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Introduction This is the most actionable and concise guide in content marketing you’ve ever seen: You’ll learn how to brainstorm cool ideas, write great content and format popular articles for them to get shared on social media You’ll also read how to use ViralContentBuzz.com to put that great content in front of social media influencers to give it a necessary push This eBook is the official ViralContentBuzz.com collection of web guides put together for your convenience ViralContentBuzz.com is a web-based platform that utilizes a crowd-sourcing model to facilitate the generation of REAL “social buzz” on quality content ViralContentBuzz.com allows you to get Facebook Shares, Pins, StumbleUpon likes and Tweets from established social media accounts that are primarily outside of your normal social media channels This keep the sharing organic and gives your content REAL social signals! Not only does Google love these types of signals, but it also means more eyeballs on your content This type of organic sharing gives your content its best chance to go viral Meet the founders: Gerald Weber Gerald Weber is an Internet Entrepreneur from Houston, Texas After years of working for a local search marketing firm in Houston, Gerald decided it was time to hang his own shingle in December of 2005, when he founded Search Engine Marketing Group Although Gerald is a professional SEO by trade, social media has long been his hobby and addiction Gerald first started his love affair with social media in late 2007 when he joined StumbleUpon, followed shortly by Twitter And he has been hooked on social media ever since Please Tweet to Gerald to hear back from him: @The_Gman or Skype him as searchengineguy Ann Smarty Ann is best known for being the creator and proud owner of MyBlogGuest.com, which is the Internet’s 1st and coolest guest blogging community Ann can often be found guest blogging on some of the industry’s leading blogs like Mashable, SEOMoz, Internet Marketing Ninjas, MakeUseOf, Social Media Examiner and MarketingProfs Please Tweet to Ann Smarty to hear back from her: @seosmarty The Contents: Going Viral: Basics Explaining Viral Content *Most Important Component: How to Get Lucky (Manufacture Serendipity) Step 1: Inspiration, Brainstorming, Research Actionable Guide to Finding Viral Content Inspiration A Few Examples of Viral Titles Step 2: Formatting a Viral Article Note: What images you CAN use and how Step 3: Learning to Write LOTS of *Awesome* Content One Research => Several Articles with Originals Angles / Perspectives Old Content + New Format => New Content Step 4: Share Your Awesome Content on ViralContentBuzz.com Viral Content Buzz Basics How credits work? What is a project? What are VCB Quality Guidelines? How to get more shares for my article / project? What VCB PRO plans offer? How to customize my dashboard to only share what I am interested in? How to Use Viral Content Buzz (Case Study) Viral Marketing Generating Machine? Here’s what we are trying to accomplish with ViralContentBuzz.com: Content Marketing Cycle at Viral Content Buzz Going Viral: Basics Explaining Viral Content We all know the basic definition Viral content is anything posted online that reaches intense popularity, often in the short term but occasionally in the long It is the equivalent of becoming a household name in television, only with a wider reach that has become global The most interesting element to viral content is what tends to reach that status Some of the most random clips, images and stories have reached online infamy in the past, and will continue to so in the future Often, it brings success to the originators that they never expected, and can launch entire careers as a consequence You may think that with this wider reach and often random success, it would be easier to create viral content than ever In some ways, you would be correct The internet gives everyone an equal platform from which to launch, unlike the special channels once required for fame before On the other hand, the competition is much larger Trying to get seen over the crowd, which is literally billions of potential people, is a mighty task indeed Is There A Formula For Viral Content? Everyone wants to know the secret formula for creating viral content It would be amazing if such a method existed, but the truth is that it just doesn't There is no single way to make something popular online, any more than there is to avoid a flop Luck* is the only way it's going to happen Viral content often goes viral for unforeseen reasons Experts who claim to have the magic potion for popularity are just taking the same guesses you could be doing yourself Are There Any Tips At All? Sure, there are ways to potentially increase your chances of hitting viral status They are really just methods of improving overall content and visibility so that you are seen Which then ups the likelihood that you will be shared, then reshared, and so on until that sought after status is achieved Do something unique If you want to go viral through an original concept, rather than piggy backing on the success of something else, you have to be unique Which means doing something no one has done before, or at least something they have done in a way that hasn't been seen