Discover two powerful techniques for endless content creation: newsjacking and lifejacking.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re an influencer, YouTuber, or business leader trying to build authority—coming up with fresh ideas is a daily grind.
People are so desperate for ideas that they’ve resorted to using AI or paying third-party creators for inspiration. I have a couple of methods that I’ve cultivated during my career in radio, podcasting, and content creation.
The first is newsjacking, a term coined by marketing strategist and speaker David Meerman Scott, who literally wrote the book on it. Newsjacking is the concept of injecting your ideas into a breaking news story so you and your ideas get noticed. Reporters are looking for experts to comment on stories, and newsjacking can get you media attention to build your social footprint and heighten your presence. CNN, Us Magazine, and Daily Mail have picked up my hot and warm takes numerous times throughout my career.
The easiest way to start is to keep an eye on hot topics. X and LinkedIn offer trending tags on their platforms.You can also set up Google News Alerts for your area of expertise and get ideas delivered to your inbox immediately.
And that’s the key: As. Soon. As. Possible. The old 24-hour news cycle is probably down to 2 hours now—the faster you move, the better. The early bird gets the coverage.
Lastly, know what you’re talking about. Stick to your expertise. If you’re not a political junkie, stay out of that world, and if you’re not already a wellness guru, don’t start now.
The other method is a play on David’s word—I call it lifejacking. It essentially means injecting your life into content.
Anyone who creates long-form video or blogs on a weekly or daily basis struggles for inspiration when they can’t newsjack because politics or natural disasters have sucked the air out of the current news cycle. This was huge for me when working in morning radio and comes in handy when writing this weekly blog.
So how do you lifejack? Start with that newsjacking mentality, but then find a way to connect the dots to something that happened in your life. You can bring up a random story that suddenly doesn’t seem so random anymore.
Back in October, I read about Erin Foster, the creator of the hit Netflix rom-com series “Nobody Wants This,” and her decision to step aside from being the star of the show because it wouldn’t get greenlit without a big star—in this case, Kristen Bell. It reminded me of earlier in my career when I put my ego aside and took a back seat to the hosts of the show I was producing and helped them succeed. Boom. Thats a blog post.
And that’s the great thing about lifejacking: if I had randomly started talking about something that happened in my career two decades ago, it would just be so… random. Instead, I linked it to something that was trending and trendy.
Your story matters. Your experiences count. And somewhere in your daily life, there’s content gold waiting to be discovered. So keep your eyes on the headlines, your mind on your memories, and start connecting those dots.
Your next viral post might be hiding in that awkward first date, that failed project, or that small win you celebrated last week. Don’t just create content—create connections. Your audience is waiting for your unique perspective.
Now get out there and start jacking (news and life, that is).
