Relevance and Distribution: Two Essential Factors in Social Media Marketing

The term ‘link bait’ refers to materials created, published and spread online with the aim of attracting links, visitors and attention. These baits are often disseminated via social media websites, particularly social news communities like Digg or Reddit.

Ideally, you want as many people as possible to see these baits because this increases the potential for them to go viral. Social media channels are platforms to maximize visibility.

While primary channels like Digg might not send targeted traffic, they create opportunities for you to receive visitors and links from other relevant sources.

Baits can come in many forms: for example, you can create text articles, videos, images and online tools. The medium is not of primary importance. It’s really how you frame the message so that it appeals to the audience. To increases the chances of success, you just need to focus on two main factors: relevance and distribution.

Remember them well because these two simple elements will drastically improve the popularity of your bait in a social media channel. Just two points. Two questions to ask when you are planning your social media marketing campaign:

1. Is my bait highly relevant to the interests of the community?




2. Am I distributing my bait in a way which maximizes its potential?

Relevance: Framing Your Message to Grab Maximum Attention

Image Credit: my way or the highway to Neukölln

Let’s talk about relevance first. Your bait and proposition must be made as relevant as possible to the interests of community. The stronger the relevance, the greater the possibility of attracting the attention of the masses. This holds true for online advertising and social media is no exception. It’s only common sense.

Relevance or the illusion of relevance can be created by carefully optimizing your headlines and all accompanying information. You can invoke the community persona or use lingo, memes and references well known to most users.

Relevance can be learned through careful monitoring of the social site in question. By watching how users value specific content (e.g. based on number of votes, views or comments), you can easily get a grasp of what appeals to them. This allows you to learn how to frame your bait/message for maximum attention.

An extreme example of referencing can be seen in meta-baits, a term I would use to describe baits which reference, spin off and piggyback on the popularity of an existing piece of content. Especially one that’s already very well received.

Here’s an example. This story on Reddit was submitted yesterday:

A few hours later, someone submitted another story which referenced it:

Here are the two turtle pictures, side by side. The one on the left is the first story:

Image Credit: Raspberry Turtle | Raspberry Turtle II

Both of the stories got to the Reddit frontpage. Note how the story titles are very similar. The original content is modified while still referencing the source.

Meta-baits are hyper-relevant to the community and this exceptional example shows how relevance can be easily manufactured to a heightened degree. If you don’t frame your bait and make it relevant to the audience, you’re giving up a lot of attention from the start and your material will struggle to develop traction.

Distribution: The Power of Messengers and Auxiliary Support

Image Credit: Row T, Seat 3

Distribution refers to the process of spreading your bait through the social media channel. This involves designating the messenger and providing auxiliary support. This is a vital component for social media success because distribution can greatly amplify the potential for any circulating message.

Who should you pick to be a messenger? Some theories suggest that anyone would do because the viral nature of the message will take care of itself. To some extent that is true, although I’ll recommend disseminating your message through an influencer, which is usually a trusted member of the social media community.

Here are two very good reasons why:

1. Influencers lend credibility to your message. These members are highly visible and are generally considered to be a valuable member of the community. They tip the odds in your favor, even although the additional advantage might be slight on some social media channels.




2. Influencers escalate the viral process because of their broad networks. These powerful social media users are quite different from offline influencers. Word of mouth operates on a larger scale and is more accelerated online: It’s not uncommon for social media influencers to have thousands of users monitoring and tracking their contributions to the social service/community.

An example: I have more than 1,200 followers on Twitter and over 1,000 fans on StumbleUpon. This means that a fair amount of individuals will see any message I disseminate through these channels. This is an innate advantage that I’ll have over other users in the same network. And that’s the value of a well-connected influencer.

The aim of auxiliary support is to tactically market the bait from all angles. In social news sites, this refers to vote solicitations. On social video channels, this may involve embedding your videos in places like forums to rack up the view figures. Or you can generally support the bait by getting friends to spread the message.

Most social media websites share users are therefore connected to a certain extent. A lateral marketing strategy that involves cross-promotion and dissemination via multiple platforms can help to expedite the popularity of your bait.

A good piece of content may not market itself beyond your existing reach. Unless your bait is truly extraordinary, it is not likely to propel itself into massive popularity. Do not just create an excellent piece of content and leave the distribution process to luck. Pick the right messenger and provide auxiliary support.

When combined with a high level of tailored relevance, mastery of the distribution process will ensure that your baits/message will resonate with any audience. Keep these two principles in mind, the next time you plan a social marketing campaign.

Fundamentals of Social Media Marketing is a tutorial series which teaches you how to utilize the power of social media channels to get more exposure, supporters and customers for your site and business. This is the sixth article in the series.

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