Social media news or social news is in itself big news. It has been blamed for skewing election results and triggering revolutions and more.
Social Media News
Social media news, often referred to simply as social news, refers to a more modern tendency to get news from social media rather than more traditional news sources. This can take many forms, whether it means reading news that people in your network have shared, reading status updates and the like, or reading news from pages that you follow.
There is nothing inherently wrong with social media news. In fact, it can be a useful lens and filter through which to receive news. Social news allows you to see not only the event or information itself but also the reaction this has among your social network. It more closely mimics the way that we received news historically before the printing press – by word of mouth.
The Danger of Social News
The problem is when social news is unreliable. Just like real ‘word of mouth’, it is hard to tell the sources with social news and to verify the quality of that news. This has resulted in a lot of what is today called fake news – inaccurate and in some cases completely false news that is spread simply for the benefit of the brand spreading the news.
Social News for Marketers
In terms of delivering high-quality content to viewers and in terms of optimizing your site for search, covering breaking news is a fantastic thing to be able to do on a website. When you cover ground breaking news, you not only give your site a sense of relevancy and position yourself as a great source of information, but you’ll also be able to start hitting the SERPs before there’s much competition there to compete with. If you do this really well, then you may even find that your site becomes a source for other websites that copy your story – which means you’ll get a ton of free backlinks.
Likewise, sharing this news to your social media channels is a great way to get more shares from your network and to establish authority as a place to get useful information.
But the question is, how do you get the latest stories before other sites? In this regard being a blogger will almost be like being a newspaper editor once again – rushing to get the latest story out while it’s still newsworthy and while you can still beat the competition. Read on to get the latest scoop before everyone else…
Look for Press Releases and Probe
Press release sites are where many companies will make their announcements, which gives you a chance to cover those stories before anyone else if you are quick. Likewise, you can also contact the press office and network with the PR teams at different companies. Attend launch events, conduct interviews and ask the right questions.
Other places to look include breaking news sites, social media (of course), local radio stations and research journals and sites where you can cover new studies that have been conducted and that may have interesting results.
Tools
Finally, there are many tools that allow you to search social networks for trending news in different niches. These can be invaluable tools as all you then need to do is to retweet or reshare. The great thing about doing this, is that it allows you to share content that is already on the cusp of going viral – thereby almost guaranteeing it will work for you.
Finding an Angle
Sometimes it’s possible to ‘spot’ a news story before anyone else, by simply making a connection or looking at something from a different angle. Maybe some news that affects the sports world could also be breaking news for your fitness brand?
You can also approach authorities to give their opinion on news and generally modify it to suit your purposes in a number of ways and thereby make it ‘unique’.
