Solostream has focused its professional expertise on developing a wide variety of website solutions using the powerful WordPress platform, the world’s most preferred online software engine that used by millions of companies and organizations.

WordPress actively powers sites of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Zappos, PEOPLE, Yahoo! and countless others because of its feature-packed and scalable web technology.

With its reputation for accountability and attentive customer service, Solostream have emerged as a leader in providing trusted and innovative custom WordPress themes, specialized website development and related interactive online products and services to more than 5,500 corporate, small business and individual clients.

Among Solostream’s multitude of projects – many developed in collaboration with News Group Net – are these brand management sites:

• Compass Clinical – corporate site for consulting firm that works with large hospitals.
• Plancher Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine – Leading U.S. orthopaedist who is team doctor for several teams including U.S. Ski Team.
• Zappos Insights – largest online shoe retailer, now part of Amazon; Zappos Insights teaches their corporate culture to other companies.
• Sundance Institute – web site for their documentary group.
• Conservation Magazine – ConservationMagazine.org showcases global environment issues.
• Imperial Sugar – ISCNewsroom.com is widely recognized as the best example of a timely and dynamic corporate news site. It was built for the third largest sugar processor in North America and is managed by News Group Net LLC.
• Louisiana Seafood Board – turnkey online newsroom for this association that represents a $3.7 billion industry to respond to the Gulf of Mexico crisis caused by the BP oil spill. The site is managed by News Group Net LLC.

PR, promotion and marketing dwell on pushing self-serving messages and ideas at audiences. Brand journalism focuses on continually engaging audiences in news stories, features, resources and images they find appealing.

Brand journalism enables any company or organization to create and communicate it’s own news and to become the respected and trusted voice for an entire industry. In a time when press releases achieve little interest and are viewed as little more than self-serving promotion, brand journalism cuts through competitive clutter to capture attention … among target audiences and the media.

Brand journalism news sites require:

• Constant updates and news stories. The influence of brand journalism online news sites is driven fresh, new material every day. By contrast, there is nothing as boring as yesterday’s news.
• News style writing, aka USA Today and the Associated Press stylebook. PR writing does not deliver the needed credibility and looks shallow by comparison.
• Journalists and other people with actual working news experience.
• News style photos and images that grab attention.
• News b-roll HD video viewed from YouTube and available via a special FTP site for television news outlets.
• No press releases. Nothing kills the credibility and appeal of a brand journalism news site quicker than a typical press release.

More than anything, brand journalism enhances and favorably differentiates a company’s reputation as a leader, qualities that ultimately influence a unique image that is brand.

Few things are more effective or economical than brand journalism in today’s digital era when tradition PR, promotion and marketing tactics are either broken or have less impact.

When did online brand journalism begin? Possibly in 2002 when David Henderson was working with a team of attorneys in Washington to represent 12 Kuwaiti citizens who had been hauled off to the prison at Guantanamo even before anyone knew of their innocence. In order to underscore the much larger issue of denial of due process and human rights as well as to present background on the 12 Kuwaitis and provide legal documents, Henderson developed the web site – www.KuwaitiDetainees.org (no longer online) – which achieved worldwide prominence.

Some good current examples of online brand journalism are:

Imperial Sugar Company’s online newsroom – www.iscnewsroom.com. Imperial Sugar’s news site has been widely acclaimed as one of the best examples of contemporary online brand journalism.

Louisiana Seafood News – www.louisianaseafoodnews.com

Los Angeles Kings Hockey – http://www.insidesocal.com/kings/

Imperial Sugar Company's real-time online newsroom

Imperial Sugar Company’s online newsroom succeeds where many others do not. The site surpasses typical newsrooms and media centers, functioning as a vibrant news portal for the sugar refining industry.

Imperial’s newsroom is guided by journalistic style and dynamic content, which is central to its success.

David Henderson, author of “Making News in the Digital Era” and partner in The News Group Net, a strategic communications and corporate journalism advisory, helped create Imperial’s newsroom. He encourages communicators to return to journalistic roots when developing news for online consumption and insists that newsrooms are not only for the media.

