How to Build an Outreach Strategy to Earn More Social Shares

4/16/2015 How to Build an Outreach Strategy to Earn More Social Shares

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242818?et_cid=123600&et_rid=23922970 1/13

SOCIAL MEDIA

How to Build an OutreachStrategy to Earn MoreSocial Shares

Image credit: Jason Howie/Flickr

Kelsey LibertFrom BufferFEBRUARY 18, 2015This story originally appeared on Buffer

What are your digital marketing goals for the monthsahead?

If youre looking to increase your contents social shares(as so many of us are),weve got some amazing newresearch to share onhow to create an ideal outreachstrategy for your industry.



BuzzStreamandFractlhave collaborated to give you ajumpstart on optimizing your outreach for social traction.Weanalyzed 220 high- and low-engagement websitesfrom 11 major verticals that produce content.

The result? A roadmap for planning for social successwith your outreach strategy.

5 Research-Backed Ways to Earn MoreSocial SharesEarning themaximum amount of social engagement onyour contentrequires that you carefully plot the factorsthat can put your campaigns and messages in front ofthe people who are most likely to help you share them.

Weve found there to be five components to consideratthe top of your list foroutreach analysis:

1. Publishers2. Keywords3. Platforms4. Social Influencers and Amplifiers5. Timing



Thats quite a bit of research to undertake before yousend your first pitch email! Wed love to help make thisresearch stage a bit easier for you.

Start Targeting for Social TractionTo show you what your outreach analyses for socialtraction might look like, weve put together a flipbook ofinsights from nine of the 11 verticals in our study. Youllsee top publishers, keywords, platforms, influencers,and publishing times that can launch your content tonew social heights.

Related: How to Schedule Social Media Content forNext Week, Next Month and Next Year

Weve included the takeaways for the following nineindustries ina free flipbook.

1. Automotive2. Business3. Education4. Entertainment5. Finance6. Food7. Health8. News9. Travel

You can alsodownload these infographics along withour findings in the Lifestyle and Tech verticals for free.



1. Find the platforms that share themost content from your verticalIf youve staked your entire social strategy on Facebook,you may be leaving a significant amount of sharepotential on the table.

It is true thatFacebook is the uncontested king ofcontent sharingfor almost every vertical, earning 340%more shares weekly than each of the other four socialnetworks. (The only exception in our study was the foodvertical, in which 51% of content from high-engagementpublications is shared on Pinterest.) But for someverticals and publishers,secondary platforms earnupwards of 30% of all social shares.



Just because they dont share the most content doesntmean that secondary social networks arent important.You cant ignore that Facebook is a sharingpowerhouse, but once youve determinedhow to targetyour content for Facebook, consider:

LinkedIn earned 21% of shares for high-engagementpublications in the business vertical.Twitter earned 11% of shares for high-engagementtech publications, and 2034% of shares for low-engagement business, finance, tech, andentertainment publications.Pinterest ranked second for a mix of high- and low-engagement publishers in health, lifestyle, food, andeducation.

Research the platforms that earn traction for thepublishers youre targeting in your vertical and take noteof the type of content that earns shares on each. Youmay find that a few high-res photos or a trend analysispromoted on the right network can add a substantialamount of shares to your social earnings.

Related:Ultimate Headline Formulas for Tweets,Posts, Articles and Emails

2. Learn your verticals sharingscheduleWhile a general search might tell you that the best dayto publish on LinkedIn is Wednesday or the best day topromote on Facebook in Monday, the truth is that



sharing peaks on different days in every vertical. If youhave the flexibility to work with a publisher on thepublication date, you can take advantage of trendsamong people who are regular followers of content inyour vertical. For example:

High- and low-engagement publications in theautomotive vertical earn the most shares onWednesday.Business publications see the most shares onTuesday.Health peaks on Friday for high-engagementpublishers, but Tuesday for low-engagementpublishers.Food followers share the most on Mondays.



The weekends are a low point for sharing in everyvertical, rarely earning more than 9% of shares for high-or low-engagement publishers. If possible, avoidpublishing content on Saturdays or Sundays.

3. Determine which amplifiers are themost influential on target platformsSimilar to finding the publishers who routinely earn themost engagement in your vertical, finding the mosteffective sharers can give your content a boost. Thesesocial influencers are your second wave of promoters,giving your content a plug to their extended audiencesafter it goes live with publishers. Since social media canaccount for a substantial amount of traffic to yourwebsite, you may want to dedicate part of yourpromotion efforts to building relationships and outreachwith key influencers for your vertical on the mostrelevant platforms.

A search of related hashtags, brands, and publishers isa good start to finding social amplifiers. When you havea handful of likely candidates who frequently promotecontent that matches your campaign, evaluate theirappropriateness for your outreach efforts based onthese five factors:

1. Page Authority.Tools like Followerwonk andPeerIndex are good for evaluating the socialauthority of an influencers page.

