Link bait and viral marketing took the stage once again at the Search Engine Strategies Conference in Chicago, presented by veterans of a new frontier. Their presentation reiterated a theme of first creating for the audience, holding on for the ride, and making the most of what comes next.
Fishkin kicked it off with a laundry list for link bait success:
Find the link bait portals: Digg.com; TechCrunch; Slashdot, Fark, et cetera. “Being featured on TechCrunch will see an increase of inbound links by about 2000.”
Understand the link bait audience. They’re driven by very specific passions (liberal, tech geeks). Develop a relationship with them.
Brainstorm ideas with an audience focus. Generate 10-20 ideas and then narrow it down.
“Build beautiful bait.” Websites with a marketing look and feel probably will not do well.
Think of attention-grabbing headlines, with a compelling synopsis.
Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by breaking the community rules. Don’t send many digs from the same IP: the same diggers digging the material every time can be dangerous; it can get you banned. Keep your servers up, and follow up your bait with great additional material.
Link bait resources: Seobook.com; Pronetadvertising.com; wolf-howl.com; seomoz
Olthius continued with a bit of buzz management advice – you know, drink lots of water, don’t drive anywhere, and get something to eat.
Actually, Cameron says “track your buzz because your reputation depends on it. You have to have thick skin because some of the social media crowd can be cruel in the comments sections.
Use Technorati, or other services that let you track comments. Track comments related to the company name, domain name, product name, and competitors.
“It doesn’t matter if the buzz is good or bad, necessarily. Don’t be afraid to comment.”
Olthius revealed the darker, competitive side of things too. “Leverage your competitor’s buzz. If a negative campaign is being run about one of your competitors, counter that with an announcement saying something like ‘we don’t do what they do.'”
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