In the old days, content marketers would just run to the idea store when they ran out. That got expensive. Now, they’re newsjacking – spinning recent news releases in a way that makes them relevant to your business and its customers.

1. Get alerts

The easiest way to monitor the news is to 1) set your homepage to a reliable news source, 2) sign up for monthly and weekly newsletters from media outlets that cover the industries you are interested in, 3) bookmark your favorite blogs, or 4) set up an RSS feed that includes all of these. That will make it easy for you to spend a few minutes each morning reading up on the latest. After a while, you will develop a well-rounded knowledge on the state of the economy or the state of your industry and topics will come naturally. You won’t find yourself rushing to a random site when you need a topic in a hurry.

And if you don’t have time to write about topics right away, don’t worry! As we discussed in a recent blog, 4 Tips for Content Marketers Battling Writer’s Block, you can stockpile your resources for future reference.

You can also use tools to monitor certain terms or keywords related to your industry. Businesses are constantly sharing news stories and content resources on Twitter and Facebook, so getting connected through social media isn’t a bad idea, either.

2. Read up

Once you’ve gathered information, do your homework. You don’t want to talk about it until you know what you’re talking about! With newsjacking, the most important thing to remember is that incorrect or incomplete information will reflect poorly on you. Find the story’s source, get your facts straight, read people’s opinions and read different angles. That will also make it easier for you to establish your own angle.

3. Write fast… or slow

There are obvious benefits to being one of the first businesses to blog about a new topic. Your content will become a resource for other businesses, establishing you as an expert of sorts. So write quickly when you can.

But on the other hand, we get it. Few people have time to drop what they’re doing to write about a news release the second it breaks. And not every business has a large content marketing team. In fact, many have just one employee that specializes in content creation. If you arrive fashionably late to the newsjacking party, write it better than the people before you did! Instead of regurgitating, make it more targeted to a specific audience and include in-depth, industry-specific examples.

But whatever you do…

Stand out! Because people have already written about this topic, you don’t want to just be another face in the crowd… or another link in your customers’ search results, I guess, in this case. Your angle is your chance to shine. Consider what makes this content interesting for your specific audience or industry, and spin the story that way.

Ask yourself:

• How will the news affect you or your client’s business? For example, each time Google changes its algorithm it affects businesses everywhere. And when the news breaks, each business is wondering the same thing: how is this going to affect what we do? This is your blog’s golden opportunity to guide them through the change.
• How will it impact society? If so, it’s valuable content that everyone will be interested in. You can establish yourself as an industry thought-leader or valuable source of information to your readers by being the first to blog about it.
• Does it support or justify your line of work? Use it to argue one of your business’ main points, like why mobile POS is more than just a modern fad or why warehouses should stick to barcode readers instead of implementing RFID technology.
• Does it add on to or complement content you’ve already written? This paves the way for an update on a previous blog or the next installment in a series. You can’t just educate your readers on a topic once and then leave them hanging! As information updates, so should your content.

So, what’s your angle?