B2B Newsjacking: Should Your Company Be Doing It?

When you find a news article related to your products, services, or industry, you’re probably curating it and sharing it with your audience (and if you’re not, we need to talk). But what about when you have a unique take on the article or content that ties into one of the day’s biggest news stories? How can you capitalize on that? With B2B newsjacking.

If you’re capitalizing on a breaking news story to amplify your marketing and sales efforts, then you’re newsjacking. A player in the big game used to work in your industry? The new show everyone is buzzing about uses services that you provide? Jump on in and join the conversation! It’s a great strategy to improve your position as an expert in your industry.

Since the popularity of a news story or event begins to diminish with passing hours, days, and weeks, the need to newsjack early to benefit your business is massive. However, it’s essential to keep in mind that B2B newsjacking must be a calculated effort. The decision to chime in on a news item should be carefully evaluated. Just because something is timely and heavily talked about doesn’t mean you should inject your brand message into it.

Why You Should Engage in B2B Newsjacking

If you want to make the most of newsjacking, you have to be quick. When marketing, we often get stuck in the nitty-gritty of campaigns or spend days writing a simple blog post. So, if you really want to newsjack, just go with your gut (and head) and do it.

Here’s why you should include newsjacking in your marketing strategy:

• It can help in generating inbound links.
• It can help in SEO, improving your search engine rankings.
• It can help drive large numbers of visitors to your website or if you’re newsjacking with a useful call-to-action, you can generate leads for your sales team.
• The credibility of your business increases as you provide your audience with the feeling that they can always check with you for updates on industry news.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Newsjacking

Newsjacking can come in many different forms. It can be educational and informative, or entertaining and fun. Above all else, it has to be appropriate and tasteful. Here are a few examples of the good, the bad, and the ugly of newsjacking. Keep these in mind when considering your B2B newsjacking efforts.

The Good — The London Fire Brigade. As soon as the media covered the story that Kate Winslet saved the mother of Richard Bronson from a burning home, the London Fire Brigade offered to provide Winslet with fire safety training. The story became viral and turned into an advantage for the London Fire Brigade.

The Bad — SpaghettiOs. Do you see the happy SpaghettiOs mascot holding the American flag with a big smile while remembering the Pearl Harbor attack? There are probably better ways to show patriotism. Somber events should not be taken lightly.

The Ugly – AT&T. When you know hundreds of people have suffered or lost their loved ones to a horrific attack, it’s probably not a good idea to use the event to promote your business, even if your message is not harmful.

5 Tips for B2B Newsjacking

1. Set Up Alerts. To find the best stories to newsjack, you need to stay on top of everything that’s happening in your industry. Manual scavenging can be tedious, but you can use Google Alerts, social media monitoring tools to set up mentions, or set up an RSS feed comprising popular news platforms and industry publications to alert you when relevant events happen.
2. Analyze the Keyword Search Volume. Once you find a story to newsjack, you can create interesting content around it. But before you begin writing, spend some time to check popular search keywords and phrases around the topic. By knowing what people are searching for, you can craft your messages to reach more people. When you use keywords with higher search volumes, you’ll get more of an organic boost.
3. Don’t Move Away from the Originality of the Story. Before you start writing about the news story and promoting it, find the principal source of the news story and see what others are writing about it to maintain the originality and relevance. Don’t stretch just to get in on a popular conversation.
4. Do it Fast. While it’s good to be a perfectionist and make sure your writing is mistake-free, and you need time to craft a message that is appropriate and relevant, it’s important to strike while the iron is hot.
5. Get the Word Out. The last and most important step is marketing your newsjacking. Even though you might get some original traction from organic search, you’ll want to give it a little help. Newsjacking is all about gaining momentum and empowering your business, so you need to get the word out. For instance, you can share your newsjacking story on social media or interact with top journalists or partners to promote it to their audiences.

Need help with your B2B newsjacking efforts? Let’s talk!