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How to Make It Stupidly Easy for Readers to Love You

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Adam Costa

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The #1 Mistake Bloggers Make Which Kills Results and Slashes Productivity

I’m afraid this message might upset you.

Why? Because it exposes the number one mistake content marketer are making right now, and will continue to do so for years to come.

But I don’t want to alarm you. This problem can be solved.

Better still, understanding this problem will force you to rethink your whole content strategy. In a good way. You’ll view your content in a radically new framework, one that even the largest publishers haven’t caught on to… yet.

The following story will illustrate what I mean…

It began with an argument.

Over a bottle of Veuve Clique, my beautiful strong-willed wife and I discussed what our new travel site should be.

My point of view went something like this:

“We should build a large, content-driven site about exciting destinations around the world. Then we can include traveler reviews, maps and even a forum where they can share their best tips! What do you think, huh, baby?

Darcie, swirling her champagne, coolly asked:

“So you wanna be Lonely Planet?”

“Um… no. Well… maybe like Lonely Planet but… you know, better.”

“So how will we be better?”

“Well… our content will be better.”

“How?”

“Ummm…”

“And what about size? How will we compete with a site that has hundreds of thousands of pages?

“Well…”

The conversation declined from there.

And let me tell you…

It was one of the hardest discussions of my life.

My wife Darcie always asks the hard questions. I’m glad she does… because I never do. I’d rather just charge through an idea, without asking how and why it will be different, better, etc.

Sure, we could compete on quality (and I truly think we do) but we could never compete on quantity… the big boys operate at a scale we can’t even imagine.

And the sad fact is, a quality site with 1,000 pages is not as valuable as another site with 100,000 pages of equally valuable content.

It was time to change the conversation…

… from “how can we match the competition’s content in terms of quantity and quality” to “how can we organize our content to make it more valuable to our users?”

This is a subtle difference.

The first question concerns the content itself… while the second adds the delivery of that content into the conversation.

In other words, we realized “quality content” was just the beginning.

We had to package it differently.

Quantity x Quality x Organization = Value

Quality is still the most important factor here. But the quantity and organization of valuable content is more important than ever.

Let’s use two sites as an example.

Site A has fifty pages of quality content.

Site B has five thousand pages of equally valuable content.

Which is more valuable?

The answer is… it depends.

If those five thousand pages are buried deep into the site, with no discernible way to access it, their value plummets.

In fact, if no one can find it, their value disappears.

Now let’s look at the fifty page site. If there are ten categories – each with five pages of content – then every single page is easily found.

Let me say that again. Every page is valuable.

Relying Solely On New Content Is A Fool’s Errand

It’s short-sighted, and fails to take full advantage of your existing content.

How to Make It Stupidly Easy for Readers to Love You

Blogs are excellent at displaying new content… but they’re notoriously bad at showcasing old content.

Remember that gem you wrote three months ago? Gone. Buried deep into your archives, where only a lucky few will stumble on it ever again. Or what about that post you wrote last year or (gasp!) back in 2006? It’s still valuable today, but who will ever find it?

Therefore, you need to make your existing content as accessible as your new content.

How to Better Organize Your Content (and Boost Revenue)


Use Taxonomies. Taxonomy is a fancy word for “organization.” It’s also what separates your average website with a truly great one.

Let’s use a simple example.

Let’s say you’ve got a website that reviews food and restaurants in San Francisco. Sushi, vegetarian, tapas… whatever.

Now you could organize the site by types of food: Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, etc.

Good. But what about location? Maybe I want Chinese food in specific neighborhood (Castro or Chinatown).

With a traditional category system, you can’t simultaneously search for two different categories (“Chinese” AND “Chinatown”) which makes it harder for the reader to find the content they want.

That’s where taxonomies come in. By creating two different taxonomies (e.g. “Neighborhood” and “Cuisine”) your readers can easily find the best Chinese restaurants in Chinatown.

Great. But let’s take this further.

