There is a secret to getting backlinks and social shares organically, and it doesn’t involve luck. It is causing a physical and/or emotional reaction with your audience whether it is shock, laughter, sadness, comfort, anger, guilt, or anything else that is strong enough to make them have a reaction. Emotions are what trigger a response, and emotions are strong it is important to feel confident you’re striking the correct ones for the expected outcome.
We always run through these six questions before launching an emotional trigger campaign.
- Which emotion are we striking and why is it the correct one?
- Is this emotion a positive or negative impact with our current audience?
- Will this be a positive or negative association with future customers?
- Negative can be good, think about non-profits and creating negative emotions to get donations in ads.
- Are the people sharing on social media part of our audience?
- If no, how can we fine tune the content to reach them.
- Is this a match for websites in our niche, industry, that talk about our products or services?
- Does it make sense to host on our website?
- Not everything does or will.
If there’s no emotional attachment or physical reaction, there’s no reason the content will work. If you create a negative association with current customers, donors, or users, it could cause them to leave. What is funny or important to you as a company, team, or brand may not be funny or important with your audience. The same goes for future audiences, negative can be good, but too much negativity while they’re in your eco-system can kill them taking action and staying.
Now its time to fine tune the message and the creative to reach the right people, while avoiding similar but non-customer or user based audiences. If the audience is similar and engaging, but not your customers, you could signal to algorithms the incorrect audience you’re trying to reach. This works directly against you.
When you have all else aligned, make sure it matches your industry’s needs so you can get attention from the media, industry websites, and the creators in your space. These are important for relevant (high-quality) backlinks, citations, and social media coverage. It’s very reasonable to believe that if and when the industry is talking about your brand and the content, LLMs (AI systems like ChatGPT and Claude) will pick up on this and get interested in you.
Once you’ve passed the five above, make sure it is topically relevant for your website and fits directly in your entities. If it isn’t, do not publish it on your website. Quality links and relevant content go much further and build long term success than irrelevant links and citations. Irrelevant ones can and likely will work against you over the longer period of time.
Sounds easy, and it is, once you have the idea. It could be as simple as using plays on words or creating a few fun memes. Here’s a bit of an extreme example, and then I share some toned down ones for niches like non-profits, clothing, AI and job loss, etc…
Suppose I could go out to dinner or a party with a couple of friends and leave a bit early because I’m tired. My friends go to my Facebook profile and write “Adam is no longer with us, goodbye friend”. The friends literally mean I left dinner and am no longer with them, but it sounds like I’m dead and this is the death announcement. This becomes especially true if they upload a photo from the party or dinner because it shows what I look like recently and a happy time.
If the people connected to me on Facebook see this and make the assumption this is a death announcement, they’ll likely fact check by texting or DMing me. I rarely answer my phone in general, and if I was just in a social situation like a dinner or a party, I can guarantee it is on silent until morning. At this point there is now “evidence” I’m no longer alive because I am not responding to texts or calls combined with the Facebook announcement. Unless the people that posted clarify their meaning behind the words, comments will start on the post and the death announcement becomes a “fact.”
Death and friendship are two things that carry a lot of weight. It is why the memes that say “tag a friend” or “I’m the friend that…” take off and get attention.
This above is an extreme example, but you can see how it carries weight. Think about the last time you saw someone pass away via an announcement on Facebook. If people you trust start commenting on the announcement, did you instantly believe it and feel it in your gut because it became a “fact”?
Was it so believable that you had to look it up or comment about the unfortunate experience? The same happens as content goes viral, especially when you see someone or a group of people you trust commenting.
A different (and less morbid example) is bad times like during the pandemic when people were in lockdown, a recession like the dot com bubble burst, or when a national tragedy hits. People look for comfort and reminders of “good times.” Your brand can participate in this by catering to their fear and uncertainty in a good way.
If you’re a snack food company and you have an audience of Gen X and Xennials, try creating a quiz about which 80’s or 90’s iconic snack foods they are. The questions can be about the time period that sparks good memories from when things were safe as a kid. They could include the types of sitcoms they watched, the activities they did like roller skating rinks vs. BMX biking vs. running through sprinklers, bands that were popular, and of course their iconic 80’s and 90’s hair styles.
The person will relive good memories and good times while taking the quiz causing a positive association with your brand. From there you can prompt them to share with friends and offer one of your products at the end at a discount for completing the quiz. Instead of using the regular product description, tie in the 80’s and 90’s themes with the answers from the questions so they can taste, smell, and live in the good times.
This can result in virality with social media, media companies linking to the quiz or sharing it when it goes viral. This can also attract backlinks from niche sites including food, vintage/retro, etc… And there’s no reason you cannot give it a boost by advertising it on social media to get the quiz takers and virality of the campaign started.
Now thing about the accounts you engage with on social media. What is it that causes you to click the heart, thumbs up, idea, etc…? That reaction that causes you to take an action is a response to the branding of the account or the company. Think about why and how people have that reaction to your own accounts.
Now take these thoughts and feelings and apply them to current times and situations. What can you do to make your audience feel more secure, be excited for something upcoming, try something different, or share with friends? Use that emotional bond to create a quiz, a promotion or contest, or an infopiece that keeps that emotion and bond between your brand and their interest in it alive.
Last look at what your audience has in common that can be tied into the campaign. It should be something relatable like dogs or cats if a large percentage are pet owners and whatever is trending. We’re at the end of summer so it could be creating those final summer moments at the beach, walks in the park, etc…
Another is safety and not-so-safe alternatives which can be comedic. Try something inspirational about making difference if there is something happening that causes uncertainty in your industry including job loss. If the issue is fear and the media and niche creators are all negative, take the upbeat approach. AI and job loss, death from a disease, etc…
When everyone is posting about losing their jobs to AI, create something about how certain jobs are increasing in demand and the number of companies that are hiring are increasing. When all the ads from non-profits are about death, dying, and despair, publish something that shares how many new medicines and solutions there are, the increased survival rates, and build hope for the audience. Don’t play off the fear, this is where you can stand out and be the knight in shining armor for the industry.
You could even make fun of yourself. If you released a t-shirt and it kept ripping, create a video montage of the shirt ripping and say “we hear you, we apologize, and we’ve done better.” The content shows the shirt ripping at the most non-ideal times like presenting in a board meeting, in front of a class at college, or on a date when you go to the bathroom and have to come back to dinner. This works especially well if you’re done a make good campaign.
It shows your audience you’ve taken their feedback and are a company that listens and cares, and you’re not afraid when you made a mistake. You now have a lead into the new product line and can get creative with a promotion. Offer a larger deal compared to a normal one for anyone that shares the order number from their previous purchase if they try the new one. This tied with the comedy from the ad lightens the mood and shows you’re trying to do right.
This is something we do with our clients, but it isn’t always easy to come up with the ideas. Sometimes it comes instantly, other times it takes a few months. Keep brainstorming and most important, track what causes you audience to have a reaction, both good and bad. By knowing this you’ll know the types of content that have the best chances to get backlinks, social shares, and most important, that relate to your audience’s needs.