Keep things high quality Yes, there are things out there that went viral because they were bad But those unintentionally hit the sweet spot between "bad" and "so bad it's good" That isn't an easy feat, and you are better off making something to be proud of Be controversial It's still as true today as it ever was controversy sells On the web, where everyone has an opinion and is frothing at the mouth to share it, you can really take advantage of that fact While you should try not to be outright offensive, stir up some debate Here’s a good example of a timely controversial article that went hot on Reddit back in 2009 Focus on social marketing This one should be self-explanatory Social media is your greatest tool in going viral, so use it Catch the trends early The original Psy video for Gangnam Style attracted some lucky few early, who made their own videos Which then went viral riding the success of the original The only problem is that the longer you wait, and the more spoofs out there, the less effective yours will be Get on the bandwagon with the first boarding Don't try too hard Online users are cynical and experienced now They can smell desperation like a shark can smell blood in the water Don't try too hard, or your efforts will backfire *Most Important Component: How to Get Lucky (Manufacture Serendipity) Back to the main component of viral marketing: "LUCK" To go viral, you need to be lucky: You need to be able to publish some great content at the right time with the right people around to be able to spread the word So is there an actual way to create that "luck" Yes to an extent The term we are routinely using for that us "manufacturing serendipity" Serendipity = a "happy accident" or "pleasant surprise"; a fortunate mistake Specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful while not specifically searching for it [wiki/Serendipity] A Few Quotes Explaining How You Can Manufacture Serendipity "The harder you work, the luckier you get" "The best way to ensure that lucky things happen is to make sure a lot of things happen" "You can't automate accidental discoveries, but you can manufacture the conditions in which such events are more likely to occur" [Sam Ruby] "You greatly increase the number of opportunities you have for “getting lucky” by increasing the number of opportunities you give yourself to get lucky." [Mike Fishbein] To rephrase the above The more you do, The better your chances are to get lucky / viral That means viral marketing involves lots of experimenting, connecting to various people, seeing what others do, getting help, etc ● ● To create viral content, you need to create lots of content and lots of experiments To go viral, you need to be everywhere: Lots of connections, lots of channels, lots of social media platforms Step 1: Inspiration, Brainstorming, Research Actionable Guide to Finding Viral Content Inspiration People seem to never grow tired of “20+ Weird Something” and other obviously viral titles The key here is to find an innovating and unique angle! So why not try them if they work and entertain people (looks like a win-win to me)? Here are some effective sources of link bait inspiration: Google Search Good old Google search is quite understandably my first source of inspiration Here’s one trick I’d like to share that always works: Google wildcard search Just insert * anywhere in-between your topical search phrase and you’ll get plenty of suggested term variations right within SERPs: ● ● ● [amazing * swimming pools] for more ideas on swimming pool designs; ["what kind * are you"] for more viral quiz ideas; [weird *] just for something bizarre Quick tips: ● ● Use usual “viral list” cliches to get more ideas (amazing * word, awesome * word, weird * word, bizarre * word, etc) Note: in case Google decides to drop the word as being “descriptive and unimportant” be sure to place plus sign (+) before it to force Google to include it; For more search inspiration try Google Suggest and this cool tool: http://tools.seochat.com/tools/suggest-tool/ Google Images Google Image search allows for great visualization: you almost always can predict which type of content each listing represents: an ecommerce shop, “viral” blog post or any other Thus, you only click through if it looks like something worth attention (=saves time a lot) Look: Besides, Google images search seems much more straightforward than general search: those images that are linked to, contain search terms in alt text and file path are usually ranked higher So first pages will contain plenty of images from viral pieces like you (other types of content seldom put so much emphasis on images) Reddit and Subreddits Obviously, you can just sift through the official subreddits page if you want to But you will be going through results for a long time, and it is more a tool for browsing than finding something specific Especially if the subreddit you are looking for is obscure and less likely to have a high number of people subscribed or posting to it Luckily there are ways to help you quickly suss out these boards ● ● ● ● ● New Reddits – This feature is a quick way to check out what has just been posted more recently This is handy when you are looking for trending topics, because chances are they will be groups together as users post again