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Newsjacking

Glossary Item

What Is Newsjacking? The Foundations and Benefits of News-Driven Marketing

What is newsjacking? The term has been around for a few years now, but it seems to be gaining more and more traction as a marketing strategy. Newsjacking is the art of injecting your company or brand into a breaking news story to capitalize on the publicity and traffic generated by the news story. It’s essentially the practice of creating evergreen content, but with a time-sensitive twist. And there are plenty of reasons why you should consider adding newsjacking to your marketing mix.

The Benefits of Newsjacking in Marketing

There are a number of benefits newsjacking adds to a marketing strategy. Here are just a few:

  • Increased traffic: When you piggyback on breaking news, you can expect to see an influx of traffic to your site as people search for more information about the initial story.
  • Increased brand awareness: By being one of the first to comment on a news story, you can get your company or brand in front of a lot of new eyes.
  • Increased engagement: People are more likely to engage with content that is relevant to the current news cycle. So by newsjacking, you’re giving your audience access to content that relates to the latest trending headlines.
  • Increased opportunities for PR and media coverage: If you do it right, newsjacking can lead to some serious publicity for your company or brand. Just make sure that you’re not stepping on any toes in the process.

Newsjacking Examples

There are a number of examples of successful newsjacking. Here are a few:

  • Oreo’s Super Bowl tweet: When the power went out at the Super Bowl, Oreo jumped on the opportunity and tweeted this gem: “You can still dunk in the dark.” The tweet was retweeted more than 15,000 times and garnered tons of media coverage.
  • JetBlue’s Valentine’s Day tweet: In the days leading up to Valentine’s Day, JetBlue tweeted, “We love you too, New York.” The tweet was a hit, getting retweeted more than 16,000 times and earning plenty of media coverage.
  • Pizza Hut’s eclipse tweet: Pizza Hut saw an opportunity to capitalize on the solar eclipse and tweeted: “The sun is out. The moon is in. And we have a pizza for that.” It was retweeted more than 14,000 times and also earned media attention.

Best Practices for Newsjacking

Now that you know all about newsjacking, here are a few tips to help you get the most out of it:

Timing Is Everything

Make sure that you’re timing your newsjacking efforts for when there’s already a lot of buzz around the story. If you try to jump on a story that’s already died down, you’ll likely be met with little success.

Do Your Research

Before commenting on a news story, make sure that you know what you’re talking about. Otherwise, you could end up looking like you aren’t familiar with the topic or risk damaging news coverage for rashly commenting on a sensitive news topic.

Keep It Relevant

Make sure that your newsjacking efforts are relevant to your brand or company. If not, you’ll just look out of touch.

Be Careful with Social Media

When commenting on a news story on social media, make sure that you’re respectful of other users, and avoid being too self-promoting.

Be Prepared for Criticism

Not everyone is going to love your newsjacking efforts. Be prepared for some backlash from people who think you’re exploiting a news event or jumping on the bandwagon.

So there you have it. Newsjacking is a great way to inject some life into your marketing efforts, but it’s not without its risks. Just make sure that you follow these tips, and you’ll be on your way to success.

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