Surf 'n' Hijack - how to ride the media wave and what does news hijacking have to do with it?
Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash
There are those moments when you are dealing with a new topic and suddenly it is picked up by the media, publicly discussed and even negotiated. Anyone who takes advantage of this fortunate circumstance and jumps onto the media "wave" to get involved in the discussion is doing nothing but agenda surfing. You can rely on your luck, or you can actually anticipate this wave with a few tricks. Now, take your whole team with you on the next ride. Here you can learn how:
What is Agenda Surfing again? And who is hijacking whom?
Before we will discuss the how, a short terminology: Agenda Surfing, as a derivation from Agenda Setting, comes from the media and communication sciences. Agenda Setting describes the targeted "setting" of topics at a certain time or within a period of time. Agenda Surfing, on the other hand, is mainly about finding an agenda that has already been set and using it for yourself to get involved in the existing or future discussions. That can be a topic that is currently circulating in the media or is in the process of being emerged. With the right timing, you can thus create your own content in the media by using thematic trends - speaking metaphorically - you jump onto a theme or wave.
Agenda Surfing is particularly suitable for social media communication because it allows you to react to topics quickly. As a good example, one can mention the role that Twitter has taken on in global political communication. Currently, the Corona crisis shows how Agenda Surfing is often used in political communication to generate coverage for one's own topics (keyword: election campaign). Of course, Agenda Surfing is especially suitable for classic and online PR.
A strategy that is completely designed for speed and is especially suitable for social media communication is news hijacking (or: newsjacking). Appropriate daily news are literally "hijacked" immediately after they first appear and are used for recalibration towards one's own topics. This makes the strategy particularly suitable for short-term and creatively condensed placements of content in order to achieve a viral effect - no wonder, since the term originally comes from marketing. Compared to Agenda Surfing, news hijacking is far less predictable and difficult to plan and predict in terms of content but if successful, it can reap large coverage and results.
It does take some practice and a bit of reflection; because of the short half-life you should weigh up carefully which news are serious and therefore useful, and which are not.
So what is it all about?
Those who jump on current topics with their own content have the great advantage that target groups no longer need to be convinced of the importance of the content itself, since the public is already introduced to the topic. Due to the given relevance, one’s own message can be placed without detours. To a certain degree, this can be planned by observing which topics are currently becoming more important. Therefore you should always pay attention to the topics your target groups are trending and most engaged with
Usually topics are present in the media for several weeks. This means that relevant topics must be observed (media monitoring) in order to react quickly with your own message. Relevant topic days, events or other repetitive events should be also taken into account because they are suitable for long-term planning of content. In addition, it is worth taking a look at the editorial and topic plans of the media to filter out relevant focal points. Using tragic events, such as criminal attacks, natural disasters or traffic accidents, for Agenda Surfing is an absolute No-Go.
Triple T‘s - Tools & Tips for topic monitoring
Just as the sea is always moving, so dynamic is the nature of daily media events. To make sure that an overview isn’t lost at this point already and that small as well as large or even newly emerging topics are continuously checked for their potential, the use of monitoring tools is essential.
A small free Surf 'N’ Hijack setup can be made up of a few simple instruments. They just have to be able to provide a quick and intuitive overview of the relevant media or communication environment. In the first step, this can be done by subscribing to selected newsletters of major daily newspapers or topic-specific magazines in combination with setting up alerts, which are automated notifications. Additionally, one can monitor Twitter trends or use the hashtag #journorequest for English-speaking media. The online kiosk Blendle (recently acquired by Cafeyn) and the news service Nuzzera are suitable for fast digital access to newspapers, journals and magazines. The mix of alerts with defined subject areas and keywords, Twitter trends and seamless access to relevant newspaper articles can thus provide a quick insight into which ideas and events are currently circulating and which actors are involved in the case. Other important resources are editorial theme plans, media data for online and print media, event calendars for relevant trade fairs, and national and worldwide action and theme days. For detailed analyses and long-term media monitoring, paid tools such as Talkwalker, Cision or Webbosaurus are worthwhile.
How to involve colleagues and react quickly at the same time?
The team is irreplaceable to identify suitable content for the Surf 'n' Hijack. That's why every employee should know their colleagues well and be familiar with their working methods and main areas of interest . Ideally, each member of the team should be dealing with different or even complementary target groups. In combination with the right tools, this allows you to find connectable topics in a flash and follow them in real time. This not only avoids a bottleneck in the procedure of finding relevant content, but also enables you to access completely new news through internal expertise or carry them to the right people.
In the long term, this can create a team culture that does not feel like a group of lonely fighters, but is characterized by support and involvement.
Conclusion
Agenda Surfing is a good and successful method to take up topics and use them for your own press work in long or medium term. It requires attention, a comprehensive overview of your own clients, creativity and above all the willingness to plan ahead.
At first glance, news hijacking appears random, but a closer look reveals how much work, commitment and instinct for potential events, creativity and ingenuity are behind it. Well-rehearsed teams can master these many requirements particularly well and will be rewarded for their success with short but very high attention for your brand.