As a PR practitioner, it’s important to stay abreast of the latest media and consumer conversations that may affect your company or clients. Not only does this allow you to better understand what reporters and influencers are talking about, but if you’re monitoring it closely, it also gives you the opportunity to trendjack on a topic with a timely, relevant angle that integrates the brand you represent.
While the topic of trendjacking or newsjacking is not new to any seasoned marketer or PR professional, the ability to successfully capitalize on said trends is a skill that few marketers have mastered. In fact, given so many communications professionals are familiar with this tactic, it’s often competitive to truly get in front of a trend without being lost in the frenzy of other brands aiming to do the same.
All that said, we’ve found there are a few key ways that smart marketers can get ahead of the curve and stand out.
Leverage a real-time trend dashboard to keep track of relevant news topics in one place: While it may sound simple to create a few Google news alerts and read them throughout the day, the reality is that your brand could be impacted by many topics and subjects that hit the media and consumer landscape. By creating one centralized location for all your media and consumer news that you can keep on your desktop throughout the day, you’ll be much more likely to catch a prospective opportunity as it happens.
Monitor the rises in consumer conversation and aim to get in before it goes widespread to media: Often, a trend rises first in social media circles where a concept begins to show up in Reddit forums, in Twitter conversations and beyond. If you can spot a trend early when a few media are jumping on and its rising in consumer conversation, you’ll likely beat the masses to the punch when it comes to ideating around said trend and getting in before it’s too late.
Create trendjacking campaigns that are simple and can be executed quickly: Time and time again, we’ve seen brands make the mistake of overcomplicating their attempts at trendjacking. The issue is that there is only a small window of time where brands can act on a trend when it’s still relevant and timely. Some of the greatest ideas are, in fact, the simplest. One example
While jumping on relevant trends in the news with brand stories requires a great deal of strategic thinking and creativity, we’ve seen it yield incredible results for clients. While the above tips are just a few tips to creating an effective newsjacking strategy, we’ve found them to be the most crucial in our efforts, so if your brand is struggling to effectively newsjack or just seeking to learn more about how to start, these tips are a great starting point.
