It's easy to get stuck on the hamster wheel that is publishing three blog posts a week because that's what we've always done.
At Unbounce, we still fall into the trap of publishing more versus publishing better, even though we know that one 10x post is always better than three mediocre posts.
However, as our team has grown, we've had the opportunity to step away from the hamster wheel to consider the most efficient and enjoyable way to spend our time while also providing value to our readers.
One such thing we're experimenting with is treating specific blog posts like mini campaigns. That is, in addition to simply publishing well-written content, we're also setting goals, implementing strategy and reporting on ROI. It's something Joanna Wiebe touched on in her UFX talk.
On the verge of total content production burnout, Joanna and the team at Copyhackers changed the way they looked at, and thus produced, content.
They cut back their content production to just one epic post per month based on the hypothesis that if they made each post so valuable, so 10x, readers would be delighted to share their email address.
Turns out, they were right. According to Joanna,
We actually also got business growth out of it. We doubled the number of freelance copywriters on our list… and we sold out the next two Masterminds.
The blog team at Unbounce took a similar approach with this post by Aaron Orendorff.
Before I get into the how, let me give you a quick recap of the results of the presidential post:
- 7,536 unique page views, 4,513 new users and 99 new subscribers in first 30 days
- 6,000+ social shares
- Ranking first in Google for “presidential marketing campaigns” and “presidential marketing”
Not only that, but the post was trending on Inbound.org and was mentioned in this Inc. and this Huffington Post piece.
So how'd we do it?
Well, it all started with a casual Slack convo:
Once we got a completed pitch from Aaron, it was clear to us that this post had potential to go, well, viral. But not if we didn't do a little strategy to go along with it, starting with a detailed pitch…
Produce better content right from the beginning
If you're not sure if your post is a good candidate for a content campaign, ask yourself the following questions:
- Is it timely? Does it have newsjacking potential? Are people already talking about the topic?
- Is it unique? Does it offer a fresh perspective on a familiar subject?
- Does it have potential to rank in search engines? (This should require a little keyword research, but we'll get to the how later.)
- Are there other people invested in its success? Does it contain original quotes from industry experts? Does the author have a sizeable network?
All clear? Word. Now it's time to strategize.
Phase I: Determine the goal of the post
Campaign posts require a lot more effort than a standard “3 Easy Ways to X” post does, so it's important to determine a goal for the post, so that you can measure whether or not it was worth the additional effort.
We'll usually go with one of three options: leads (four-field form), subscribers (email only) or new users (traffic).
In the case of the Clinton vs. Trump post, our primary goal was new users. Because we were leveraging a trending topic, our suspicion was that the post would have great reach, but that the people reading it may be cold to Unbounce and therefore hesitant to hand over their lead info. Thus, this was a true TOFU post, focused on driving new eyes - and ideally prospects - to the blog.
As a baseline, we usually get between 500 and 800 new users on any given post. However, as I mentioned in the bullet points above, this post brought us over 4,500 new users in its first 30 days. Not too shabby, amirite?
Now, if you checked out the post, you may have noticed a few CTAs throughout, and even an exit overlay - all with separate goals!
While it's not always viable or even smart to have a multiple goals, we decided on a secondary subscriber goal for two reasons: (1) the post was long (6,000 words), so we offered a PDF of the post in exchange for an email address and (2) we wanted to give new users who loved our content an opportunity to sign up for blog updates.
In total, we received 175 CTA submissions, 99 of which were brand new subscribers. If subscribers had been our primary goal, this number would have been disappointing. But since new users – that is, brand awareness – was our goal, these 99 subscribers were the cherries on top.
Phase II: Keyword research and implementation
Content Marketer Helen Arceyut-Frixione took on the challenge of finding the juiciest keywords to rank for.
Taking into consideration searcher intent, Helen worked backwards to figure out (a) what might someone learn from the post and (b) what might someone search to find a post like this. Helen explains:
Although the post talks about sales funnels, that's not what it's really about. And I would be surprised if Google showed me this post after searching for “sales funnel.” However, if I search presidential marketing (and its variations), landing on this post makes total sense.
Once she had “presidential marketing” and a few other new keywords in mind, she was ready to verify their relevancy.
First Helen used Google Adwords Keyword Planner to get a pulse on monthly search volume. However, because the Keyword Planner only takes into account paid search, she then moved onto MOZ, which allows her to see where the organic opportunities are. She narrowed it down to a few potential keywords, which were then reviewed by our resident SEO expert Cody Campbell.