2. Domain Authority.Just like with publishers,youll want to take note of the Domain Authority



of social influencers and understand thecontent on websites they represent.

3. Number of followers.A person who tweetsfrequently about your topic but does not have asignificant audience may not have the ability tosignificantly amplify your message.

4. Retweet/share ratio.Compare how often thetweets of your target influencers are retweetedand shared. This will give you an idea of howmuch they may be able to extend the reach ofyour content.

5. Reply ratio.Replies to a tweet are anothermarker of engagement. If your target influenceris considered an authority on your topic, repliesand discussion may well follow their promotionof your content.

4. Research the keywords youraudience is looking forOnce youve decided which publishers are the best fit tomeet your goals, the next step is to identify thekeywords that will resonate most with their audiences.While it may seem obvious that keywords that work inthe food vertical wont attract attention in the techvertical, effective keywords are even more varied thanthat. There are often wide differences in the keywordsthat gain traction between high- and low-engagementpublishers within the same vertical, and amongkeywords from the same groups of publishers ondifferent social platforms.



For example, in the tech vertical, the word giveawaywas the fourth most-shared term from low-engagementpublishers on average in our study, but these sharesoccurred on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, and noton LinkedIn or Pinterest. If your tech campaign is gearedtowards executives or women, it will be particularlyimportant to look closer than the broad keyword trendsin this vertical to find the terms likely to be mosteffective.

Researching the keywords that perform well for specificpublishers and verticals will always yield insights intohow you can improve your verbiage. Two trends mayalso give you advantage:

1. Headlineswith positive adjectives andknowledge-based verbs tend to do betteracross the board. While most writers andeditors write their own headlines for the articlesthey publish, you can offer subtle suggestionsin your subject line or call attention to intriguingfacts in your pitch that might make goodheadline fodder.

2. Photos and data visualizations earn shares inalmost every vertical. Words related to imagesmake popular content for both high- and low-engagement publishers.

5. Target the publishers who earn themost traction for their contentFirst, consider the publishers who are potential targets



for outreach. Depending on your content goals, youmight consider high-engagement publishers (sites thattypically earn more than 20K average shares), low-engagement publishers (those that typically earn fewerthan 20K shares), or a mix of both.

If youre not sure why you might target low-engagementsites when your goal is to earn the most social sharespossible, consider the challenges and benefits of eachtype of publisher.

High-engagement publishers

Pro: A large social audience means increasedpotential for shares.Con: These sites usually receive hundreds ofpitches a day because of their high profile. Thiscompetition can make it challenging to earnplacements for stories that are not particularly newor novel.

Low-engagement publishers

Pro: These sites can have narrow but highly-targeted audiences, which may earn you moreprominent exposure to specific segments of youraudience.Con: Their smaller social audience means lowersharing numbers overall.

Large, high-traffic sites are great for piquing interest in anew angle or market. Content designed to excite and



intrigue in the awareness stage of the buying cycle mayearn the most interest with high-engagementpublishers. Conversely, niche or local sites can offermore focus on audiences who are researching potentialpurchases. Content designed to supply moreinformation or persuade customers to buy in theconsideration stage of the buying cycle might earnfewer social shares but more conversions with low-engagement publishers. Both categories of publishercan offer advantages depending on the goals of yourmarketing strategy.

Five factors will help you determine whether a publisheror author is the best fit for your social traction goals:

1. Prior coverage of related topics.Take a look atpast articles to determine the story angles anddepth to which they examine the topic of yourcampaign.

2. Number of shares their content has recentlyearned on each network.A quick inventory oftheir presence on each social media networkwill tell you where their audience is mostconcentrated.

3. Number of shares theyve recently earned forkeywords in your vertical.If they earn lots ofshares most of the time, but never for thekeywords youre targeting, they may not be thebest outlet for your content.

4. Total average shares per piece ofcontent.Calculating the average shares their



content receives will help you set realisticbenchmarks for your social goals and help youunderstand the pool of potential customersyoure working to convert.

5. Domain Authority.A sites Domain Authority isa signal of how well the site will perform in asearch. Targeting sites with high DA scores willbenefit your SEO efforts.

ConclusionWe hope this research intooutreach strategies helpssolidify your strategies forgetting more social shares onyour content. Keep in mind the five components of anoutreach strategy:

1. Publishers2. Keywords3. Platforms4. Social Influencers and Amplifiers5. Timing

And grab somekey insights for your specific industrytohelp you get ahead with your outreach plans.

Id love to hear how this research fits with yourexperience. What outreach strategies do you have inplace? What components do you consider? Itd be greatto hear from you in the comments!

Related:How to Effectively and Accurately Use Datato Inform Your Social-Media Decisions (Infographic)

How to Build an Outreach Strategy to Earn More Social Shares

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