3 Ways to Get Influencers To Share Your Content

Wouldn’t it be great if you could get other bloggers, industry influencers, and relevant companies to share your articles for you?

It’s not as hard as you think.

The key is providing a compelling reason to share your content.

And I’d argue that the easiest way to do this is using flattery. Everybody loves compliments, right? If someone wrote an awesome article about you, wouldn’t you want to share it around? I know I would.

With that in mind, here are three ways you can craft your content to encourage others to share it for you. As you write your next article, try one of the following strategies:

 

Quote Experts In Your Field

This is a no-brainer. Email a ton of the best people in your industry and ask them the same question. For example, I might ask, “What are your favorite non-traditional social profiles for SEO and branding purposes?” My article could then be something like 11 Experts Share Their Favorite Non-Traditional Social Profiles.

Make sure to explain the kind of article you’re pulling together in your email and make it clear the kind of names you’d be featuring. Don’t be bashful if you already have someone big onboard -- it’s more likely to convince others to submit their answers too.

The genius of this strategy is that everyone you quote has some skin in the game. Every time one of those experts shares the article, you’re expanding your organic reach and earning industry credibility along the way. Just remember to follow up after you’ve published to alert them to the finished product.

Loz James at WordTracker has a great example where he quotes 33 SEO experts on their link building tactics.

NOTE: If you’re not getting any bites on your emails, you can literally just dig through the blog posts of experts in your field and find the quotes that tell your story.

Highlight Awesome People or Organizations

Everyone loves to be complemented. Find some people or companies worth shouting out and give them some space in your article. Explain what makes them stand out and link to their website (everyone loves backlinks).

The benefits here are fairly obvious. Companies are likely to return the favor with a retweet or a share.

When I shared 12 Twitter Tools to Take Control of Your Online Reputation, I emailed and/or tweeted people from every single company on that list. I got retweets from Canva, Buffer, RiteTag and a handful of others. Their enthusiasm completely catapulted my article without much of my own additional effort.

Piggyback Off Someone Famous

This is a fun way to shout out someone famous and piggyback off their existing success.

I might write something like 11 Ways Canva Has Completely Changed My Career. I can expect a bit more traffic thanks primarily to the name recognition, but more importantly, it might convince Canva to share my content. They’d love to have a glowing article like that shared around.

The best part about this tactic is that the person or company you shout out doesn’t have to be directly involved in your industry. In fact, you might intrigue even more people if they aren’t related. Wouldn’t you be interested in 7 Tips From Geico’s Gecko on Improving Your Online Reputation? 

(Hmm... maybe I'll write that next.)

No, Geico’s Gecko hasn’t written anything about fixing online reputations -- don’t quote me on that -- but he has plenty of fun quotes out there from ads and whatnot. By pulling insights from those commercials and relating them back to online reputation, I can make a fun article that still gives readers important lessons about online reputation management. No guarantees on getting the lizard to share your content though…

Closing Note:

When seeking extra attention for your articles, it can be tempting to use crazy titles and even crazier content. But remember, it’s important to keep your blog in line with your brand. It would be pretty disappointing if your next article blew up but didn’t quote portray you the way you wanted. Get creative but don’t forget that you’re building your online reputation along the way.

How to Increase Blog Traffic

Sure, an active blog can increase your website’s authority, but we don’t publish written content in a vacuum. We want other people to read our work, like it, share it, and link back to it again and again. These social signals and backlinks are a critical part of improving search results and the way we’re perceived online.

So how do we drive more traffic back to our content?

Here are some of my favorite strategies:

Social Sharing

Perhaps the most obvious way to get people to see your content is to share it on social media. Post it on Twitter with a couple of popular hashtags. Share it with your connections on LinkedIn. Give it a chance to shine on Google+ and Facebook.

I suggest that you share a combination of your own articles along with those of peers in your industry. That way, you don’t come across as wholly self-promotional and people come to respect you as a source of interesting aggregated information.

My other suggestion is to set up an automated direct message on Twitter using Crowdfire. My direct message thanks new followers for following me and then points them in the direction of my most recent article or latest project It’s a good way to get traffic from people who have already shown an interest in your content.

Repurpose Your Content

I give an in-depth look at repurposing content on Day 17 of this challenge. To reiterate briefly, the idea is to take all your hard work and repackage it for another audience on another platform.

You can turn your article into a slideshow, use the content to answer questions on Quora, or republish on another publishing platform like LinkedIn Pulse or Medium. As you explore these options, try to remember to link back to your original article. You’ll direct more traffic back to your website and encourage people to read/learn more.

Comment on Blog Posts

Bloggers see a lot of comments, but the truly illuminating and remarkable ones are few and far between. If you can keep your comments consistently high quality, you’ll get the attention of the author and other viewers as well. This is an easy way to increase your visibility and start the networking process for guest posts in the future.

Your comments on industry blogs can also impact your reputation in a negative way. Be careful not to link to your articles too much -- the last thing you want is to become known as spammy and self-promotional.

Share in Communities

Sharing your article in communities is different than just sharing it on social media. Have you ever explored those LinkedIn Groups? What about Google+ Communities? If not, you’re missing out on a big opportunity to get your content in front of an engaged audience in your industry.

The nature and style of your conversations are going to depend on 1) the specifics of your online brand and 2) the social norms of the social network.

For specific examples of starting conversations within social media communities, read Day 24 of this challenge.

Paid Promotion

Paid promotions can be an incredibly useful supplement to a solid ORM campaign. You can earn engagement on Twitter, grow a wider audience of followers on Facebook, and send more traffic to your articles thanks to Stumbleupon or Outbrain. For an in-depth look at paid promotional campaigns, check out Day 25.

Bonus: Explore Your Own Ideas!

Have you thought about sending out a regular newsletter to your email contacts? 

What about sending direct messages to your connections on LinkedIn? 

How about this one...

When’s the last time you took a good look at your email signature? Chances are, it’s been a while.

Most people send out dozens of emails every day. Your email signature can be a terrific way to unobtrusively get important information to people who matter in your professional and personal lives.

Consider adding a line that encourages people to visit your blog or connect with you on social media. For reference, I’ve included what mine looks like here. I’ve recently added Bitly links on each hyperlink so I can keep track of how many clicks I’m earning. 

Have some other fun ideas for driving traffic? Let me know in the comments :)

How to Get Published on Major Web Publications

There could be a whole course on getting guest posts on third party publications. There’s a lot to learn about list-building, pitching, and maintaining editor relationships.

At the risk of oversimplifying, today we’re just going to tackle the basics.

1. List-Building Publications

The first step to getting published is to know the places you want to target.

If you already have some ideas, jot them down now. Is there an industry blog you’re particularly fond of? Could you publish on your company blog? What about the blog of an organization you’re involved with? A publication you have a connection to?

Get your ideas down and then it’s time for a little external research.

Do a quick Google search for the best blogs in your industry that accept guest posts. I might try “the best reputation blogs that accept guest posts” but I could also try marketing, social media, or something similar.

Then, do your due diligence. Once you find a list of sites, look them up to make sure they’re legit and their content fits in with your brand (and the content you want to pitch them!) You might want to check the sites out on compete.com to learn how many monthly unique visitors they get. You can also check them out on mozrank to figure out the authority of the page (i.e., how valuable it is for you to be on there.)

Of course, remember that getting on a decent site in your industry is better than none at all. Baby steps.

2. Find Pitching Requirements

The next step is to look up the requirements for pitching to particular publications. Some places ask for a specific subject line or certain formatting requirements. Ignoring these directions is the easiest way to get rejected.

This is easier than it sounds. When I search “techcrunch post guest post requirements,” the first thing that comes up is A Guide To Guest Columns On TechCrunch, a whole page on this written by TechCrunch for bloggers like us.

3. Building a List of Editors

Muckrack is a tool we use at Brandyourself to get access to email addresses of editors, reporters, and writers. I find this tool invaluable, but if you don’t have this kind of access, there are a couple of things you can do.

• Look up the masthead. Do some investigation online to find contact info of the editors. Some publications will have names and email addresses right there on the Team page. Others will just have the names, but you can search them online and often find their contact info no problem. It’s not as if publications are exactly hiding from .

• Use submission forms. Some publications, like the Huffington Post, have submission forms where you can pitch your blog post without having an editor’s contact info.

4. Draft your pitch.

The last step is to draft the email you’ll be sending out.

Here are some best practices I’ve learned from experience:

1. Use an engaging and simple subject line. I like GUEST POST: Name of the Title Here.

2. Address the person by name.

3. Explain quickly what the article is about and why it’s important for the publication. Maybe it hasn’t been covered yet. Perhaps it’s super timely. Or it’s right in their wheelhouse.

4. Keep the email short and sweet. Imagine if you had to sift through hundreds of these every week.

5. Copy and paste the article (with copyright free, cited images) directly into the email. I attach the word doc too but this extra step is useful because I’ve had editors tell me they don’t open attachments.

5. Send ‘Em Out

Once you have your list of editors, your publication requirements, and your pitch, then it’s time to send out your emails. Even with a terrific piece, this is primarily a numbers game. Remember that this is basically the email equivalent of cold-calling until you start developing some real relationships with these people. Try following up several days later and don’t be discouraged if you don’t get a nibble on your first try. It might take a few more articles and a longer list of editors before you begin forging those editorial connections.

Time to Write Your 3rd Blog Post!

Writing day!

Run through your list and find another topic you’d like to speak about. If you’ve come up with some new ideas since you made that list, feel free to add them -- that’s what the list is for!

IMPORTANT: This time, do not publish your article on your blog after you are done. Keep it as a saved document and we will revisit it in a couple of days when we are ready to pitch your article to third party publications. Many won’t accept an already-published article.

Third party publications?

Yes, that means we are going to try to get this article placed somewhere besides your blog. It might be an authoritative industry publication, your company blog, or something else entirely.

This is killer for your brand -- you’ll become a published author on a credible external blog -- and the article (or your author page) will have a chance to rank independently in search results.

So, try to write about something that would have broad appeal in your industry. Something that would fit in well with prominent niche blogs in your industry. 

Here are your assignment goals:

• At least 500 words (aim for longer if you can)

• An engaging style that matches your brand

• At least one interesting image

• An engaging headline

• Try to link back to previous articles if appropriate

Tips

• Need help finding free images? You can always use the Creative Commons filter when searching on Google, or just use this free image resource.

• Read your work over OUT LOUD as if you’re speaking to your target audience. You’ll be surprised at the things that sounded fine in your mind but sound weird as hell when you speak it out loud.

• Make sure you cite sources when appropriate. All you need to do is hyperlink to the site when you would typically footnote.

NOTE: Again, do not publish this article yet. Many third-party publications won't accept already-published content and we don't want to ruin your chances.

9 Solid Ways to Repurpose Existing Blog Content Into New Media

Today is a choose-your-adventure kind of day. I’m going to explain a variety of ways you can squeeze more value out of your already-existing blog content. Then you’re going to choose a few of your favorites and get to work growing your audience.

First a quick explanation…

Will duplicate content hurt me? No, duplicate content is not likely to get you penalized unless it is spammy or keyword-stuffy. Naturally good content repurposed elsewhere is a perfectly acceptable way to get more eyeballs on your content and direct traffic back to the original publication.

→ Try to choose at least 3-4 of the following options that make the most sense for you!

1. Republish

By republishing your content on other platforms -- like Medium or LinkedIn Pulse -- you extend your reach by taking advantage of already-existing communities. You can put a link at the end of your article saying “originally published on....” to help drive traffic back to the original article and your website.

Medium and Pulse are great, but also look for niche blogs in your industry that allow republished content. The first few articles I published on SocialMediaToday.com were ones that I had already written for my blog. They were months old but got a new burst of traffic thanks to the renewed interest from their readers.

2. Share Your Content in New Ways

Nobody wants to see you tweet the same title over and over. Find tweetable one-liners in your article that you can share on Twitter and link back to your article. Or, share your article with a few engaging sentences as status updates on LinkedIn and Google+. Remember, you want to make sure you fit in with the style of the social network.

3. Answer Questions on Quora

Answering relevant questions on Quora is an easy way to spread the reach of your blog post and provide real value to people who need it most. You can give a short answer and provide a link back to your full article for those who want to read more. For more on this, check out Day 16.

4. Summarize and Outline

You can also take your content and post summaries of it on sites like Medium, WordPress.com and Blogger. Remember to link back to the original article!

5. Turn Your Article Into a Slideshow

If you’re not on Slideshare, you’re missing a valuable opportunity to promote your articles and build your brand. There are over 70 million professionals on there, sharing and viewing slideshows on a variety of topics. Featured slideshows can get thousands of views -- and you can bet a percentage of that will click through to your website.

Second, Slideshare tends to rank incredibly well in search results and it looks professional to boot. The fact that Slideshare is owned by LinkedIn doesn’t hurt either. Check out Day 12 for a step-by-step guide to transforming your article into an awesome slideshow.

6. Turn Your Slideshow Into a Video

If you made a killer slideshow, why not animate it by turning it into a video? It’s great original content for your Youtube or Vimeo profile. This is really easy in Keynote, where you can add transition effects from slide to slide and textbox to textbox. You can even add audio to make your video really shine. Stay tuned for a more in-depth discussion of this on Day 19.

7. Turn Your Slideshow Into Shareable Images

Slides can sometimes exist by themselves as individual images and still make sense. Classic examples are slideshows that have quotes, tips, or interesting facts. If it makes sense for you, export your slides as individual images and post them on visual profiles like Instagram, Pinterest, and Tumblr.

8. Craft Bespoke Pinterest Pins

You can always share your article on Pinterest using the default image, but you might encourage more engagement if you make a custom pin for your articles. Use Canva’s kick-ass presets to quickly transform your article’s image into an amazing vertical Pinterest pin. Stay tuned for a more in-depth look at bespoke pins on Day 20.

9. Make An Engaging Infographic

Got an interesting stat or two? You can turn them into a terrific infographic (I recommend Canva -- they have awesome templates for this) and can even add it to your article to help make your point visually!

Do you have any suggestions that are missing from this list? Let me know your favorites in the comments below.

Tips for Writing Your 2nd Blog Post

It’s time to crank out your second article!

Check your list and find another article that excites you. Remember, we want to aim for at least 500 words, so pick something you’d have fun writing about.

The same assignment parameters apply here (see below), but there are some new aspects to think about now that you've already written your first post.

Linking Back to Previous Articles

This time, try to think about how this article will link back to previous ones.

Let's say you're a personal trainer. Wouldn’t it be awesome if, in your article on insane fitness workouts, you could naturally add a link in the introduction back to your first article on the importance of stretching and warming up? You’ll be naturally directing traffic back to your own articles -- and you’ll actually provide more value to the visitor.

This kind of natural interlinking is also important from an SEO perspective so it's a good practice to get into.

Want an example? Look what I did in the intro of this article :)

Tips to Keep Your Reader's Interest

First person writing helps to tell a story. Short, snappy writing is much easier to read than walls of text.

Focus as much as possible on providing value for your target audience and making that value easily digestible.

I love this quote by Neil Patel:

"Reading a sentence is like holding your mental breath. You can only last so long before you start to pass out. 

Shorter sentences help readers take lots of breaths -- and that keeps them interested."

Fleshing Out Your Brand

Write what excites you but be brand-aware too.

As you start to fill up your blog, you are fleshing out your personal brand. That's great!

I suggest that you remain aware of the types of posts you're writing. How are you portraying yourself? What do readers learn when they scan through your blog's titles? 

In one sense, it's good to write about what interests you. If you feel strongly about a topic, your passion will probably ooze off the page. If you don't give a shit, your readers won't either. 

But it's also good to be generally aware, in a meta sort of way, how you are portraying yourself with your posts.

Let's say you're still a personal trainer and you're trying to get the word out about your training services. You're not a nutritionist, but you feel strongly about great nutrition. It relates to your brand as a thoughtful personal trainer so you write a post about it. 

If you write a few more posts about nutrition, you've suddenly made yourself out to be more of a nutritionist to the online world than a personal trainer. It's a small shift, but one that could impact your business.

Here are your assignment parameters:

• At least 500 words (aim for longer if you can)

  • Why: Quality is the name of the game here. Length is just one consideration of a quality blog post, but it’s still a factor. If you can say everything in 100 words, then you probably didn’t choose an appropriate topic. Plus, all else being equal, longer articles are more likely to be shared on social media than shorter ones. I usually go for 700+ if I can, but again, quality is most important here.

• An engaging style that matches your brand

  • Why: You may know I’m a fan of conversational content, but this won’t necessarily fit everyone’s brand equally. Consider who you’re trying to reach with your content and write with them in mind.

• At least one interesting image

  • Why: Content with relevant images gets 94 percent more views than content without.

• An engaging headline

  • Why: A failed headline is a failed article. If your headline doesn’t encourage anyone to click it, then nobody sees your article and where’s the fun in that? Spend at LEAST a few minutes drafting up a few headlines and finding your most engaging one. If you need tips for writing a great headline, read my article, “Don’t Waste Another Headline -- 4 Psychological Tricks To Get You Clicks.”

Tips

• Need help finding free images? You can always use the Creative Commons filter when searching on Google, or just use this free image resource.

• Read your work over OUT LOUD as if you’re speaking to your target audience. You’ll be surprised at the things that sounded fine in your mind but sound weird as hell when you speak it out loud.

• Make sure you cite sources when appropriate. All you need to do is hyperlink to the site when you would typically footnote.

Activity Recap

→ Go through your list of blog topics from Day 7 and find one that you’re most excited about.

→ Spend the next 60m researching, writing, and editing your blog post.

→ When you’re done, go post it on your Blog! Remember to embed your image(s) and fill in the SEO information in your plugin.