Just Say No to Inappropriate Newsjacking | Martech Zone
Channel: Martech Zone
Date: 2014-08-15

https://martech.zone/distasteful-newsjacking/ - If you've not heard the term newsjacking, it was penned by David Meerman Scott:

Newsjacking - the process of injecting your brand into the day's news, creating a twist that grabs eyes when they're open widest. 

I'll add News "Hacking" as a term where there's no connection between the news and the brand - but companies try to make one anyway:

News Hacking - the process of taking a huge news story that's drawing a lot of attention and writing content about the topic to try and capitalize on the traffic and notoriety - even if it's totally irrelevant to your brand. 

Recently, the United States tragically lost a celebrity and it skyrocketed in the news, across social media, and every website. While many brands and individuals took time to write articles and share incredible stories about the celebrity, some marketers went over the line.

My LinkedIn feed was packed with articles with names like "5 Lessons Your Brand can Learn from [insert celebrity name]".  Ugh... absolutely distasteful. Utilizing a tragedy to try to sell your brand is nothing short of disgusting. You may get your brand some attention, but it's going to be negative attention that leaves your brand where it should be... at the bottom of anyone's decision to do business.