Newsjacking
Learn the meaning of newsjacking and its uses on social media.
What is newsjacking?
Newsjacking is the process of adding your thoughts and opinions into breaking news stories. It's the art of injecting your company or brand into a trending news topic to capitalize on the publicity and traffic generated by the news story.
For example, Burger King took advantage of the popular event, Homecoming, by mentioning it in a social media message promoting a special meal deal.
Importance of newsjacking:
- Increased attention: Aligning your brand with popular topics can bring more attention to your business and help you reach a wider audience.
- Improved SEO: It can boost your SEO by giving you more keywords and phrases to rank for in search results.
- Enhanced engagement: People are more likely to engage with content that is relevant to the current news cycle, so newsjacking can help you connect with your audience.
- Opportunities for PR and media coverage: If executed well, it can lead to significant publicity for your brand.
Now that you understand the definition of newsjacking, let’s jump into how newsjacking works on social media.
How newsjacking works on social media
- To be successful at newsjacking, you must get in before the story peaks. The competition for trending traffic can be fierce, but brands that act quickly can often collect backlinks from other outlets using their content as a reference.
- Monitor trending stories and topics using tools like Google Trends, Google Alerts and social media monitoring platforms. Follow journalists and bloggers who cover stories related to your industry.
- Once you've identified a relevant news story, you'll need to act fast. Write content quickly but be sure to double-check your facts to protect your brand's reputation.
- Covering the same news as everyone else won't get you noticed. Inject your own unique angle or perspective based on your understanding of your audience.
- Generate attention for your newsjacked story by sharing it on social media, reaching out to journalists and using relevant hashtags.
Additional Glossary Terms to Know