What is Newsjacking and How Can it Increase Your Brand’s Coverage?

As a brand owner, you are likely to have tried just about everything to get your brand out there. Even if your current ad campaigns are doing really well, there is always room for improvement. 

In the marketing industry, we try to think of new and innovative ways to reach a wider audience. We get it; as a live events PR company, we’ve tried them all, too. 

One of the best and most unexpected marketing strategies you may not have tried is newsjacking, a marketing technique that has taken the internet by storm over the last few years.

What is Newsjacking?

Newsjacking is an incredibly popular marketing strategy that involves using viral news stories to put your brand or event at the centre of the conversation. 

Newsjacking allows you to insert yourself into the conversation and ensures that your brand pops into people’s minds when the story is mentioned. 

Newsjacking is an innovative way to market your brand, and with social media’s growing presence, it is definitely a technique that you should consider adopting. 

Why Your Brand Should Use Newsjacking

If you’re not entirely convinced, here are some reasons to consider using newsjacking for your brand or upcoming event. 

Expand your event or brand’s reach

When done right, newsjacking can substantially improve your reach, especially if it goes viral. If you are newsjacking a story about a huge brand, you will be advertising to not only your followers but also theirs. 

To illustrate your brand’s values

Depending on the news story you are newsjacking, you might have an excellent opportunity to clarify your brand’s values.

For example, if the story concerns LGBTQ+ rights and your response is in support of the community, people in that community may feel more inclined to support your business. 

Increased brand awareness

If you comment on the news story quickly, you can put your brand in front of many new eyes and potential customers. 

Increase attendance for your event

If you time it right, a successful newsjacking campaign could improve attendance at upcoming events. People love to engage with what is big right now, and they will not miss an opportunity to attend an event related to something viral.

What to be Aware of When Newsjacking

Though newsjacking can be a brilliant marketing tool, it can be detrimental to your company if done incorrectly. Here are some things to be aware of when newsjacking. 

Timing

Poor timing can kill any good newsjacking campaign. You need to ensure that any story you comment on is relevant and that people are still talking about it. 

Commenting on the story much after the initial buzz could make your brand appear out of touch, which no brand wants. Stay updated with current trends and news and act quickly to get the most out of the technique. 

Don’t be tone deaf.

Remember that when you use newsjacking, you’re attaching your brand to a viral story, so it’s essential to do it for the right reasons.

It can be tempting to rush to get your content out there to stay relevant, but make sure it reads well and is respectful to the story.

Newsjacking can have the opposite effect of what you want. If you publish something insensitive or tone-deaf, it can be detrimental to your business and limit your clientele.

Appeal to the wrong audience. 

When picking the stories you engage with, make sure you are aware of the audience engaging with the story. There can be some less-than-palatable opinions held by people online, and you don’t want these opinions associated with your business.

If a story risks attracting the wrong audience for your business, consider whether it is worth engaging. 

Remember, if your engagement with the story is received poorly, it can negatively impact your business, and you may need to engage in crisis management to move past it. 

How Can You Implement Newsjacking?

You will be glad to hear you can use many standard marketing strategies to implement newsjacking. 

For example, you could publish copywriting content about the story or comment on social media; the possibilities are endless.

Here are some other ways that you can implement newsjacking:

• You can integrate the story into your advertising.
• Blog posts
• Sponsorships
• Events. 
• Fundraising. 

How to Stand Out When Newsjacking

Due to its popularity, it can be easy for your newsjacking campaign to go unnoticed. Here are some tips for making your newsjacking campaign stand out. 

Add your own spin 

The worst thing about the internet is that it can easily become an echo chamber of the same views and opinions. If you post the same opinions and thoughts as everybody else, you will likely be lost to the masses. 

Make sure that if you wish to interject, you have an original perspective, and you actually have something to say.

This will be much more effective for your PR strategy, and potential customers or brands you wish to collaborate with will respect you more. 

Utilise comedy

When using newsjacking, a huge focus should be shareability. That is how most newsjacking campaigns take off, and one of the main reasons that someone shares a post is because they find it funny. 

Utilising comedy in your campaigns can have a huge impact on its success; just watch out and don’t inject too much of your personal taste into the comedy. 

Remember, just because it’s funny to you doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily amusing to everybody else.

Example of Newsjacking Done Right

Uber

During the height of the lockdown, Uber launched its ‘ Thank you for not riding’ campaign. Though the company lost a substantial amount of revenue during the lockdown, this campaign did gain the loyalty of many customers. 

This is an excellent example of capitalising on a news story without being insensitive to the situation. 

Budweiser

If you remember the events of the 2022 World Cup, you will likely recall that Doha had banned alcohol from every event, even though Budweiser was the official sponsor of the World Cup.

Budweiser had every right to be furious about this news, but they made the genius decision to make light of it. They took to X to post, ‘Well, this is awkward,’ which went viral in minutes. 

This is one of the best examples of newsjacking to date. After this, their sales skyrocketed around the world, making up for their World Cup losses. 

Burger King’s ‘ Big-Mac-ish’ menu

You may remember when McDonald’s lost its exclusive Big Mac trademark in 2019. 

Already a considerable competitor, Burger King took advantage of this news by launching several marketing campaigns discussing its own Big Mac menu, massively inspired by popular McDonald’s products.  

As you can imagine, the internet thought this was absolutely hilarious, and Burger King was propelled into the limelight for a number of weeks following the event. 

Brand Relevancy and Newsjacking

We have already discussed some ways to properly use newsjacking, but we wanted to highlight the importance of relevancy. 

Even if a new story is really taking off, do not engage with it unless it is relevant to the ethos and tone of your personal or professional brand. 

For example, if you make children’s toys, don’t engage with stories about saucy content. It may seem like common sense to some, but you will be surprised at how many people make the same mistake. 

Get in touch with our PR team today.

Like any kind of marketing campaign, it may take you some time to understand newsjacking. Don’t let yourself get stressed about it, and instead, contact us today to get the help of an experienced PR team.