While it's easy to get overwhelmed by the seemingly endless pitching opportunities on the Web, hold fast to traditional PR tactics.
More often than not the strategies used to win over offline reporters are the ones that can be expertly employed with online journalists.
Increasing the online news value of your story ideas with follow-up chat sessions (either hosted by a news site or your corporate site) is a prime example. Similar to
spokesperson tours, chat sessions can be an enticing online draw for news sites hungry for ways to hold the attention of fickle surfers. They also allow companies to create a
sense of community around a hot health topic or new product.
But before getting too chat-happy, keep in mind that with online discussions, controlled messages go out the window.
Although chat moderators can manage the flow of conversations to filter out rude or inappropriate comments to a certain extent, there are no safeguards against left-field
questions that have the potential of sidetracking your spokesperson. For this reason, creating chat-specific media training strategies are a must, says Brian Ruberry, president of
AllHealth PR, a firm that specializes in online media relations. "Although media training spokespeople for chat sessions is not all that different than what you'd ordinarily do,
it's a little tougher because you're dealing with a consumer audience [as opposed to the media] who will tend to ask questions out of the blue."
In addition to prepping spokespeople with a handful of messages to focus on during chat sessions, Ruberry suggests:
- developing several bridging tactics for returning to the core discussion theme;
- avoiding a soundbite-format, instead focus on creating succinct and informative talking points that will be compelling as written text;
- shaping brief messages that take 20 to 30 seconds to explain;
- inviting input from journalists on chat session topics; and
- providing your spokesperson with examples of effective and ineffective ways to respond to inquiries.
Talking It Out
Although health information is consistently cited by online research firms as a top reason people surf the Web, the glut of information also is considered confusing.
Chat sessions can fill key informational gaps, particularly for topics on the latest medical procedures, says Anton Konikoff, VP of online development for Healthology.com, an
online health media company.
Healthology.com sets up chat sessions at least once a week to accompany the Webcasts it distributes for healthcare organizations. Last month, this tactic worked particularly
well for American Medical Systems, which used Healthology's services to broadcast the first Webcast of a penile prosthesis procedure. The Webcast was featured on high-traffic news
sites like Fox News and HealthGate and was followed by a live chat with Dr. Francois Eid, a renowned urologist from Cornell University Medical Center who performed the surgery,
and Dr. Michael A. Perelman, a psychologist at New York Presbyterian Hospital. After the Webcast, there was a captive audience of potential patients and their loved ones anxious
to ask questions about the procedure itself and erectile dysfunction in general. It also empowered people to talk about a sensitive and somewhat embarrassing topic.
Fostering this kind of close-knit online community is what chat sessions do best and why news sites often jump at the chance to feature them.
For the last two years, chat sessions have become a core pitching strategy for targeting specific audiences like doctors and those interested in managing a particular disease,
says Ruberry.
Last month AllHealth coordinated several chat sessions for the Center for Mind+Body Medicine to support a conference it organized on alternative therapies for treating cancer.
The chats, which targeted oncologists, nurses and cancer patients, were featured on Healtheon/WebMD before and during the conference. They played a key role in generating a record
attendance of 1,400, says Marty Cathcarte, the clinic's managing director.
The online discussions also helped draw a major sponsor, OneBody.com, an alternative care Web site, which held its own chat sessions for the conference.
One of the reasons chat sessions are a big hit with target audiences like healthcare professionals and patients is that they fill a gap that eludes other media vehicles, says
Ruberry. "Chat sessions reach those who rely on the Web for getting the latest news and information and aren't necessarily reading newspapers, watching TV or listening to the
radio."
(Healthology, Anton Konikoff, 212/431-5100; AllHealth PR, Brian Ruberry, 301/948-1709; The Center for Mind+Body Medicine, Marty Cathcarte, 202/966-7338)
"Although media training spokespeople for chat sessions is not all that different than what you'd ordinarily do, it's a little tougher because you're dealing with a consumer
audience [as opposed to the media] who will tend to ask questions out of the blue."
- Brian Ruberry, AllHealth PR
Chit-Chat Considerations
If you're thinking about expanding your online media relations efforts to include chat sessions, cover these bases in your strategic discussions:
- Draft a chat-specific Q&A for your spokesperson that provides several bridging tactics for left-field questions.
- Allow an hour to an hour-and-half for discussions and keep response timeframes down to 30 seconds.
- Don't use chat sessions for managing a crisis - there's no way to control your messages.
- Consider incorporating chat sessions into Webcasts, spokesperson tours and press conferences for alternative therapies, new medical treatments and preventive health.
- Be on the lookout for emerging developments that will add voice-enabled perks and video technology to the chat experience.