Using multimedia such as images and video with news releases and content can increase engagement on social media and search engines. Images that are relevant to the text and tell a story are most effective. Adding proper tags and captions to images is important for search engine optimization and accessibility. Placement of images below headlines rather than above increases readership. Video content is also popular online and increases time spent on pages and sites.

1. Using Multimedia with News
The Social Media Newsroom

2. Worth a Thousand Words
Content pages with
relevant images have 94
percent higher page views
than those that only have
text
Source PR Newswire

3. News Releases

4. Survey Methodology

5. Sharing
Text releases were shared, on average, .99
times per hour
Multimedia releases were shared, on
average, 3.5 times per hour

6. Which Images to Use
Show the item discussed in the text
People - faces (not a crowd)
Product
Places – visually describe the text
Images that tell a story
Images that demonstrate an idea
Original images, if possible

7. What Images Do
1. Provide more SEO opportunities
2. Give the website a higher quality feel
3. Give viewers a more positive perception
4. Increase the company’s authority as a news
source

8. Tags
 Add a title tag with keyword
 Add alternate text tag (alt. txt) with keyword
 Use a caption under the photograph
 Give the photograph a descriptive name – not
IMG 457976 but rather recipe-lasagna.jpeg

9. Adding Tags in PDF

10. Adding Tags in PDF

11. Tag Image in Word Doc

12. Positioning the images
We read left to right
The natural sequence for reading involves a
very specific order:
3. Look at the image, if there is one
4.Scan the headline
5.Read the body copy (if the headline is
interesting enough).

13. Above the Headline

14. Placement Matters
 Headlines placed below an image are read by 10%
more people than headlines above.
 You lose a potential 10% of your audience if you’re
distracting them with an image in the wrong place.
 If you have a large audience—say 145,000 people—
then putting your image below your headline could
be costing you nearly fifteen thousand potential
readers!

15. Captions
 Captions get read 4X more than body copy
 Images draw the eye away from the text, so
make sure each image has a caption under it
that reinforces the main message
 Craft your captions as you would craft your
headlines

16. Captions

17. Left Margin

18. Left Margin

19. Video

20. Video Stats
 Time-on-page and time-on-site numbers increase when you
add video.
 85% of people online consumed an average of 10 hours of
video a month online and that number is increasing.
 Google is prioritizing video in its search algorithm. Not only
will video help promote your products and services online, it
helps those products and services get found online.
 Visitors to web sites are now looking for video content first.
 An increasing number of sales teams are showing enjoying
increases in close-rates and online registrations using web
based video.

21. What do People Want?
 “Content where you learn something, not just sales pitches.”
 “Concise accurate contents covering the details without
fluff.”
 “Come right to the point, if necessary add more substantial
info to an appendix in the transcript.
 “ Always provide a transcript!”
 “Fast snappy presentation that gets right to the point.”
 “Short, sharp, to the point. Loads quickly and is packed with
content not crap.”
 “Useful how-to information presented without hype. Clear
and in-depth.”
 “Clear audio. Captivating content. Something that makes
me laugh or smile.”
 “Useful, actionable information.”
 “An engaging story that draws you in.”

22. Video SEO
 Use informational
keywords : How to,
Learn, History of
 Title and Description
with keywords
 Add a link in the
YouTube description
field

23. Platform

24. Graphics

25. Infographics

26. Design of your news release

27. SMNR

28. SMNR

29. SMNR
Organic Apples Keep More Than
the Doctor Away
Body Text of the Release goes Here
Our limited knowledge of organic
produce is not unique; instead, it is a
representation of a pervasive
misunderstanding of organic-labeled
products

30. Embed Code

31. Embed Code

32. Images
 Right Click the image
 Click View Image Info