What Is Newsjacking: How to Use Current Events to Boost Brand Visibility (11 Best Examples) -

Have you ever wondered how companies use breaking news to their advantage? Now enter the world of newsjacking, where businesses use current affairs to reach new markets with their brands.

Newsjacking is a dangerous strategy. It can result in excellent brand exposure if done correctly. You ought to have enough knowledge by the end to comprehend it and its implications for the reputation of your brand. This post will explain what newsjacking is, offer some excellent examples, and offer advice on how to get started.

What Is Newsjacking?

Newsjacking is the process of associating a brand with a current event in an effort to increase the brand’s visibility and garner media attention. It entails incorporating your ideas or viewpoints into a breaking news article. In essence, you are using the current news wave to promote your business and gain attention.

This strategy was introduced in 2011 by marketing and sales guru David Meerman Scott. Now let’s look at its benefits.

What Are the Benefits of Newsjacking?

The following are some advantages of newsjacking:

#1. It Improves Brand Awareness.

You can ride the media wave of a story if your brand can figure out how to appropriately align with the trending news story. This could potentially expand the audience that sees your brand. The material you use could have a lasting impact and perhaps spark new relationships. The talkability value of newsjacking can significantly increase the scale of your brand’s reputation.

#2. It Improves Social Engagement.

People enjoy expressing their opinions about discussions or trends. For this reason, you ought to provide them with a topic of conversation.

Sharing your thoughts on breaking news can help you become more visible on social media.

You’ll create more opportunities to gain brand traffic the more you share. Making news into content for your website is perhaps the finest and most effective way to establish your brand and increase traffic when compared to the various newsjacking techniques.

#3. It Increased Visibility:

When you newsjack a topic well, you can reach a larger audience and expand the audience for your content.

#4. You Establish Your Authority:

You may establish your brand as a thought leader in your sector by offering perceptive viewpoints on current affairs.

#5. It Has SEO Benefits:

When newsjacking is done well, it can become its own news story and lead to features and backlinks from other credible, high-authority media websites.

#6. It Is Cost-Effective:

When done well, newsjacking can be a less expensive marketing tactic than typical campaigns, resulting in high coverage and engagement rates.

#7. You Go Viral

Your newsjack material may be quickly disseminated across a variety of platforms, depending on how it is viewed. If your newsjack project is well-thought-out and interesting, your brand has the potential to go viral in a matter of minutes.

The best part is that becoming viral is completely free and can lead to unparalleled press coverage and social media mentions.

Examples Of Newsjacking By Top Brands

What makes a successful newsjack? Here are some examples to get you motivated:

#1. Wendy:

Wendy’s is a well-known fast food chain with a humorous social media presence, particularly on Facebook.

In light of this, their humorous newsjack that poked fun at rival McDonald’s was well-received. Wendy’s jokingly questioned if any of the proposed changes to McDonald’s burgers would genuinely enhance the flavor in this advertisement.

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Image Source: Facebook

This particular newsjack generated thousands of reactions, comments, and shares, which positively reflected the company.

#2. Google

Google releases its #YearInSearch every December, which highlights the moments and themes that defined the year. In addition to promoting Google Trends—a tool that allows users to examine and evaluate objective samples of Google search data—this film also promotes the Google brand.

Google is drawing from the news in a macro way and connecting the year’s stories to its product. Instead of highlighting search features or ad capabilities, Google leans more into the sentiment that we share when we take to the web: Our thirst for knowledge. Combining this sentiment with artistic contributions, Google is able to craft a compelling narrative that’s not easily forgettable.

#3. Burger King

Following a legal dispute with Supermac, an Irish fast-food business, McDonald’s lost its exclusive rights to the Big Mac trademark. The decision stated that any other business could use the word “Big Mac” on its menus or marketing materials, even while the fast-food juggernaut could continue to use it for its sandwiches in Europe.

Burger King launched many marketing pieces promoting its own Big Mac-like goods, fully capitalizing on its rival’s legal gaffe.

Burger King, for instance, introduced menus in Europe that featured its own “Big Mac-ish” sandwiches, as you can see here. Additionally, it provided a flame-grilled Big Mac for a short period of time, claiming it to be both bigger and tastier than the McDonald’s menu item.

The Burger King menu, which features products that are similar to the Big Mac and the Big Mac replica, is seen below.

Big-MacIsh menu in Burger King newsjacking — Source: Marketing Interective.com

#4. Microsoft.

The sports world was put on hold by COVID-19, but as it became apparent that many leagues would start their seasons with little to no fan support, the question of how this would impact the experience of both home spectators and players on the court or field emerged.

This presented a chance for Microsoft Teams to highlight its “Together Mode” function, which transports virtual players from their boxed computer displays into a “virtual reality” where they are gathered together. Microsoft Teams was able to replicate the atmosphere of a crowd in the stands with virtual guests thanks to a partnership with the NBA.

microsoft teams together mode at an nba game — Source: Microsoft

Despite being digitally executed, the result was a sense of community among viewers and participants alike. Additionally, Microsoft benefited from showing off its product to NBA viewers in a novel way.

#5. Calm

Ads, which frequently seek to elicit positive emotions, do not perform well during emotionally taxing news cycles that involve acrimonious elections.

CNN’s election coverage, sponsored by the meditation app Calm, was seen by viewers nationwide. Apart from its sponsorship, Calm conducted many 30-second advertisements in the run-up to and during Election Night.

Since the goal of Calm is to “make the world happier and healthier,” there’s no better moment to introduce its product than now, when anxiety is rampant. Instead of using any election-related content in this campaign, Calm displayed serene advertisements that provided a striking contrast to the conclusion of a taxing election season.

calm's meditation ad campaign during election — Source: Techcrunch

#6. Gillette

The #MeToo social media movement, spearheaded by civil rights activist Tarana Burke, served as a marker for this movement. The #MeToo movement urged women to share their stories and the hashtag in order to raise awareness of the prevalence of sexual harassment, misconduct, and assault.

