How to use the newsroom to issue statements

Or worse, in case of a crisis

This subtitle might sound a little extreme, but most likely your company sometimes has to deal with issues, internally and externally. The situation doesn’t always have to be a crisis, but it can still require you to issue a statement.

This article gives a few tips and tricks to prepare a statement or a crisis page (also known as a 'dark site') on your newsroom as well as a few options on how to restructure your newsroom during a crisis. Please use this as guidance for your crisis communication plan.

Table of contents:

• Preparation
• During an event
• Integration on your company's website
• Crisis newsroom

Preparation

Before an issue emerges prepare a custom page which you can edit when you need to publish a statement.  On the page make sure to add the correct content and modules. Leave it unpublished until you need it.

Instructions

• Go to pages
• Click "Add page" and select "Custom Page"
  • Give the page a recognizable title (example ‘Emergency Page’)
• Create the blueprint for your statements including a first statement and a first update 
  • We advise to add a timestamp to the statements and updates
• Add a featured image that will grab attention if the situation is happening
• To help users, add color coding.
  • For example add static content as black and make all sections, that need to be filled out / changed before publishing the draft, red.
• Add all modules that are important in your crisis communication (think about who to contact (General information or Personal information), social media (Twitter) for quick updates)
• Save the page, but do not publish it yet.
• Decide how you want to highlight the statements on your newsroom landing page: 
  • As a static piece at the top of your newsroom (Featured article)
  • As a button module

During an event

Instructions

• Go to pages
• Modify your custom page to include the first statement and/or update 
• We advise to add a timestamp to the statements and updates 
• Place the latest update at the top
• Publish your custom page 
• Add your custom page to the newsroom:
  • If you want to add the article as a static piece to the top of the newsroom: 
    
    • If you have a carousel at the top of your newsroom, switch it off
    • Switch on the featured article module
    • Click ‘Select’ and select your published custom page
  • If you want to add a button directing to the page:
    • Add button module
      • Add button to the button module
      • Decide if you want to give the button background image
      • Select 'Internal' and add your custom page as link

Integration on the website

It is possible to integrate pages onto your website’s homepage. This might be helpful when visitors have difficulty finding the newsroom, or just go straight to the homepage. To do this, go to your custom page, select the URL and ask your IT team to redirect to this page.

Crisis newsroom

Presspage also offers a Crisis Newsroom product, which allows users to set up a redirect from the newsroom homepage to a crisis (custom) page. This feature is available upon request only. Please contact Presspage for more information.