Traditionally, a newsroom was the place where journalists, reporters, editors, staffers and others worked together to craft the news. Today, social newsrooms work about the same except they are designed to work online instead of a physical location. Now websites have media centers. (Wikipedia)
The social newsroom is set up online to help people find information to craft their stories. Every newsroom has its own personality and set-up, but generally offers a variety of information. You can visit newsrooms or create one of your own to help people find your information to use in their stories.
A social newsroom can include:
1. An Organizational Chart – List your business name and the people who work with you and for you.
2. “One Sheet” Information – Speakers use these; if you are open to speaking at events, it’s good to have one so that they know what subjects you speak about and how to contact you.
3. List of Press Releases – Using this area of your website as a repository for all your press releases is a good way to keep it all organized.
4. Event Lists, Past and Future – Not only should you keep a list of your past events, it’s important to slip in announcements for future events too.
5. Images the Press Can Use – Headshots, product shots and more are good to be housed here too in downloadable form, with permission to use for the press.
6. Collection of White Papers – Many business owners produce white papers which are reports that help your audience understand a topic better.
7. List of Publications – Great place to list anything you’ve published, including links to articles off site such as guest articles.
8. Links to Videos – This can be videos that you’ve produced, interviews you’ve done, or that are related to your content in some way.
9. Streaming Related Content – Your Twitter feed, blog feed, and other related content will work to help disseminate information about your topic.
10. Other Items of Interest to Insiders and Outsiders – Anything that can work to educate both insiders and outsiders about your business will be useful to put in your social newsroom.
11. Social Media Share Buttons – This is the start of what makes your newsroom social: the ability for others to share what they find.
12. Discussion Forum – Engagement is an important component of a good newsroom. Starting a discussion forum for those who might be interested can help improve engagement.
13. Contact Form – Even if you don’t want a forum, having a way for people to easily contact you, such as a special email address that you check often, is needed in your newsroom.
Every business should have this as part of their website, to some degree. It gives journalists and those who are interested a lot of information about you and your business. It’s another place to house all the information in one place for easy distribution for you and the media. It provides for even more content for your website and no one will have to ask you for the information unless they want a special quote. They can just write a story based off the information they find on your social newsroom.