Free Publicity Sites Confirmed by Panel of Local Newsroom Leaders at Shaw University
Shaw University had a panel discussion called "New Energy through New Media" which showed on CAR24 7-8PM today. The news professionals on the show just confirmed all the free local sites to post to for free publicity.
WRAL's Golo site has 11000 members and about 100,000 unique visitors per month. You can upload all kinds of media, and post blog posts. It's an active community with lots of feedback on posts.
News & Observer's Triangle.Share.com site allows you to upload your own written content and photos, video and more. They have an events site called ENJOY.
NBC17's MYNC.com is eager to have all the content you want to post. You can post press releases, comments, short posts and longer ones, photos, and video, either associated with a story or not. You can post at the county level, or at the level of specific towns. To post in more than one county, you have to repost your story in that county section. MYNC.com also has a show that draws from all the content that people load, so you have the chance to get TV coverage of your story.
Further, MYNC.com has cameras and video cameras on loan for people who will commit to uploading content.
ABC Channel 11 has a Community Calendar dedicated to non-profits, where they show local events at the top of every hour. (I didn't hear how to get the events to them or if they have an online site.)
Getting into the News? As to what stories the news is looking for? Anything related to the economy, and anything related to whatever news stories are hitting the media. Make it your job to find out which reporters are reporting on the area of your interest and give them a call. At the N&O reporters have to pitch 2 stories every morning. You're helping them if you offer them a relevant story. They said a lot more about this, having relationships with the reporters is very helpful.
The following were not mentioned probably because they are not specifically local:
Zvents is a great site to post your events for free. The events are actually syndicated (redistributed) to both the N&O's Triangle.Share.com and MYNC.com, probably many other sites as well. You can also list a performer (speaker) and local sites.
Eventful is another great event site, however if you are charging for the event, it is set up to sell tickets and take a cut. For free events, you can post it for no charge. Eventful also sends out a newsletter of weekly events to people who have registered at the site.
Press Releases There are numerous sites on which you can post press releases for free. How far they get picked up is questionable, but they can come up in online searches. It is true that press releases distributed through paid services like PR NewsWire get picked up widely, but then you pay about $160 for statewide distribution and about $670 for national distribution.
Blogs and Bloggers Lastly, for this brief overview of free publicity sites online, putting content in your own blog also makes it available on search engines, and connecting with bloggers who have a wider audience on a topic related to your news is an excellent strategy. It does take a little time to research, but looking at a site like Technorati will help you start from the top blogs down. This is especially helpful for businesses that have a neat new product - there are many bloggers that review new products for their subscribers.
Go ahead, get your news out there, and if you don't have the time to do it, there are many good people on inSide919, including myself, who have services to do it for you.
WRAL's Golo site has 11000 members and about 100,000 unique visitors per month. You can upload all kinds of media, and post blog posts. It's an active community with lots of feedback on posts.
News & Observer's Triangle.Share.com site allows you to upload your own written content and photos, video and more. They have an events site called ENJOY.
NBC17's MYNC.com is eager to have all the content you want to post. You can post press releases, comments, short posts and longer ones, photos, and video, either associated with a story or not. You can post at the county level, or at the level of specific towns. To post in more than one county, you have to repost your story in that county section. MYNC.com also has a show that draws from all the content that people load, so you have the chance to get TV coverage of your story.
Further, MYNC.com has cameras and video cameras on loan for people who will commit to uploading content.
ABC Channel 11 has a Community Calendar dedicated to non-profits, where they show local events at the top of every hour. (I didn't hear how to get the events to them or if they have an online site.)
Getting into the News? As to what stories the news is looking for? Anything related to the economy, and anything related to whatever news stories are hitting the media. Make it your job to find out which reporters are reporting on the area of your interest and give them a call. At the N&O reporters have to pitch 2 stories every morning. You're helping them if you offer them a relevant story. They said a lot more about this, having relationships with the reporters is very helpful.
The following were not mentioned probably because they are not specifically local:
Zvents is a great site to post your events for free. The events are actually syndicated (redistributed) to both the N&O's Triangle.Share.com and MYNC.com, probably many other sites as well. You can also list a performer (speaker) and local sites.
Eventful is another great event site, however if you are charging for the event, it is set up to sell tickets and take a cut. For free events, you can post it for no charge. Eventful also sends out a newsletter of weekly events to people who have registered at the site.
Press Releases There are numerous sites on which you can post press releases for free. How far they get picked up is questionable, but they can come up in online searches. It is true that press releases distributed through paid services like PR NewsWire get picked up widely, but then you pay about $160 for statewide distribution and about $670 for national distribution.
Blogs and Bloggers Lastly, for this brief overview of free publicity sites online, putting content in your own blog also makes it available on search engines, and connecting with bloggers who have a wider audience on a topic related to your news is an excellent strategy. It does take a little time to research, but looking at a site like Technorati will help you start from the top blogs down. This is especially helpful for businesses that have a neat new product - there are many bloggers that review new products for their subscribers.
Go ahead, get your news out there, and if you don't have the time to do it, there are many good people on inSide919, including myself, who have services to do it for you.
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Comment by Beverly Mahone on March 25, 2009 at 10:26pm - Good info. Another good place to go is: http://www.news14.com If you submit your info at least 4 weeks in advance, they will actually mention it on TV as opposed to just listing it on their website. This is strictly for events.
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