and again about it Subreddit of the Day – Find out what has attracted the most attention and been named the Subreddit of the Day Metareddit – Brown by metatags, clicking on each one to get a description from the randomly generated list Subreddit Finder – Find useful tags and sort them by most promoted, active or several other specifications Subreddits – A full list broken down by larger categories Some Interesting Subreddits I have found some really great subreddits using the tools above I have found some truly bizarre ones, as well If I were to come up with a list of my absolute favorites, it would be hard to narrow it down But if you twisted my arm, these are the ones I would recommend 16 Note: What images you CAN use and how Why you are free to use just about any images for inspiration, when you are beautifying your articles, stick to images you can use to keep the trouble away Here’s a quick list of resources: Creative Commons (Please credit the author or the image page and mention the license) ● ● ● ● ● ● Smart Photo Stock (Filter by free photos when you search for images) Here's also the list of CC cartoons to spice up your blog posts: Wikimedia Commons Here’s their TOS allowing you to re-use the media Wired Creative Commons Collection; Here's also a handy list of Creative Commons Cartoons (Great for going viral!!!) Compfight / Flickr is the great tool to quickly find a great CC image on Flickr (Please make sure you select Commercial license that allows to re-use images even for commercial purposes) 17 Royalty-Free Images Royalty-Free images are those you can re-use for free, even without attribution (you can just mention the domain of the site; no actual link is required) ● ● ● Microsoft resource, which you don’t even need to give credit for, at least in so far as I read the rules MorgueFile (You are allowed to use their images Here’s the license summary) 123rf and SXC both have a great collection of royalty-free images Create Your Own Images! (the best option!!!) ● ● ● Here are a few tools for awesome screenshots Here are a few tools that let you create an image easily! Overlay photos with text: Great "viral" tactic 18 Step 3: Learning to Write LOTS of *Awesome* Content Going back “Manufacturing Serendipity”, here’s the hard truth: To see some of your content go viral, you need to create LOTS of content without sacrificing on the quality Let’s try to see how to make it doable: The keys: (1) learn to research + (2) learn to re-focus smartly! One Research => Several Articles with Originals Angles / Perspectives Let’s start with steps and follow with examples: Start your research on Google: a (1) start from some very specific keywords (like [shopping online women] or [gender differences shopping]), + use define: operator to get some more ideas on the topic (like [define:bargain hunters]) b (2) Now expand your keywords to find more information (try using ~ and * operators to include more results, e.g [~gender ~differences shopping] and [gender * shopping]) c (3) Lastly, expand your tools (try Twitter search, for example, for recently discussed articles within your topic) What if you don’t really know how to start? Here’s quite old (but still valid) guide on searching Google when you are not really sure what you want to find Use it if you *feel* you want to write something but not really sure what 19 So now that you have started your research, you are getting a lot of various interesting results: the exact article topic is forming Not all of the results you get will be useful – likewise, not all of them fit your initial idea, but many of the articles and tools you are coming across are very useful and fun! So learn to form several post ideas while doing one research Open several (notepad) files and sort useful ideas and tools are finding by topic Write several articles simultaneously That can result in a week of work, but in the end, you’ll get several absolutely awesome articles written Here’s a real life example Once upon a time I got really excited with various ways marketers are using Google Spreadsheets While doing my research of different tools and scripts they are using, I was able to find some fantastic ideas So, instead of writing one article, I wrote 4: ● ● ● ● The Easiest Reputation Management Tool (Google Spreadsheet) (This one I built myself based on the scripts I found); Essential Spreadsheets for Social Media Analytics – This guest post on Mashable was a result of the same research but I re-focused it to “Social” Three Awesome Google Spreadsheet Hacks for Marketers – This one lists *different* tools and tricks that can be applied to general marketing; HOW TO: Archive Twitter Search Results in a Google Spreadsheet (and Analyze Them!) – Lastly, I didn’t mention this tool in any of the above articles because it was too awesome and deserved a separate review The result? Four detailed and useful articles at high-profile blogs (including Mashable and MarketingProfs) – all coming from one in-depth research! 