How to use newsjacking as a PR and marketing strategy

This is a sponsored post by Meltwater.Like ‘hijacking’, the word "newsjacking" carries a negative connotation – but this is not the case. Newsjacking is a powerful, attention-winning marketing strategy that savvy (and hungry) PR professionals and marketers use to generate more, if not, constant publicity. In the case of Oreo’s 2013 Super Bowl Tweet, "You can still dunk in the dark" garnered instant attention and, almost always, fame.Popularised by David Meerman Scott’s novel Newsjacking: How to inject your ideas into a breaking news story and generate tons of media coverage, newsjacking refers to the practice of leveraging on breaking news stories to boost your organisation’s sales and marketing success. This marketing strategy works by redirecting the momentum from breaking news stories into your organisation’s favour by injecting a fresh perspective on the news topic in real time.For instance, if Schmoyoho’s latest song Bad Hombres, Nasty Women is a hot topic at the moment, look to see if there are angles that relate to your company or brand. Of course, this requires an astute awareness of the trending topics, sensitivity, mature judgement, good timing and creativity to make it work. If done correctly, newsjacking can turn you, your organisation and/or brand into a subject matter expert or an influential thought leader in the field.Keep up-to-date with what’s buzzing Developing and promoting a brand is a complex task. Moreover, organisations these days need to become content powerhouses in order to survive in a world where almost everyone is an online publisher. Newsjacking can help your organisation or brand get noticed by riding on the “popularity wave” of breaking news and in turn, increases brand awareness.News breaks every second. A breaking news story can spark off an excellent marketing idea that could potentially rake in the bucks. Better yet, if the story interests you, it will definitely inspire you to come up with interesting content that engages the audience.However, keeping track of the latest news and what is trending online in real time are time-consuming tasks. Unless you are a trained journalist, it is almost impossible to track what is happening in the press and on social and churn out creative content at breakneck speed… But do not worry, Meltwater is here to help.Meltwater’s media intelligence tools can help busy PR professionals and marketers make the most of the little time they have on their hands. This is especially important for organisations who do not have people dedicated to monitoring the news. Using productivity tools offered by specialist companies will free your staff to focus on other important tasks. Most PR and marketing teams in Small and Medium Enterprises’ already have a lot on their plate in running their departments, making newsjacking and social media tracking a very low priority. Using Meltwater’s media monitoring tools can effectively help you manage your tasks by freeing up any time you may spend on tracking the latest news.Save time with Meltwater’s insights Nothing is ever cast in stone. In today’s ever-changing business landscape, PR professionals and marketers feel the constant pressure to consistently come up with interesting ideas and methods of outreach that result in value-adding the organisation’s bottom-line. To remain relevant, professionals must embrace this change and focus on the business impact of newsjacking through the practices and partners that change and improve performance.Find it challenging to monitor daily news coverage and keep track of what is happening on the online world, on top of your day-to-day activities? Meltwater can help you gather instant insights to editorial footprint, trending hashtags and other outreach activities, thus making life easier and saving you a lot of time. As a busy marketing professional, you need to consider that leveraging on productivity tools can save you precious resources instead of spending time on monitoring the news. That way, you can focus on doing what you’re best at: developing great ideas.The bottom-line?Newsjacking can be an effective PR and marketing strategy. But if you do not have the luxury of time, the right manpower and/or the know-hows to news jack like a professional, why not take advantage of Meltwater’s media intelligence tools?Think this is interesting? Want to know more? Join us at our workshop “The Newsjacking Formula” at Marketing Interactive’s PR Asia Conference 2016 on November 10, 2016. Be a part of the conversation by hashtagging your tweets with #MWnewsjacking.Meltwater is the Official Media Intelligence Partner in the upcoming PR Asia Conference 2016