms and started talking to IT people at major corporations. I learned that as a general rule online newsrooms are the least visited part of websites because they are just repositories of old press releases. Yesterday’s press releases are yesterday’s news. It really comes down to writing in a journalistic style. A press release is not news, it is an announcement or an event. You should take releases, or what would comprise them, and re-write this information as news.

Lallo: There are similar nuances in photography and video too. Make the transition from PR and corporate communications writing to news credibility with a news-style delivery of video segments and B-roll.

Henderson: We looked at a company that does 300 press releases a year. They’re  spending a lot of money to do it and their ROI is basically zero because nobody is picking up their chest thumping.

Press releases are ok for the financial purposes of public companies but for most other purposes they are counter intuitive. Reporters are under mandate to find fresh new stories their competitors don’t have. If you send a press release to USA Today they’ll throw it away. It’s like saying “we have something today but we’re telling it to everybody.”

The media that really matters to you, your company or client is usually a very small group. For Apple it’s Mossberg and Pogue. Everybody else typically follows what they write. Fashion your news for the small group of media who are critical to your business.

On implementing Imperial Sugar’s newsroom

Henderson: Imperial was coming out of crisis (a 2008 Savannah refinery explosion) and they had two PR agencies doing traditional things that weren’t getting much traction for the company’s image. If you went to Google all the stories were negative, which was no direct fault of the agencies’ efforts. It’s just that a new approach was needed.

Imperial was rebuilding the plant, taking care of its workforce and working diligently with local government. None of this was being reflected in media coverage. Our first objective was to get these stories told online and we determined the ideal method was an online newsroom.

Lallo: To this day we have a great relationship with Imperial’s PR agencies. We synch our newsroom stories with their news releases and press information, rewriting the releases as a news stories for the newsroom or working from material that would have previously been news releases.

Henderson: The main purpose of the newsroom is not to provide stories for media. The core audiences are shareholders, business partners, employees and, then, the media. An online newsroom can present the spectrum of all the good things a company is doing to each of these audiences.

We developed our newsroom model based on our respective journalism and photography experience and we’ve tuned it with where the world is today; what people want to find online.

Lallo: If you go to many corporate online newsrooms you still find you are asked to fill out a form to contact the company’s communications department – and you may not ever get a reply. This just isn’t right. Stakeholders of any kind can no longer wait for a response.  We think of our newsrooms as daily digital newspapers that cover an industry and keep everyone up to date on what is trending.

Henderson: In a short time, a wave of media started borrowing stories almost verbatim and photos from Imperial’s newsroom, or using elements from it to expand on a topic in their own stories. The site has become the center of the sugar refining industry. We post stories that are good and not so good about the industry because we want to remain objective. Sugar industry analysts and even thought leaders from other companies now come to us to get their stories covered.

What started out as wanting to improve Imperial’s Google-ability and favorability of online stories has become a position of leadership.

On staffing Imperial’s newsroom

Henderson: You really need to have the support of top management to make a newsroom relevant.  Imperial John Sheptor is solidly behind this effort. His is a style of open management and he wants this reflected in the newsroom.

Lallo: It takes an enormous amount of work to manage an online newsroom effectively. We post two or three fresh stories daily and are constantly adding photographs and videos. Five freelancers assist David and I with the newsroom.

We never anticipated it, but the ISC newsroom has become a profit center. We get emails from Sugar traders worldwide who want to be hooked up with ISC to make purchases. Millions of pounds of sugar have been sold via newsroom leads.

On PR’s role managing newsrooms

Lallo: Newsrooms aren’t about taking PR people out of the equation. They are about learning a new skill, or for some going back to their journalism roots. Don’t think in terms of writing press releases with boilerplates and disclaimers. Get rid of that formula and write something people are interested in.

Henderson: We constantly talk with agencies and corporate communications people who agree with this approach but thus far lack the resources or executive support to make it happen.

(And therein lies the challenge that I even see myself while going about my duties. I believe a lot of PR practitioners have the desire to open up their communications, yet also have internal stakeholders and legal advisers to convince and processes to modify. But it isn’t rocket science, it’s just good journalism that people are after regardless of if you pitch or consume it. I’m happily in agreement with most everything David and Ed have shared and – whether by leaps and bounds or merely baby steps – I’ll be seeking to further advance my own communications from static to style.)