Newsjacking: A Guide to Leveraging Trending Topics

Last Updated March 11, 2024

Newsjacking is a powerful strategy that can help you quickly gain attention and drive traffic to your content. By piggybacking on trending topics in the news or on social media, you can add your unique perspective and commentary to the conversation.

What is Newsjacking?

Newsjacking involves leveraging current events or popular topics to create timely and relevant content. This could be in the form of a blog post, video, or social media update that ties into the trending story. The goal is to ride the wave of attention surrounding the topic and attract viewers who are already interested in it.

Benefits of Newsjacking

Quickly gain attention: By tapping into a trending topic, you can quickly capture the interest of a large audience already engaged with the subject matter.
Establish thought leadership: Adding your unique insights and analysis to a trending story can help position you as a thought leader in your industry.
Drive traffic: Newsjacking can lead to a surge in traffic to your website or social media profiles as people seek out additional information and perspectives on the topic.

How to Effectively Newsjack

Monitor trends: Keep a close eye on news outlets, social media, and industry publications to identify trending topics relevant to your niche. A great resource is Google Trends or Exploding Topics to find what is trending.
Act quickly: The key to successful newsjacking is to move fast. Create and publish your content while the topic is still hot.
Add value: Don’t just regurgitate the news. Provide your own insights, analysis, or unique angle to make your content stand out.
Optimize for search: Include relevant keywords in your content to improve its visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Promote your content: Share your newsjacking content across your social media channels and email list to maximize its reach.

Long-Term Benefits of Newsjacking

While newsjacking is often seen as a short-term tactic, it can also have long-term benefits, particularly on platforms like YouTube. If you create an entertaining or informative video related to a trending topic, it may continue to attract views and engagement long after the initial buzz has died down.

Conclusion

Newsjacking is a powerful tool for bloggers and content creators looking to quickly gain attention and drive traffic. By adding your unique perspective to trending topics, you can establish yourself as a thought leader and attract a larger audience.

While newsjacking may not be a long-term strategy on its own, it can be an effective way to supplement your regular content and expand your reach.

How is newsjacking different from just posting about the news?

Newsjacking means you use a trending story as a hook, then add your own useful take.

Posting about the news often repeats what already happened. Newsjacking explains what it means, why it matters, or what to do next.

The goal is to show up while people are searching and sharing the topic. You earn attention because your content helps them understand it faster.

A good newsjack feels like “here is the story, plus the part everyone is missing.”

How fast do I need to publish for newsjacking to work?

You usually need to publish within hours, or at most 1 to 2 days, after a topic starts trending.

Trending topics cool off fast. The sooner you publish, the more likely you are to catch search traffic and social shares while interest is high.

Speed does not mean rushing out low-quality content. Aim for a short, clear post that answers the main questions and adds your angle.

If you want a faster workflow, tools like the RightBlogger AI Article Writer can help you draft and structure a post quickly, so you can focus on facts and your unique insight.

What are the best types of topics to newsjack in my niche?

The best topics connect to what your audience already cares about and has questions about right now.

Look for breaking news, big product launches, new rules or laws, major stats reports, or viral social trends. Then tie it back to a problem you solve or a goal your readers have.

Skip stories that have no clear link to your niche. If you force the connection, people will bounce and the post will not perform well.

To spot trends faster, you can use tools like Google Trends, or generate angles with Trending ideas when you need quick inspiration.

How do I add value when newsjacking so I do not sound like everyone else?

Adding value means you go beyond the headline and give a clear point of view, lesson, or next step.

Try one strong angle: what this means for beginners, a quick checklist, common mistakes, or a simple “do this now” plan. You can also share a personal example or a mini case study.

Keep it focused. One helpful takeaway is better than a long recap of the story.

Start with a strong opening so readers know why they should care. If you struggle with intros, you can use Write strong hooks to brainstorm a few options fast.

What SEO steps should I take for a newsjacking post?

For SEO, use the exact words people are searching for and answer the main question early in the post.

Put the trend keyword in your title, first paragraph, and a subheading if it fits naturally. Add a short FAQ section like this one to match common searches.

Also include internal links to your related evergreen posts, so readers have a next step after the trend fades. That can help the post stay useful longer.

After publishing, run a quick check with an SEO tool to catch missing basics. A guide like SEO Reports can help you spot easy improvements, like better keywords and on-page fixes.