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What do Bruno Mars and your business have in common?
Absolutely nothing...probably. But what if your company generated google searches, buzz and media coverage due to his impressive act in the 2014 Super Bowl, which generated over 150 million viewers? Well that’s impressive.
Newsjacking is the art and science of injecting a breaking news story into your idea and generating media coverage and social media engagement.
Now you probably don’t have very much lift to make it in the Superbowl, but that doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from the craft of newsjacking and generate attention towards your company.
Take Trulens, a Massachusetts based startup, for example. They created a blog post using the Superbowl Fanbase to showcase how their customer intelligence tool works in utilizing public social media posts as data collection. They were able to showcase exactly how they do business! Here's another awesome small business blogging success story!
When something is in high demand, it creates lots of buzz and searches on google. Learning how to leverage the inclusion of trending topics in your regular content can be a brilliant marketing tactic. For your newsjacks to be effective, you have to time them correctly. Breaking news that is exciting to your buyer persona can become old news within days, or if you’re lucky, weeks. Post your content as soon as possible relative to the breaking news in order to reap the most benefits. With correct timing, your business can create irresistible content that will drive engaged traffic to your website.
Newsjacking can be tricky so, as a word of caution, be careful with the kinds of news stories you decide to use. Stay away from major socioeconomic, political, and devastating natural disaster events (remember different brands trying to capitalize on Hurricane Sandy? ...yikes). Stick to popular culture like celebrity news, award shows, local events, sports events and generally positive news coverage.
Ready to capitalize on the newsjacking opportunity? The following 3 easy and cost effective steps will get you started!
1. Find worthy news and check keyword search volume.
To newsjack, you need a story worth writing about that is in recent news. Staying active on Twitter and Facebook will allow you to easily view which topics (that may or may not be directly related to your business) are trending during a snapshot of time. To save time, set up RSS feeds that will notify you of news that is relevant to your industry. Once you find your story, choose a long tail keyword that you’d like to target.
2. Search and read about your topic.
Before you get to writing, read all about your topic from a variety of sources. Most importantly, read about it from the original source of the breaking news. Make sure you have your facts right and gauge how others are injecting the news story into their content creation. Don’t utilize the story the same way your competitor did. If you can find ways to make the same idea better... do it! Differentiate yourself and offer a unique view on the news that your persona would find interesting. You want to ensure that you are the first source that your persona would go to once they find themselves interested in the story.
3. Write, read, and share your content.
Since you don’t have the luxury of time, newsjacking can be very impulsive so there is less room for error! Do make sure to proofread your content thoroughly before publishing. Regardless of the time constraints, you must always make time for proofing. Once you’ve created the content and posted it on your website, make sure you share it on your social media channels and company blog. Since the topic may become irrelevant fast, you want to garner as much organic reach as possible.
Has your business utilized newsjacking? If so, what were the results? We’d love to hear about your success stories! In the meantime, learn more about marketing analytics by downloading your free handbook below!
