Effective PR, especially in the online, digital environment, is essential but it means that your business needs to stay on its toes to spot the opportunities as they arise. One marketing tactic that is becoming increasingly popular is newsjacking and it can have a profound impact on your visibility in the public eye.
Hawkeye Media can create bespoke training solutions for media teams so businesses and organisations can feel comfortable and confident when dealing with the media. Here we look at once aspect of the media, newsjacking, what this involves, and how to leverage it to the best advantage.
What is Newsjacking?
Newsjacking is essentially a form of jumping on the bandwagon. It’s a way of adding your thoughts and opinions to a particular news story. If a story breaks, the pressure is on for the journalists and editors who need to cover it and they are often looking for informed individuals to help tell that story best.
If your business has some knowledge, expertise, or influence in a particular area, reaching out with your views and comments on the issue at hand can boost your visibility and improve your connection with a wider audience.
Newsjacking works best when you catch it at the beginning of the news cycle, generally when a story has just broken. This is when interest is at its highest and people are more likely to view your comments or opinions when you proffer them.
That’s why it’s so important to keep an eye out for opportunities and to have a plan in place for a) how you are going to reach out and b) what you are going to say.
Proactive Opportunities
Not all stories appear out of thin air. We know many are going to be coming up. That could be a local event, a national one, a sporting occasion or a conference. These allow us to proactively respond at the right time and deliver a particular message in a timely manner.
It’s important to look through the future calendar and find areas where you may successfully be able to proffer an opinion or a quote on a particular issue or event that journalists might take up and run with.
Reactive Opportunities
The more difficult newsjacking opportunities are reactive. This is when something occurs out of the blue (for example, a big security breach if you are an internet security provider) and requires you to think on your feet and deliver a response.
If you move too slow, you can miss out on the opportunity. Too fast and you may push a poor response or quote that hasn’t been thought through.
Planning Your Newsjacking
The key to success in this area is having a clear idea of what news stories or events are likely to benefit from your input. You need to plan as much as possible and have a bank of responses ready to go. The more you understand the landscape in which your business operates and where input is valid, the better.
Also key, of course, is keeping an eye on the news and having several different sources to draw on, not always necessarily mainstream media. You might want to, for example, follow specific journalists on Twitter or Facebook and see what they are posting at the beginning of the day.
Finally, once a news story has been flagged for a response, you need your efforts to be unique and meaningful as well as quick. In short, it’s no use throwing out any old comment – it’s better to stay silent than to say something foolish.