20 Old Content + New Format => New Content Or let’s put in a fancier word: Content re-packaging Content re-packaging is about expanding your initial research by creating different types of content pieces (videos, images, presentations) that opens up various opportunities of additional exposure (video and photo user-generated communities, presentation-sharing sites as well as iTunes, Amazon, etc) Re-packaging is another great way to re-use your old research into the new content Besides, content re-packaging gives you more freedom for promoting your content If you turn your content into an image, you can promote it on Flickr and now Pinterest If you turn your tutorial into a screencast, you’ll get great exposure from Youtube (and other video sites if you have more time) Types of content re-packaging Content re-packaging is one of my #beeverywhere strategy (= managing to be around the web while staying productive) I’ve been using for ages Here are a few types of re-packaging: Images (Infographics, Cheatsheets, visual quotes, etc) ● Additional marketing opportunities: Pinterest, Facebook, reddit.com/infographics, more ● Additional value to your brand: More visual context around your brand We now have a social web that is dependent in many ways on visual content People are more likely to share photos, and we even have Pinterest leading the way in image based social networking Turning content into images is a great way to both freshen it up and give it a boost on the social web Images with captions and a link to the post are perfect for Pinterest and Facebook, for example New images representing those posts are great for Twitter Then there are the holy grail of online images: the infographic These puppies have become extremely popular, and people routinely share them with others You can pack a lot of data into an infographic, and the more informative it is the more likely it is to go viral Everyone should be adding infographics to their usual output on a regular basis 21 Infographics Tools Tools like Piktochart and Infogr.am are easy to use and have a ton of features to customize it to exactly what you want These are social media powerhouse pieces, and very shareable on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest, to name a few Comics tools: Strip Generator and Simple Diagrams Break your content down to the bare essentials and draw up some fun cartoons Not only are these a great way to repackage a post, but they are widely shared and can be entertaining, as well They are also great for sites like Pinterest, just as infographics are Not to mention, they make excellent portfolio pieces that show off your creative diversity Ebooks ● ● Additional marketing opportunities: Amazon (free Kindle books), iBooks, etc Additional value to your brand: The ability for your users to take your brand offline (when traveling, for example) It has become very useful to offer free ebooks on your website, including those that can be “bought” with a tweet or share A quick way to create an ebook is by taking old posts from your blog and turning them into chapters My personal recommendation is to turn “series” into digital books to make them more topical Apps like Zinepal and EbookGlue make it easy to this Just make sure you properly edit it into a book format, including a table of contents section and page 30numbers MyEcoverMaker allows you to design stunning book covers and then create the 3D version all in one shot Videos ● Additional marketing opportunities: Youtube (and other video sharing sites) + A comparatively easy way to rank in search (Google gives a lot of love to Youtube videos) ● Additional value to your brand: The ability to keep user longer on the site; more branding opportunities Oh, videos…it is so easy to waste an entire day on YouTube, isn’t it? It is time to tap into that widely held addiction and make your own These don’t have to be very sophisticated It can be as simple as running a tutorial with visuals, or even just a slideshow with a voice over 22 It is less about being fancy and flashy, and more about offering up that information in a more easily digestible, original way One of my favorite examples is someone who takes popular CreepyPasta stories and reads them out for people on YouTube These get a ton of views, despite the content being available elsewhere That is the power of re-packaging something into a video Tool: Screenr (online and free!) You can make a video with nothing more than a voice over, or even a text representation of your post If you really want to get professional you can an actual tutorial, using either a video capture of you showing how something is done on your computer, or through a recording of you doing something in real life Video sites like YouTube and Vimeo are perfect for hosting them, and it will gain a lot of attention this way Animoto is another cool way to create a quick and stunning video It combines text, music and photos Here’s a good example of simple catchy video you can at home! Podcasts ● ● Additional marketing opportunities: iTunes Additional value to your brand: The ability for your users to take your brand offline (when traveling, for example Who doesn’t like listening to something while on the beach?) Podcasts are becoming a more standard form of media on blogs these days A lot of people will automatically record them reading out their content and post it along with the original for people to have multiple ways of keeping up with content Personally, I think these are a great way to engage with your audience However, they can be a bit time consuming to create Make sure you have