How to go viral with ZEEF

And blow that white and gold dress out of the water!

Katie Williams, M.Ed.@FiberOpticNow

International Marketing ConsultantStartups, Edtech, Content & Creative

Online CV: http://goo.gl/NQ1SbJ

When you think of “going viral”

You may think of THE DRESS, the recent viral phenomenon by Buzzfeed...

Is this dress #whiteandgold or #blueandblack?

Will we ever know?

Or you may think of famous advertising campaigns, such as those from Old Spice.

He’s on a horse! No one saw that coming!

But what about for startups, small businesses, and freelancers with limited budgets?

Can we go viral, too?

Going viral takes proper planning & strategy

In this presentation you will learn how to:● Use ZEEF to drive traffic to your brand, as

well as increase your personal branding in a given subject.

ZEEF is a platform for creating subject-specific link directories. These directories are dynamic content that you can use to drive traffic to your brand.

This is my ZEEF page

Links to awesome resources

My page generated over 4k hits in only a few days!

By creating ZEEF pages that support your target audience’s interests, you can increase your personal branding, as well as drive traffic to specific websites.

Here’s how to go viral using ZEEF

1. Research your target audience

My target audience consists of educators, parents, and people who want to learn or teach computer programming.

Knowing your target audience will help you to share your message to the right people.

2. Create the content

Content marketing is publishing relevant content to acquire customers

In this example, your content is your subject specific ZEEF page filled with relevant links.

Creating a ZEEF page is easy

Create a subject page on a subject that is relevant to your target audience and/or branding

Construct your message3. Construct your messages to share your ZEEF page

In 2012 Wharton Professor Jonah Berger analyzed 7,000 New York Times articles to determine what type of articles go viral.

“Eliciting emotion is key and positive words are better than negative words.”

Dr. Berger found that:

“What makes emotional content so susceptible to spreading is that emotions themselves are contagious.”

-Eric Jaffe, Fast Company

How can you evoke an emotional response in your shareable messages?

What kind of messagesshould you create?

Let’s imagine we want to share this page

● Create shareable images sized for social media platforms

Don’t forget to look up the size specifications for each social media platform

Blog posts that link to your content

Don’t forget that you can embed a ZEEF widget directly to your blog!

Status updates on various social media platforms

4. Plan your contentsharing calendar

Plan when you will share your messages on social media

5. Share on multiple platforms

Remember, each platform will have different demographics.

Know what social channels work

best for you

And what channels your target audience

is using!

Spotlight on Twitter

Let’s imagine we’re sharing this ZEEF ‘Burgers’ page

Search for the top Twitterers

#

Track your click throughs

Use relevant hashtags

Reach out for advice to influencers

Track your clicks

Data from tracking clicks can only better inform your marketing decisions

See what days of the week work best

Data helps you tailor your content

Track your click throughs

Use trending hashtags

Find related hashtags

# Use relevant hashtags

6. Edit, engage, and reshare

Continue engaging with influencers online to build relationships.

When people suggest links for your ZEEF page, add the links &

then tweet the person!

The key is to keep building relationships online with influencers in your target audience on various social media platforms.

Tweet us your ZEEF page & let us know how this virality

plan worked for you!

Katie Williams, M.Ed.@FiberOpticNow

Bibliography1. Konnikova, Maria. "The Six Things That Make Stories Go Viral Will Amaze, and Maybe Infuriate, You." The New Yorker. N.

p., 21 Jan. 2014. Web. 17 Feb. 2015.

2. Macmillan, Gordon. "How Videos Go Viral on Twitter - Three Stories | Twitter Blogs." How Videos Go Viral on Twitter - Three Stories | Twitter Blogs. Twitter Advertising Blog, 12 Aug. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.

3. Jaffe, Eric. "These Scientists Studied Why Internet Stories Go Viral. You Won't Believe What They Found." Co.Design. Fast Co Design, 03 Jan. 2014. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.

4. Sprung, Shlomo. "This Incredible Chart Predicts Which Articles Will Go Viral." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 18 May 2012. Web. 19 Feb. 2015.