In light of the #MeToo movement, Gillette, which has historically marketed its shaving products as “The Best a Man Can Get,” sought to reframe its definition of masculinity. They did this by airing a compelling Super Bowl ad that delves into toxic masculinity and the negative stereotypes related to manhood.

#7. Oreo

Social media users were abuzz in the fall of 2019 over an odd plan to invade Area 51, a highly classified government outpost that extraterrestrial conspiracy theorists claim is where aliens are conducting their tests.

Simply asking, “What flavors do you think they’re hiding in #Area51?” Oreo posted a joke on Twitter. The tweet was shared and reacted to by thousands of users, including companies.

This is an excellent illustration of a brand that used current events or popular culture to swiftly and cheaply increase brand exposure, likeability, and interaction on social media. Not to mention, Oreo encouraged people to talk about their favorite flavors on Twitter right away.

#8. BMW

Two significant automakers with a lengthy history of newsjacking one another are Audi and BMW. The two firms appear to be equally adept at benefiting from each other’s marketing campaigns, whether it be through Twitter or billboards. But BMW wins for their response to Audi’s attempt to steal their M4 marketing.

The two corporations have gotten so adept at taking jabs at one another that some have begun to question whether they are secretly staging the entire marketing campaign to boost the visibility of both businesses’ campaigns.

Example of good newsjacking from BMW — Source: Twitter

#9. Salvation Army S.A.

The majority of us can still clearly recall the picture of the gold and white garment that was popular in 2015—some even claim it was black and blue. Salvation Army SA took the humorous online craze and used it to send a strong message to abolish violence against women while it was still popular. A little play on words was all it took to turn the conversation entirely around.

This is an example of how social media content generated by the community may be used to raise awareness of more urgent issues.

Example of newsjacking from The Salvation Army

Newsjacking Blog Post Template

How-to-Write-A-Newjacking-Blog-Post-Template Download

How To Newsjack Successfully

Having a keen sense of what’s trending will help you identify newsjacking possibilities before it’s too late to act. That necessitates keeping a watchful eye out for opportunities you’ve recognized as pertinent on the web and social media.

Here’s how to newsjack successfully:

#1. Select Subjects To Keep An Eye On

Set up notifications for significant terms or subjects in the news or on social media by using a monitoring tool like Mention. To begin with, you should select a few distinct subjects to watch, such as:

Industry keywords
Publications your audience reads
Important events
Local and national news sites
Notable bloggers or reporters who cover your business
Relevant online forums or chat rooms
Trending hashtags
Competitors

You might need to adjust or refine your search once you’ve decided who to watch. The objective is to keep an eye on as many voices as you can and their conversations in real-time so that you can respond promptly.

#2. Assemble What You Can Beforehand.

Monitoring can assist you in identifying the most compelling narratives for your company. When a significant event or announcement, like the Grammys or a new iPhone update, approaches, set up alerts and be ready to bring up your brand.

To stay organized and aware of upcoming events, use an editorial calendar such as CoSchedule.

#3. Identify The Link To The Story

Journalists are searching for the significance of the story when they scramble to gather information on breaking news. It is your responsibility to produce the data. Provide knowledge or entertainment on a subject that reporters may want to use in their own pieces.

How can one decide whether an opportunity is appropriate for their brand?

Be cautious when organizing a newsjack. Every narrative is not meant for your company. Your business should have a good rationale for producing news-related material.

Consider the following questions to see if the subject is a suitable fit for you:

If you post about it, would your company be seen as insensitive?
Will it appear that you’re making an excessive effort to connect?
Are you familiar with the subject? What is the estimated time required for conducting research?
What opinions do other people have about it?
In what way may a newsjack help you achieve your objectives (more sign-ups, social media shares, etc.)?
What unique perspective can you provide for the story that hasn’t been expressed before?

You might be able to prevent a PR disaster for your brand by posing these questions.

#4. Choose The Appropriate Timing

For the best impact, you must act quickly, just like everything else on the internet. Newsjacking operates similarly. Plan what you can and act fast when you can’t to gain the greatest traction.

As soon as a story breaks, it’s the optimum time to newsjack it before it gets too big. In this manner, journalists may come across your work when they look for further information on the story.

Source: Newsjacking.com

Here, having the appropriate media monitoring tool like Google Alerts can alert you when there’s news on whatever you’re monitoring.

#5. Produce Content Quickly

You’ve discovered your tale and are prepared to write about it. Putting a fresh perspective on the tale is crucial. Journalists are trying to find what makes you unique.

#6. Choose What You Want To Write About First.

Choose your content presentation strategy next. When creating a blog article, use a confident voice and assign your colleague to proofread your writing for spelling errors. But let go of your need for perfection—being prompt is everything.

In addition to using a blog post on Newsjack, your brand may put out a press release, send an email to clients or subscribers, or even arrange an event.

What Is Trendjacking?

Trendjacking is the process of identifying a trend and capitalizing on it to raise brand awareness, boost its value, and make money. Trendjacking is the practice of brands joining a popular debate or trend in order to profit from publicity.

It is a successful marketing tactic to attract interest and followers. As the name implies, trendjacking is taking advantage of an established trend to fortify a brand’s relationship with its primary target market.

What Is The Difference Between Newsjacking And Trendjacking?

Despite having a similar tone, newsjacking and trendjacking use quite different strategies and platforms. The objectives—brand exposure and marketing—remain the same, but the approaches taken vary.

The main distinction between trendjacking and newsjacking is that the latter capitalizes on pre-existing trends to gain traction, while the former seizes upon topics that have already made headlines.