You already know about David Meerman Scott — he’s one of the preeminent social media thought-leaders in the world today and the author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR (affiliate link) which kick-started awareness of the social media movement around the globe.
What you may not know is that David has a new release called Newsjacking which is a little gem of a book that’s an essential read for anyone in PR or marketing.
Newsjacking, by David Meerman Scott, is a little gem of a book and a must-read for PR and marketing professionals.
Newsjacking is perfect for you if you’re a small- to mid-sized business that’s trying to break through all the PR noise that’s happening online and in traditional media. The key concept is that you can get a lot of bang for your PR buck if you hi-jack — or newsjack — a trending story and add your unique perspective or spin to it.
But that doesn’t mean simply adding commentary to a trending news story. Instead, it means taking the trending story and imbedding your product or service into the content in some new and innovative ways.
Here’s an excerpt from Newsjacking that explains what this means.
“As Journalists scramble to cover breaking news, the basic facts — who/what/when/where — are often fairly easy to find, either on a corporate website or in competitors’ copy. That’s what goes in the first paragraph of any news story.
The challenge for reporters is to get the ‘why’ and the implications for the event … All this is what goes on in the second paragraph and the subsequent paragraphs. That’s why a newsjacker’s goal is to own the second paragraph.
If you are clever enough to react to breaking news very quickly, providing credible second-paragraph content in a blog post, tweet, or media alert that features the keyword of the moment, you may be rewarded with a bonanza of media attention.”
David goes on to tell a fascinating case study of how the London Fire Brigade was able to newsjack a story about a house fire at Sir Richard Branson’s compound in the British Virgin Islands. It seems that Kate Winslet was a guest of Sir Richard and helped rescue Branson’s 90-year-old mother from the inferno.
Within hours of the reports of the inferno, the London Fire Brigade offered Winslet the chance to train with firefighters at its training center — thereby newsjacking the story. This technique got the London Fire Brigade a great deal of media attention as the offer to Winslet was featured by news outlets worldwide. In other words, they “owned the second paragraph” of the story by adding their unique twist to the trending event.
If you’re looking for ways to build awareness for your business, then Newsjacking may be just what you’re looking for. It’s a quick read with tons of great information. Better still, it’s written by someone who has managed to newsjack more than his fair share of stories over the past few years.
Posted by Jamie Turner, Founder of the 60 Second Marketer and co-author of “How to Make Money with Social Media” and “Go Mobile.” He is also a popular marketing speaker at events, trade shows and corporations around the globe. (Disclosure: Jamie’s newest book, “Go Mobile” is part of David Meerman Scott’s New Rules of Social Media Series published by John Wiley & Sons.)
