Creating Media Worthy Content in a Digital Age

Written by ls2group

Every company has a unique story to tell, but getting that story in the public’s eye can be difficult. As the traditional news landscape continues to change, companies can no longer solely rely on news outlets to help share their stories. Companies need to take advantage of the digital age in order to create their own media content and opportunities. 

It wasn’t too long ago when companies only had to send a news release or media advisory in order to get coverage on the local news or in the newspaper. With news stations doing more with less and print outlets shrinking, companies can’t expect reporters, multimedia journalists, or videographers to cover every news release or media advisory sent to the station. Just because an event seems important to a company, doesn’t mean a newsroom necessarily deems it newsworthy.

As a former TV reporter, I received news releases and media advisories daily for events. Some events were no brainers to attend, while others didn’t have a large enough impact for our viewers for us to cover. If a company wants to get a story out or push their message, they need to create their own media content.

Companies can create their own content by creating in-house videos of an event media might not attend. Before thinking about the dollar signs an in-house video could cost, keep in mind we live in a digital world and most video can be shot and even edited on a smartphone. In fact, there are many apps on cellphones to help with this.

Creating content, however, is much more than just shooting video and editing. If a company is truly trying to share their message, they need to have a compelling story to tell and they need to be able to convey that story through their video content.

In order to tell a story well, companies need to identify people they feel will talk well and present well on-camera. Companies need to keep in mind the short attention span people have. A Microsoft study last year revealed the average person’s attention span is eight seconds! This means unless people are engaged or interested, they won’t watch a long video. A good rule of thumb is to try and keep video content to about one minute.

Being able to create your own media content will help companies share their message and also get that message to the viewers who care.

Courtney Ryan is a senior account manager at LS2Group. She is a former TV news reporter turned PR professional.