This is a HUGE honor. The LinkedIn Pulse Team is highly selective when it comes to featured posts. When LinkedIn Pulse selects and promotes your content, you gain increased access to millions of LinkedIn members. For example, the LinkedIn Pulse Social Media Channel has 3,043,607 subscribers!
At the time of writing, the post has received on LinkedIn:
"Topsy is an interesting acquisition for Apple because unlike its past purchases of startups, such as HopStop and Locationary, there isn't a clear product application."
"With Topsy, the purpose is less clear. The Journal posits that it could be useful for iTunes Radio — a product that already has direct integration with Twitter Music — or its flailing iAd product. Still, the purpose of acquiring an analytics firm that is so focused on one specific social network is, in a word, odd."
"Given that Apple is a Twitter partner already, and hosts login and posting features for the social network on its iOS and OS X platforms, this seems like a confusing deal if all that it's after is the Twitter data firehose. It seems more likely that Topsy has technology or engineers (read: acqui-hire) that can parse trends in a way that Apple wants to incorporate into one of its products."
"If I had to hazard a guess, this might be related to Apple building out the relevancy engine of its App and iTunes Stores.Adding social signals to the search algorithms of its stores could help to improve the relevance of search results and help Apple surface apps that are hotter and more interesting to users. Tracking app trends across social networks would allow them to fine tune categories and collections of apps, and surface apps that are gaining steam more quickly."
My Take: Apple Wants to Know WHAT We're Thinking WHEN We're Thinking AND WHERE We're Thinking
Apple Literally Wants to Get Inside Our Heads. Their strategy doesn't just apply to selling more Apple stuff (e.g., apps, music, books, movies off of iTunes). In my opinion, they literally want to get in our heads about EVERYTHING.
"Today the Holy Grail is to deliver the right message at the right time in the right place. Of course, that's easier said than done–and breaking through the glut and getting a message to a consumer who is receptive is nothing less than daunting. Nevertheless, the tools and techniques exist to migrate to a real-time framework. "In the past, marketers had to conduct a massive amount of research to understand consumers and behavior," Vivaldi's Joachimsthaler said. 'It's now more about developing methods that allow consumers to draw a map to their doors. It's critical to capture their footprint.' "
But, Why Does Apple Want Twitter Consumer Information?
The entire chapter describes how consumers operate in a one-screen world environment. The only screen consumers care about is "the one currently staring them in the face."
Mitch further makes a compelling argument: The most important consumer screen resides on their smartphones.
Here are Mitch's thoughts on Twitter and the one-screen world (from page 99 of CTRL ALT Delete):
"Twitter's metoric rise and continued success have less to do with how many followers Lady Gaga has and much more to do with the fact that it was the first-ever online social network that worked better on mobile than it does on the Web. The sheer simplicity of those 140 characters of tweets makes it that much more workable and easy for consumers. Twitter's focus (from day one) was on connecting people as they were on the go. To this day, everything that Twitter does — from acquisitions to business strategy — is driven by a one-screen-world philosophy."
Your Turn
You May Not Agree With Me. What do you think about Apple acquiring Topsy? Does the deal make sense? Maybe, it still seems odd?
Either way, please comment with your thoughts. I'd love to hear from you.
Bottom Line: I highly recommend studying Newsjacking. It’s informative, quick-to-read, and filled with insightful how-to-examples. In fact, both books are required reading for any marketing/PR executive, business owner, or brand manager who wants to capitalize on media opportunities generated by the real-time Web.
And, We All Can Do It! David defines “newsjacking” as publishing your personal angle, ideas, or perspective into a breaking news story / event to earn media coverage for your company, brand, or products / services.
Help Journalists Write Their Second Paragraphs. When hot news strikes, journalists scour the Internet via search engines (i.e., Google) and social media (i.e., Twitter, blogs, etc.). Why? They’re seeking additional content (e.g., details, opinions, etc.) that can differentiate the point-of-view in their individual news stories.
That differentiating point-of-view or compelling content is the “second paragraph.” Journalists seek second paragraph material that:
Delivers credible, authoritative, and valuable information / perspective
Describes “why” something happened
Interprets the event’s impact and future implications
Credible Second Paragraphs Can Earn Massive Media Attention. Be fast, use targeted keywords, and provide valuable context in your Tweets and blog posts so journalists can find your contribution to a story with Google searches. Quickly writing an informative blog post and shrewdly publicizing it with Twitter may take an hour or less.
