Cornwall SEO

Content Marketing Blog

Lyndon Antcliff

Analysis of an SEO story going Viral on Twitter

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I tweeted, The Future of seo. From one of the UK’s top seo companies, Freshegg.com

The following retweeted the story.

Catnboots
lloydcooke
webaddict
mimojito
tyno
BWelford
Bukowsky
notifyneal
casspa

The total number of followers these account represents around 21,000 people. Is there going to overlap, as in the same person following twice? Probably. Are everyone of those followers going to be online at that time? Doubtful.

How many of the remaining number actually click through? I cannot calculate, but the webmaster of the targeted website cam. From there they can construct an idea of conversion rate of a retweet.

It remains to be known the value of a story going viral. My definition of a viral is where someone passed a story on that another person had picked up.

This story has obviously a highly focused audience and not likely to leek into the mass market. But not many people need to see it to be a successful post. Sometimes I have found only one person needs to read a post for it to be successful.

We don’t yet know the power of a retweet, but those who have spent their lives steeped in the world of the viral for the past few years know something very interesting is happening.

We can feel the heat, even though we cannot measure the burn effect of the viral.

Building Twitter Real Estate

Which leads me to another aspect. How do you get people to retweet your stuff. Most of the principles of linkbait apply here, you give people the reason to retweet.

Most people don’t get that. I do a lot of training and it’s amazing how such a simple, fundamental aspect of online networking gets overlooked.

Give people a reason to reteet your stuff.

I don’t have time to go into this in more detail, but here’s a clue. The above accounts all retweeted the story. Do you think they are worth following?

Do you think tweeting quality information is going to get you retweeted?

Do you think they will be motivated in any way to tweeting this story?

I know a lot of social media marketers wished I would stop blogging and giving away all the tricks. But I just can’t help it, I love to share 😉

You can follow me on Twitter if that is your desire here

What is Social Media :Part 3

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This is an unplanned and off the cuff series I am doing regarding Social Media and its definition, which is still in a state of flux. Part 1 and 2

It’s all about the conversation.

Not the product, not the service, and certainly not how wonderful you are.

What do you think a good conversation is? One person talking all about themselves, or trying to sell you something or being obnoxious and wafting offensive odours at you?

Good conversation flows, it’s owned by the two or more parties involved in it.

It is not where you announce something. That is not what a conversation is and that is why a lot of PR professionals have difficulty in making it work for them.

What I have learned over the years is that to be a successful social media marketing practitioner, you have go visit the tribe, sit down with them, talk their language, follow their customs and after a period of time become one of them. Then you can tell them about the cave over the next hill which is selling all kinds of goodies.

Empathy, understanding, experience, knowledge, all prerequisites if you are to converse with the tribe. And let me tell you, conversing is not a right, it is an honour. Bestowed upon you after dues have been paid.

Sitting down and breaking bread with a Chili Dorito munching, coke guzzling, Warcraft playing, Linux using inhabitant of certain social bookmarking sites is really beyond the reach of the expensively manicured fingers of the PR hustler, and that’s just the men.

Unless they become one of the them, at least for a short period.

Of course the interesting thing is the real players in the social media marketing industry have come from the SEO world.

Who else is going to empathise with a 2 hour discussion of light sabre techniques.

Linkbait Ideas

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You might want to check out Magnetic Web Content, for more ideas.

These web content ideas were first published in Linkbait Coaching last October. Note: this was around the Olympics, banks were not yet evil, the £ was strong…etc. Oh how things have changed.

What’s rubbish about being British
Wired costs $10 a year to subscribe in the US and $70 in the UK
I am sure there are others, only a matter of looking. Make it geek centered, the fact that the iPhone hit the US first, movies get shown in the US first. Bad teeth, drunk slags on a Friday night, drunken brawls on a Saturday night, 13 year olds tooled up with butchers hatchets and machettes stalking the streets, Daily Mail

There could be a follow up post about how great it is being British, exchange rate for the US$, etc…

Best Criminals in the world
Who is bad out there and really good at it. I guess the bad ones are in prison, but a few are running around spending their ill gotten gains.
A list of those who seem to have gotten away with it could be interesting and fun.
C’mon, who hasn’t dreamed of being bad.

Christians vs Atheists
Christians are good because they are told to be by God, whereas atheists are good because they want to be.
You have to be careful with this one, you may annoy people with a certain belief system, but it’s kinda tongue in cheek and not meant to be taken seriousy. But, you will always get someone who will take offense, so you have to weigh up the consequences when you create content that pokes fun at group of people with a specific belief system.
You could also included a list of all the Christian sex scandals which take place and how they seem to have more scandals than Pagans.

How many Ferraris is your house worth now? – Property bait
It used to be that a Ferrari was worth more than a house, now it’s the other way round. The house I am in is worth 3-4, but that may change due to market conditions.
Comparing like for like can be interesting if using incongruent items, such as a house and a car. To view something in a different way can pique interest and be attractive.

20 Weird Sleep walking events – Health
I like this one as it would be fun to research and write. I thought about it because a three year old called Max got out of bed in the middle of the night, pick up some cash off the kitchen table, opened the door and went to the shops to buy some sweets. Not really sleep walking but I know there are a ton of weird and funky stories out there.

Which Banks Suck – Or – The Top ten worst Banks – financial
Search for each bank on google adding the word “suck” at the end of the banks name, then make a list out of who has the most.
It’s not scientific, but it could be fun and it’s accurate and not libelous.
You could actually do this with any much complained about sector.

