How to Effectively Keep Up With Industry News (and Tune Out the Noise)
Keeping up with the 24-hour news cycle can be exhausting. It’s harder than ever to stay apprised of new social media trends, international news and local stories — especially because trends come and go faster than ever before.
For those who work in the culture space, it’s essential to have the information necessary to do your job well, which means learning how to tune out some of the noise. To help you do this, 10 Rolling Stone Culture Council members offer their tips for keeping up with relevant news in a productive, efficient way.
Use a Media Monitoring Tool
There are numerous ways to keep up with news in real time, but the most efficient way is by using a media monitoring tool. I’ve discovered trends, often hours or days before the rest of the industry does, by using a tool set up with real-time alerts for specific keywords and niches across the web. Every 24 hours, it sends a recap with actionable insights so my team and I can make data-driven decisions. – Josh (JetSet) King Madrid, NFTMagazine.com | NFT Magazine
Appoint a Dedicated Researcher
Our cannabis PR firm has a dedicated researcher assigned to the task of news monitoring and trend spotting. This researcher takes a regularly updated list of client and agency interests, analyzes a myriad of news sources and compiles a weekly news rundown. Being in the cannabis space means constantly assessing legislation, participating in conversations and staying ahead of the curve for success. – Evan Nison, NisonCo
Focus on the Bigger Picture
It’s essential to focus on the fundamentals of your business and not be distracted by irrelevant news. In the media today, there is a lot of noise. Here is where it’s important to stay disciplined and follow the bigger picture instead of getting caught up in the daily stream of sensational news. – Tim Haldorsson, Lunar Strategy
Unfollow Irrelevant Social Media Accounts
To keep up with relevant information, it’s important for you to unfollow all social media accounts that don’t bring you value (apart from friends and family). Restricting your social media feed to only contain accounts that will help enhance your career and mental health is absolutely key. – King Holder, PROCUSSION
The Rolling Stone Culture Council is an invitation-only community for Influencers, Innovators and Creatives. Do I qualify?
Let Customers Keep You Informed
Spend more time with your customers! No one matters more than your customers, and they’ll keep you up to date with everything that is most important to them. – Adam Ayers, Number 5
Subscribe to Newsletters
Some of the best newsletters across all verticals do a fantastic job of truncating the information, stats or updates. I am already so glued to my email (for better and worse) that the ones that come in quickly and are organized help tremendously! – Victoria Bachan, Whalar
Customize Your Twitter Feed
Everything happens on Twitter. Twitter breaks news faster than the actual news. Twitter now has topics you can customize and follow so they’ll show up in your home feed. – Jenny Ta, VitalikTheGoat.com
Stick to Credible Sources
Information is everywhere, and with fast-paced circulating news and media, staying on top of your game can seem daunting without setting healthy boundaries with how, what and where you receive information. This means knowing what credible resources you can trust to receive your information from and sticking to those resources. – Sonia Singh, Center of Inner Transformations
Scan Headlines for Major Points
In an age of 24-hour news, it’s difficult to keep up with all the information needed to do your job well. However, one trick that I have found helpful is to scan headlines in the morning while I’m drinking my coffee and in the afternoon to see what’s trending. This helps me stay apprised of national and industry news without spending too much more than five minutes on each point. – Kristin Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC
Listen to Your News
I like listening to audio news and podcasts when I walk the dogs or drive. I prefer long reads that dive deep into a topic when going to sleep. That helps me keep up with the latest news during busy days. It’s critical for my job to know about the latest news and trends, so I also read news online and in print when possible. – Elina Ollila, Live Current Media