And, the impact can be huge:
“With a single hour’s work many people manage to generate more media attention than a whole year’s return on a substantial PR budget.”
“I’ve been a marketer for two decades now, and I have never seen a technique as powerful as newsjacking.”
2. Newsjacking Favors Faster, Smaller Players
Real-Time Speed is a Newsjacker’s Bread and Butter. Speed, decisiveness, and execution drive successful newsjacking. And, you must respond within the hour of a breaking news story. That’s why fast movers are great newsjackers.
David Can Trump Goliath. Plus, smaller firms can outplay their larger competitors. The Fortune 500 has the same opportunity to successfully newsjack as any other organization or individual. But, their corporate hierarchies and approval processes are handicaps.
Therefore, smaller firms can outplay their larger competitors:
“What’s abundantly true is that newsjacking is easier for nimbler players than its is for the lumbering giants of the corporate world.”
“To successfully newsjack or fend off a newsjack, you can’t wait for approval. You just have to do it.”
Newsjacking Lives and Dies by Speed. The graphic below describes the newsjacking process. Notice how speed drives the entire newsjacking process:
Tracking and staying on top of breaking news
Deciding quickly on your response
Publishing / Publicizing the response instantly
3. Chapter 6 – Ka-Ching: CEO Bags a Cool Million with a Single Blog Post
A Classic, Must-Read Newsjacking Blog Post. Joe Payne is the CEO of Eloqua, a company specializing in marketing-automation. When he learned and verified Oracle entered his industry space, he quickly wrote this blog post: Oracle Joins The Party.
There are multiple reasons why this blog post and the surroundingcircumstances make it a classic, newsjacking case study:
The post provides a valuable and quotable industry perspective
Payne crafted and posted this blog post quickly
The blog post contains verifiable details and statistics
He outflanked a larger competitor (e.g., Oracle) using new media tools
Payne’s Blog Post Earned Major Media Attention, Credibility, and $1 Million. When industry analysts and journalists searched Google for news about Oracle, they found Payne’s content-rich blog post. And, they quoted it verbatim.
In the following examples, I attached the hyperlink to the actual media coverage if the page still exists:
Business Week – Eloqua Guarantees Success for Market2Lead Clients Affected by Oracle
The aforementioned media coverage (and other coverage) increased Eloqua’s credibility. In addition, Payne and his team combined the blog post’s media coverage with immediate, next-morning business development follow-up. These combined activities brought Eloqua software deals worth $1 million in new revenue among six (6) new clients.
That’s a great outcome especially without the luxury of a multiple phase PR campaign or massive advertising budget.
4. Chapter 7: Become the Go-To Gal (or Guy) in Your Industry
Blogs Are Powerful Newsjacking Assets. Long form content achieves four (4) things:
Provides keyword rich content for search engines to index
Increases the probability journalists will find your blog post when searching Google
Delivers context rich details (hard to do in Twitter and Facebook)
Positions newsjackers as reputable and credible reputable industry authorities
Here’s a direct quote from David: “If a blog develops a reputation for serving up informed, insightful, authoritative, articulate, quotable and timely commentary on issues in your industry, journalists will learn to seek you out when issues arise.”
Knowing Your Issues / Topics Cold Leads to Long Term Credibility. Newsjack the issues and topics in which you are well-informed. That knowledge will make your newsjacking perspective valuable, credible, and authoritative.
Long term credibility is vital in building an authoritative reputation and relationships with journalists. Even more importantly, that credibility and reputation dictates why journalists may or may not seek your input in future news stories.
Why Amdocs and Jeff Barak Are Telecommunications Billing and Customer Care Industry Authorities. In Chapter 7, David describes how Amdocs and Jeff Barak used their company blog to comment on regulatory changes in their industry. Barak wrote this blog post, No Need to Be Bill Shocked, while the FCC conducted meetings in late 2010 to discuss legislation about bill shock.
Journalists searched Google for the latest news about this FCC legislation and found Barak’s blog post. His post earned coverage from industry publications (like this one from Penton Media’s Connected Planet blog post — Not Being Shocked by Bill Shock).
