Newsjacking summary

Do you have a message you want to share with the world, but no idea how to get it out there? If you don’t have a great deal of influence or a huge marketing budget, you have to be clever about it: don’t plan media coverage, just jack the headline.

Newsjacking is a powerful tool, and it’s really all about timing.

On August 13, 2011, all mass media in the United States was poised to report on Iowa, the site of a key Republican Party fundraiser and preliminary poll. But on the same day, Texas governor Rick Perry announced he would run for president.

The timing was ingenious. Perry landed on the front pages of national newspapers, while the results from Iowa were relegated to the back pages. This is just one instance of brilliant newsjacking.

In today’s information age, the way we consume news has changed dramatically. We expect second-by-second updates, 24/7; a single tweet can change the direction of news coverage completely. As a result, planned news campaigns no longer have the power they used to. For potential newsjackers, this is an ideal situation.

Effective newsjacking requires an understanding of what’s trending in the media at any given moment, even though it changes incredibly quickly. If you manage to add something new to a trending story, you’ll get the news coverage you want with minimal effort.

Another useful example took place when Paris Hilton was arrested for drug possession in 2010. At a time when headlines about her arrest dominated media, Wynn Resorts announced they were banning Hilton from their properties – despite the fact that Wynn Resorts had nothing to do with Paris Hilton.

And yet, Wynn received astonishing media attention that they couldn’t have bought with a planned campaign. It was a media reaction worth millions of dollars, and all a result of Wynn Resorts’ impeccable timing.

The new media landscape is a paradise for those who are observant and know when to act. If you’re not ready to get newsjacking yourself, chances are somebody might do it to you!