“The core audience for an organization’s newsroom includes shareholders, business partners, customers, donors and volunteers in non-profit instances, employees and, then, the media,” Henderson says. “Static newsrooms are the least-visited part of a Web site because most are just graveyards of old press releases. Your newsroom needs to present the spectrum of all the things that your company is doing within its industry, and hanging press releases there kills credibility.”

It comes down to identifying and understanding the people who care about your company, according to Henderson, who advises clients and practitioners to develop journalistic writing skills. To reach your audience, replace formulaic writing with a style that draws interest.

“Nobody cares what your company does unless you tell them in a way that adds value,” Henderson says.

Newsrooms need to sustain a supply of articles, photos, videos and industry observations. Imperial employs freelance writers and photojournalists who post two or three stories daily. The company understands that its audience seeks credibility and transparency, so stories often cover competitors and include information that challenges the industry, such as an American Heart Association report examining the negative effects of sugar.

Think like a journalist

Ed Lallo, News Group Net partner, says that a newsroom’s tone should not be directly about your organization. Instead, he suggests that you view your newsroom as a daily newspaper covering the industry.

“If something runs in The New York Times almost everyone else picks it up to some degree,” Lallo says. “So write stories for your core audience, which can include media who may take them whole or use pieces to expand on an idea.”

Building on the right foundation is also critical. Henderson and Lallo say that WordPress has evolved into an ideal content management system. Even The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal use it for their blog networks.

Other essentials for your online newsroom include:

• News articles (300-500 words)
• Short videos (HD for B-roll)
• Links to company facts and contacts
• Search capability

A boat amid the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico

Headlines shout, “BP, Transocean Lawsuits Surge as Oil Spill Spreads in Gulf” and “BP’s Response to Oil Spill Lacking, Officials Say.” More stories … more coverage … of the worsening situation in the Gulf are being added to the first pages of Google and other search engines every few seconds, 24 hours a day.

What the companies may not know is that these stories will dominate the all-important first pages of search engines for months or years to come … unless something is done, soon.

What’s lacking is any apparent attempt by BP or Transocean to aggressively manage their online images during the deepening crisis … a crisis that has global impact. A few corporate PR stories about the situation on the corporate home pages not only is ineffective, it has the adverse effect of linking everything about the corporate brands of BP and Transocean to the Gulf disaster. It’s the wrong action to take online. Attempting to manage a crisis from a corporate home page can cause self-inflicted brand damage.

What could BP and Transocean be doing online at this very moment?

They could launch and maintain special online corporate journalism sites … tangible assets as interactive places to share and constantly update all aspects of their action steps. While the Coast Guard desires to control press events, such online content management sites can focus, manage and provide the most timely, transparent and open connection with no only those involved along the Gulf Coast but everyone else in the world who is watching … and judging … how BP and Transocean behave. The special sites can be credible online assets to underscore corporate accountability.

The online crisis management team at The News Group Net – seasoned journalists and communications professionals – can have such operational newsrooms online within a matter of hours … for timely and instantaneous news updates, statements, photos, video and live coverage … far more influential information than press releases. BP and Transocean could become more reliable sources for the world’s mainstream and online news media. A single corporate Web site lacks the credibility and clout to do the job … especially to manage the fast-growing other media stories about the oil spill that are now dominating search engines.

Strategic planning, storytelling and clear messages have always worked to point us forward. They will do so in the digital era too.

Today’s digitally-driven information revolution is creating a new-world business matrix and model. Organizations large and small are finding they can simply bypass mainstream media to communicate their news, in their way, directly and effectively, to their publics. They can pick their own media: Web sites, blogs, YouTube videos, and online sharing and social networking sites.

This communications tsunami is rolling our way and many of us are not sure what to do. We see the tide going out fast and far. But standing on the beach and waiting for it to roar back in is not an option.

So how do we get to high ground that’s well above the communications storm surge?

Let’s begin with the latest hot and sexy new trend in digital communications: social media. Today’s self-proclaimed disciples of social media preach about the need to get onboard the bandwagon, and wax rhapsodic about the features, functions and benefits of various technological bells and whistles.

But few possess the expertise to authentically exploit the medium by incorporating strategic planning or skillfully developed messages into this new communications juggernaut.

