I'm hoping this is something of a no-brainer. But I'll make my case and then take cover with a tin-hat on.
Your news - provided it is not 100% exclusive (if it's entirely exclusive it's up to you on which channel you release it) - should always be broken online and or via mobile - and not just a 50 word summary.
1. Our users have access to the entire internet (through their phones, too) - not just our sites. Just because we don't publish it, that doesn't mean your users can't find it. We have to deal with life after google news alerts!
2. If we don't publish all the detail/pics included in press release material - someone else will. Our users care enough about the subject to go and find it for themselves - and then tell all their friends about it
3. Holding stuff back for your print publication can only diminish your brand in the eyes of your community because
a) They'll think you're off the pace cos sites which aren't associated with (held back by) print brands will be merrily publishing away
b) Yours will be the only (relevant) site on the web not reporting the event/launch/news in detail.
4. Blogs will make all this redundant anyway - unless you are going to prevent users from publishing good relevent and newsworthy content. In which case, who would use your blogs when so many others offer more freedom?
The trick is to understand this and reposition what our print brands do in response to this. If you've got nothing to add to the press release, why are you running it in print?
This problem will only get worse as internet reach extends and blogging accelerates.
The further ahead you look - the faster you go | davidpcushman AT gmail.com | These are my views and my views only.
Couldn't agree more, Dave. Nowhere is this more critical than on a B2B weekly like Fleet News.
ReplyDeleteI'm encouraging the paper's news editor to start thinking of himself as a 'brand' (I know, sorry) news editor.
He has started to consider how to make maximum use of the web in exactly the way you suggest. We won't be holding any stories back for print, but rather working out how to get news and information out in the fastest possible way.
I believe that our consumers will choose the way they want to receive our editorial and it would be arrogant of us to try to impose on them our own preferences.
If we haven't worked out how to make our websites commercially viable, that's our problem. We shouldn't make it our consumers'.
And starving our sites of the best content is not a smart way to make them work.
Fleet News
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fleetnewsnet.co.uk