Worst Boxers ever – Sport
Find out which boxers have had the most knock outs and rank them with a bit of sarcastic blurb about them.

Most influential magazine covers of all time – media
There is a contest going on in London at the moment covering this, might be interesting if you put together your own list, got a few links on it and then when people come to search for the term guess who ranks?

Best photos of storms ever – art
This is one of those heavily Stumbled collection ideas, they tend to get a huge amount of a traffic and a few links. It’s easy work for a nice Alexa spike.

20 of the worst Jobs in History of the Internet – geek/jobs
Taking inspiration from Baldrick’s Worst Jobs in history, why not apply it to Internet Jobs, has to be a ton of loathsome jobs out there, like the person who has to sort through Bill Gates’ hate emails.

Olympic Sports that shouldn’t exist – sport
I can’t think of any off the top of my head but aren’t there weird sports like, beach volleyball (got one) that are bit touch and go if they should be in.

How Many Laptops do you Have?

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A lot of people have said that twitter is a great place to get content, feedback, etc.

So, I realised I had too many laptops, I have four and thinking about getting a Macbook. So I aksed on twitter, How many laptops do you have?

I instantly got a bunch of replies which I have posted here.

@cindyscottday
Luv my Macbook. Go for it.
actually, I didn’t tell you I have 2 laptops. My 1st, a Mac Powerbook, is almost nine years old and still going great.

@nick_thompson
I had an iBook which is now my fiancée’s and I now have a MacBookPro (2-3 yrs old). I’m fighting the urge to buy a Netbook though!

@ManiKarthik
A Macbook pro, A Toshiba satellite, An HP and a Dell. So four.

@louiebaur
I have two pc laptops and am currently working on my mac. Not a macbook though it a Imac:)

@peteyoung
three at present, like you still considering the mac…..

@gravesie
I’m one behind you with 3 – one has been in the copboard for about 7 years however.

@Matt_Siltala
I own two macbooks and you will not be let down. you will love it

@ap1978
I haven’t got any.

@chadwickosx
Macbook PRO, Macbook, Powerbook & an HP.

@JetGirlArt
just 1 new macbook (awesome) and like 4-5 custom PC’s for various uses. with a computer already in every room who needs a laptop?

@dr_pete
I have 2 and my wife has 2, but hers are both corporate.

@rafaelmarquez
I’ve cut down from 4 laptops to 1. My current unit is a MacBook, and I love it

No, I am not trying to rank for laptops. I am simply illuminating a useful way of using twitter. A way in which I have not really abused used much so far.

If you want to be added to the list, simply tweet at me your laptop numbers. @lyndoman

Follow me at http://twitter.com/lyndoman

Eva Green Social Media Magic

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Eva Green Will See You Now

So says the latest cover of GQ. Personally I prefer Esquire. I can’t imagine ever reading the likes of Nuts and Zoo, but someone must.

Back to GQ, the front cover headlines reads:
Beyond Bond
Eva Green
Will see you now

20 + pages
of
Red-Hot
New
Looks
for
Spring/
Summer

Standoff
in the
Triangle
of Death

How Long Can
Iraq’s Fragile
Peace Endure?

Box Fresh
Why Mad Men
Is The Most
Stylish
Show on TV

2009’s Hottest Girls – Rebbecca Hall – Odette Yustman – Isla Fisher

There we have it, all the headlines on the front page.

They reflect the culture and interests of the targeted reader. The headlines are aspirational, the subtext being, “buy this and announce that you want an Eva Green type as your girlfriend”.

Sophisticated sexuality for the man who never has to try too hard.

Before we go any further, are you thinking of how to create headlines with similar effectiveness, I hope so.

GQ is for the metrosexual, and so includes 20 pages of fashion tips to help men become more pretty. It’s interesting as it’s hard to read these headlines whilst being completely objective, which we must be for the sake of good analysis. But these headlines are crafted to be emotional, to make it impossible not to have an opinion.

The “Iraq”, headline for example, the wording is framed to present a specific viewpoint, even though it’s in a question. It presumes the Iraqi peace is fragile or at least the reader believes it to be and that’s the point. Those with similar opinions are attracted to the magazine by association.

By making it into a question it allows those of differing views to join into the discussion, or to be part of the conversation.

As we well know, social media is all about the conversation.

There is that awful phrase, “conversation marketing”. It’s nothing new, my Grandmother’s butcher used to use it when she popped in for half a pound of scrag end.

But lets keep it on social media.

Don’t sell the product, start the conversation.

Easy for me, as I love to talk, often too much.

Here is the point of this post for those who have yet to get it.

Popular magazines are masters at starting the conversation.

Think of these headlines as Twitter posts, or headlines on digg. Some work, some do not. But, look at your social media efforts and consider creating more conversation starters than mere announcements.

You never know, you may end up with Eva Green.

What is Social Media? Part 2

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Part 1 of What is Social Media is here

There is so much written, blogged, twittered about social media it’s like a thousand overweight elephants trying to get into the Krispy Kreme kiosk at Paddington Station. All at the same time.

So here it is. This is what social media is.

It’s just a bunch of people talking. And that’s it.

That is the essence. Its fundamental nature.

If you don’t get that fact, if that is not the basis of your understanding, then you don’t get social media.

Sure there are lots of forms of social media and we can go into the technical issues and the nuanced ways they are delivered, and the different tribes and culture, blah blah blah. But it’s already been done, ask the elephants munching on their Krispy Kremes

But it does not change the fact that social media is a just a bunch of people talking.