Customer Reviews

Newsjacking: How to Inject your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage

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First off, this is a two hour (at most) read. Short, actionable chapters packed full of case studies.

I think what I like the best about this book is that most marketers will think that newsjacking is not possible. David Meerman Scott explains that it is completely possible, if you have a real-time mindset within your organization or business. I enjoyed the read and took 3-4 tangible action items away from the book that we are looking to execute now in our business.

For small businesses...this is a critical read and can show you how to get a leg up on the competition with your online content creation and content marketing strategies. For larger brands...watch out. Newsjacking will disrupt your business. You better make sure you ditch the long-term communication processes you have so that you can keep up with the little guys. Time to market with your content makes all the difference for newsjacking to work.

All in all, another helpful DMS book...possibly his best.

Bottom Line: I highly recommend studying Newsjacking. It's informative, quick-to-read, and filled with insightful how-to-examples. In fact, Newsjacking and Real-Time Marketing and PR: How to Instantly Engage Your Market, Connect with Customers, and Create Products that Grow Your Business Noware required reading for any marketing/PR executive, business owner, or brand manager who wants to capitalize on media opportunities generated by the real-time Web.

1. Clever Newsjacking Generates Media Bonanza Opportunities

And, We All Can Do It! David defines "newsjacking" as publishing your personal angle, ideas, or perspective into a breaking news story / event to earn media coverage for your company, brand, or products / services.

Help Journalists Write Their Second Paragraphs. When hot news strikes, journalists scour the Internet via search engines (i.e., Google) and social media (i.e., Twitter, blogs, etc.). Why? They're seeking additional content (e.g., details, opinions, etc.) that can differentiate the point-of-view in their individual news stories.

That differentiating point-of-view or compelling content is the "second paragraph." Journalists seek second paragraph material that:

* Delivers credible, authoritative, and valuable information / perspective

* Describes "why" something happened

* Interprets the event's impact and future implications

Credible Second Paragraphs Can Earn Massive Media Attention. Be fast, use targeted keywords, and provide valuable context in your Tweets and blog posts so journalists can find your contribution to a story with Google searches. Quickly writing an informative blog post and shrewdly publicizing it with Twitter may take an hour or less.

2. Newsjacking Favors Faster, Smaller Players

Real-Time Speed is a Newsjacker's Bread and Butter. Speed, decisiveness, and execution drive successful newsjacking. And, you must respond within the hour of a breaking news story. That's why fast movers are great newsjackers.

David Can Trump Goliath. Plus, smaller firms can outplay their larger competitors. The Fortune 500 has the same opportunity to successfully newsjack as any other organization or individual. But, their corporate hierarchies and approval processes are handicaps.

Newsjacking Lives and Dies by Speed. A graphic in the book describes the newsjacking process. Notice how speed drives the entire newsjacking process:

* Tracking and staying on top of breaking news

* Deciding quickly on your response

* Publishing / Publicizing the response instantly

3. Chapter 6 - Ka-Ching: CEO Bags a Cool Million with a Single Blog Post

A Classic, Must-Read Newsjacking Blog Post. Joe Payne is the CEO of Eloqua, a company specializing in marketing-automation. When he learned and verified Oracle entered his industry space, he quickly wrote this blog post: Oracle Joins The Party.

There are multiple reasons why this blog post and the surrounding circumstances make it a classic, newsjacking case study:

* The post provides a valuable and quotable industry perspective

* Payne crafted and posted this blog post quickly

* The blog post contains verifiable details and statistics

* Oracle buried this news story in their website

* He outflanked a larger competitor (e.g., Oracle) using new media tools

Payne's Blog Post Earned Major Media Attention, Credibility, and $1 Million. When industry analysts and journalists searched Google for news about Oracle, they found Payne's content-rich blog post. And, they quoted it verbatim.

The aforementioned media coverage (and other coverage) increased Eloqua's credibility. In addition, Payne and his team combined the blog post's media coverage with immediate, next-morning business development follow-up. These combined activities brought Eloqua software deals worth $1 million in new revenue among six (6) new clients.

That's a great outcome especially without the luxury of a multiple phase PR campaign or massive advertising budget.

