For many SMBs and major corporations, content is a key component of a larger marketing strategy. A steady stream of fresh content is a surefire path to higher recognition for any brand.
One of the best ways to improve the odds of dominating SERPs results for certain queries is newsjacking, a technique for leveraging hot trends by focusing content on a popular story. The following tips can help your newsjacking efforts to take flight.
1. Study Your Audience’s Consumption Habits
Without a doubt, the most important aspect of newsjacking that many fail to master is researching customer preferences before crafting content to appeal to their tastes. Once you’ve identified the kinds of stories, products and services your target audience is most interested in, you can go about producing content that capitalizes on recent events.
Keyword research and in-depth, in-page analytics work wonders in this regard.
2. Match Up Content with Events & Trends
Once you’ve determined the kinds of products or services you can market using current events, you’ll have to figure out how you’ll work them into content centered around specific stories.
If you’ve got a particular angle worked out beforehand, you can set up Google Alerts and track trending Twitter hashtags to determine the optimal time to release a particular content piece for the best results possible.
3. Use the News to Make a Point
If you’re going to use newsjacking as a major part of your content marketing game plan, you must be proactive rather than reactive. Instead of merely commenting on the news and nudging your brand towards the spotlight, you’ll need to demonstrate a truth that incorporates your company in a meaningful way.
Highlighting a relevant way that a product or service offered by your brand could solve a problem is always effective.
4. Don’t Get Lost in the Stampede
Timing is everything in the world of newsjacking. Publish too early and you won’t attract much interest from your audience. Publish too late and you may not get any views due to news saturation.
Furthermore, it’s tough to stand out from the crowd with so many looking to cash in on a story. Choose a novel approach to addressing trending stories when creating content aimed at your followers.
5. Be Selective When Leveraging the News
Attempting to cash in on a tragedy is never a smart idea if you’re trying to use newsjacking to improve the visibility of your business online. Tone-deaf marketing efforts that aren’t sensitive to the feelings of real people aren’t going to get you very far and can actually damage your brand in the long run.
Don’t choose stories that are particularly controversial or divisive when using newsjacking to create killer content.
The Moral of the Story
With a bit of prior planning, one can easily capitalize on news stories in the short term to strengthen content marketing campaigns. If that content turns out to be evergreen, all the better.
When executed properly, newsjacking can be a highly effective tactic that yields surprisingly positive results. As long as you remember the tips laid out above and learn from your mistakes, newsjacking will make a welcome addition to your regular content marketing regimen.
