1) The document provides tips for creating content that gets significantly more views and shares, known as "content unicorns", by focusing on promotion planning, distribution networks, and topic research rather than just writing content. 2) Effective promotion involves identifying influential promoters, leveraging trending topics, and optimizing content for sharing on social media. Paid promotion of content to influencers can help content go viral. 3) Thorough topic and competitor research upfront to identify resonant topics is more important than the actual writing, which should only take 20% of the time spent. The majority of content fails to get noticed or shared.

1. 5 Content Analytics Hacks to
10x Views and Shares
Brought to you by:
www.wordstream.com/learn
#contenthacks

2. Today’s Presenters
Larry Kim @larrykim
Founded WordStream in 2007
Leader of the Quality Score Revolution
Had a kid 8 months ago (#ppckid)
Headshot
#contenthacks

3. Steve Rayson
Director, BuzzSumo
@steveraysonHeadshot
#contenthacks
Today’s Presenters

4. #contenthacks

5. Are You Wasting
Your Time?
#contenthacks

6. BuzzSumo Experience
Weekly traffic sessions last 12 months
#contenthacks

7. Study of Social Shares
Analysis of 100m articles
Reviewed images, networks, content formats,
content length, shares by influencers,
day of week published ……
#contenthacks

8. It is not
about
writing
and
hoping.
#contenthacks

9. 1. Content Plan should be Data Driven
• Research so you know:
• what content is resonating with your audience
• what formats and networks are working
• what is working for your competitors
• how content is being amplified
#contenthacks

10. #contenthacks
Quality content is
not enough -
People will not find
a quality needle in
the haystack.

11. 2. Content needs a Promotion Plan
• You need more than distribution, you need
amplification
• You need an outreach, promotion and re-
promotion plan
#contenthacks

12. Start with Content Research
What do you know about your market?
What data drives your decisions on the content to create,
the formats to adopt, the networks to use, how you will
amplify and promote your content….
#contenthacks

13. Section Title
What Content is Resonating?
#contenthacks

14. Section Title
What Industry Content is Getting Shared?
#contenthacks

15. #contenthacks
Things Change

16. Section Title
What was the most
shared content in
your area…
last year?
last month?
this week?
yesterday?
#contenthacks

17. Section Title
What is working? Can you reuse it?
Example – BuzzFeed Quizzes

18. Section Title
#contenthacks

19. Section Title
What Works on LinkedIn?
#contenthacks

20. Section Title
#contenthacks
Amplification
Who is sharing the content?

21. Amplification
Who linked to the content today?
#contenthacks

22. We studied over 100 million articles.
Here are some general findings about
what works …
#contenthacks

23. Long Form Content Gets More Shares
Example for articles on SEO
#contenthacks

24. Posts with images get more shares
#contenthacks

25. Section Title
Content Formats Have A Major Impact
Example for articles on Blogging
#contenthacks

26. Section Title
Lists Work & 10 is the Magic Number
Example for Moz List posts
#contenthacks

27. Section Title
Emotional Content Engages
Over 1m Shares of Budweiser Super Bowl Ad
#contenthacks

28. Influencers
• Not all sharers are equal
• Just one influencer sharing can result in 30% more shares
• When 5 influencers shared a post it went viral
#contenthacks

29. Promotion
• Spend as much time on promotion as researching and
writing
• If you publish, tweet and forget, everyone else will
forget as well
• Have a sustained promotion plan including paid,
owned and earned media
• Influencer outreach is an essential part of promotion
#contenthacks

30. Summary – 5 Content Lessons
#contenthacks

31. Research what
content is resonating
with your audience
#contenthacks

32. #contenthacks
Reuse winning
content formats

33. #contenthacks
Understand how content
is being amplified.

