What do journalists want? 5 Insights from 100,000 Engagements revealed at IICC 2019

What does a startup founder say when he is invited for an opportunity to present to and interact with 100 top minds from the industry he is trying to innovate in? 

Two words: Hell, Yes! 

So it wouldn’t be an understatement to say that when Amith Prabhu at Reputation Today told us about this opportunity at the India Impact Communication Summit (IICC), we at Wizikey were excited. 

What follows below is my account of the experience of preparing and presenting at the event, with the numerous exciting insights and conversations we shared with the other attendees.  

We wanted to anchor the event with data. This insight came from interaction with over dozens of Corporate Communications in the last 2 months. And while we were doing so, we wanted everyone to have fun. We felt this would be interesting as Data is something which hides behind paywalls and cumbersome legacy systems, created dozens of years ago. 

The Teaser

A Complimentary data-driven PR health report

We decided to give the participants a foretaste of the most relevant solution that we are building for the PR industry: A metric to measure PR. How? By offering a free PR-health check-up report to every business attending the event. 

Here’s what they looked like:

We launched a quick web link where any business could look at their report. Real-time.

(Dear Readers, you may check it out here – https://www.wizikey.com/products/wizdom) 

And we were delighted to see the response not only at our desk but also from what was overhead during lunch conversations. Everyone wanted to know how they measured up to their competition.

Why did this work?

PR Professionals do not have access to standardized data. Confusions happen when they don’t know what to measure and further confuses every stakeholder involved in the PR. Goals are not defined, and hence every one weighs it their way. And systems that do measure are behind pay-walls and registration links. When they saw the same report being churned out in under 10 seconds – they were pleasantly surprised! The responses ranged from disbelief to awe to curiosity. 

For a founder, nothing can serve better validation than seeing the top professionals of his industry engage with his product, ask questions and even give feedback. 

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An Anti-Presentation

What do you call a presentation in which insights are presented that are precisely the opposite of what your audience believes? Maybe, an anti-presentation. Having worked in Corporate Communications in my career, I had been in their shoes before and was eagerly anticipating the audience’s reaction.

These were some of the thoughts running in my head as I stepped on to the stage as the last speaker to present findings that we obtained from Wizikey after studying the behavioural data on journalists based on 100,000 engagements. And the response was quite enthusiastic from wide eyes to muffled chuckles. Everyone was surprised by what the data told them. 

Here are some insights from the presentation:

1. On holidays, Delhi Journalists have FOMO

Delhi saw more engagement of Journalists on the day of Diwali than their counterparts in Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Kolkata COMBINED!

In fact, it was higher than the day preceding Diwali and the day post-Diwali. This despite the fact that no news was shared on Diwali or the day before it.

2. Journalist Types: Monday Blues Vs Monday Enthus 

Chennai and Kolkata Journalists suffer from the maximum amount of Monday blues as they have one of the lowest engagement rates on that day, while Delhi journalists love the first day of the week.

 

3. Paisa Paisa karti hai, Paise par media marti hai

Investment News generate an average engagement of 36.2% v/s a 22.1% overall Engagement rate.

 

4. TGIF if you’re pitching HR stories

For all beats, Fridays are worse off than Tuesdays except for the HR beat – Fridays are better than Tuesdays for them!

5. Jargon for Journalists

Just mentioning technology terms like AI, ML and blockchain provides a significant boost to engagement rates!

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The session ended with numerous more conversations as everyone wanted to know more about how data can drive public relations, and it was beautiful to see an inclination to move toward a data-driven strategic approach rather than one based on just gut.

More than just networking

Some excellent meetings. 

Meetings at events can often become transactional exchanges of business cards but not at IICC. We had a chance to meet with fascinating people, have meaningful conversations and form some long-lasting connections. You all know who you are, and I will be reaching out to more of you as we build Wizikey further. Many thanks!

We had fun at the event. 

Thank you, everyone, for making this one a memorable one. 

PS:

We also handed out the ultimate PR Calendar for India (2020).
You can write to us at GetWizible@wizikey.com to get yours!

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