Instead of two taxonomies, let’s add a third one for time of day (e.g. “breakfast, lunch or dinner”). Now your reader can find the best Chinese restaurant in Chinatown for lunch.

Pretty cool, right?

Can you see how much more valuable this site is? How changing one aspect of the site drastically improves the user experience? Just think how you could use this simple method to help readers find your content which is most valuable to them… why wouldn’t you want to do this?

Create “Resource” pages. Note: Here’s an excellent example to start with.

Chances are, your readers don’t care about all of your content. Sure, they may be in love with some of it… but the rest?

Meh.

Now instead of creating mere “category” pages which list all your articles (who actually reads those, anyways?) you create valuable “resource” pages which target your reader’s specific interest.

For example, someone visits your website about San Francisco food. At the top of the blog you list the major resources people would be interested in: let’s use neighborhoods. So when someone clicks on “North Beach” they go to a resource page which says something like this:

“The Ultimate Guide to North Beach Dining!”

North Beach is well known for Italian cuisine: family-owned delis serve cured meats and stuffed olives alongside gelato stores and bakeries, while the smell of roasted garlic wafts down Columbus Ave.

Here are 5 – 10 in-depth resources which highlight the best North Beach has to offer:

LINKS #1 – 5

Want to learn more about North Beach? Then grab our free eBook on North Beach’s best restaurants.

You’ll learn:

5 “to-die-for” restaurants no one knows about (yet).
A simple trick to save 20% on your next dinner.
7 delicious deserts… and the perfect wine for each.

There’s even a complete walking tour for “foodies” which showcases top restaurants in North Beach – along with a history of the neighborhood – and personal menu recommendations for each. You can grab this report by filling out the form below…

NAME

EMAIL

See What We Just Did?

We made it stupidly easy for readers to find what they’re looking for. They didn’t have to wade through your archives, or (god forbid) use your search bar. They found a lot of useful information, and all they need to do is subscribe to get your best stuff.

Readers get what they need. You get more subscribers. Win/win.

Life or Death

People are catching on to this whole “content marketing” thing. And while everyone else is competing on the quality/quantity angle, do the smart thing and organize your content in a better way.

Trust me, it makes all the difference.

What unique ways could you organize your content? Share your ideas below!

Author’s Bio:
Adam Costa is the co-founder of Trekity.com and Travel Blogger Academy which shows how bloggers can grow their travel blogs traffic.

Thank you for adding to the conversation!

15 Tips to Effectively Use Social Media for Small Business

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Brian Jenkins

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Why Small Businesses Struggle with Social Media and What They Can do about it

A recent survey conducted by Manta, the popular online community for small businesses, showed that 90 percent of small business owners are involved in networking online. Of those, 74 percent believe networking online is just as, if not more, valuable than networking in person. Almost 50 percent of the small business owners surveyed believe that targeting and gaining prospective customers is the most valuable benefit of networking online.

However, the large number of online and social media channels that exist makes it challenging for small business owners to effectively navigate and properly use them.

  • 58 percent of small business owners say they have a difficult time finding value in using Facebook for promoting their business. Pinterest and Groupon, two popular consumer websites, have proven to be ineffective for small businesses.
  • Many small business owners struggle with social media because they don’t have the budget to hire a social media marketing expert or they don’t have staff members with enough free time to learn how to effectively use social media.
  • Many of the online articles that provide social media tips for small business owners are not specific enough, and what’s worse, many of the articles contradict each other, making it very difficult for small business owners to confidently create a social media marketing plan.
  • Many small business owners fail to gain an audience through social media platforms and increase sales because they either don’t have a substantial amount of content or enough engaging content to keep folks interested.
  • Unfortunately, many small businesses simply don’t try to engage people at social media sites; they instead annoy prospective customers by bombarding them with promotional messages. Many small businesses fail to nurture social media relationships. Instead, they’re just looking for a quick sale.