4. Chapter 7: Become the Go-To Gal (or Guy) in Your Industry

Blogs Are Powerful Newsjacking Assets. Long form content achieves four (4) things:

* Provides keyword rich content for search engines to index

* Increases the probability journalists will find your blog post when searching Google

* Delivers context rich details (hard to do in Twitter and Facebook)

* Positions newsjackers as reputable and credible reputable industry authorities

Knowing Your Issues / Topics Cold Leads to Long Term Credibility. Newsjack the issues and topics in which you are well-informed. That knowledge will make your newsjacking perspective valuable, credible, and authoritative.

Long term credibility is vital in building an authoritative reputation and relationships with journalists. Even more importantly, that credibility and reputation dictates why journalists may or may not seek your input in future news stories.

5. Learn from Newsjacking Mistakes: The Golden Rules

The Kenneth Cole Twitter Blunder. Google "Kenneth Cole Twitter Mistake." And, you'll see how this organization could have benefited from David's advice. Unfortunately, Cole used poor taste and judgment when he tried to newsjack this news event. And, massive public relations backlash resulted.

To prevent a social media blunder like this occurring at your organization, David provides these newsjacking objectives and guidelines:

The Golden Rule Objective (Direct Quote). "When intervening in a news story you should add value - information or insight that contributes to the public's understanding of the situation."

The Four (4) Golden Rules. Kenneth Cole didn't have the benefit of David's advice before sending out that tweet. We now have that luxury:

* Be dignified and statesmanlike. See the Joe Payne / Eloqua Case Study Above (#3)

* Be positive and upbeat, never mean or vindictive. Again, see the Joe Payne / Eloqua Case Study Above (#3)

* Write articulate text in full sentences without chatty slang, industry jargon, corporate-speak (i.e., mission-critical or cutting-edge) or social media shorthand (e.g., IMHO)

* Don't get too cute or clever -- especially where human suffering is involved. See aforementioned Kenneth Cole tweet

6. Newsjackers Monitor News 24/7 Via RSS Feeds

RSS (Real Simple Syndication) Feeds Are a Newsjacker's BFF. David describes how setting up RSS feeds to your favorite news sources, analysts, industry publications, and blogs enables real-time news monitoring. And, staying abreast of leading news events gives you the competitive advantage to respond fast. David mentions these RSS services in his book:

* Google Reader

* Newsfire

7. Learn How to Maximize Twitter's Real-Time Capabilities

A Newsjacker' Must-Have Weapon For Monitoring News Flow. Twitter's real-time capabilities make it the ultimate rapid response, news monitoring tool. You can find great second paragraph content and breaking news stories by:

* Catching key phrases by creating columns in Tweetdeck and HootSuite

* Using Twitter's search function

* Setting up a "news" column in Tweetdeck or HootSuite (i.e., a dedicated news column focusing on all the news sources you follow)

A Powerful Fast Response Distribution Channel. When it comes to publicizing and "pushing out" newsjacking blog posts quickly, Twitter rules. Remember, journalists search Twitter to find differentiating second paragraph content.

Use Twitter Hashtags (#). Therfore, include hashtags (the pound key - #) in your tweets to mark them with the unique identifier about a particular subject (i.e., #Cairo). Remember, the hashtag, makes it easier for journalists to instantly locate in Twitter all references to a particular topic. Plus, tweets with hashtags are curated in reverse chronological order (i.e., most recent first).

Twitter Can Help You Directly Contact a Journalist. Most journalists provide or publish their Twitter ID (i.e.@firstnamelastname). Verify their Twitter ID with a quick Google search. Then, include his/her Twitter ID in your tweet so you can directly point him/her to your blog post.

I didn't realize how much I learned from David Meerman Scott's Newsjacking until I picked-up a local newspaper and saw a front page, above-the-fold article about an architect spearheading a citizen protest about the redesign of a landmark bridge.

For almost 100 years, the bridge, that connected New Hampshire and Maine, was a Portsmouth icon that was recently closed because of its advanced age.

The proposed replacement bridge was "strictly business," with little aesthetic or civic branding appeal.

Reading the article about the architect and the activist group, I suddenly realized this was an excellent example of what David Meerman Scott describes in Newsjacking.

