Benefits of Newsjacking

According to David Merman Scott, “Newsjacking is the process by which you inject your ideas or angles into breaking news, in real-time, in order to generate media coverage for yourself or your business.” Newsjacking is an effective technique that helps to inform viewers of important national and global events happening currently. There are three steps to learn in order to master newsjacking: Find news to jack, formulate a strategy in real-time, and instantly get your take into the market.

First, the writer must be able to quickly and accurately find news to jack. In order to do this, you must monitor and follow real-time news sources that you can believe and trust to provide honest, accurate information about current events. You must know your target audience and choose to intentionally follow reliable sources in those markets and industries. Look for overlaps between modern, current events and the needs or pain points of your target market. Additionally, it is important to look at competitors and to see what news stories they are jumping on.

Second, the writer must formulate a strategy in real-time. The whole process of newsjacking must happen effectively and efficiently because the competition is so tight. If you want your voice to be heard and to be authoritative, you must act quickly and establish a trustworthy, accurate image, helping to improve and enhance your brand loyalty. Developing a strategy involves asking questions regarding your target market and brainstorming how your content that you are delivering is going to help your audience with their potential pain points. Next, you have to decide what format you will use for storytelling as well as creating a hook that will grab and engage your content’s viewers.

Third, because the market is so competitive in pop culture and current world events, as a writer, you must instantly get your take into the market. This might consist of you getting your content into the hands of your viewers within minutes or hours, instead of days of an event occurring. It’s important to optimize your content so that it will be more accessible and visible to your viewers amongst the influx of media. You must know where your content will be most visible to your viewers and repurpose pieces of your content across multiple platforms in order to reach a wider audience.