Marketing Current Events Can Help Your Campaign

In 2019, social media is how people often stay up-to-date on breaking news. This makes seeing current events on your feed a common occurrence. As a marketer, it is time to learn how to use this to your advantage.

Marketing current events, also known as seasonal content marketing, involves a brand using a breaking news story as a way to market themselves or their product. If done correctly, this can be a great opportunity for your company to gain respect as a thought leader in the industry. It can also recapture your audience’s attention by breaking up your usual flow of content.

Marketing current events provides opportunities to connect with consumers on a personal level and increase your brand awareness. However, it must be done with care and sensitivity.

Choose Wisely

The most obvious types of current events you can incorporate into your content strategy are holidays. Consumers will expect to see a holiday post from every company they follow, so use creativity when incorporating your brand image and products into the post. Be authentic in a way that will grab attention. You can also think ahead to scheduled events that you know tend to generate a lot of social media attention, like award shows.

Go beyond the expected and stay aware of breaking news stories that can be an opportunity for your business to establish itself as a thought leader. By finding events that are relevant to your business, you can apply your area of expertise and increase your brand’s credibility. If the story is still breaking, you can use it as an opportunity to explain the situation to your followers and share how your brand may get involved. However, don’t try to force a connection. If the story doesn’t relate to your business, it’s best to stay away from it. There’s nothing worse than a company coming across as inauthentic. If your company cannot provide a relevant take on the event, your content will look self-serving.

Act Quickly

When marketing current events, the key word is current. If a story breaks, you want to be the first one to get your content out. Being the first will better establish you as the thought leader of your industry, instead of a follower. You also want to gain your audience’s attention before they lose interest in the subject altogether. Waiting too long will result in your content getting lost in an over-populated feed.

To stay on top of breaking news, establish a Google Alert for keywords and phrases relevant to your brand. This will send alerts right to your inbox, so you don’t need to be constantly looking for relevant events. Using keywords that make sense for your company will remove any guesswork.

Think Critically

While you want to act quickly to get your content out, you can’t forget to put genuine thought in to what you are saying. As stated before, be sure you are crafting content that is relevant to your business and makes sense. Since this is an opportunity for widespread awareness of your brand, you want to ensure your content is the best it can be.

Above all, stay away from content that can come across as insensitive. Be wary of making jokes or overtly pushing your product around a serious situation. If your business is offering to provide useful support to those in need, that’s great. But nonetheless, be sure you are not infringing on the serious nature of the event. Be clear with your intentions to avoid backlash or controversy.

If you decide to stay away from marketing a current event, use your best judgment when conducting business as usual. It may be best to suspend a post that although unrelated, could come off as insensitive at the time.

Marketing current events can be a great way for your business to establish itself as a prominent player in your industry. Finding the right story for your business and producing relevant content in a timely manner can be difficult. If you need help establishing your brand’s social media strategy, Kraus Marketing can provide insight. Contact us today!