Even fewer extol the importance of telling an appealing story.

In communications, the tactical use of social media for social media’s sake can be terribly shallow and short-sighted.

This digital era is unquestionably the most exciting period of my career as a journalist and strategic communications advisor. But as an early adapter of online and blog technology, I believe it’s only going to work for us on a sustained basis when we stop long enough to embrace the core elements of effective strategic communications to drive any social media or online communications initiative.

Strategic planning, storytelling and clarity of messages have always worked like a beacon to point us forward. They will do so in the digital era, too.

Today’s online social media is just another in a long line of tactical communications delivery tools that stretches back to storytelling around the tribal fire, epic poems, parchment, books, postal mail, the fax machine and email. In fact, think back to when email first hit the big time. Pundits predicted world-shaking possibilities. Nobody predicted spam.

Brooke Gladstone of National Public Radio’s “On the Media” program says, “Journalists are taught to talk and write in human terms. Tell me a story.” We are all part of a storytelling culture in America. It’s been that way forever, and it’s no different in countries, cultures and communities around the world. We share infinite variety of stories about the human experience, and often the best stories are repeated over and over.

Even though an opportunity often missed by a PR industry seemingly obsessed with traditional press releases and predictable promotions, the use of storytelling cuts through competitive clutter far more effectively and with greater influence than anything else in an organization’s marketing or PR arsenal. It gets to the heart of what’s special about your organization and what you have to say.

My colleague Anne Bell at PBS NewsHour says it best: “A great story has legs that in today’s world can travel many miles per hour.” Consider how a great story can sprint the globe today in a nanosecond.

We are living in a communications world where new and not-so-new tools collide, merge and morph, all with the intent to better connect with audiences. To do that, we must use all these advanced technologies to do something ancient: tell stories that people want to hear and be motivated to share.

How do we make it work to break old habits, take advantage of new technologies, tell good stories and reach jaded audiences? How about relooking at the concept of an online newsroom?

Online Newsroom: No Longer Hiding in Plain Sight

In a demonstration of true counter-intuition, the typical online newsroom is usually the last place any self-respecting reporter or site visitor wants to go. Traffic numbers confirm it. It’s typically lifeless, dull, and more like the burial spot for press releases, speeches and legal-sounding statements than a relevant, active spot for timely, hot and meaningful news. Some newsrooms even require a journalist to fill out an online form and then wait for a response, which may take hours for approval … if ever. While it may be convenient for internal communications people, such a procedure can cause delay and frustration for a reporter on deadline.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

A lively online newsroom can be the perfect place for a smart company to strategically position its expertise and experience prominently online; to be clearly heard and stand out in all the right ways; and to manage the conversation around its image and reputation in timely and relevant ways.

The hard part is expressing a corporate voice above the noise of the marketplace, where often people much less qualified — but far more vocal — shout out their opinions into mainstream and online social media. The sheer speed, volume and rapid dissemination of information — right or wrong — can inundate communications and sway public opinion.

To have a meaningful conversation online, a company needs to do the following:

• Articulate clear points of view on the things that it cares about the most.
• Identify its own compelling voices of experts and champions — in and outside the organization — to tell compelling stories to advance its case and strengthen its market position.
• Create ever-evolving public platforms and forums where it can consistently and frequently showcase its views, along with other respected industry experts and thought leaders.
• Support and complement the organization’s overarching strategic initiatives.
• Create a forum for openly sharing comments, generating a conversation and listening.

It’s a bold step for any organization to cast aside old tactics, like press releases, to get attention. That’s why it’s essential for a company to take charge of telling its own stories with appeal and credibility to its audiences. For starters, a company or organization must avoid the compulsion to sell or promote, because it no longer works in the online environment.

For example, the Los Angeles Kings hockey club didn’t believe it was getting enough coverage in the dwindling local mainstream newspapers. As a result, the team’s owner decided to launch an online news blog, LAKingsInsider.com, and hired a seasoned sports reporter, Rich Hammond, to write stories. The spotlight of attention quickly shifted to the Kings when both The New York Times and National Public Radio did stories about this new approach to making news in the digital era.

A company must also realize that its “Googleability,” and the news that appears about it on page one of any search engine, will help drive its perceived believability.

