Building successful brand awareness takes tenacity and the ability to do things differently to showcase your creativity. Not only is it a chance for you to show your audience your creativity but it also proves to your audience that you’re serious about business. Today with the internet it’s definitely easier to reach a wider audience on a singular platform. 

One of the most powerful online techniques is ‘newsjacking,’ essentially it’s a methodology of paying attention to trends and figuring out how you can utilize that for your brand. Think of it as injecting your story into breaking news or trends at the right time. What does this all mean for your PR strategies and efforts? This is simply a way of leveraging trending stories to gain traffic to your website or social media outlets. 

Before you newsjack here’s what you should consider:

1. Boost Your SEO Juice

Yes, your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) matters. It doesn’t matter if you are a product or personal brand you need SEO. Everyone researches you online before they decide to buy into you, your product, brand, or services. 

2. Push Your Content 

Part of creating your website or blog is about informing people by providing them with helpful information. Create content that helps not sell. Use social media to spread the word and don’t forget to include links in your articles or posts. 

3. Timely News is News

What’s trending today in the news cycle might not be hot tomorrow so it’s imperative that you react timely when it comes to effective newsjacking. 

4. Anyone Can Newsjack 

Newsjacking isn’t a science, everyone can do it as long as you have your finger on the pulse of what’s going on. The best place to look for all the happenings is usually on Twitter, that’s also the place where most journalists live. 

5. Be Tactful 

Even though something is trending you also still have to adhere to the basic PR rule of using tact and couth. If you’re in doubt whether or not to post something err on the side of caution and don’t do it. The number one PR rule is to always remain tactful with your approach if not it can quickly turn into a crisis PR management situation. 

Newsjacking doesn’t have to be a bad thing but when done right it can definitely bring you some extra online juice that gets people to notice your brand at the right time.