research-backed methods for creating highly-engaging content
TRANSCRIPT
RESEARCH-BACKED METHODS FOR CREATING HIGHLY-ENGAGING CONTENT
Kerry Jones | A4 Advanced Analytics & Advertising, May 24, 2016 | [email protected] | @snarkandpepper
MEET FRACTL
WE SPECIALIZE IN CONTENT MARKETING
CAMPAIGNS THAT GET MASSIVE
EXPOSURE
• Our clients’ content has received thousands of
press mentions and millions of social shares
and impressions
• Data-driven approach to content creation and
publisher outreach
• Research on viral marketing, influencer
marketing, and content marketing
YESTERDAY’S MARKETING
TODAY’S MARKETING
THE CONTENT MARKETING BOOM
SUPPLY HAS OUTPACED THE DEMAND
50% of articles received less than 8
social shares
IS MORE CONTENT REALLY THE ANSWER?
ONE CAMPAIGN =100S OF PRESS MENTIONS
“PERCEPTIONS OF PERFECTION” CAMPAIGN
http://frc.tl/1MGRnEU
THE RESULTS WERE SHOCKING
HOW IT STARTED
DURING THE FIRST WEEK…
CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS
TRADITIONAL MEDIA REACHED OUT
High-Authority Press Brand Awareness Consumer Engagement Inbound Leads Conversion
High-Authority Links Increased Organic Rankings Inbound Traffic Inbound Leads Conversion
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?
Our highest performing client campaigns are 8x more likely to have a strong emotional hook than low performing campaigns.
“IN THE LANGUAGE OF THE VISUAL WEB, WHEN WE SHARE A VIDEO OR AN IMAGE, WE’RE NOT JUST SHARING THE OBJECT,
BUT WE’RE SHARING IN THE EMOTIONAL RESPONSE IT CREATES.”
– ABIGAIL POSNERHEAD OF STRATEGIC PLANNING
PART 1: THE EMOTIONS THAT MAKE MARKETING CAMPAIGNS GO VIRAL
IS A BARBIE BODY POSSIBLE?
56,000+ Social Shares
250+ Publisher Stories
6,000 Comments
Is a Barbie Body Possible?
CASE STUDY
THE HORRORS OF METHAMPHETAMINES
CASE STUDY
3.9 Million Views
The Horrors of Methamphetamines
1,200 Publisher Stories
750% Organic Traffic Increase
RESEARCH
THE EMOTIONS THAT MAKE CONTENT GO
VIRAL
Key Finding: Certain emotions are better than others at driving people to share.
• High-arousal emotions are the most essential piece of shareworthy content.
• Complex or contrasting emotional experiences result in higher levels of arousal.
• An element of surprise is a key ingredient in shareworthy content.
http://research.frac.tl/viral-emotions-research
Top 10 Emotions
CERTAIN EMOTIONS WERE EXTREMELY COMMON.
Bottom 10 Emotions
WHILE OTHER EMOTIONS WERE EXTREMELY UNCOMMON.
98%OF THE IMAGES EVOKED A POSITIVE EMOTION, ONLY
2% WERE NEGATIVE.
CONTRASTING EMOTIONS INCREASED THE EMOTIONAL IMPACT
EMPATHY ACTS AS AN EMOTIONAL MULTIPLIER FOR CONTENT THAT ELICITS NEGATIVE EMOTIONS.
INTEREST, SURPRISE, AND AMUSEMENT ACTas emotional multipliers for
positive emotions.
ADMIRATIONWAS COMMONLY FOUND IN HIGHLY SHARED IMAGES, AN UNEXPECTED RESULT.
PART 2: THE ELEMENTS OF SHARE-WORTHY CONTENT
ORIGINAL OR NEWSWORTHY
ORIGINAL OR NEWSWORTHY
Total Domain Authority: 32,012
Publisher Stories:
1,860Social Shares:
91,741
MOST POPULAR CONCERT DRUGS
Notable Pickups:
PROVEN SUCCESS
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ashleyperez/global-beauty-standards
Total Domain Authority: 28,603
Publisher Stories:
590Social Shares:
Over 1 million
PERCEPTIONS OF PERFECTION
Notable Media Pickups:
TRENDING STORIES
Total Domain Authority:
5,758Publisher Stories:
120
Social Shares:
4,350Asset:
Parallax
DIGITAL VANITY: A STUDY OF 100 CELEBRITIES AND THE #SELFIE REVOLUTION
Notable Media Pickups:
VISUALLY ENGAGING OR INNOVATIVE
What types of content do you wish you saw more of?
Total Domain Authority:
1,627Publisher Stories:
245
Social Shares:
13,872Asset:
Interactive Map
AVERAGE READING LEVEL OF PEOPLE BY STATE
Notable Pickups:
BROADLY APPEALING IDEA
BROADLY APPEALING IDEA
COMPARISON OR RANKING
POP CULTURE REFERENCES
POP CULTURE REFERENCES
RELATED TO YOUR BRAND/INDUSTRY
PART 3: HOW TO COME UP WITH SHARE-WORTHY IDEAS
Does this content need to fit within a
certain section of the sales funnel?
Are we looking for social engagement,
traffic or both?
How much time and budget do we
have to produce this content?
