#BrandNewsroom Jargon: Decoded

In the world of PR technology and brand newsrooms, there are a lot of “techie” words getting thrown around. But what the heck do they actually mean?!

So that you’re not left wondering what on earth your colleagues and clients are talking about with “API’s”, “tags” and whatnots, I’ve put together a quick list for you to refer to in your next techie conversation about brand newsrooms...

Brand newsroom: This is the hub where your brand’s story sits. It is the place where anyone can access your news, press releases, images, videos, events, key contact information and social feeds (everything you can imagine!) - all in one place.

API Key: Otherwise known as the “application programming interface”, the API Key enables you to take specific bits of content and put them elsewhere on the site, thus allowing you to customise the preset parts of a website. Smart, huh?

Tags: These little things are a great way of telling Google and the SEO gods/goddesses that these are the topics/words that are most relevant to the piece of content. It is like saying “Yo, Google, I want to you to know I am talking about 1,2,3,a,b,c…” You get the idea!

Related material: You want people to stay in the newsroom, right? You want to boost SEO, yes? You want people to spend longer time on a page, correct? So how can you make this happen? Relate old material from your newsroom to a release, downloadable photos and more! That’s how.

Canonical URL: If you have your news on a third party site, as well as your existing site, then the canonical URL is crucial. It’s the little thing that makes sure you don’t get penalised for duplicate content and therefore receive all the credit and SEO juiciness you deserve!

Social sharing: #Like #Comment #Share #RT #Favourite - we all want a bit of social media loving sometimes, and the newsroom can help you get those little clicks of affection! Being able to socially share your content is helpful to get coverage. Furthermore, it’s great to socially share links back to your newsroom (and get that SEO juice pumping).

Embed codes: Bring your content to life with images and videos. Most social platforms (including YouTube, Storify, SlideShare, etc) provide a code (an “embed code”) which will allow you to embed these visuals and interactive features. Smart.

Followers: The ultimate newsroom groupies. Encourage consumers, companies and influencers to “follow” your newsroom and get your content and breaking news out to more inboxes.

Downloadable image: Downloadable images make journalists’ lives easier. And when a journalist is happy, we’re all happy! A simple yet effective newsroom asset, downloadable images mean that journos can instantly get their hands on a suitable image to accompany their story.

Web Image: Unlike a downloadable asset, a web image just sits at the top of your story, and injects a little more beauty into it. Make sure you use a relevant and attention-grabbing one.

Hopefully now you’ll be armed with enough PR and newsroom buzzwords to wow your colleagues and clients. But fear not, there’s plenty more where those came from! And if you hear any more that you aren’t sure about, please get in touch!