Newsjacking Angelina Jolie

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Jill Jensen

You may find no better subject for newsjacking than Lara Croft, Tomb Raider. The New York Times op-ed piece by Angelina Jolie—My Medical Choice—caused a big stir and lit up the interwebs within hours of its publication on May 14, 2013. And it was still going strong a day later.

Did you get on the bandwagon? Did you newsjack this story? Or were you curating content? Each approach has its merits, but you need to be aware of what you’re doing so you can be effective and efficient. Since trend data on this topic may not even show up for a couple of days, you want to engage the conversation at the sweet spot where everyone’s still talking.

Newsjacking provides your expert, quotable insights on a topic. (See our recent post, Newsjacking: Seize the Second Paragraph, for details.) It offers your original perspective and helps position you as the go-to source for more information on the issue. If breast care, cancer care, or genetic testing are important services for your organization, be prepared to join the conversation quickly.

Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames, Iowa, took that approach by repurposing relevant content for the current context. Key points? They knew they had an existing piece that fit the bill—a patient’s decision after genetic testing—and they understood how to reframe and expand it with original information to hit the topic of the day. Of course, they were paying attention to the news and took advantage of the opening.

https://twitter.com/MaryGreeley/status/334328983313326081

When you curate content, you sort through the fire hose of online information, pull out interesting links from assorted sources, and republish them under a cohesive theme with a bit of context as framework.

Curating content is a valuable service—one that definitely should be part of your marketing toolkit. But why not take a few minutes to talk with the breast care/cancer care/genetic testing specialists at your facility, gather comments on the issues involved, and be ready to make an original contribution to the conversation? You’ll build credibility in your own market, as well as with news organizations who will recognize your value and come knocking the next time they need expert input.

Whether you newsjack or curate, go light on the self-promotion. Just being in the conversation—and providing information that helps your readers—garners more than enough attention. Remember, it’s always about being helpful to your audience first.

Newsjacking: Seize the Second Paragraph

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Jill Jensen

After a couple of weeks filled with amazing news headlines — from letters filled with ricin sent to a senator and the U.S. president, to bombings at the 2013 Boston Marathon, to deadly explosions at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas — newsjacking might seem like a no-brainer for your marketing department. But take care to know what’s really involved and establish some basic guidelines for your organization to follow.

Exactly what is newsjacking? According to David Meerman Scott, author of the latest e-book on the subject — Newsjacking: How to Inject Your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage — it’s the opportunity to instantly put your organization into the news of the day and keep it there over time. It’s a social media post or news media promotion that points to relevant content in your online media room or blog.

When you newsjack, you provide your expert, quotable insights on the news topic — insights that help position your organization as the go-to source for more information. You want to quickly deliver well-written, verifiable, and valuable information that journalists can quote verbatim — as if they’d talked to you in person. It should flesh out the “why” behind the “who, what, when, where” and help keep the story alive. Your take becomes the second paragraph in the story they’re telling.

Examples range from Kate Middleton’s morning sickness episodes to Oreo tweeting “You can still dunk in the dark” during the Super Bowl lighting snafu to reminders about the warning signs of stroke that appeared after the death of Britain’s Margaret Thatcher. Almost any topic offers an opening for newsjacking. To make the most of it, you need website content that is helpful, welcoming, user-focused, and action-oriented — content that describes how your services benefit your patients and how it fits a news topic. Posting your ‘take’ on the story to your blog also helps search engines find you.

Geonetric client Adventist HealthCare tapped into an online conversation with this successful newsjack:

Want to begin newsjacking? Geonetric can help you get started!

When it Comes to Your Healthcare Website: Start With Content

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Jill Jensen

Seems obvious, right? Websites – and most everything else we want to share – start with content. Got something to say? That’s content.

Content Rules

According to Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman, content rules. The pair literally wrote the book on the subject – Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) that Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business. Recently revised to keep up with the constantly changing world of social media, it’s one of the best books to help you get started in your content development efforts or remind you of options when faced with information overload. Whether you consider the title as directive or cheer, you’re right!

What’s Next?

Conversation? Community? Add them to content and you have a solid base for your business in a world where social media captures an ever-increasing share of the way we communicate with each other.

Content Kicks Off Social Brand Forum

Exploring this triple-pronged approach and delivering practical information was the focus of the first Social Brand Forum 2012, a two-day event with the theme “Content – Conversations – Community” that wrapped on October 18th. Content kicked it off with the keynote presentation from Ann Handley. In addition to her role as a book author, she’s the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs.com and founder of ClickZ, an early social media Web presence. Her conference message? Be a daring brand and create content worth sharing. Although “storytelling” is the latest buzzword that’s supposed to help grow businesses, Handley says it’s really about “telling true stories well. It’s about your audience.”

Six Rules for Creating Sharable Content

While that approach may be the most significant shift of mindset you have to make to be successful, you can get started by following the six “content rules” Handley delivered at Social Brand Forum 2012:

Your story isn’t about you. It’s about what your service or product does for your customers or others. Make your customer the hero of your story.
Take a stand. Know who you are as a company/brand; know who your customers are – and who your customers aren’t. When you make a good match, everyone benefits from better results.
Just keep swimming. Good communication isn’t a sprint; it’s a long-term commitment. Don’t go for “viral.” Your consistent messaging presence is most important. Be in it for the long haul.
See content moments everywhere. Social media tools like Instagram, Pinterest, smartphones and computer tablets give you the opportunity to create content and share it instantly. Go for it! As designer Michael Wolf says, “What already exists is an inspiration.”
Take risks. A tendency toward caution may be the biggest challenge you face, but Julia Cameron said it best: “Leap and the net will be there.” True that. Handley encourages educated risk-taking based on solid data (Google Analytics, anyone?) and a willingness to be “flawsome.” Embrace the fact that you may not hit it out of the park with every initiative. Even so, “You’re awesome because of your flaws.”
Create the unexpected. The most daring – and memorable – brands do. But “daring” may be easier than you think if you “speak human” and show who you are. We’ll love you for it!