BEFORE YOU COME UP WITH IDEAS, ASK…
RESEARCH: WHAT’S EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT?
Research popular content using these tools:
ü BuzzSumo
ü Reddit
ü BuzzFeed Trending Content
ü What’s Trending
ü Facebook Trending (right column in your News Feed)
ü Twitter Trends (left column of your stream)
WHAT’S EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT?
WHAT’S EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT?
WHAT’S EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT?
WHAT’S EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT?
WHAT’S EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT?
MAKE SENSE OF YOUR RESEARCH
What sub-topic is the most talked about?
Can we tie a popular topic to recent news?
Any topics that have been covered that still have questions?
Any content that we could execute better?
LOOK FOR GREAT IDEAS THAT FELL SHORT
Sometimes poor production or lack of promotion kept a great idea from gaining traction.
Can you improve upon the idea with:
• Better data: More current, in-depth, or authoritative
information
• Better visual assets: Higher quality or more detailed
EXAMPLE: WEALTHIEST PEOPLE CAMPAIGN
IS YOUR IDEA EMOTIONALLY APPEALING?
The idea should have a strong emotional hook that incorporates one of the top 10 viral emotions.
Also incorporate at least one of these:
• Interest: Is the idea engaging and clever?
• Amusement: Is the idea entertaining and fun?
• Surprising: Is the idea unexpected or novel?
PART 4: HOW TO TURN YOUR IDEAS INTO CAMPAIGNS
STEP 1: GATHER DATA
• Internal data: for example, a recruitment company could release
their data on trending jobs)
• Surveys or polls: Crowdflower.com, SurveyMonkey.com, and
Amazon Mechanical Turk)
• Public data: combine datasets to reveal interesting trends and
findings
Google Data Search Engine
Data.gov
/r/DataSets
/r/OpenData
Science.gov
Datahub
Europeana Labs
FINDING DATASETS
BUILDING YOUR OWN DATASETS
Survey ToolsSurveyMonkey.com
CrowdFlower.com
Mturk.com
THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX
STEP 2: PACKAGE YOUR DATA IN VISUALIZATIONS
TABLEAU PUBLIC
GOOGLE CHARTS
CARTODB
MAPS
GIFS
GIFS
LIVE MAP
PART 5: HOW TO GET YOUR CAMPAIGN PUBLISHED ON POPULAR WEBSITES
"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” – Benjamin Franklin
PUBLISHER RESEARCH
A SURVEY OF OVER 500 TOP-TIER PUBLISHERS
“Too many submissions we get are clearly just pitches for a company, attempting to masquerade as thought pieces, a press release dressed as a guest post.”
— TechCrunch guest post policy
VOLUME OF PITCHES
Some top-tier writers receive up to26,000 pitches per year.
About how many pitches do you receive per day?
ONLY 5 STORIES PUBLISHED A WEEK
45% of writers publish one story perday on average.
how many stories do you write on average?
THE ODDS ARE AGAINST YOUR PITCH
Only 11% of writers said they “veryoften” write a story based on contentthat was sent through pitches.
Hoe often do you write a story based on something that was sent through a pitch?
WHAT THEY’RE LOOKING FOR
Other common phrases included:unusual angles, interesting data,compelling content, and trendingtopics.
What characteristics does theperfect piece of content possess?
TYPES OF CONTENT THEY WANT
Articles, infographics, mixed-media,data visualizations, images, andvideos are the most-wanted contentformats.
What types of content do you wish you saw more?
EMAIL YOUR PITCH
81% of writers prefer you send yourpitch through email.
On which of the following channelsdo you prefer to be pitched?
NO ROOM FOR MISTAKES
85% of writers are likely to delete apitch based on spelling andgrammar errors, regardless of thecontent’s quality.
How likely are you to delete a pitch based on a spelling/grammar error, regardless of the
content’s quality?
HOOK THEM WITH A GREAT SUBJECT LINE
85% of writers said that they openan email based on its subject line,so your subject line is your bestcall-to-action.
Do you open an email based on its subject line?
PUBLISHER SURVEY
More than 50% of publishers arelooking to be pitched with a subjectline that is descriptive, specific, andabove all, tailored to their beat.
Great subjects lines are…
KEEP IT SHORT
Almost 90% of publishers want apitch between 100-200 words
What email length do you prefer?
SEND PITCHES IN THE MORNING
Almost 70% of writers want to bepitched in the morning hours.
what time of day do you prefer to be pitched?
NO MORE THAN 2 FOLLOW UP EMAILS
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER: CASE STUDIES & KEY TAKEAWAYS
6-MONTH CASE STUDY: MOVOTO
1-YEAR CASE STUDY: REHABS.COM
SHAREWORTHY CONTENT IS NOT A SILVER BULLET
Be realistic about what this type of content can accomplish.
• Garner high levels of brand awareness
• Attract “top of funnel” prospects
• Generate interest in a product or service (harder to do, but not
impossible)
KEY TAKEAWAYS
ü Certain emotions and emotional combinations are vital (Remember: positive,
contrasting, surprise, amusement, interest)
ü The right idea is crucial (newsworthy, emotional, relevant to your brand, proven
success)
ü Taking a proven, systematic approach can greatly increase your content’s
potential for success
