What is Newsjacking?
This article explains what newsjacking is and how to use it to get your message heard by a wider audience than your content would otherwise reach.

What is Newsjacking?

This is a term coined by David Meerman Scott in 2011 to describe taking advantage of an existing news story or trend to advance your marketing objectives. According to David, Newsjacking is “the art and science of injecting your ideas into a breaking news story and generating tons of media coverage and social media engagement.” Essentially, it involves taking a relevant news story or trend and quickly adapting your message to capitalize on the opportunity. It can be done through blogging, webinars, press releases, tweets and other similar tactics.


While newsjacking is not new, David Meerman Scott’s approach has made it more accessible and enabled more businesses to use this tactic successfully. As David puts it, “Newsjacking is a powerful way to generate buzz and sales with an up-to-date message that takes advantage of the latest developments.” With this approach, you can leverage existing media attention and conversations to get your message heard by a wider audience while adding value to the conversation.

However, it is essential to remember that this should be done with care as it can easily backfire if not handled correctly. By being aware of the risks and taking time to craft a thoughtful and timely response to current events or trends, this approach can be a powerful tool for gaining visibility and driving engagement.

How to Use Newsjacking?

This is one of the most powerful marketing strategies out there. It’s a content marketing technique that allows you to capitalize on trending topics and news stories and turn them into marketing opportunities. Connecting your products or services with what’s already popular can generate more attention, engagement, leads, and sales.

When newsjacking, your goal should be to join the conversation and add value. You can do this by tweeting topical content that adds to the discussion or points out a unique angle. It may sound simple, but it’s not always easy, as you need to think of creative ideas quickly and stay ahead of the competition. To maximize success, ensure you’re closely monitoring the news and being ready to act as soon as a relevant story breaks. With some practice, you can make this an effective marketing tool.

When Newsjacking Works?

Newsjacking is a real-time piggybacking technique that involves jumping into an already trending news story and making it relevant to your brand. It can be a key to successful marketing campaigns if done right – the key being timing, relevancy, and, most importantly, good taste. When done correctly, it can drive traffic and get your brand noticed. The real challenge lies in ensuring that you don’t look like you are trying to exploit the news story or make your message too obvious. It is important to remember that it isn’t about blatantly pushing out a promotional message but rather finding ways to thoughtfully and respectfully join the conversation.

When done correctly, it can also be a great way to get your brand noticed, build relationships with customers and places, and increase overall engagement. So the next time you want to join a trending news story, remember that real-time piggybacking is key for successful newsjacking!

Benefits of Newsjacking

This is is a great way to give your brand an extra boost in brand awareness and marketing efforts. Although it is often associated with news media, newsjacking can be applied to any industry or company. By taking advantage of current events and trends, you can create content that resonates with your target audience and gives them something to discuss. This will help to increase brand recognition and drive more traffic to your website or social media accounts. With this approach, you can also use current events positively by contributing your perspective and generating conversations around topics that people are already discussing.

Ultimately, this helps to boost brand awareness and keep your marketing efforts from becoming stale. It’s an effective way to stay up-to-date and relevant to the news cycle. So why not give it a try?

Best 4 Tips to Put Newsjacking Into Practice in Your Company?

Let us look at four tips to bring this to life.

1. Picking the right story

It’s essential to pick the right story that makes sense for your brand and aligns with your values. Not only should you avoid picking stories that are outside your area of expertise, but also those that could potentially offend your target audience. When in doubt, you must ask yourself if the story is something you’d be comfortable seeing your brand associated with. If not, it’s probably best to steer clear and look for another newsworthy event to capitalize on. By being mindful of the stories you choose to newsjack, you can ensure that you’re always putting your best foot forward.

Not only will this help to protect your brand’s reputation, but it will also ensure that you are leveraging the news in the most effective way possible. Ultimately, if done right, newsjacking can be a powerful tool for getting attention and driving engagement. Make sure you pick the correct stories for your brand to make the most of this exciting marketing opportunity.

