It’s one thing to create content, and it’s an entirely different thing to create newsworthy content. What is newsworthy content? How do you create newsworthy content?
There are eight elements of newsworthy content. In this article, we will discuss each element that makes content newsworthy and how you can create your own newsworthy content. If you want to obtain not just blog posts on your own site, but also garner some headlines in local media or even national media, you need to understand what makes content newsworthy. While blog posts are great, headlines in the media are even better. SEO Design Chicago can help you create your own newsworthy content.
Newsworthy Content
Content is information that you are communicating to your audience, whether it be through blog posts, videos, infographics, or anything else you can think of! So much qualifies as content.
So what is newsworthy content? Newsworthy content is timely and, you guessed it, new. The alternative kind of content to newsworthy content is evergreen content. Evergreen content is content you can use anytime and it will always be relevant and valuable. Newsworthy content, on the other hand, might have to do with the upcoming election or the fast-approaching holiday season. News outlets are looking for great content from content marketers with the following news elements.
Principles of Newsworthy Content
Next, let’s go over each of the elements of newsworthy content and how you can apply them to your own content.
Impact
The first principle of newsworthy content is its impact. How does this content impact or affect the readers’ lives? How are people affected? Why do they care about this content? The answer to this question determines its impact. Ideally, you will want to answer this question early on in your content. Especially in online news, you might only have the reader’s attention for a few minutes.
Timeliness
One of the keys to newsworthy content is timeliness. Why does this story matter right now? Always make sure to emphasize the latest and newest part of the story. Don’t bore your reader at the top with old information they might already know. Say, for example, you want to pitch a story to the Pew Research Center. You will want to make sure it is relevant and timely for current events. Choose some trending topics to center your story around.
Prominence or Authority
One of the keys to newsworthy content is if it features anyone prominent. There is a reason why any time any member of the Kardashian family does anything, it is in a news story. If your content features a prominent person, like a politician, local celebrity, or notorious person, your content is automatically newsworthy. But people aren’t the only things that can be prominent. There are also prominent companies or foundations. In digital marketing, prominence is often referred to as “authority.”
Proximity
How local is this story? Despite the popularity of national news, people still care most about what is happening in their local neighborhood. (You only have to look at the popularity of the NextDoor app to see how much people appreciate knowing what’s going on in their own backyard.) That’s why proximity is important when considering newsworthy content. It is important to understand how a news story affects any given audience or group of people.
Novelty
Is there something bizarre or completely off about the story? Proximity matters less if the story is absolutely bonkers. If it’s a story you’ve never heard of before, it may be interesting to you, even if it’s not hyper-local. For example, the Associated Press has an entire section of its website dedicated to “Oddities,” or news stories featuring anything unusual or odd. These stories are oftentimes run in newspapers, even when they didn’t happen locally, because they are so interesting to readers regardless.
Conflict
Most good news stories feature conflict. Think about it like sports. We all love to watch a good conflict unravel. As they say, there are two sides to every story. So, what are the different sides of this story? What are each of their arguments? Considering this while writing your newsworthy stories will help you write a well-rounded story that a news organization might want to publish.
Topical or Trendy
One example of topical news stories is anything to do with the holidays. Around Christmas, those are going to be the most popular stories. Shortage of pumpkins around Halloween? Huge news story. Or, remember the ice bucket challenge? There are certain trends that go around on social media from time to time that become newsworthy. If it’s topical or trendy, it’s newsworthy content.
Human Interest
People love to read news stories about other real people. Why is the Instagram account “Humans of New York” so popular? Because it features real stories about real people. Keep that in mind when creating newsworthy content. A person doesn’t have to be as prominent as Donald Trump or Kim Kardashian to be newsworthy. There are interesting human interest stories all around us. If you can find a unique human interest story that is relevant to your audience that no one else has told yet, it will have limitless potential online. You can also use human interest stories as a tool to put a face to a larger story that needs to be told.
How to Create Your Own Newsworthy Content
Every single one of these principles might not apply to each piece of newsworthy content, and that’s okay! Your readers might be interested in a story that is local to them because of the proximity. However, another story might have the novelty aspect, but it might not be local. A combination of some of these factors is ideal. Any of these factors can be a selling point to local or national media to get your story featured.
For help creating your own newsworthy content, or creating a press kit, contact SEO Design Chicago today!
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