the hunter / gatherer
DESCRIPTION
Influencers prefer sharing content they find themselves. Here's how to break into their headspace with your brand and content without directly pitching them.TRANSCRIPT
The Hunter/Gatherer
Why influencers hate the pitch and what you can do about it
or on Google+
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I have a
confession
I’m terrible at
PowerPoint
No seriously…Like…
BAD atpowerpoint
So please don’t judge me
I have another
confession
Despite having sent
thousands of
personalized outreach
emails
And my team of
outreachers having an
active contact list of
approximately 15,000
bloggers and journalists
I can still count on
one hand how many
times I have accepted
an email pitch for my
own websites
So why is that?
A lot of them are great
emails
http://bit.ly/1luXH1h
And it’s not like I write for
the New York Times…
I gave this a think
Asking coworkers,
friends and family
My conspiracy
theorist uncle
knew who to
blame
“Obviously
Obama has
something to
do with this…”
But seriously…
I blame my
instincts
Always on the
hunt for the next
big thing
Here’s Joe…
Here’s Joe with a toy
squirrel in front of him…
Here’s Joe thinking he’s
hunting an actual squirrel…
We enjoy the hunt
for the next thing,
just like Joe prefers
to chase actual
squirrels
Here, you can tweet this:
“I can’t believe @stentontoledo
just compared me to his dog…
What kind of conference is this?!
#SearchLove”
Here’s me in high
school
I was “really cool”
I was a music snob
(and still am)
While my friends were
listening to…
I was listening to…
I LOVE finding new
music and sharing it
with my “tribe”
An Example (circa 2001)
Example (circa 2001)
Scenario A
Friend: “Wow Rob, you’re such a musical influencer
and tastemaker, I worship the ground you walk on”
Me: “Have you guys heard of this new band, The
Strokes? They’re incredible, total game changers”
Example (circa 2001)
Scenario B
Friend: “Hey Rob! Check out this new band The
Strokes! They’re blowing up in England!”
Me: “Yeah they’re alright, I guess, man, whatever”
A quick experiment
Apple > Microsoft
Python is far superior
to JavaScript
The Shawshank
Redemption is a
better movie than
Titanic
This local roasted
organic fair trade
coffee is far superior
to Starbucks
>
Local craft brews put
generic macro beer to
shame
We’re all snobs about
something
Alongside being a music
snob, I’m also a content
snob
A lot of journalists and
influencers are the
same way
They want to find it first
In content discovery
No effort = No reward
We don’t want to share a
rotten meal with our tribe
What I’m not saying:
• Email outreach is dead
• Bloggers and journalists don’t want to hear
from you
• We must try and trick people into sharing
our content
• That the Moon landing was faked
Things aren’t that bad…
Most decent outreach
sees response rates
around 40-60%
“You’re happy with 50 percent? You’re on top, and
you don’t have enough. You’re happy because
you’re successful. For now. But what is happiness?
It’s a moment before you need more happiness. I
won’t settle for 50 percent of anything. I want 100
percent. You’re happy with your agency? You’re not
happy with anything. You don’t want most of it, you
want all of it. And I won’t stop until you get all of it.”
We should be working
for that other 50%
But when promoting to
the other 50%...
We need to be less
like this…
…and more like this
But it helps to be a bit more clever
We must plant the idea but
not take any credit for it
Great… but how?