the best possible tools to make the process simpler Podcast Producer More blogs have been using this one lately, and I think it is a great idea Plenty of readers are short on time or have to multitask So having an alternate way to enjoy content that is more passive works well to keep their attention Have posts offered in podcast form, just a simple recording of you reading off the content You can offer it for download, or have a media player on the site that lets them listen to multiple posts in a row without taking the time to queue them up themselves 23 Here are a couple of ideas for both videos and podcasts: ● ● Interviews – Sometimes there is a topic that is ripe for discussion that you have written about in the past Those make great interviews, which you can directly connect to your old content Finding people in the industry to give their perspective will put a fresh spin on something already covered Plus, it can increase you visibility by tapping into another person’s audience, and foster a long standing professional relationship with the subject of the interview Plenty of guest posting gigs have started thanks to a single interview Remember that the exposure goes both ways Google Hangout and Webinar – Want to really engage? Try a webinar, a seminar that is held over the web Set a date, start promoting, and take all of that old content to be a part of the lectures There are many kinds of webinars you can hold The first is a single speaker format, where you present the information and conduct all talks Another is an interview style, where you have a guest you speak to in front of the audience, and possibly engage that audience into asking their own questions There is a panel discussion with multiple people, who speak directly to the audience on your behalf Or there is an interactive, fully engaged version where you have open discussions and activities with your audience You can decide which is best for you And again an example! Once I decided to look into and compare TOS of most popular social media sites That took me at least a day of reading, dropping results into a table and then compiling a post In the end, I was much more knowledgeable about what you cannot on social media But that’s not the only benefit ● ● ● I did a guest post on how to avoid getting banned on social media Then a couple of weeks later I compiled the same research into a nice-looking social spam infographic (which drives really good traffic from Pinterest by the way); Lastly, I wrote a case study on I created and promoted that infographic using MyBlogGuest new Infographics Gallery If you work both hard and smart, you can achieve some great results and improve your content strategy greatly! 24 Step 4: Share Your Awesome Content on ViralContentBuzz.com ViralContentBuzz.com is a free platform that allows you put your content in front of industry influencers in a most unintrusive way Here’s a quick-start guide to try the platform: Here’s a detailed video screencast you want to check out before moving forward Viral Content Buzz Basics How credits work? ● ● ● ● Your follower counts determine how many credits you earn as you share content within the VCB dashboard As you earn credits by sharing, you build up a “bank” When you submit your own project to VCB, you’ll need to allocate some or all of your credits to this project (you call it “budget” although I think “pool” is more reflective of what it is) VCB members share your content, which earns them content from the pool you’ve allocated to your project Remember that their follower count allows them to earn higher ● 25 amounts of credits as they share, but this is okay; you’re willing to give up credits for a tweet from someone with 100,000 followers, while a share from someone with 500 followers only costs you credit If your content goes so viral that you run out of credits in the pool for that project, the project is paused until you allocate more using credits you’ve earned yourself from sharing other members’ posts Twitter 100-999 = 1000-4999 = 5000-9999 = 10000-49999 = 50000+ = Facebook 250-499 = 500-999 = 1000-2499 = 2500+ = What is a project? A project is your article you would like people to share on Twitter and Facebook To add a project, please provide: ● ● ● ● ● ● The URL of your page; Its title (will be included in a Tweet when anyone shares it on Twitter) Its description (will be included in a snippet when anyone shares it on Facebook) The category of your project (to target most relevant users and shares) The budget of your project Which social media networks you want users to share it on ***All projects are moderated to meet VCB quality guidelines What are VCB Quality Guidelines? At ViralContentBuzz we are dedicated to delivering the best possible quality: we want you to never come across spammy low-quality content You’ll only be offered to share great and engaging articles that have huge viral potential 26 All submissions from new members are manually reviewed by moderators What will NOT be approved to be shared here: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Weak-in-content articles (that have no unique style or visual appeal); Ad-stuffed and / or made-for-links articles Articles directly promoting affiliate products (such as affiliate product review posts) Any sales page directly