How to Spot Key Influencers Who Want to Share Your Content

When you hear the word “online influencer” one typically thinks of big-league Internet personalities such as Brian Solis, Jeff Bullas, and Seth Godin.  When it comes to blogger outreach, we also value a different type of influencer – the actively engaged blogger or journalist who is trusted within an online community.  
When we brainstorm for ideas, we always have the end goal in mind and try to envision our content on the site that we plan to pitch. While doing so, we do a bit of research to determine who that site’s particular influencer is so that we make sure we create something that is tailored to their interests. These actively engaged bloggers or journalists are dedicated to the niche that they report in, continuously encourage conversation amongst their readers, and strive to be the go-to source for information on a certain topic.
We  take the time to build relationships with these influential journalists and bloggers who help shape certain industries that correlate with our content.  Not only is it important for us to identify these influential connections, it is also important for us to be able to determine whether they seem open to collaboration.
One of our main goal with every piece of content is to create something that will be shared and enjoyed by the audience we are targeting. It helps us tremendously to connect with an online influencer who supports our work and is enthusiastic about sharing it with their loyal audience. In order to determine whether that person is both influential and open to collaboration, we do have a few requirements that we look for…

1. Is Their Audience Engaged?

We want our content to ignite conversations, so having them shared with a loyal audience is key.  The biggest credential we like them to fulfill is that they have their own loyal audience within the site they write for. We determine this by looking at the comments on each of their posts.
Do they typically pose a question or make a statement within their content that entices their audience to comment with their feedback?  It is always a plus when we see a long stream of conversations stemming from a post that they’ve written.  Seeing comments with more positive sentiment is a good sign to move forward with trying to begin a relationship.
As an example, Katie J.M. Barker, who writes for Jezebel, always engages with her audience in the comments. She goes beyond the typical “thanks for commenting” and instead adds to the discussion.
On the flip side, sometimes seeing how they respond to negative feedback can be even more valuable. Chances are, those who handle criticism with respectful replies are well liked via the online community.
Many huge publications have a custom-built commenting system, so be aware of how these work from blog to blog when you’re reviewing comments. When it comes to blogger outreach, theses systems can often make your job easier…
For example, Gawker Media recently introduced a new commenting system called Kinja to their 8 individual blogs (Jezebel, Lifehacker, Gizmodo, etc.). This new system brings the most helpful comments to the top of the comment thread, and moves the trolling comments toward the end. A system like this makes it even easier for us to review the valuable conversations happening, without weeding through spammy comments.
With blogger outreach, it’s pertinent to have a good idea of who is most influential from each site and spurring the most conversations. Seeing how large a following they have within their site is a great indicator, but next you’ll want to take a look at their influence outside of their site — on social media…

2. Are They Socially Active?

When profiling a potential contact, we like to make sure the person has a strong relationship with their audience on social networks. Obviously, a huge indicator for one who is actively engaged online is the amount of Twitter followers, Facebook subscribers and the amount of Google+ circles they belong to. We like to dig deeper and take an ever closer look at their social activity.
If people reach out to them via social media with questions regarding the industry that they blog about, that is a great sign that they are a trusted resource for related information. Once we determine that  they are a trusted resource for opinions on a certain subject, we definitely want them to be a fan of what we’re creating.
Another type of activity to look for on their social networks is whether or not they pose questions to their followers that allow them to contribute to a story that they are writing.  While doing so, it is also important to make sure they are receiving responses to questions that they pose– a sure sign their followers listen and are eager to engage with them. Below is a great example of posing a question that receives response, as done by  Alyson Shontell, an editor for Business Insider:

3. Are They Approachable?

While skimming their social media activity and responses to comments on their posts, we try and get a good feel for how they treat their audience.  If they seem open to feedback and tend to respond to all the social media mentions they receive, we know our chances for having the opportunity to connect with them is greatly increased.
We pay close attention to their overall demeanor. Is the person upbeat? Do they have a good sense of humor? Do they go above and beyond to help their audience? Do they seem busy and rushed when responding to others? Do they appear stressed out?  We continually make these observations about their attitude when they interact with others, and it often matches how someone responds when we finally reach out.

The Checklist

In summary, here is a simple checklist of credentials to make sure the potential contact is a good match:

• Conversation Starters. Do they typically pose a question or make a statement within their content that entices their audience to comment with feedback?
• Engaged & Responsive. Do they respond to tweets, FB comments, and/or Google + comments?  Do they respond to the comments that their readers post on their blog posts?
• Open to Feedback. Are they accepting of the comments and feedback that is given?  Or do they seem defensive?
• Upbeat and Friendly. Do they generally seem like a friendly person?

If the blogger/journalist fills these credentials and has a strong following of loyal readers behind them, you should definitely try and connect with them. Building a strong relationship with someone who has clout within a certain niche can turn them into your biggest brand advocate.
How do you spot influencers? Let us know in the comments below!

Why Your Content Marketing Efforts Might Be Worthless

I’ve been preaching the value of content for a long time. In fact, my original company, Voltier Digital, was completely focused on content creation and promotion services. We got into this industry because we were fascinated by the ability of compelling and remarkable content to spread virally via social channels.


Seeing our client’s content generate tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of views can be incredibly exciting. However, as we grew and developed our services and offerings, we became increasingly aware of how important context is to content marketing success.

