Chas Edwards, publisher and chief revenue officer at Digg, believes “we are living in the golden age of op-eds, thanks to Twitter, Word Press and Facebook.” I agree with Chas that social media gives everyone a platform to share a point view, but what about traditional op-ed articles in newspapers? Are they dead or alive?
This was a question a colleague and I pondered over lunch the other day. As the newspapers industry continues to struggle, what is the future of op-eds in these news outlets?
When I posed the question to Public Affairs Officer 1LT Darryl G. Frost in the Texas Army National Guard, I learned that op-eds in newspapers (along with other mediums) are working very well for his client – the commander of the 72nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team. “We use op-eds all the time to get our message out to Texans about how our mission is going over here in Iraq. So for it’s been working well.”
According to Frost, “Not only do we get a lot of feedback from the print paper, but our message is search engine-optimized online too. As newspapers post the links to their pages, our brigade gets fresh coverage online, which is where folks are getting their news these days too.”
By using op-eds, Frost is also able to leverage print, online blogs and social media to reach people on whatever news medium they’re relying on for information.
Craig Stevens, a public relations professional with the DCI Group concurs. On behalf of his clients he has placed a number of op-eds and uses each to broaden his clients’ messages even further.
“From each printed op-ed, we were able to drive additional earned media (TV and radio interviews),” says Stevens. “It helped build the clients’ brands. Also, with more online tools (blogs, Twitter, Facebook) we were able to push each piece and top line messages, even broader.
We found these examples to be quite powerful and they certainly support our experience when we worked to place an opinion piece by Dr. Thomas Hansen, CEO with Seattle Children’s Hospital in the Feb. 8, 2009 edition of the Seattle PI as well as op-ed articles about the future of the Washington Poison Center and how to save Mr. Yuk.
Given this, we’d encourage you to consider sharing your perspective in an op-ed piece as you look to achieve your communication objectives. Frost sums it up nicely, “Op-eds are definitely alive and well in my public affairs communications plan.”