2. Be different

Newsjacking is a great way to get your brand noticed, but it’s only effective if you find a unique angle. Jumping on the bandwagon and just rehashing what everyone else has said won’t do much to differentiate your brand or create any meaningful engagement. A clever, original take on the conversation can help make you stand out from the crowd and draw the attention of potential customers. So next time you use this approach, think outside the box and come up with something fresh. Doing so could be just what your brand needs to break through the noise.

3. Promote your post

To do this, you need to ensure that people know the content you’re posting and have easy access. This means doing essential promotions like tweeting or sharing on social media and using other tools like paid advertising to get your post out there. You can also consider partnering with influencers and other outlets with an established audience to help spread the word about your newsjacking post. By doing this, you can increase the reach of your content and make sure as many people see it as possible.

Ultimately, newsjacking aims to increase the brand’s awareness and drive engagement with your audience, so it’s important to make sure that you’re doing everything possible to get your post seen by those who could benefit from reading it. Promoting your content is just one way of achieving this goal.

It’s also important to note that the content you create when newsjacking should be shareable and engaging. By making sure your post has useful, interesting information and is easy to read and digest, people will be more likely to share it with their own network of friends and followers. This can create a ripple effect of shares and ultimately help increase your post’s reach even further.

So when newsjacking, ensure you’re utilizing all the tools to promote your post and maximize its reach. With a little bit of extra effort, you can ensure that your content is seen by as many people as possible, thus driving more awareness and engagement.

4. Track engagement and responses

It is essential to track the engagement and responses you are getting. Doing so will help you understand what works and what doesn’t with your target audience and identify any potential risks associated with newsjacking. You can use tools such as social media analytics to track key metrics like impressions and shares. This data can help you understand which type of content resonates more with your audience, as well as identify opportunities for improvement in the future. By tracking engagement and responses when newsjacking, you can get an accurate picture of how effective your efforts are – so don’t forget to track!

Additionally, tracking engagement and responses can give you an idea of how the public views your newsjacking efforts. You should constantly monitor media coverage to see if there is any adverse or positive sentiment towards your newsjacking attempt. If there is a lot of negative sentiment, you may want to rethink your approach. Finally, tracking engagement and responses can also help you identify any potential legal issues with your newsjacking efforts and ensure that you abide by applicable laws. By staying up to date on these topics, you can ensure that your newsjacking attempts are successful and compliant.

Overall, tracking engagement and responses when newsjacking is a crucial step to ensure your success. By tracking key metrics, media coverage, and legal issues, you can get an accurate picture of how effective your attempts are – so don’t forget to track them!

What Types of Newsjacking are There?

Newsjacking can be done in many different ways, depending on the type of news event and the message you are trying to convey. Generally, there are two types: reactive and proactive newsjacking. Reactive newsjacking involves responding to a current or breaking news story with content related to your product or service. Proactive newsjacking is more strategic and involves creating content ahead of time that can be used to capitalize on newsworthy topics.

Both types can be effective ways to generate exposure for your brand, but the key is to understand how each type works so you can choose the best strategy for your situation.

Examples of Newsjacking

Newsjacking can be a great way to capture some attention for your brand and get creative with your marketing. Here are some examples of newsjacking that have been successful for brands:

1. When the film ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ was released, the Chewbacca mask from Hasbro took off in popularity. Hasbro capitalized on the news and released a series of videos featuring their Chewbacca mask reacting to news stories.

2. Quaker Oats newsjacking the 2016 Olympics with a campaign focused on promoting their Olympic-themed instant oatmeal packets, featuring famous athletes as part of their packaging design.

3. Oreo newsjacking the 2017 solar eclipse with a “Cookie vs Cream” video series, which featured Oreo cookies and cream “battling it out” during the eclipse.

4. During the 2018 World Cup, KFC newsjacking the event by releasing a video of their mascot, Colonel Sanders, playing a game of soccer with customers.

These newsjacking examples demonstrate how creative and timely campaigns can capture the public’s attention successfully. If you are looking for ways to newsjack, consider the news cycle and identify potential news stories that your brand could capitalize on. With a bit of creativity, newsjacking can be a great way to get your brand noticed!

