Creating Content People Want to Read, View and Share
Have you ever thought about being a journalist? You know, seeking out interesting angles, interviewing subject matter experts and writing an engaging story with a compelling headline? And, of course publishing stories on your website on a daily basis? Well, if you haven’t, maybe you should—at least on behalf of your company.
Today, more and more companies looking to change up boring “brochure-ware” content are looking to news media outlets for inspiration. Some are assigning their marketing and PR folks the task of writing columns, trend stories, posting videos, images and other fresh content to the company website. Gone are the outdated “About Us” tabs, stale bios and regurgitated tri-fold brochure text. Instead, companies like Raytheon are publishing engaging website content that more closely mirrors that of a daily newspaper. That content is linked to social media. In fact, social media is just as much a part of the strategy as the content itself. It seems this defense contractor is really onto something good.
I first learned about Raytheon’s strategy after reading an article in Ragan—a publication geared towards PR, communications and social media professionals. The title, “Brand journalism strategy boosts Web traffic by 451 percent” certainly caught my attention. Who wouldn’t want more people coming to their website? And, with such a huge jump in traffic (451%?!), they must have a secret I need to know about. NOW. It turns out, this isn’t some earth-shattering secret—it is simply smart marketing on their part. Fresh content written in a journalistic style, rather than stodgy corporate speak, and updated regularly makes so much sense. So, why aren’t all companies doing this?
It amazes me how often I see companies paying for Internet ads or hiring an SEO expert to buy social media fans or boost Google rankings using well, let’s just say, “questionable” tactics. It is almost like buying into the gimmicks that promise you can lose 10 pounds in a day using this one very special product. Sure, maybe it does work, but is it safe? Is it sustainable? Could it be doing your body more harm than good?
At WordWrite, we believe the most effective marketing and public relations strategies are those that are authentic. They are done organically and steady over time. Rather than just “tactics”, they become a way of doing business. Just like an overall lifestyle change that includes a healthy diet and physical activity has long lasting healthful results that are sustainable. Why go for the short term “success” that only leaves you in a worse position six months down the road? It is much more work, time and money to keep starting over than to focus on steady, meaningful activity.
Raytheon gets it. They understand their audiences want more interesting content on a regular basis. They believe quality trumps quantity and they’ve seen results to prove this is a solid strategy. To accomplish all of this, they established guidelines for their entire team to follow. They’ve committed to their strategy and invested in it by hiring reporters and social media managers to create the content—staff who understand what people want to read and watch. They write about trends impacting their industry and company instead of just “me, me, me” content like most organizations. Creating stuff people actually want to read. What a novel concept!
If you would like to rethink your company’s strategy for getting your messages and your story out there, contact us. We know a thing or two about storytelling. And, with three of our staff having worked as reporters in their past lives and others who spent a considerable amount of time inside corporations, we can help you with a strategy to get more steady and meaningful engagement—whether on your website, with news media, your customers, prospects or others.
Quick fixes are rarely fixes at all. Consider a longer-term strategy for sharing content with those who need to see and hear it. Look to reporters and news outlets for inspiration and you might be surprised by the results. Reporters may come to you for content because you are a trusted source of real information, as demonstrated in the Raytheon case. Now isn’t that an interesting turn of events? Become the place people go to to learn more and you’ll see results. We promise.
_____
Hollie Geitner is vice president, client services for WordWrite Communications. You can find her on Twitter @JustHollieG.
