Browsing media sections on FTSE 100 sites, I couldn’t help but notice the huge disparity in the quality of material available.
While at the top end there are sites boasting a multitude of resources – BP being exemplary and unsurprisingly so – at the bottom there are FTSE 100 sites with very basic media sections.
Perhaps these don’t feature in the limelight as often and so their press area need not be so exhaustive. But still, I think it’s an area worthy of a little time and effort, especially given that if someone’s covering your company in some capacity the last thing you want to do is disgruntle them with a weak media section.
On that note, here is what I found looking for images:
Search option
Even some of the best sites don’t have the option to search images by keyword – BP offer instead the chance to search by theme – and other sites offer neither. Of course, you can use the general search on the website to look for images but the search will return lots of other things.
Barclays offer a well laid out resource library complete with search option (see right).
Image baskets
Some of the best sites I looked at offer the opportunity to put multiple images into a basket while you carry on browsing. You can check out when you’re ready, downloading the images in whatever format/density you choose. This is good because it means you can line up some “potentials” and then pick the best!
No logo?
Not all companies have the corporate logo available for download; simple, but makes a difference. Some sites go as far as to use the title Image & Logo Library to emphasise where they are.
External sites
Quite a few FTSE 100 sites have their image and video library managed by external sites, such as online newsroom www.footagefile.com, www.newscast.co.uk and www.prshots.com. To get images or footage from these sites you have to sign up and state who you work for/ your intentions etc.
“Please note: the newscast service is restricted to bona fide media titles.”
Meanwhile other sites have their images readily available for anyone to download without having to register with another site, which surely has to be preferable, no?
A place for positive publicity?
The media section can complement the corporate responsibility section through highlighting some of the company’s best bits and featuring any positive press the company has received. J Sainsbury plc’s site does just that, focusing their image gallery on their healthy living and fair trade produce endeavours.
And finally to consider: make journalists’ lives easier by preempting what they will be looking for – logos for instance -and putting it on the first page.
I think Florence makes a very good point. In this day and age you would think ALL FTSE 100 companies would be up to speed on this but sadly they are not. I see this every day with different insurer’s and investment companies where the difference between the sites varies dramatically.