Three Main Points
1. Find out where your
“important people” are
hanging out
2. Don’t be afraid to get
exclusive
3. Get more creative with your
promotion
1. Find out where your
“important people” are
hanging out
2. Don’t be afraid to get exclusive
3. Get more creative with your
promotion
People will likely talk
about where they
spend their time online
• Web forums they hang out in
• Twitter chats where they participate
• Sites where they contribute and
comment
• Communities they identify with
Where in the world are
your influencers
Rand Fishkin
• /r/AskScience• /r/eli5• /r/LifeProTips• /r/Fitness• /r/Food• /r/Fashion• /r/Art• /r/Economics
Rand Fishkin
Rand FishkinLikes:• Nicholas Cage
• Pictures of birds that people have
photoshopped arms onto
• Cute pictures of puppies
• Business related topics
So we built this…
And it worked…
OK but seriously…
A real example
@carson_ward
A real example• Hoping to break into the tech
space
• Wanted to get featured on high
profile blogs
• Wanted influencers to share
socially
A real example
A real example
So they kept it
simple…
A real example• They did some research using their
own data
• Wrote a post that appealed to a
specific audience
• Kept it relevant to current news
• In total about 8 hours of work
http://bit.ly/1jLVGA7
One seed in front of the right
people
The spoils of victory• ~70k pageviews
• 116 domains sent traffic in 24 hours
• Coverage in major media (Ars, Pando, Reddit)
• ~500 social shares
• More journalists believe them to be an authority
with future stories now (credibility increase)
1. Find out where your “important
people” are hanging out
2. Don’t be afraid to get
exclusive
3. Get more creative with your
promotion
• Nothing makes journalists salivate
more than exclusives
• The right exclusive story can make a
career
• Exclusives still give the perception of
influence, even when pitched
Exclusives
Giving an influencer a
head start with your
content can make
everything easier
The rest of the internet
“Well if [insert major publication] covered
it… then we better get something up
about it as well”
Exclusives
Exclusives make
bosses and clients
nervous
But we can
remove a lot of
the risk
Exclusives
- @Britt_Klontz
“The ‘exclusive’
conversation needs to
start way before the
content or story is
complete”
• You should have the idea in front of
several influencers early in the process
• Subtlety hint that you’re shopping the
idea around (competition)
• Figure out who is most interested and
give them exclusive access to the
finished product
Exclusives
• Interesting proprietary data
• A high quality piece of content
• An anecdotal story about your business
• A new product or service release
• Interviews with high level employees
What makes a good exclusive
1. Find out where your
“important people” are
hanging out
2. Don’t be afraid to get
exclusive
3. Get more creative with your
promotion
Email is
overwhelming
journalists
“I am someone with upwards of 5000 unread
messages at any given time” - @jordancrookhttp://tcrn.ch/1edhgd2
Even the best
brands and
coolest content
can get ignored
Think outside the
inbox
Creative Promotion
• Snail mail
• PR stunts
• Creating a mystery
Creative Promotion
• Snail mail
• PR stunts
• Creating a mystery
When was the last time
you got something fun in
the mail?
Snail mail• Previous efforts saw a response rate of only 10%
• Had over 70% of people activate the turntable via
their smartphones
• 42% clicked on a link to the Kontor Records
website on their phones
• Covered by SPIN, TrendHunter and Hypebot
(double whammy, coverage and conversion)
Creative Promotion
• Snail mail
• PR stunts
• Creating a mystery
But wait…
There’s a real thin line
between true creativity and
over the top craziness
An extreme
example
PR Stunts
OK realistically, you’re
not creating a drone
delivery service but…
…there’s a lesson here
• Timing is everything – the drone stunt was right
before Black Friday, all eyes on Amazon
• It doesn’t need to be “real”
• Keep it related to your brand
• Find a hook, something that will really grab the
attention of the media based on relevance
The cheapest PR stunt
I’ve ever seen
PR stunts don’t have to
be expensive like the
drone, they just have to
be smart like the ‘now
hiring’ sign
A well done PR stunt
feels really ripe for
coverage
Creative Promotion
• Snail mail
• PR stunts
• Creating a mystery
A boat's a boat, but the
Mystery Box could be
anything! It could even
be a boat!
In this world of social /
transparent / storytelling
/ open book branding…
(which is great)
Brands have become
Kimmy Gibbler
But they should occasionally
be like the guy from Twilight
“Humans naturally want to
finish the story”-Matt Summers, @mattsummers
http://slidesha.re/NUqSPG
Sure, HBO could have
emailed Jacob and
told him some fun
stuff about the new
show but…
>
How much more exciting is it
for him to share that surprise
with his readers?
Don’t be the
shithead at the
party who tells
the birthday kid
what you got
them as a gift
We want to unwrap the
mystery ourselves
Key takeaways
• Play into the psychological elements of how
influencers choose what to share
• Seek a high level exclusive before mass
promotion
• Create a mystery around new and exciting
things you’re working on
People like to hunt
Give them the
opportunity