34. #contenthacks
Have a clear
promotion strategy

35. #contenthacks
Things change:
monitor & track trends

36. 5 Content Hacks To 10x
Views and Shares
#contenthacks

37. 96% of Content Goes Nowhere
On WordStream
Blog, 50 Articles
(Top 4% of total)
generates: Almost
half the Traffic!
#contenthacks

38. @larrykim
Content Unicorns! (Top 4%)
~ 50% of Traffic
~ 70% of Social Shares
~ 80% of Links
#contenthacks

39. Ad Text Testing
• Same Story – 20% of Ads Generate 92% of Spend
• 20% of Ads Generated 65% of Impressions
• But CPA, CTR, and Conversion Rates vary
@larrykim, @perrymarshall#contenthacks

40. 1. Aligned w/ High Volume Keyword (SEO)
• This Infographic
ranks for high
volume keywords
like “What is
AdWords”, “How
AdWords Works”,
etc.
• Be the best answer!
#contenthacks

41. 2. Leverages Trending Topics
#contenthacks

42. 3. Engineered for Social Media Sharing
#contenthacks

43. This Article Generated 23.4k Shares!
#contenthacks
• Unexpected Path
To Success
• Inspirational
• Group Inclusion
Dynamics
• #2 Most Popular
Story on Inc.com
Last Month!

44. 5 Hacks for Engineering
Content Unicorns
#contenthacks

45. #5
Content Promotion
Happens *Before*
Writing (Not After!)
#contenthacks

46. #contenthacks

47. #contenthacks

48. #contenthacks

49. Key Takeaway:
#contenthacks
• If you can’t figure out ahead of time who will
promote your content and why, don’t bother
creating it!
• Success of content is largely determined in the
planning phase before even writing a single
word.

50. #4
Build Out Content
Promotion Networks
#contenthacks

51. #contenthacks

52. #contenthacks

53. Leverage Other People’s Audiences
#contenthacks

54. Syndicate Your Content
#contenthacks

55. #3
Leverage Paid
Promotion
#contenthacks

56. How does stuff go “Viral”?
#contenthacks

57. Article Published On Friday at 5PM EST
#contenthacks

58. Shared Content on my Social Media
#contenthacks

59. Picked Up in Marketing Land 2 Hours Later…
#contenthacks

60. Exponential Growth
#contenthacks

61. Key Takeaway:
You Need Interesting Content
+ Influential People Finding Your Stuff
#contenthacks

62. People Who Aren’t Journalists Can Make
Stuff Go “Viral”, Too.
#contenthacks

63. Paid Social Promotion of Content to Specific Influencers
Increases the Chances of Getting “Noticed”#ofSocialShares
#contenthacks
WordStream Articles

64. Paid Social Promotion of Content to Specific Influencers
Increases the Chances of Getting “Noticed”
WordStream Articles
#contenthacks
#ofSocialShares

65. How To Target Super Connectors on
Social Media?
#contenthacks

66. Targeting Super-Connectors on Facebook
#contenthacks

67. Targeting Super-Connectors on Twitter
#contenthacks

68. How To Find Influencers?
#contenthacks

69. Not All Your Content is Interesting
to Super-Connectors
#contenthacks

70. Probably Won’t End Up in The Wall St. Journal…
#contenthacks

71. Target Using Remarketing
#contenthacks

72. Targeting Fans on Twitter
#contenthacks

73. #2
Don’t Forget
Mainstream Media!
#contenthacks

74. TV & Radio Producers Also Need Stories!
#contenthacks

75. #1
Spend 80% of Time on
Topic Research, 20%
Actually Writing
#contenthacks

76. Test Your Content Ideas First
#contenthacks

77. Only Write Up The Best Ideas
#contenthacks

78. Get Inspired By What Works
#contenthacks

79. Only Jump on the Top 5% of Stories
#contenthacks

80. Key Takeaways:
#contenthacks
1. Most Content Goes Nowhere. Less
Donkeys, More Unicorns!
• SEO, News & Social Media Focus
2. Content marketing success should not be
so random. Make your own luck!
• Focusing on Promotional Angles First
• Building Up Distribution Networks
• Leveraging Paid Promotion
• Spending WAY More Time on Topic Research

81. Thank You
#contenthacks