This Smart Tactic Can Put a Brand on the Map, FAST

When people talk about content marketing, there's a lot of focus on what's known as “evergreen content” — content that stays fresh and stands the test of time.

This is the stuff that's still relevant months and even years after it's published.

But sometimes, you can benefit from being timely instead.

This is where “newsjacking” comes in.

Newsjacking is where you leverage a big, important event or news story to promote your brand. It's a strategy that works well if you want to get a bunch of eyeballs on your content quickly.

Big annual events like the Oscars and the Superbowl offer great newsjacking opportunities, which are pretty safe and easy to pull off.

You can also jump on current “viral” content.

Remember “the dress,” where no one was sure if it was blue or gold? You can use this kind of fad to your own advantage.

In a recent article, Entrepreneur covers what newsjacking is, and how you can make it work for your own business.

Newsjacking is taking advantage of the next big story or breaking news by incorporating it in to your content. It’s pretty popular and it’s clear why: whenever there is a trending hashtag on social media or a spike in searches for articles about the next big story, your content has a chance of getting in front of the people who otherwise wouldn’t see your messages.

The most frequent examples of this technique are things like snack recipes around Super Bowl that have a title along the lines of “Tailgating snacks before the Big Game” or wardrobe tips along the lines of “How to Watch Oscars in Style.”

Savvy content creators know that there is an obvious interest in these big events and that they can boost their exposure by simply aligning their knowledge with trending topics. Could they post these same snack recipes some other time and just call it “yummy snacks you can enjoy whenever?” Absolutely; but that would not get as much interest.

You can read more about newsjacking over at Entrepreneur.