March 27, 2026

5 Dos and Don'ts of Newsjacking

Anthony • March 27, 2026
5 Dos and Don'ts of Newsjacking

Newsjacking can, and should, be part of any content marketing strategy. It’s a powerful way to gain new attention for your business products or services, while connecting with a newsworthy event. That being said, many businesses make major mistakes with their newsjacking efforts, mistakes that hurt their business. Let’s take a look at the five big does and don’ts of newsjacking.

What is Newsjacking?

Before we dive into those mistakes, let’s make sure we’re on the same page. Newsjacking is the practice of leveraging current events or news to market your business. You create content that embraces the event.

For example, When the lights at the New Orleans Superdome went out during the 2013 Super Bowl, it took just a few seconds for people to start tweeting #BlackoutBowl. Just a few seconds later, Oreo posted a picture on Twitter of an oreo cookie sitting in the dark with the tagline, “You can still dunk in the dark.”

That is an example of newsjacking at it’s best. It was timely, appropriate, relevant, and memorable.

Dos and Don’ts of Newsjacking

1. Do Set Up News Alerts

Use a tool like Google Alerts to set up news alerts. Google alerts can be set up for industries, company names, keywords and more. Also, set up news alerts on social sites like Twitter.

2. Don’t React to Everything

Not every news story is going to be relevant to your brand or business. Make sure that you’re newsjacking content that is relevant and interesting to your audience.

3. Do designate a person, or two, to be in charge of newsjacking.

Because news happens 24/7, you need someone to pay attention to what’s going on so that they can act in a timely manner. Make sure someone in your organization is always paying attention, and checking the alerts, to make sure you’re not missing any opportunities.

4. Don’t Hesitate

Once you’ve decided to create content and newjack a story, it’s important to act fast. Newsjacking results are best when they’re immediate. The Oreo example is perfect. If they’d created that image 24 hours later, it wouldn’t have had the same impact.

5. Do Leverage Planned Events

Yes, when most people think of newsjacking they’re thinking about breaking stories or events. However, you can make real progress by newsjacking events and opportunities that you know about. For example, Charmin leveraged the red carpet of the oscars by creating a picture of a woman walking down the red carpet and the words, “Good luck to the nominees tonight. Don’t forget to look down before your speech.”

Newsjacking can be an important part of your content marketing strategy. It’s an excellent way to build your press and public relations without having to create your own news. When embracing newsjacking, make sure that you’re paying attention to what matters to your audience and following these dos and don’ts.

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