Newsjacking Post #2 - Using Google Alerts

I posted a previously on the basic concept of newjacking, inserting you or your company into a story breaking on the internet.

I got my highest number of hits in a day on my blog, over 500, the day I posted the second comment on a major story that was relevant to what I do; writing popular fiction and assisting people with social media.

I was reviewing this process in the last few days, as I spend time every morning checking major newspaper/media sites looking for stories I can comment or post about. And then I had an idea, why don't I set up a Google Alert for the major subject areas that I would be competent to insert comments on or post about in my own blog?

So I did that. I now have ten Google Alerts set up and I don't have to spend a lot of time searching through news sites. And I'm finding stories all over the world I can comment on. And best of all it's free! Thank you, Google.

To support this site - over 100 free posts so far on social media for you to explore - please buy one of my novels, The Istanbul Puzzle or The Jerusalem Puzzle or my guide to social media. And enjoy!

 

Newsjacking & Social Media Updated

What is newsjacking?



Newsjacking is inserting yourself or your organisation into a story that is being covered in the media. You do this by commenting prominently on the story online or by providing a link to a relevant post on your blog or web site.

Examples of this include a marketing expert suggesting a marketing plan for Occupy Wall Street, a software company president talking about a major industry takeover and inserting his own company into subsequent media stories because of the relevance of his comments and the London Fire Brigade offering Kate Winslett training after she was involved in a fire on Richard Branson's private retreat in the British Virgin Islands.

The purpose of newsjacking is to get people to click on your link, to get traffic to your site and gain visibility.

And it works.

The rules of newsjacking are that you have to insert yourself quickly into the story, coming late means the story had played out, that you have to have something relevant to say, and that you post or web site supports what you say.

The PR industry is changing. No longer is it good enough to simply push out press releases to friendly journalists and hope they will cover your story. Now you have to find a real link between something happening in the media or in the world and whatever you are promoting.

Social media is the glue that binds all this together. It's where you contact journalists covering the story and refer them to your blog post and where you inform people that you have a post and a real connection to the media article.

My highest spike in blog viewers came when I made a relevant post on the UK Guardian book page and on the New York Times in one day. That day I got over 500 views. My comment was one of the first on that page, I had something relevant to say and the comment had a link in it to my blog.

Old fashioned PR isn't entirely dead, but it's changing fast.

To support this site - over 60 free posts so far on social media for you to explore - please buy one of my novels, The Istanbul Puzzle or The Jerusalem Puzzle or my guide to social media. And enjoy!

Newsjacking - 3 Critical Questions

A blog post led to this!

I have written previously about using news stories to insert yourself into the story. There are a three critical questions you must consider if you wish to use this method to get your blog/post or site more widely know.

They are:

1. What do you believe in? What do you stand for? In some cases this is difficult to work out. Do you have a  mission statement that might help you? If your goal is to provide reliable and secure mobile payments, for instance, you might insert yourself in stories about mobile or internet security breeches.

2. Do you have an opinion? Having an opinion helps on social media. If you pull your hair out that people aren't upgrading their Windows software or anti-virus protection, allowing hackers easy access to their passwords for instance, I think you are allowed to show frustration. The corporate mode of operation, in which everything is cool, lacks passion these days. Think about injecting some.

3. Do you know when to stop? You can get thousands of visitors to your site in a day if you create a powerful post, but you should also know when to shut up. Newsjacking isn't just about getting hits. It's about injecting what you want to say into the conversation, then stepping back.

Do you have any successful experiences of newsjacking you want to share, any observations on how to get this technique to work properly? Please use the comments below.