Anatomy of a Media Room: What to Include in a Brand Newsroom
The online brand newsroom is evolving.Once a place on company websites where press releases were merely posted and archived for years on end, successful brand media rooms now showcase multimedia, highlight earned media mentions and give journalists a helping hand.Media rooms today are seamless, integrated extensions of branded websites – living company assets that pack a content punch.Whether you’re looking to add a media room to your existing site or simply need to do some fine-tuning, read on for the eight brand newsroom pages all companies should consider employing – plus two that will give your media room a boost.1. HomepageThink of your homepage as the face of your brand’s newsroom. Its features should be polished and present the best first impression possible.The homepage design sets the tone for other pages on the newsroom, so make sure all content is attractive, readable and navigable. Many companies place a mission statement or company overview front and center, flanked by page navigation tabs and surrounded by other assets.Use breakout boxes to highlight recent announcements or news that visitors need to see at a glance. Or consider employing a rotating carousel feature, such as an image slideshow, in lieu of a static banner image.Brand fonts and colors, embedded videos and other multimedia can also make homepages pop.2. Press ReleasesThe backbone of any newsroom is, of course, the press release section. If you use a wire service to distribute press releases, most media rooms can auto-post the text and embedded images via a feed.You can (and should) add more multimedia to a release once it’s been posted to your site – think videos, SlideShares, PowerPoint presentations and additional images to enhance your story.