Newsjacking—the practice of offering insight on current news stories to journalists—can be an effective way to garner media attention while highlighting your industry expertise. However, many newsjacking programs fail because communicators don’t take the necessary steps to ensure success.
Below are five common mistakes we see in newsjacking and strategies to overcome them.
1. Winging It
Every now and then, you might give a reporter a call on a whim and secure a great opportunity. But your newsjacking will be a lot more successful over the long haul by building a plan that ensures you are aligned and responsive.
First, it is essential for spokespeople to maintain an ongoing dialogue with their communications team about the topics they have expertise in. This will enable them to quickly reach out to media when relevant news breaks. In many cases, someone working on a developing story will only have time to speak with one or two sources before filing an article, so the quicker those media are contacted, the better the chance there is of being quoted.
Second, establish a clear workflow and standard process to ensure timely responses to media. For example, using text messages or WhatsApp to alert your communications team of breaking news you may want to comment on, followed by an email with links to initial coverage and your key talking points on the news. It is also essential to establish clear expectations for how quickly your team is expected to respond, and how frequently they should provide updates on their outreach and progress. They should also have a media monitoring system in place to proactively identify relevant news and quickly alert you to opportunities to add your perspective.
2. Waiting for the News
If your newsjacking only begins when news breaks, you are already in a losing position. Getting ahead of the story will help drive success.
If a news story is anticipated—for example, the Fed making a decision on interest rates—you can contact media in advance to offer your availability to be interviewed when the announcement is made. This strategy can be particularly effective for broadcast networks that regularly seek breaking news commentary on key economic data and world events.
3. No Foresight
Waiting until a story breaks to consider how to respond can cost you valuable time.
When planning to offer insight on news that has a limited number of potential outcomes (e.g., a statistic moving up or down, an election result), preparing messaging for different scenarios will enable you to respond quickly no matter what the result is – often before your competitors have a chance to weigh in. At times, it might be advantageous to offer up multiple commentaries in advance so reporters can just plug in the appropriate quote.
4. Generic Commentary
One way to ensure you are not quoted by media is to repeat the same insights being offered by other industry experts, or echo what you already read online. And if you end up in a story with a lackluster quote, it may actually hurt your brand.
A unique, unconventional or contradictory point of view will stand out from the crowd and is likely to get more exposure, as long as you’re comfortable going against the grain. If you have nothing new to contribute to the story, it may be best not to comment at all.
Before sharing your perspective with media, the comms team should “stress test” any messages and provide honest feedback on how to make them more compelling.
5. All Opinion
Opinions are great, but everyone has one. The insights you offer to media will be stronger when based on facts and figures.
If possible, provide numbers to back up your insights. Ideally, this will be proprietary data you can quickly compile and display through chart or graphs. It could also be information from government or other reputable sources. Have this data ready to share.
In our ever faster-moving media landscape, today’s headlines can quickly become yesterday’s news. While the key to newsjacking is still picking up the phone, you can vastly increase the odds of success by taking steps to avoid these common mistakes.
Opinions are great, but everyone has one. The insights you offer to media will be stronger when based on facts and figures.
If possible, provide numbers to back up your insights. Ideally, this will be proprietary data you can quickly compile and display through chart or graphs. It could also be information from government or other reputable sources. Have this data ready to share.
In our ever faster-moving media landscape, today’s headlines can quickly become yesterday’s news. While the key to newsjacking is still picking up the phone, you can vastly increase the odds of success by taking steps to avoid these common mistakes.
By Joshua Greenwald, Senior Vice President at Stanton