Newsjacking is a Search Engine Optimization/Inbound Marketing trick that stands between regular content strategy techniques and black hat tactics.
Using the current marketing jargon you could also label it as a ‘hack’.
But what exactly does the term ‘newsjacking’ mean?
As you probably already guessed, the term derives from the crasis of two words: ‘news’ and ‘hijack’.
Building from that you could describe newsjacking as the hijacking of your target audience’s attention by injecting your piece of content, in real time, into the stream of news and articles that are covering a specific breaking news or a trending topic. Hence the alternate name ‘trendjacking’.
In other words, both newsjacking and trendjacking are techniques that Inbound Marketers use to gain traction to their pieces of content from the hype that’s building around a specific subject. This is done in order to try and rank into Google SERP (search engine results page) or gain engagement on social media (and possibly becoming trending as well).
In some cases newsjacking might be deemed as inappropriate because it might resemble a much blamed technique which is called clickbaiting. This is a borderline technique that consists of a poor quality piece of content (usually a blog post) that leverages a very catchy headline about a very trending topic. The purpose, of course, is to drive attention and eventually clicks to the article.
Remember you always want to roll out pieces of content according to the tone of voice and the channels which you associate with your brand values and personality.
A cheap technique as clickbaiting is always bannable, but this is especially true when your brand is not a cheap and aggressive discount based operation.
This is why you want to keep your newsjacking strategy polite and discreet. Here’s how you want to do it: first try selecting the subjects and news that resonate with your audience. Then put together a blog post or a piece of content that adds value to the conversation. Then engage with your audience. If you follow these simple rules you’ll find yourself in the realm of successful newsjackers in no time!