15 Tips to Effectively Use Social Media for Small Business

  1. One of the best ways to learn how to use social media is to learn how other small businesses, especially those in your niche, use it successfully. Follow some successful brands on Twitter and see how they engage their audiences.
  2. Work on becoming an authority in your niche at social media websites.
  3. Increase your online popularity with how-to videos. Create a custom channel on YouTube; video thumbnails in search results attract people more than text does. Videos also help you get to the top of search results. Most people spend significantly more time watching video than reading web pages. Provide how-to tips that your competitors don’t provide. Create a collection of short instructional videos about your products or services which include testimonials from happy customers. Make sure your videos are three minutes or less.
  4. Be social with Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites; don’t just announce products and services.
  5. Run competitions on Twitter and Facebook.
  6. Ask bold or interesting questions to provoke a reaction from your Twitter followers.
  7. Encourage people to retweet your content.
  8. Use Facebook to show visitors what you’re passionate about.
  9. Create a custom welcome tab on your Facebook page. Use a call-of-action to encourage non-fans to become fans. After you get the “Like,” offer a valuable free item in exchange for their name and email address.
  10. At your Facebook page or blog, create a list of interesting questions and provide insightful answers to the questions online. Provide new questions and answers every day.
  11. Work to obtain links to your site from authoritative blogs in your niche or a related niche. Offering to write guest posts is one why to do this.
  12. Providing content that solves your visitors’ problems builds trust and the content may get linked to and shared with others.
  13. Start a blog and ask visitors to participate. Effective blogs include bold headings and plenty of images. Provide a call-to-action at the bottom of every blog post. Ask visitors to leave a comment, share the blog post at one of their favorite social media sites, or click on a link for information about a product.
  14. Post funny photographs or humorous short stories that are relevant to your business.
  15. Be responsive to your audience. Business is all about relationships, so be generous to people and take a genuine interest in them.

Small businesses that have had success with social media have found that what works online is much like works offline — offering specific value that’s relevant to their customers, friends, and fans.

What tips might you add for small business success with social media?

Author’s Bio: Brian Jenkins writes about a variety of topics related to careers and education, including careers in marketing, for the Riley Guide.

Thank you, Brian! Great advice!

— ME “Liz” Strauss

7 Reasons No One Reads Your Company Blog (And What to Do About It)

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How to Blog

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Timothy Carter

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7 Reasons No One Reads Your Company Blog (And What to Do About It)

Alright, maybe you’ve got a company blog. That’s great. With that, you’ve got a semi-casual avenue to “talk” to your customers, share news and comments about what’s going on, and provide some valuable or useful information while you’re at it. Maybe at some point, you’ve even realized that you can use it as a customer service platform by making it home to easily accessible FAQs – always useful, especially if you sell tech stuff not everyone is going to figure out quick.

So why isn’t anyone reading your blog and how can you remedy this problem?

Problem 1: You Bore People

Simply put, you’ve got nothing on your blog that people want to read. You don’t ask them questions, get them thinking, or engage their emotions. Your blog could contain the most useful information in the world, but it won’t do you any good if people fall asleep halfway through your first paragraph.

Solution: Spice Things up a Bit

Add pictures to give visual representations of what you’re talking about. Maybe toss in a relevant video or two. Engage people’s emotions and make them feel things other than boredom and crushing apathy! Give them something in the content to care about, rather than write like you’re slapping together a technical manual you know nobody is ever going to read.

Problem 2: It Looks Awful

Your site might be one of the ugliest things they’ve seen on the Internet. Okay, that is actually harder to pull off than it sounds, but that’s mainly due to the sheer density of the ugly, horrific things you can find if you bother to look.

Solution: A Makeover

First things first: get rid of the clutter. Remove any widgets or things that the blog doesn’t actually need, because they’re just taking up room and probably don’t fit in with the overall “look.” Go for simpler, less flashy colors, rather than the sparkle and glitter you’d expect from a teenager’s custom page. Rearrange things so there’s a lot less clutter and a lot cleaner in presentation. Too much going on at once makes a site ugly and really hard to navigate.