That’s one of the reasons why the team at The News Group Net LLC (of which I’m a founding partner), developed a groundbreaking online newsroom for the Imperial Sugar Company (ISC). The goal: focus on delivering legitimate and timely news about the company and the global sugar industry.

Case in point: When an explosion and resulting fires temporarily closed Imperial Sugar Company’s large sugar refinery at Port Wentworth, Georgia, in February 2008, many news stories and images of the incident appeared in mainstream and online media, including at Google and other search engines. Those reports about fire, death and tragedy continued to show up on the first pages of search engines for months, even though much of the information was sorely outdated.

The online newsroom went online in June 2009, and delivered the latest news about Imperial Sugar Company rebuilding its refinery, resumption of sugar production, business expansion and other relevant stories about business and community involvement. By positioning Imperial Sugar Company as an authoritative voice in the sugar industry, the Google headlines gradually moved from disaster-related stories to more positive news about employees, products, customers, business partners and industry analysts.

It took a few months, but the result is the most popular online site in the sugar industry and has dramatically improved the company’s image and reputation with employees, investors and the marketplace.

It worked … and continues to works today … because the stories are what people want to read and to share.

Incidentally, both LAKingsInsider.com and ISCNewsroom.com are online newsrooms built on blog-turned-news-delivery technology … just like the news sites of NYTimes.com, WSJ.com and PEOPLE.com.

It’s About the Bedrock of Strategic Communications

So, let me pull this together … Storytelling conveys personality that everyone can identify with, and it can lead to transformational leadership that energizes all levels and corners of an organization. Used in the online environment, storytelling can reflect passion, uniqueness and immediateness.

The discipline of storytelling used with a dynamic, interactive online newsroom can energize (or reenergize) any business or organization. It becomes woven into the fabric, stimulates excitement and understanding of vision, builds consensus of purpose, and triggers sharing far and wide.

In today’s online world, the influence and payoff of good corporate storytelling can be staggeringly powerful.

One great, timely story on an active and credible corporate newsroom smoothly cuts across all boundaries to achieve a common purpose in an organization’s daily conversations:

• Shareholder/financial communications
• Internal communications
• Web sites, blogs, social media
• Media relations and external relations
• Government and regulator relations
• New business development

People like to share good news, so give them a story that they will get excited about and tell someone else. Increased media coverage, enhanced word of mouth and greater awareness all build exponentially from a great story that is carried by many legs.

Stories are the bedrock of interaction, building blocks of knowledge, the foundation of memory and learning. Stories connect us with our humanness and link past, present and future by teaching us to anticipate the possible consequences of our actions. Stories help define what is authentically special about something or someone.

Propelled by today’s engaging digital communications tools, a good story will be carried — credibly and influentially — by many voices and travel many, many miles.

Let me share some thoughts about an original promotion for Starbucks or Caribou or any other group of coffee shops. I’m giving you this promotion because I like what the concept of coffee shops brings to our communities.

More than that, I greatly respect the authentic and personal dedication of women and men across our country who are professional firefighters and EMS technicians, like a fine young man I know named Matt.

So, this is not a promotion for coffee shops as much as a gesture of giving by all of us. I’d call it “Station Coffee.” And, it’s very simple:

Think of a local fire station or team of EMS specialists that’s touched your life or the life of someone close to you. Maybe they rushed to a fire or false alarm. Maybe they helped you in a car accident. Maybe they simply let your kids have the experience of sitting in a fire engine. We all have those experiences … I’m sure of it.

Now, it’s your turn to do something. Visit your local Starbucks, Caribou or any other coffee shop … and buy one of those large containers of coffee … you know, the kind you might ordinarily take to an office event. Get a bunch of paper cups. Drive over to the local fire or EMS station. Knock on the door and offer your gift with a simple, “Thanks.” That’s it. Nothing more. Just say, Thanks.

Now if Starbucks or Caribou doesn’t jump all over this and see the residual benefits of Station Coffee, in their communities and online … well, I can’t speak for them.

I can tell you this … the idea of Station Coffee can spread like a peaceful glow of goodwill across our country. Give it a try. Post it on Twitter and Facebook. Let me know.