5. Learn from Newsjacking Mistakes: The Golden Rules
The Golden Rule Objective (Direct Quote).“When intervening in a news story you should add value – information or insight that contributes to the public’s understanding of the situation.”
The Four (4) Golden Rules. Kenneth Cole didn’t have the benefit of David’s advice before sending out that tweet. We now have that luxury:
* Be dignified and statesmanlike. See the Joe Payne / Eloqua Case Study Above (#3)
* Be positive and upbeat, never mean or vindictive. Again, see the Joe Payne / Eloqua Case Study Above (#3)
* Write articulate text in full sentences without chatty slang, industry jargon, corporate-speak (i.e., mission-critical or cutting-edge) or social media shorthand (e.g., IMHO)
* Don’t get too cute or clever — especially where human suffering is involved. See aforementioned Kenneth Cole tweet
6. Newsjackers Monitor News 24/7 Via RSS Feeds
RSS (Real Simple Syndication) Feeds Are a Newsjacker’s BFF. David describes how setting up RSS feeds to your favorite news sources, analysts, industry publications, and blogs enables real-time news monitoring. And, staying abreast of leading news events gives you the competitive advantage to respond fast. David mentions these RSS services in his book:
Google Reader
Newsfire
Fast Responders Earn Attention. Here’s a how-to video I made two years ago on using RSS (e.g., your iGoogle Home Pages) to monitor postings of your favorite blogs to increase your chances of being an early commenter on new posts. Why? Early commenters earn the author’s attention (especially if you’re the first commenter).
The same principle applies when monitoring news sources in real-time and responding quickly to capitalize on a newsjacking opportunity:
7. Learn How to Maximize Twitter’s Real-Time Capabilities
A Newsjacker’ Must-Have Weapon For Monitoring News Flow. Twitter’s real-time capabilities make it the ultimate rapid response, news monitoring tool. You can find great second paragraph content and breaking news stories by:
Catching key phrases by creating columns in Tweetdeck and HootSuite
Using Twitter’s search function
Setting up a “news” column in Tweetdeck or HootSuite (i.e., a dedicated news column focusing on all the news sources you follow)
A Powerful Fast Response Distribution Channel. When it comes to publicizing and “pushing out” newsjacking blog posts quickly, Twitter rules. Remember, journalists search Twitter to find differentiating second paragraph content.
Use Twitter Hashtags (#). Therfore, include hashtags (the pound key – #) in your tweets to mark them with the unique identifier about a particular subject (i.e., #Cairo). Remember, the hashtag, makes it easier for journalists to instantly locate in Twitter all references to a particular topic. Plus, tweets with hashtags are curated in reverse chronological order (i.e., most recent first).
Twitter Can Help You Directly Contact a Journalist. Most journalists provide or publish their Twitter ID (i.e.@firstnamelastname). Verify their Twitter ID with a quick Google search. Then, include his/her Twitter ID in your tweet so you can directly point him/her to your blog post.
David Responded to My Respective Comments in Real-Time
Speed wins in the Internet Age. David responded to my first comment in less than 30 minutes! His response to my second comment arrived in less than 2 hours. To say I'm impressed by his actions is an understatement.
Actions Speak Louder Than Words
David's responsiveness is impressive because his book talks about achieving competitive advantages by connecting with customers in real-time. Even though he was in a different part of the world for a speaking gig, he took the time to genuinely acknowledge my blog comments. His actions and real-time speed demonstrate his consistency and credibility in thoughtfully engaging and conversing with his audience.
Conclusion
Credible audience engagement occurs when you consistently practice what you preach. In the blogsphere, achieving credibility for one's individual online and professional reputations is critical. When I read David's responses, I can see these aren't cursory acknowledgments. And that means a lot to me, because I took the time to read and understand his published insights from both the posts and the eBook. This is why I often link to his blog posts and cite his content. It's also evidence of how he consistently works to engage and maintain the trust of an audience he's worked hard to cultivate.
Bonus: Links to David's Real-Time Posts and a Recent Video
When you have a chance check out David's posts because they describe the competitive advantages real-time marketing and PR can have in:
* Capitalizing on Real-World Events as These Events Unfold in Real-Time * Developing New Products and Services * Testing Marketing Messaging and Positioning With Target Audiences (before final product launch) * Understanding the Current and Future Implications for Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Here are the links and a video he's published describing a great case study in competitive advantage when leveraging real-time marketing and PR: