How to create content that people like. Need to make sure people know who's behind it
Even in the world of Internet marketing, there are super-specialists that not many people know about. In this article, you will learn about one of them, and also learn how to create mega popular content that will spread with a viral effect.
Neetzan Zimmerman is a genius at creating viral content. For the past two years, he has worked at Gawker, one of the world's largest blogs. Month after month, he generated more traffic than all other Gawker writers combined. He recently left Gawker for Whisper, a growing media startup in Los Angeles, where he will be editor-in-chief.
Not bad for a guy with no experience in journalism who started out by creating his own own blog, where he would post funny videos of cute cats and other crazy things. Zimmerman talks about his work like this:
"This best job in the world. “I get paid to have fun.”
Beginning of work
At Gawker, Zimmerman's job was to generate huge amounts of traffic so that other writers could focus on longer posts that required more material. Zimmerman has proven to be very good at generating a lot of blog views. Of the 10 most viewed posts on Gawker in 2013, nine were his.
Zimmerman has a list of about 1,000 websites that he reviews for ideas (updating the list over time). A typical day for him begins with slowly crawling out of bed and studying the publications that have appeared overnight, usually about 500 of them. From 7:00 to 19:00 in the evening, he remains glued to the iPad (for reading) and laptop (for writing). He works from home because commuting to the office will force him to disconnect. fast internet. “You need to be in one place in good focus, without moving, for a long period of time,” he says.
Zimmerman finds material on sites most people have never heard of. But finding stories is only the first part of creating popular content. The second part involves knowing how to find the right angle to write a great headline.
“I made a game out of it - finding stories that initially didn’t seem interesting and turning them, thanks to a good headline, into super popular ones.”
Zimmerman publishes 10 to 15 posts per day. His biggest publication on reality TV star Farrah Abraham (Teen Mom) was about 11 million views. This happened within seven months.
“There were 200 people in that position at any given time,” Zimmerman says. "This went on for several months." “I have an interest in creating posts that can be interesting and popular for several months, rather than ones that generate a lot of traffic for one day and then die off. I'm focused on playing the long game."
Most of us don't want to spend 12 hours a day sitting in a chair searching for cat videos. But if you want to learn more about how to create popular content, I recommend checking out this slide.
The article used materials from blog.hubspot.com
9 tips from the greatest master on the planet for creating popular content (if you don’t want to watch everything, tips start on slide 17, but all the slides are interesting).
You might want to read beautiful texts about pitches (we wrote) and start getting into the souls of journalists from top publications, who already sleep five hours a day. Or, conversely, dive into articles about the benefits of crowd marketing (oh no, they we also have) and lose sleep themselves, seeding and moderating content on legal and semi-legal platforms. But you opened this post, it’s about the classic seeding of content to site editors. I published 34 articles this way last year. This works if you seed the content wisely.
Perhaps the most important thing: articles are offered for publication only to one publication, and only in case of refusal of publication - to another, until the media/blog is found that will publish it. This is a key difference from distributing a press release.
Seeding articles
Choosing a site
We choose the publication that best matches our material in terms of quality and topic covered. At the same time, we try to find a balance between the quality of the site and the quality of the material.
The quality of a site is determined by three criteria:
- estimated traffic on SimilarWeb;
- average number of article views;
- average number of comments under posts.
We evaluate the quality of the material according to the following criteria:
- uniqueness - there are few or no materials on this topic, no one has approached the topic being discussed from this angle, existing materials on the topic have lost their relevance;
- practical value - the material is useful for target audience, information can be applied in practice;
- information value - information is new and relevant.
After the material is written, completely checked and proofread, its sowing begins.
I am not a supporter of agreements with editors on publication without ready-made material in hand. Many people say that they do this, but I don't believe in the effectiveness of this approach unless you have already published on this platform several times. Firstly, editors of popular publications see so much material that they have no opportunity to waste time on agreements without the subject itself. Secondly, they don't know how you write. Thirdly, they do not always understand the topic that you want to cover. Your text should help them understand and prove the importance of this topic, and if there is no text yet, then... Well, you get the idea. I also note that we are talking specifically about the media, and not about blogs. Although if a blog is really popular, its editor is no less busy than the editor of a popular media outlet.
Sending content
We find email editor/journalist/blogger and write a letter. We look for contacts on the publication’s website or in profiles in in social networks. On at this stage we pursue two goals at once: the publication itself and building/maintaining relationships with editors/bloggers. That is, each letter should be “unique”, not template.
Examples of letters.
For publications with which communication has already been established:
For publications we are writing to for the first time:
The letter must contain:
1. A clear theme. It's best to use a template:
Article(guest post, interview, material) For<название издания> / <Тема материала> (reflecting the essence of the article as briefly and clearly as possible) / <От кого>
2. Introduction (who you are and where you are from). Here you can also add links to your good publications in other rating media.
3. Short description articles: in these few sentences there is “sale of material”. It should contain answers to three main questions: “what is the text about”, “why did you decide to write”, “what is the value”.
4. We make it clear that the material is unique: “The article was not sent to anyone and was not published anywhere.”
5. We write that we are waiting for feedback on any decision: “In any case, I will be grateful for feedback».
When to Submit Content
The best days to submit content to site editors: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
Best time: From 9 to 12 am. To avoid waiting for this time to arrive, I use special extensions for Gmail, which allow you to make delayed sendings (Sidekick, Streak). In addition, such extensions allow you to track the opening of a letter by the recipient.
Feedback
We wait 24 hours for feedback. A day later we write again in the same thread. If possible, write to the editor/journalist on social networks.
If we don’t get a response within a week, we switch to another publication.
If the editor refuses placement:
- we make changes to the material if they came from the editor;
- we offer another, more suitable option, if there is;
- We thank the editor for his feedback and find out if he is okay with us periodically sending materials to the editor - we are trying to maintain contact.
Distributing a press release
A press release covers some event/news story - the company’s entry into new market, increased investment, launch of a new product/service. The most important thing for a press release is coverage. The more publications it publishes and the more more people sees the news, so much the better. I already wrote that a press release is a bad tool for small businesses, but if there is a truly significant informational occasion, it will work.
Press release seeding algorithm
We are preparing a letter template. The topic could be:
Press release for AIN / Prodvigator service raised $250K in investments / Netpeak
Hello.
My name is Roman. I'm from the internet marketing agency Netpeak.
We rarely send materials in press release format, but now we decided that the news feed is quite decent.
The topic is standard in such cases: the Prodvigator service, popular among Internet marketing specialists on the Runet, raised 250K of investments for the development of Western markets. Investments "CIS-shnye".
Full text in attachment.
I don’t know how interesting this news will be to you, but in any case I will be grateful for your feedback.
First we send it to top publications different countries. In our case it is:
- Ukraine - AIN, Forbes, Delo;
- Russia - VC, SearchEngines, Cossa, SEOnews;
- Kazakhstan - Profit, Forbes, Capital.
In the letter to top publications, we indicate that they are the first to whom we sent this news and distribution to other media will take place later. It is best to choose one top publication in the region.
After publication on these resources, we send it to others according to the list of media outlets that you should already have.
Mailbox after sending a press release to the media
The next day we publish the text on platforms for posting press releases.
What content is the most popular among users? His originality and uniqueness are unambiguous, but there are also features that can “make people fall in love” with him. It’s worth learning everything about them if you want to maintain constant attendance.
There are simple truths that always attract people
It is worth resorting to them, noting “peace on Earth”, “the warmth of a child’s smile” and so on. Even on a serious website there is a place for such ideas that will delight the visitor.
A page is a complete story, it should have an introduction and an unexpected ending
The original construction of information will force the user to go to the end to get to the outcome.
Content should motivate people
Otherwise, it will turn into a simple squeeze of information that has no meaning; push the reader to certain actions. For example:
A visit to the fitness center allowed me to lose 3 kg in a week, and affordable goji berries reduced my weight by 8 kg over the same period. Is there any point in overloading yourself?
Emotions are the secret of a modern website
What content is the most popular? One that evokes not just thoughts, but feelings. Let there be a little humor or a sad example in the text. This will give a pleasant sensation to the person, making you feel close to him.
A clear answer to the user is an error
He needs to be forced to reason independently, giving certain theses. In such cases, the page is built on the principle of discussing a particular topic.
Lifehacks - the secret to attracting young people
Unexpected actions with simple objects- an attractive prompt and a useful choice.
Construction of each page - complex action. If you take the advice of professionals, you will be able to create a masterpiece that attracts users and makes them come back again. , There is!
So you shouldn’t give up on difficulties, it’s better to go straight ahead, achieving success in different ways.