High volumes of traffic and social engagement can add almost no value to your business and provide very little ROI under the wrong circumstances.  Good content marketers understand the importance of context — both the context their content will be perceived within, and the context their content will create with new viewers and potential customers.

The Context of Content Determines its Impact

Context can be understood as the environment or circumstances in which an idea or thing is understood.  People often say something is “taken out of context” when others hear the right message, but derive the wrong meaning.

As marketers, we need to be aware that everything we create is seen within some context whether we like it or not.  The messages we try to convey don’t exist in a vacuum.

Content is still king, but context shares the throne

Gary Vaynerchuk argues that a shift is taking place in marketing as a whole. We’re becoming increasingly blind to the types of advertising and marketing that may have worked in the past. Google, Facebook and the connectedness of social media are empowering a transformation for a new marketing paradigm based on the context of our messaging.

In the future, the individual impetus for consumption will come from recommendations and the exposure we get to brands within our immediate social graph.

Businesses and services recommended by our friends will trump commercials we see on TV. Check-ins and Yelp reviews will determine where we eat our next meals.  The books we read will be the ones we see our friends quoting and listing on their social profiles.

Gary would argue this shift represents a trillion dollar opportunity, and businesses who understand how to put their message within the right context will be the winners.

As content marketers, this lesson can’t come soon enough…

Context is tied to individual perspective

All content is understood in the context of our own individual points of view and past experiences.

As marketers, we should never forget how intimately tied our craft is to understanding human psychology.  Before getting into the world of search, social media and content development, my undergraduate studies focused on human development. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, my transition from psychology student to marketer was a natural and inevitable result of my desire to make practical everything I had learned.

I’m thankful for this experience and education because I’m aware of how easy it can be to stop seeing anonymous visitors as human beings.  The truth we need to remember is; we never leave our emotional selves at the door.  Consciously or not, all of our experiences pass through a filter in our minds, a filter dedicated to finding meaning and relating our experiences to knowledge we already have.

Use context to your advantage.  Trigger strong emotional reactions.

Some experiences trigger us to think.  They engage and build upon our previous knowledge or assumptions.  In some cases, these experiences challenge our beliefs, in other cases they help solidify the notions we already have.

Either way, we are always searching for ways to fit new experiences and information into the scaffolding that defines our understanding of the world.   We understand new information more completely, value it more, and keep it longer in our memories when that new information can fit into the context of a feeling or idea we’re already familiar with.

It’s our job as marketers to understand our visitors enough to realize the context our content will be seen within.

• Is the point of view we’re expressing opposing the zeitgeist of our audience?


• Is our voice being seen as sympathetic?  confrontational?  authoritative?

In any event, the content we create needs to hook our audience.  The more ideas and reactions we can trigger, the more deeply that content is embedded within our viewers minds and the more it can resonate with our viewers own unique points of view.

By hooking our audience, we make them more likely not only to interact with our brand more in the future, but we make it more likely that they’ll share the content we’ve created.

Context is tied to personal networks

Content should be seen within the context of its relationship to other people we know.

When our friends share content via social media, valuable context is automatically created — our friend has vouched for the value of that piece of content.

In many instances, our friend may do more than simply share a piece of content.  She may also comment on how that particular piece of content influenced her, made her think, or made her want.

As marketers, we should never underestimate how powerful this naturally created context can be.  In a world where we’re used to taking our cues from commercials and heavy-handed traditional advertising, the opinions and recommendations of real people we know can be highly compelling.

One of the major goals of creating content is to get people to share that content within social media.  But what we don’t talk about is how we want our visitors to share that content, and methods for influencing the context they inevitably create for their followers and friends.   In other words, we don’t take that extra step to think about the context we might help create for those visitors who consume our content by proxy of their friends who have shared it.

Influencing the Context of Shared Content

When we begin thinking about our ability to help sculpt that context, we can begin to make critical changes to the way we do content marketing.  We begin to ask ourselves questions like:

1. How can we prompt our visitors to talk about our content in the right context?


2. How can we continue the conversation with those sharing our content (to continue creating more context in a direction compatible with our brand goals)


3. Is the audience we’re promoting our content to even the right audience?  Do they have prejudices that may create negative context?


4. How can we measure and track the sentiment of our audience?  Within what context does our message resonate the most effectively?

Context is tied to audiences

Meet people where they are.  Create content that fits into the context of discussions already taking place.

As content marketers, a huge part of our job lies in finding ways to promote the content we create.

At BlueGlass, the content creation and content promotion departments work intimately together. This is because we understand how important it is to place our content within the right context.  The content we create tells vivid stories — it conveys powerful ideas and causes people to think — but most importantly, it always understands its audience.

By creating content that meets people where they are, we’re able to hook into the discussions already taking place.  This doesn’t mean all content should preach to the choir, but it does mean that great content knows how to properly speak to its target audience.  It anticipates the objections of its audience.  It anticipates the expectations of its audience.

Tying Context to Idea Generation

It’s out of this deeper understanding that ideas for content should be generated.

Consider how your content ideas might be seen by your target audience within the context of their community. This will help you predict the ways that audience will then go on to share that content with their unique audiences, and the context they will create for those new viewers.

Conclusion

It’s clear that the ability of marketers to sell is becoming more and more dependent on the context of their message.   As content marketers, we must realize that our content is perceived through the lens of personal experience, which is then further refined by additional context created through the sharing and sentiment expressed by our peers within social media.

How do you add context to your content?