Problem 3: Your Site Is a Lifeless Husk

Is your blog relevant, or is most of the content consisting of nothing more than extinct posts that have no relevance whatsoever? Is all of it outdated information, serving as little more than a magnet for dust and an archive of long-forgotten notions and trends most people would rather forget ever happened?

Solution: Update Regularly

This is probably the single oldest piece of advice ever for people who have a blog, yet it is the one that is most likely for people to ignore. Keep the content fresh and relevant, and keep it coming at a regular pace. This doesn’t mean “update once every three months.” This means “update once a week or more, if you can manage.”

Problem 4: Your Prose Is Purple

“Purple prose” is a term used to describe written content that is long-winded for no real reason, often going into endless metaphors without really saying anything. This is good if you’re trying to write a terrible romance novel of some sort or if you’re emulating the popular writing style of certain historical periods. This is bad if what you’re trying to do is to get a point across.

Solution: Focus Your Content

Cut down on the metaphors and try to keep the content detailed, but without delv Problem 5: Your Content Isn’t Dynamic

Words don’t always say it well enough.

Solution: Add images, graphics, visual representations.

Newspapers and magazines, despite being focused on content and words, words, words, also toss in pictures and graphs to break up the monotony. Pictures are great not only for putting a visual representation of what you’re saying, but also as an “opening paragraph” – every writer knows one of the hardest things to do is to hook people in from the get-go.

Problem 6: Way Too Much Advertising

A blog is not meant to be a platform for advertising and marketing. Yet, some people overload them with ads and marketing banners, with some instances of them using posts as nothing more than sales spiel. People will walk away if you think you’re trying to sell them something they don’t want. This is true even when they’re reading a corporate blog.

Solution: Trim the Ads

Cut down on the ads. What little ads you do keep, make sure they’re not placed in an in-your-face manner, but instead are off to the side where they don’t get in the way of the content or navigation.

Problem 7: You’re Just Not Relevant

In theory, you ought to know your audience best. You know what they want to see and what is critical to their mission. If you don’t know that, you really ought to reconsider your business plan, since you probably don’t know who you’re supposed to be selling to, either.

Solution: Be Relevant

You know your audience, which means that to some extent, you have some idea of what they don’t know. Give them that. Insight into unorthodox uses of their favorite product or little-known functions that might come in handy are possibilities.

Author’s Bio:

Timothy Carter writes about social media, social marketing and trade shows at SmashHitDisplays.com. You can also find him on on Google+ and Twitter as @TimothyCarter

Thank you, Tim, for adding insight to the conversation!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Success Truths from 21 Successful Entrepreneurs

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Brandon Pipkin

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What can 21 Entrepreneurial Millionaires Teach You About Success? The Truth!

For seven years I devoured all I could get my hands on about success and wealth creation. I read blogs, books, and newsletters. I attended conferences, watched videos, listened to tapes and CDs, and worked with a mentor.

Then I eagerly implemented what I learned about goals, plans, the law of attraction, dreaming big, setting an intention, leadership, personal development, passion, determination, accountability, and smashing through obstacles.

After seven years, however, instead of mountains of money, all I had were mountains of debt. Instead of success untold, I was frustrated beyond belief at my inability to create the results that were €œguaranteed.€ I constantly questioned what I was doing wrong. Why wasn’t it working for me?

It wasn’t until I interviewed 21 self-made millionaires to find out how and why they did what they did that the answers became clear.

The Mistaken Role of Goals

I was surprised to learn that very few of these entrepreneurial millionaires had written goals, or even had goals€ at all. Most of them weren’€™t out to accomplish something specific, but rather were moving through life simply following each next step that seemed logical at the time. There was no overarching vision or destination in mind for most of them.

In fact, with the exception of a few, becoming a millionaire was almost accidental, an unintended side benefit of something else they were doing.

In addition to learning that despite not having solid goals and plans these people created amazing success, I learned that work – good, hard, honest work – is the most forgotten virtue in the success literature. None, I repeat none, of these millionaires expected immediate results, and none of them got where they got by being lazy and waiting for good things. They worked hard at whatever they were doing because it’s simply part of who they are.

What About Obstacles?

I also learned that instead of smashing through obstacles, there are other ways to move forward. When something didn’t work, the millionaires didn’t call a committee and do a post-mortem to figure out how to fix it, they didn’t have to “face their fears,€ or confront deep-seated anxieties that might be holding them back. They just tried something else.

To a person, these millionaires didn’t seem to be bothered by failure and just looked at it as one way not to do something. They kept trying different things until something worked.

You Can Go Your Own Way

And one of the most valuable things I learned: there is no one right way to create success. There are as many ways to skin a cat as there are cats, and the path that works is the right one for you.

Not one of these millionaires doggedly followed the experts’ advice concerning goals, passion, dreams, mentoring, accountability, and all of that. Ironically, some of the millionaires don’t even know who the success experts are!

These millionaires got where they are by working hard no matter what they were doing, taking life as it came without grand plans or visions, trying different things until something worked, and pursuing their unique path to success.

By interviewing 21 self-made entrepreneurial millionaires I learned that success isn’€™t as predictable as the books, tapes, and experts would have you believe. Instead, I learned the truth.

Author’s Bio:
Brandon Pipkin is the author of 21 Questions for 21 Millionaires: How Ordinary People Create Extraordinary Success. After years of searching for success and not finding it, he interviewed 21 self-made millionaires to learn how and why they did what they did. He shares his findings and the real life stories of these 21 successful people in their own words in his book. Visit www.21for21.com to learn more. You can follow Brandon on Twitter as @21for21com.

 

Thank you, Brandon, We always need more success motivation!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

3 Ways to Recharge Your Business Creativity

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Stephen Key

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Why Letting Your Inner Child Out Can Benefit Your Business

How many times have you watched your son or daughter’s imagination shine as they play with their friends or by themselves? Children are incredible dreamers and creators who have no inhibitions about letting creativity dictate their actions. To me, entrepreneurship is synonymous with creativity. People often talk about business and art as if the two couldn’t be more separate, but both celebrate the value of looking at the world a little differently than everyone else. The best entrepreneurs see possibility and opportunity where others have failed to, because they’re able to spot unique and powerful ideas that will resonate with consumers. Developing and celebrating your creative energy can benefit your business in countless ways.

I’ve spent the past twenty years bringing my product ideas to life. Thinking creatively has helped me invent and innovate, but even more importantly, I’d argue, it has helped me problem solve. Business owners are constantly surprised by new and different conflicts to overcome. You’ll never be able to predict them all. The more comfortable you become with quickly brainstorming solutions, the better your business will be. There’s never just one answer. And that’s why being able to think outside the box when your business is faced with a seemingly impenetrable roadblock is important. Somewhere along the way most of lose the ability to dream and imagine as easily as we did as children; being able rekindle these skills will help your business.

3 Ways to Recharge Your Business Creativity

I don’t believe that certain individuals are inherently more creative than others. The belief that ‘you’re just not creative’ is an excuse. We’re all creative! As children, we’re all able to dream and imagine with abandon. But like any other skill, creativity requires practice, commitment, and inspiration. I’ve found that playing games helps recharge my creativity.

The first one is, ‘What If?’ When I try to imagine new product ideas or encounter a problem in my daily life, I allow myself to ask any question I want to. What if we lived in a world that __? What if I were able to __? There are no right or wrong questions (nor answers!). I remember my own three children asking me question after question when they were little. Questions lead to answers, answers lead to more questions, and creative juices flow during the process!

The second game I play I call, ‘Mix and Match’. I combine several ideas together, even if they don’t seem to make immediate sense. Someone really hit the nail on the head when they matched a camera and phone, after all…. Some of the best ideas actually combine existing concepts or products in interesting ways. Think about all the times you’ve watched your son or daughter play with their toys in unique ways. They are no strangers to mixing and matching to make things new and exciting.


The third creative game I use is called ‘Solve It’. What do you wish was made better? What would you do to change it? Some products and services have been around for so long, we no longer even think about what it would be like if they were different. Don’t take any assumptions for granted, and stop subconsciously assuming what is and isn’t possible.


And finally, don’t forget to get inspired. Seek out friends, family, and peers who, like loved and empowered children, believe that anything’s possible and embrace the alternative. Some people are more receptive to new ideas than others. At the least, find someone whose first word isn’t always ‘no’.

Break out of your normal mold and schedule. How can you imagine something different and unique if you always do and see the exact same things? Change your route to work. Try a new restaurant instead of your neighborhood favorite. I know your schedule is hectic, but make time to read a new book or magazine, or watch an interesting film. Exposing yourself to new ideas and ways of thinking will jumpstart your own creativity.

Above all, allow your creative inner child to emerge to help bring your business to new heights.

What do you do to inspire your creativity?

Author’s Bio:
Stephen Key writes about licensing and small business at www.inventornotes.com. He is also author of One Simple Idea and One Simple Idea for Startups and Entrepreneurs. You can find Stephen on Twitter as @inventright ()

Thank you, Steven. Love your thoughts on inspiring creativity!

–Me “Liz” Strauss

Twitter Traction – How to Ask and Who to Ask

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Tommy Walker

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Big Taboo about Asking on Social Media

So apparently there’s this big taboo about asking for things on social media.

On one side, there’s a camp that says you should never ask for anything EVER.

You should provide high quality content, engage in the community, tweet, share links, comment (you know the deal). and you should always so amazing that if you’re patient, people to come to you.

Then on the other side, you’ve got the camp that says, “why wait?” they use autofollow tools, DM everyone without regard, send mass emails to bought lists… There’s a name for these people – But I’m guessing the editor probably won’t let me use it ;-P

The Middle Ground

I’ve recently discovered a middle ground that was surprisingly simple, and returned results that were pretty shocking to me.

Just ask via private message.

I know right? Who would have thought?

For years, I’ve operated with this fear that if I sent any kind of request through a Twitter DM or Facebook message, I would be instantly labeled a spammer and my online career would crumble in seconds.

But it turns out, with a little finesse & a personal tone, you can use private forms of social media and people will take action.

Twitter Traction – How to Ask and Who to Ask

In this article, I’ll show you an example of how I’ve used private messages en masse that resulted in one of the most commented articles on my blog. Granted, you can’t spend comments, but those comments lead to guest post opportunities, mentions on other blogs and was the topic of conversation on a podcast. And more positive exposure never hurts, right?

The Caveat

You do have to provide value in your work. The person you’re asking should actually be getting something out of it. If it’s not advice, a good chuckle will do.

Whatever you do, do not waste people’s time. Send only that which you’re proud of and are willing to read 20 times in a row yourself. And be selective about who you ask and how frequently.

It also helps if your work already gets some traction on it’s own. It doesn’t have to be crazy, but it’s nice if people you don’t know are finding you without you having to push.

On to the rules.

Presentation — How to Ask

The presentation of your private message is all that that you have to signal to the receiver that you’re sending something useful. Get this wrong, you look spammer. Get it right, and you’re acting as a filter sharing something that’s worth their time. It’s a fine line, but I’ll show you what’s worked for me.

Step 1 – Appear legit. It’s very simple, add the person’s name. Crazy I know. But when you think about it, that’s something a lot of Auto DM programs DON’T do, so taking the extra step really counts. Plus, when you see your own name it’s an instant hook to your attention.

Step 2 – Find some unique angle that will pique their interest. For example, Let’s say I wanted to drive conversation to an article I wrote about online manipulation .

This particular angle is controversy.

You might also use empathy,

humor,

drama.

