Being timely and relevant are two of the main hurdles content marketers have to jump every day in order to attract readers to breaking news and attention-grabbing content.
With so much on a content marketer’s to-do list, any situation where two birds can be killed with one stone is much appreciated – which is where newsjacking steps in.
While newsjacking is linguistically similar to hijacking and therefore initially sparks a negative reaction, when done properly and in good faith newsjacking is a fantastic technique that can give your readers access to breaking news and engaging content, all the while boosting your readership and SEO.
What?
Let’s start with the what – what exactly is newsjacking? Savvy content marketers know there is high demand for breaking news stories, and use this to their advantage by riding the existing demand for exposure. Injecting your brand into the day’s news is a great way to ensure your content is timely and engaging.
In a nutshell, newsjacking involves paying attention to breaking news and using this to produce high quality content that is relevant to your brand. Remember the phrase relevant here.
Where?
Keeping a close eye on the BBC, The Daily Telegraph and other reliable news sites is a good start to ensure awareness of the daily news as and when it happens. Google News is also a great spot.
You should also choose a handful of trusted news outlets related to your industry. Before running with a story, always be sure to check the facts and figures supplied with other outlets to confirm its veracity.
How?
You need to find stories that will allow you to make a natural connection. Forcing a news story to fit with your brand isn’t going to work. Forging debatable connections will make the writing more challenging and raise red flags for your readers, who will find it tough to swallow the connection, and Google, which is not afraid to undo all of your hard work and chuck you clean out of Google News.
In sum, make sure the news story is relevant to your content.
Mark Sherbin, a Mashable community manager explained: “We’re finding digital angles to every major news event. Take Regis Philbin retiring, for example. It’s not a tech story — but people reacting to the news on Twitter is. You find that digital angle and run with it.”
The key is to get the balance right between breaking news and the content you create for your brand. As always, content takes priority over marketing. Put the reader’s need for news first, and then slip in a branded mention, keyword and link.
When
You’re not the only content marketer out there scrambling for a news angle, so it is imperative to jump onto newsjacking as soon as possible. You snooze, you lose – it’s as simple as that.
