Newsjacking: The Free PR

When it comes to content marketing, there are enormous short-term tactics and ways that your business can use. One of the most effective and less explored tactics is newsjacking.

But what exactly is newsjacking? How can you apply it in your own content strategy?

Newsjacking is defined as the practice of aligning a brand with a current event to generate media attention and boost the brand's exposure. It is a PR technique where a brand leverages a trending news story to gain awareness. Companies create related blog content and social posts to instantly reach a wider audience. Eventually, it depends on the story you’re covering and the extent to which you want to newsjack it. If your newsjacking attempt is relevant, timely, and well thought out, your brand can gain extra attention by riding on the wave of a trending news story to get noticed by a wider audience.

The word newsjacking is derived from the English word "hijacking". In simple terms, newsjacking is when you produce content that references breaking news and trending stories, allowing you to induce fresh hype and media attention for your brand. It involves jumping on the crusade of trending content and using it to get more attention to your business.

This can be done by commenting on a trending story or by creating a campaign around it. Newsjacking can be an opportunity for a brand to engage with people and to communicate its brand values.

• Key Tips for Successful Newsjacking

While there isn’t always an exact art to newsjacking, there are many general rules you can follow to maximize your chances of being successful. Some of the key points you can keep in mind while designing your marketing campaign:

• Keep an Eye on the Trending Topics

When it comes to finding trending news stories, it’s important to stay ahead of everyone. Once everyone is talking on that topic, it might be too late.

Make sure that you keep an eye on social media platforms to see what’s trending and what everyone is talking about on social media. You can also view which stories are trending around the world by using tools such as Google Trends.

• Master the Art of Good Timing

News moves faster, and if you’re too slow to react to a story, it’s likely that your newsjacking efforts will go in vain because it will be seen as ‘old news’.

No matter how good your newsjacking idea is, it must be correctly timed for it to gain attention. If you can get your brand inside the door at the right time, you will become a part of the story as it begins to trend on social media.

Picture credit: Google images

•  Be Cautious while choosing the Trend/News

Many brands have experienced backlash because of not well-thought attempts at newsjacking and have been criticized for being insensitive when commenting on trending news stories. If your brand appears to be out of touch when newsjacking, it could end up gaining attention for all the wrong reasons.

• Align the News/Trend with Your Brand Image

Once you’ve found breaking news to comment on, it’s advisable to act as quickly as possible. Although acting quickly is important, it is also vital that anything you put out aligns with your brand image or you might risk reputational damage. Be Authentic!

For example, in the fall of 2019, social media users were buzzing about a bizarre plan to raid Area 51, a highly classified government base in the US which conspiracy theorists say is the home of testing extra-terrestrials. At that time, Oreo did a successful newsjacking by tweeting about it.

Picture credit: Twitter

Minutes after the tweet, people started discussing different Oreo flavours and the tweet got retweeted 90+ times and got 600+ likes. Oreo showed that the strategy doesn't have to get too complex, time-consuming, or costly for marketers.

In conclusion, we can say that newsjacking can be an excellent opportunity for brands to amplify their business, spread brand awareness, and in generating new leads. With fast-paced social media and online news published every second, there are ample opportunities where marketers can embrace newsjacking. Still, if executed without care, it can seriously boomerang and end up damaging your brand’s image. By being conscious of common pitfalls and staying loyal to your brand, you can use newsjacking to generate brand awareness and reach new audiences.