In the end, we focused our efforts primarily on “presidential marketing campaign.” As you can see below, our efforts paid off.
Phase III: Loop in influencers
A key part of this post's success can be credited to the people involved: firstly, Unbounce Official Contributor Aaron Orendorff and secondly, the 18 influential experts who analyzed on each step of the candidates' online donation funnels.
As a successful freelance content strategist and producer, Aaron is no stranger to writing high-performing pieces. Several of his highest performing posts have also leveraged trending topics, like this Entrepreneur piece, titled “The Mindy Kaling Guide to Entrepreneurial Domination.”
So with the right writer (right righter? write righter?) assigned to the piece, Aaron set out on a seemingly impossible mission: to wrangle 18 professional CROs, copywriters and content producers into submitting their critique on a tight deadline. I asked Aaron how he did it:
Wrangling 18 of the best conversion-rate optimizers wasn't easy. But a few tricks helped get their contributions.
First, I had buy-in from Kyle Rush from the jump - Clinton's Deputy CTO - so attaching his name gave the piece immediate authority.
Second, the topic itself was killer; having something original for them to write about piqued their interest.
Third, I got granular. Instead of asking for “general” teardowns on each candidate's site, I gave each contributor a specific section of one site to critique: (1) pop-up, (2) homepage or (3) donation page. Once they agreed, I created separate Google Docs for each section and gave them direct access to write up their notes.
Despite its challenges, getting 18 influential marketers to weigh in on this post was hugely impactful, because they too were invested in the success of the piece and thus shared it on their own social networks.
Phase IV: Create custom blog assets
At Unbounce, we use Shutterstock for the majority of our feature blog images. Actually, until quite recently we didn't even use Shutterstock - instead we used free images from various sources (if you use free images, check out this bomb-ass resource).
However, in this case we looped in our designers to give it the ol' blowout treatment. Not only did they produce a striking feature image, they also made an exit overlay with the same design.
Exit overlays and popups in general are a touchy subject, because they can be abrupt. So when we use them, we try to do it in a way that is both value-added and delightful. In this case, we've added value by giving time-constrained readers an opportunity to read the post at their leisure. As for delight, well, did you see the button copy?
Phase V: Distribution (social and otherwise)
The final key piece in your blog post campaign is distribution. I mean, why put all that work into the post if people aren't going to read it?
Aaron took a lot off our hands by contacting each contributor to let them know the post was live; step one, leverage influencers: check!
I also met with Community Strategist Hayley Mullen to ensure we were were covered on the social front.
Of course, #election2016, #Trump and #Clinton were trending; however, Hayley opted to use those hashtags sparingly, since most people searching them out wouldn't be looking for a post about conversion rate optimization. Again - as in the case with keyword selection - we took searcher intent into consideration.
Instead, she split her efforts between presidential-esque hashtags and marketing-type hashtags, including #CRO and, well, #Marketing. I asked Hayley about her strategy:
We had to strike a balance between taking advantage of the election hype - without making a statement - and staying relevant. So I targeted broad, uncontroversial audiences in both politics and marketing to cast a wide net on both sides. As tempting as it was to dive into the more fervorous political communities, it would have been a gimmicky move that wasn't true to the nature of the post.
One last thing we did, in an effort to get as much juice as possible out of this post, was to share it with our team and ask them to share it in their networks.
So if you were wondering: No, we are not above just asking people to share something. Because sometimes a little nudge is what we all need.
Takeaways, tips and learnings
So, that's it, folks. That's how we approach our blog post mini-campaigns. If you'd like to give it a go yourself (and I highly suggest you do!) here's the advice I can offer:
- Be in “the know.” Keep an eye out and and ear to the ground for trending topics you can put your own unique spin on.
- Establish a goal for your post. Is it leads? Is it traffic? Whatever the case, figure that out early so you can measure whether post was a success or not.
- Think about searcher intent - and do it in both the keyword research and distribution phase. You want people to find your post, but you want the people who find the post to also stay on it, maybe even share it, because it's relevant to them.
- Involve influencers. Okay, so getting 18 well-known experts in your field might not be doable every time, but asking a few notable peeps for original quotes can go a long way. This gives them buy-in to share when the post is live, and you're doing them a solid by boosting their professional clout.
- Consider custom images. Stock photos have gotten so much better over the years, but they don't always cut the mustard when you're championing a piece with viral potential. If you have access to a designer - or have some design chops of your own - consider creating a memorable custom image that you'd like to see in your own social media feeds.
Have any of your own tips for making your content work harder for you? I'd love to hear them, so drop me a line in the comments.
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