Domtar online newsroom covers all the bases

Online newsrooms have come a long way since the days of listing press releases, media coverage and press contacts. For not only including a wide array of relevant content but for doing it in a logical and visually appealing way, paper company Domtar’s newsroom has earned first place in the “Online Newsroom” category of the PR Daily Awards.

The page is dominated with articles in a tile format covering the material the company most wants on display, while a hamburger menu provides access to all the materials a reporter or others may want, including industry insights, ideas and innovation, corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and a more traditional media center featuring company locations, executive bios, an image gallery, brand assets and press releases.

In addition to the media, the newsroom was designed to connect with existing stakeholders (to build on existing relationships and foster engagement with customers, employees and investors), business leaders, consumers and employees. The team behind the newsroom wisely makes it accessible from a variety of places in addition to the company’s primary website, including the intranet, social media posts and a monthly newsroom email newsletter. Content is frequently aligned with trending topics and hashtags to become part of existing conversations (such as the call to ban plastic straws).

The newsroom has attracted an average of 31,729 visitors per month, thanks in part to a paid social media effort promoting individual newsroom stories. Most of the traffic comes from Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. A number of articles on the site have been picked up by trade publications as well.

Congratulations to Kathy Wholley, Courtney St. Onge, Marisa Lemen, Leo Makowski, Donna Atkinson, Jan Martin, Dominique Huet, Elise Grose and Eric Demski.