promoting a product or service Content that is overly promotional in nature Press releases A home page of a business website or blog Articles with irrelevant exact match in content links leading to a sales page Articles that are stuffed with the same keywords over and over for SEO purposes Anything that the VCB staff in their discretion deems to not be “quality” Anything asking users to download something What will be highly appreciated here: ● ● ● Unique and original articles that catch an eye and engage; Trending and popular topics with your personal perspective (apps, tools, DIY, infographics, etc) Articles or content that is either extremely useful, interesting or entertaining Viral content is defined as “becoming very popular by circulating quickly from person to person, especially through the Internet“, so before adding a project, please give it a thought: “can it go viral”? Our platform is NOT designed to help everyone get free social media votes It’s aimed at generating buzz around GREAT content How to get more shares for my article / project? When adding a project, select three most relevant categories (not just one) Set the highest project budget that you can afford When the shares start slowing down, that may mean your project is moved down from the front page: You can move it back up by adding 30 credits to it To get more shares, you can go PRO! 27 What VCB PRO plans offer? With our PRO plans you get: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The moderation queue priority (your project will be reviewed within a couple of hours), Extra credits to put towards your project, Google Plus button to get more genuine shares, A more detailed social media statistics of your projects The access to PRO forums The upcoming feature is the RSS submission support where we’ll be pulling articles from your RSS feed, review them and publish them without you having to login to VCB How to customize my dashboard to only share what I am interested in? You can select your favorite categories in Settings -> Edit profiles to better target your dashboard Each time you click “My Dashboard” it defaults to your favorite categories (you can click through to “All Categories” from there) How to Use Viral Content Buzz (Case Study) I was trying the site at its early stage with one of my half abandoned site (The one that had content but I had never time to promote it) Here’s the screenshot: 28 The project was pretty-well seeded on StumbleUpon and if you look at its StumbleUpon reviews, it got quite a few natural likes there which must have meant it worked! If you look at traffic sources, StumbleUpon is its largest source now: Viral Marketing Generating Machine? No… Whenever you see someone call their site / service like this, run! I say, this little case study is perfect illustration of how Viral Content Buzz should work: It just seeds a couple of initial votes and let your content quality the rest for you! The better content, the more odds you have to get more shares and likes! Here’s what we are trying to accomplish with ViralContentBuzz.com: ● ● 29 Use the platform to put your best content in front of influential social media users It’s tough to be alone and website owners usually are What works? How to get attention? You can’t just build something and wait when it’s discovered The Internet is huge – you can’t hope your gem will be found by accident (I mean, there are accidents of course, but come on! that’s a poor marketing model)… Viral Content Buzz is the most “unintrusive” way to “pitch” your content to social media users Mind that we encourage our users to be selective, so if they share your articles, that must mean you are on the right track! Use the platform to *test* your content… Not all my articles did well on SU; some of them did better on Twitter than Facebook… Depending on how your content spreads within Viral Content Buzz, you can mildly adapt your efforts For example: ○ ○ ○ In my case above (if I cared more about that site), I’d go ahead and use some love from StumbleUpon Paid Discovery Or if I saw it was getting more traction on Twitter or Facebook, I’d consider other types of social media advertising Or if I saw it’s doing well on Pinterest, I’d go ahead and use that to grow my Pinterest network (liking, thanking, following those who support my staff)… ViralContentBuzz.com is not an automated machine… Nor is it supposed to *fake* it that your pages enjoy some social media love It’s the way to get discovered and move forward accordingly (if you deserve it) It’s meant to show you the direction 30 Content Marketing Cycle at Viral Content Buzz Lastly, like with any social media tool or platform, there’s no real value unless you interact, so we highly encourage our users to: ● ● ● ● ● Favorite and sometimes retweet Tweets you got from our members Like Facebook updates and Pinterest Pins Add users who share your content to friends and interact with them regularly Participate in our weekly Twitter chats every Tuesday, 12 pm EDT via #VCBuzz hastag here: http://twchat.com/hashtag/vcbuzz Join our Google Plus Community to get more shares, friends and learn more content marketing tips and tricks We help you get additional exposure to your content and you can use that exposure to grow your social media following at the same time!