Really, you could use any number of angles, just make sure it’s compelling.

You may have noticed that most of these use questions and all of them have a customized link.

When I combine all the elements; the first name, the interesting angle, the question and the link; I’m trying to invoke the need to respond and click the link. The custom link just adds a little extra emphasis to the work the lines.

The first time I tested this, I DMed 34 people and 27 of them responded in the comments.

Now, like I said comments don’t add to my bottom line.

But they did lead to a guest post, a mention on a podcast and someone dedicated a whole blog post to talking about the tactic ().

All of this earns impressions of my brand, and brings links back to my site, improving my overall trust factor.

Comments may not do anything for my bottom line immediately, but when playing the long game, all of these things matter.

Segmentation – Who to Ask

So, one of the major reasons why any of this personal asking stuff works is because you’re being selective about who to ask in the first place.

First, they have to be active on the platform. Seems simple enough, but looking at every single profile to determine activity is time consuming, and will most likely be the first thing anyone using this tactic will overlook – I know I did. But, spending the time now saves you from wasting time sending to people who aren’t active.

Second, they have to have some level of familiarity with you.

You might think, “well they’re connected to me, so doesn’t that qualify?” And I have to ask how many people are you connected to on social media with no idea who they are or what they’re about. This is pretty much true for most social media platforms; except Twitter.

On Twitter, you can bend the rules a little. Here’s how.

First- Go to FollowerWonk.com and click on the “compare users” tab

Second-Type in your twitter handle, and the handle of another author who covers a similar subject matter, or writes similarly to the article you’re trying to promote.

Then check out the “followers of both” link.

NOTE: DO NOT SEND DM’S TO EVERYONE HERE!!!!!

All you want to do is find people who wouldn’t be made too uncomfortable if you were to send them a Dm.

Even though Liz and I have some pretty influential people following both of us, I know I don’t have a relationship with them the same way she does, and wouldn’t want to risk making a fool of myself with really influential people.

However, if I sorted the influence list to show more “normal” people, I could find active twitter users that followed both of us who might also be more accessible

Again “ANYONE WITH A HEARTBEAT” IS NOT A GOOD CANDIDATE.

It’s important to make sure they’re active, but it’s critical that you check out their feed to qualify whether or not you should send them a DM. If they only tweet about macrame and you’re promoting an article about boating, it’s not a good fit.

If it’s somebody you don’t tweet with much, acknowledge that in your dm …

Hey Caylie. I know we don’t talk much but [Insert Hook Here] http://bit.ly/Successful-Dm

This adds an extra level of human to what would otherwise be a fairly robotic process.

And, If you’re wondering how you could get some “in common” followers, here is a great article to get you started with followerwonk(but check followerwonk first, most people I tell about this technique are pleasantly surprised.)

A Word Of Warning

Obviously this CAN backfire if you go overboard with it.

I would not recommend DMing all of your followers for every single piece of content you put your name on.

I would also give a people a healthy period of time in between when you ask for something.

I would ALSO make sure you go out of your way to do something even NICER for them, without being asked.

And I would be sure to thank them privately for when they do contribute.

The reason this method works, and what separates it from being total spam, is that it provides a filter for useful content in an otherwise flooded environment.

If you get selfish and forget that it’s about filtering good content to the right people – well, I’ll let you imagine what happens next.

So, I’m curious, have you ever tried direct asking before? If so what happened? If you haven’t, what’s the stupidest DM you’ve ever gotten that was clearly sent out by a robot. I’m certain we can get some pretty hilarious stories out of this one.

Oh, and if you know anyone who could benefit from this article,(or want to totally light it on fire) test this method out and let’s see how it works 😉

Author’s Bio:

Tommy Walker is the host of “Inside The Mind” a show that fuses online marketing strategy with internet generation humor. Currently, he is conducting a crowdfunding experiment for Season 2, which proposes to do no less than flip the world of online marketing on it’s head. You can find him @Tommyismyname

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