More important, reading media stories with Newsjacking in mind helped me "see beyond the obvious" and recognize other examples of Newsjacking at work. (Of course, it also inspired me to look for opportunities to do the same.) Thank you, David! You always deliver.

This is a publicity method I've used and talked about in some of my own books. I'm glad to see it fleshed out, brought up to date, and explained in a practical, easy to grasp way. I strongly suggest everyone read this -- small business people, entrepreuners, as well as the corporate folk. Excellent read.

In the first X-Men movie, the narrator makes a comment along the lines of, "every few hundred millennia, evolution leaps forward." For the PR industry, "Newsjacking" is that moment. The technique is an entirely new animal for communicators. Simply put, it's the moment when PR pros stop trying to "build" news, and begin to "ride" it instead. Newsjacking is like PR judo - redirecting the momentum of larger news to your advantage. And author / advisor (to my employer, among others) David Meerman Scott outlines what Newsjacking is and how to do it simply and compellingly.

David takes on an entirely different aspect of his new rules this time -- making a powerful business case for marketing that is incredibly timely while still breaking the old rules about PR. In a short two-hour read you can see how to to get the press calling you -- looking for a chance to include your story alongside the biggest news of the day. Replete with examples and how-to-steps that anyone can follow, this slim e-book is worth every penny.

Length:: 2:52 Mins

David Meerman Scott has defined what I do.

When I read Newsjacking! I realized that it's what I do.

It's fun.

It's easy.

And it's works for me.

If you aren't familiar with how to do it, David's book explains how.

Here are some examples where it's worked for me:

In a Google search for the photographer of that pepper spray photo from UC Davis I was #1 #2 and #3.

[...]

I was #1 and #4, with #4 for a Google+ post about Louise Macabitas, the UC Davis pepper spray photographer:

[...]

In these examples the story was fast moving and I added my take in a post on my blog and on Google+.

Read David's book and he'll show you how.

Disclosure: David Meerman Scott is editor of my book 'Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business.'

[...]

As a practicing marketing and PR professional, I just bought Newsjacking, and I love it. Very valuable, smooth read, and lots of thought provoking take-a-ways.(As is always the case with David's work - but this one is particularly timely and valuable). The case examples make it, in my opinion. And I really like the book-end effect with Perry on Perry. Nice touch, and gives a great sense of closure. Even if you are new to the concept of Newsjacking, the reader comes away with a complete sense of a) the concept, b) the concept in action, c) how to take advantage of the concept, and d) the dangers of poor execution on the concept. David's style, as always, is very engaging, and it is clear that we are reading a David Meerman Scott product. It is timely. Relevant. And GREAT food for thought. Practical and actionable, too. I'd not only buy this one, but like all of David's books, I'd recommend it highly to others. Only David could successfully tie in case studies with Larry Flynt, Kate Winslet, Rick Perry, Paris Hilton, Steve Wynn, Michael "The Situation" Sorrentino (among others!)...and make it valuable for B2C and B2B-ers alike! A must read - and one that will get you to rethink your PR strategies, and think about them in a whole new light. Not bad for something that costs less than a fast food value meal....more nutritious and beneficial, too! ;-) Well done!

David Meerman Scott is always ahead of the curve, Newsjacking is no different. To say that this book is timely would almost downplay the importance of it. Gone are the days when we hand pitch the media for stories. Yes, pitching is important but newsjacking is key. Through examples, tips, and helpful websites David takes the reader through a step-by-step guide through the process of anchoring your story to a hot item in the news. This book won't take you a lot of time to read because once you open it, you won't be able to put it down. A must-read for anyone in business.

This book is great. It's so exciting to see DM Scott and Wiley experimenting with eBook publishing. This book exemplifies what he talkes about: it is in response to a real time trend, and is using the best platform to communicate it. I admit, I was initially hestitant at the price considering the shorter length, but I think it's worth it considering the timeliness of the information.

This book was the first time I had heard about the newsjacking concept and it blew me away. There have been so many times I have noticed opportunities for savvy companies to 'newsjack' a story and it's kinda frustrating that people aren't taking advantage of it.

If you work in PR or marketing, this is a must-read. Regardless of business size.