This document summarizes the key findings of the 2013 Online Newsroom & Media Relations Survey. It found that the use of visual content like images and videos is rising, but over 50% of top brands still fail to provide high quality images in their online newsrooms. It also found that most journalists use search engines and social media to research stories and find sources. Additionally, the survey revealed that while newsrooms are important to journalists, only 15% believe their company's newsroom definitely meets journalist needs, showing the need for improvement. The document concludes by listing the top 10 features public relations professionals want in a newsroom.

1. 2013 Online Newsroom &
Media Relations Survey
Presented by:
Sally Falkow APR, PRESSfeed
8th Annual SNCR Research Symposium
November 7, 2013, Thomson Reuters Boston
Office
www.sncr.org

2. 2013 ONLINE NEWSROOM &
MEDIA RELATIONS SURVEY

3. 2012

6. 2013

7. The Rise of Visual Content
“Create unique, compelling
content that readers want to
share. The days of writing
keyword-laden, sales-pitchy
blog posts are long gone.
Readers want content that
informs, inspires, or
entertains, and when they
love it, they will share it.”

8. PR Newswire

9. Businesswire/
SEO-PR
PR in Search
Award

11. Images in Newsrooms
51% of top 100 brands failed to
provide images of sufficient
quality in their online newsroom
30% of top 100 brands fail to provide
even the most basic of image
libraries

12. Videos in Newsrooms
To yield positive results, newsrooms must be truly
“media friendly,” containing resources like high res
images, logos, video assets and infographics.
12% of video libraries were closed off to
anyone that hadn’t registered as a member of
the press.

13. Use a Search Engine for Researching a Story
Always 47%
Most of the time 42%
89%
Text
Images
Videos
71%
53%
45%

14. A Note on the Survey Respondents
• 71% of respondents said they optimize the text in
releases for search.
• A study of wire services (PR Newswire,
Businesswire, Marketwired, PR Web) shows that
less than 20% of releases submitted are
optimized for search.

15. Optimizing Multimedia
• 45% say they optimize
images and video
• This is not the average
• Very few images and video
in corporate newsrooms
are correctly optimized for
search

16. Google: Links in Press Releases
• Press releases are
regarded as “owned”
not “earned” content
• Links are not counted
for SEO
• Too many links and
Google news will not
index the release
• Not in the first 150
words

17. Link to the Corporate Newsroom
• Make the newsroom
the hub of your news
content
• Use it to house the
assets you want to add
to a release.
• Link to that page of the
newsroom

18. Journalists’ Use of Social Media
• Use social media to find stories
• Use social media to find sources
59%
56%

19. How Important is a Company’s Newsroom?
82%
Very important
Important
97%
53%
29%
Very Important 60%
Important
37%

20. Important Newsroom Features

21. Newsroom Features for Journalists

22. Does Your Newsroom Meet the Needs of Journalists?
Definitely
Probably
Probably Not
Definitely Not
15%
40%
40%
5%

23. INC 500 (Average 14%)

32. What do PR Pros Want in a Newsroom?
1. Featured story with images
2. Image Gallery
3. Video Gallery
4. Integrated with a wire service
5. Able to make media lists and email reporters
6. Automatic syndication of headlines to social channels
7. Syndication feed to media sites and blogs
8. Search Engine Optimization built in
9. Easy-to-use content management system PR can control
10.Analytics to track results