F.A.Q.s

What is newsjacking, and how is it a tool for content marketers?

Newsjacking is an excellent tool for content marketers looking to make their mark on the current conversation. It’s a marketing technique where brands try to capitalize on the popularity of an existing story or trend to draw attention and engagement to their content. You can gain visibility, followers, and customers by linking your brand’s message, product, or service with a timely topic people are already interested in. It’s great to stand out and get your message across quickly.

Although there are risks associated with newsjacking, if done correctly, it can be an effective way for brands to connect with their target audience and build relationships with them. So, the next time you see a trending story in the news, don’t hesitate to jump into the conversation and try your hand at newsjacking!

What is newsjacking in social media?

Newsjacking in social media is a decisive move that can help boost brand awareness and engagement. It involves taking stories in the news or trends and leveraging them to create content that aligns with your brand messaging. The goal is to get people talking about your brand on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and more. To do this effectively, newsjacking efforts must be tailored to match the story’s sentiment and be keyword rich, so it is searchable on social media. By combining news articles with relevant content, brands can make a tweet go viral in minutes!

With newsjacking, brands can capitalize on stories that people already care about and apply their unique angle to the news. This can help drive more engagement and build a stronger relationship with customers. When newsjacking is done right, it can be an effective way for brands to engage with their audience, increase visibility, and stay top-of-mind in the ever-changing news cycle.

What is newsjacking in PR?

Newsjacking in PR is a way to take an existing story getting lots of attention and use it to benefit your brand. This involves jumping on newsworthy topics, leveraging the media’s interest in them, and using those stories to draw attention to your business. By reacting quickly when news breaks, you can gain exposure for your brand and increase its visibility. You can also use newsjacking to create content, such as blog posts or infographics, to show how your brand is connected to the story. This helps you stand out and become a thought leader in the industry. Newsjacking is an effective tool for PR professionals because it enables them to capitalize on existing stories and create content people want to read about.

It’s also easy to do and doesn’t require a huge budget. With newsjacking, you can make your brand more visible in the industry and build relationships with media outlets. All it takes is staying on top of current events and having an innovative approach to content creation.

By newsjacking, PR professionals can create content that helps their brand stand apart, even in a crowded field. This helps to establish their expertise and build trust with customers. It’s also an effective way to increase exposure for the brand and create conversations on social media platforms. While newsjacking can be challenging to get right, it has the potential to be a powerful marketing tool if used correctly. With the right approach, PR professionals can utilize newsworthy stories to boost their brand’s visibility and reach a larger audience.


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Jennifer Neilson, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, CMC

?? Making HR Simple for Small to Medium Sized Businesses ?? Former Global HR Executive ?? Leadership Coach & Mentor ?? tHRive ??

1 年

I've never heard the term newsjacking, but I've seen it employed lots, thanks for the education Peter Boolkah

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Ali Kayahan

AI & Tech Product Manager | Delivering 2x Growth + 40% Cost Reduction | Product Strategy for AI-First Companies

1 年

Peter, your explanation of newsjacking is not only interesting but also quite useful for content marketers. The emphasis on being unique and effectively promoting the position adds an added degree of strategic consideration. Thank you for sharing such useful information.

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Kevin Stansfield, ★Business Growth Expert★

Helping Business Owners & Directors Buy, Build and Sell their business

1 年

I'll be sure to read the newsletter Peter, thanks for sharing

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Cynthia Baloula

CEO and Creative Director at CB Media - We empower your brand with engaging videos, online reputation management and social media marketing.

1 年

Nice post, Peter! Excited to learn about newsjacking from your newsletter. It sounds like a cool way to boost business reach.

Emilia Maria Alves

??Business Strategist ?? Helping Business Owners to reach their potential and scaling up their businesses ?? Keynote Speaker ?? Executive, Team and Business Coach

1 年

A most interesting and comprehensive article Peter Boolkah.However, there are some tricky news related to religion and politics, that I believe should be avoided. It was the case with Paddy Cosgrave, CEO, of the Websummit, in relation to his post in X, which led to his demission

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