I prefer to create posts that recommend people according to a common theme. I believe that this is one of the best methods to create a post that goes truly viral. It is the people in the list that are compelled to take action. This compounds the effect of those who share it because it’s useful.

The Hook

Readers are smart. They know a linkbait post when they see it. You need to provide more value than the list itself. You need a content hook to make the readers stick around and share the post.

As Allison Boyer said in her book “Out of Thin Air,”

Basically, you want to either write something that requires so much research that other people haven’t done it themselves or write something totally original that can’t be found elsewhere online.

That something is the hook.

Finding the content hook

Your content hook depends on the type of people you are featuring. You need a unique perspective – an angle that no-one else has considered. Sometimes, this can be the untapped talent. It can be based on gender or a shared experience. This doesn’t have to be something difficult. It just has to be a common thread that somehow links all the people. This thread can be loose – later, I’ll talk about how you can segment the people into further categories to make it even more useful.

The other type of ‘hook’ is the number. My current goal is to focus on the number fifty when listing people because not many people are able to make that effort. Exceeding that, however, is a surefire way to stand out. Just look at Kristi Hines post about 125 Fearless Female Bloggers.

Where to find people:

Many who create a list post just collect a list of the top people in the particular niche. This is often a transparent attempt at linkbait and is unlikely to be shared. People generally like the hidden success stories; the people who generally aren’t talked about or are at a different tier of success.

It can be hard work finding those people. In this section, I’ll be sharing some of my secret methods.

Forums.

As I discussed in the previous module, forums are one of my favourite forms of listening posts. You can tell who the natural leaders are.

You have two choices here. You can approach these leaders and ask them who they are keeping an eye on. This lessens the amount of time you have to spend filtering information. Or, you can include those leaders. The latter requires the most work but can result in a more compelling list. However, not everyone is a member of private communities.

I especially like scouring for interesting people in paid communities. There is a barrier set up so that only the most committed join. I’ve joined multiple paid forums but only use a select few as a form of listening post.

In the comment section

You can see the standouts in your own comment section. These people are easy to find. The harder ones are the people that out in the comment sections of other peoples blogs.

Doing this has two benefits:

• You are featuring people from other people’s communities. They can bring their audience to view your post
• You may be able to build a relationship with the person mentioned and tap their brain on other people to monitor in their community

This can be harder to do but can be a solid way of finding untapped talent.

Via Email

I used to keep my posts a secret. I would share them with a couple of people but would only hint towards the type of project I’m doing. Now I’m slightly more open.

I have a select group of friends that I trust for feedback on these sorts of posts. Often, I’ll email them an early selection of the people I want to include. They’ll provide their honest feedback. This can be useful as it means the list isn’t filtered towards my biases. You need to find trustworthy friends.

See who is guest posting

The people that are guest posting are often those who have the extra drive to succeed. They are the ones that are putting themselves out there.

Look at Scott McIntyre. He was a frequent guest posting at Liz Strauss’ blog before he even launched Vivid Ways. He has been able to build his profile rapidly based on his networking efforts prior to the launch. Those who discovered him early on would have gotten a lot of credibility.

I’ll be discussing further listening posts in that guide.

Factors that may influence a decision:

Once you find the people, you have to decide whether or not including them is a good decision again. By adding them to a list you are endorsing their work. Not all of the readers will be familiar enough with you and your work to seek further opinion.

The following factors, good and bad, will determine a person’s inclusion.

The sneezability

Some people are natural sneezers. They will share the great content. You can leverage this by including them in a list.

There are, however, people who have less altruistic motives. They will sneeze anything that portrays them in a positive light. If you include them then your post has the potential to reach considerably more people.

I only utilize this technique when the post is for a client and there primary motive is to create buzz. This specific breed of sneezer often focuses more on informing people of their own importance rather than providing value for their readership.

How reliable the person is

I have made some recommendations in list posts that I really regret. Some people had no consistency with their work and made me embarrassed to be associated with their name.

I can’t get into specifics however I now do research to see if the person has stability. This ties into the trust factor. I won’t recommend someone that will change their mind and anger the people I send their way.

How nice the person is

Sometimes when I have to make a choice between two people, I will choose the nicest. I want to someone for the kindness they have shown to me or their community.

This ties into reliability. I won’t recommend someone who is going to be a jerk to the people that follow and contact them.

Their humility

A common thread with my inclusions is the personality behind the blog or twitter profile. Humility is important because they often don’t seek out attention. It makes me feel good to help a person get the attention they deserve.

I have the people. Now what?

So. You’ve chosen the relevant people for your list post. This is actually the easy part. Now you have to write a compelling post.

I usually have a three step process when writing about people.

• What are the highlights of their career?
• Why did I put them on the list?
• What potential do I see?

You don’t have to repeat this process however having some kind of framework makes it easier. Having a consistent theme also provides the readers with extra value. It’s best to decide this before writing the post and, if possible, researching the people.

When researching the subjects I try to step away from the conventional research focus which is the about page or something that comes up on the first page of Google. This stuff is useful but is the kind of information that most people can find. You may be being a good filter but you are doing a disservice to the readers by not providing them with the best content.

I prefer to do a deeper search to find the good nuggets of information. This may be:

• Interviews
• Podcast transcripts
• Comments on blogs
• Forum posts
• Articles for print publications

In 30 Bloggers to Watch on Problogger, I linked to previous articles where that person was mentioned as well as linked to any guest posts they had done on that blog. Those that noticed really appreciated the effort.

What else I should mention?

As well as the basic information, you should mention any resources that are relevant to your audience. As well as blog posts and interviews, you can include:

• Free reports
• Information products+
• Videos
• Articles about them, particularly ones that relate to the post itself

What to do after the post goes live:

You’re job isn’t over just because the post goes live. You’ve done the hard part but your work will be in vain unless it attracts the eyeballs.

In most cases, you have the benefit of the blogs social media presence. You can leverage the mailing list, twitter and facebook accounts, and the RSS feed to get some traffic and comments. But how do you get the broader community to talk about the post?

Tell people that they were featured

People can’t talk about the post if they aren’t aware that they are part of it. I’ve had several people unaware that they were listed for several days. It wasn’t until they checked their incoming traffic and noticed the URL,

I use several techniques to let people know that they are featured.

• I let them know before the post goes live. I only do this to my trusted friends and promise to remind them when the post goes live
• Will contact them myself. I only do this with people I know, or that would appreciate the heads up.
• Wait to see if someone else contacts them. If they don’t notice within a couple of hours, I may send a DM. This is a lot funner because the listed person has the element of surprise and is unlikely to assume that they are being manipulated.  Many people are aware of linkbait as a marketing tool and assume that they are only mentioned so that the post will get talked about.

I prefer to take a step back during this process. I’ll continue the conversation but I’ll let other people build the initial discussion.

Reply and engage

People are generally excited to be featured. Really excited. Often, they’ll contact you to say thanks. Sometimes they will even blog about it. Where appropriate, reply. Let people know how genuinely thankful you are for their comments. If they have something negative to say, ask how they would have done it better.

Also, many people are disappointed that you didn’t include enough people of a certain type. This is an understandable position. Rather than attack, ask the person who they would recommend and see if they’d be willing to do their own post. In some cases, this can turn into a meme.

Post high quality content

I’ve had a situation where I did a viral launch post that got a lot of my community discussing it. However, the ensuing posts didn’t target them and the readership quickly dropped off.

There is no point going to the effort to attract an audience if you are just going to waste it. Yes, it can lead to additional sales but you can make considerably more money if you leverage the relationships you’ve built.

What do you do?

My process has led to popular list posts, but I’m always looking at improving skills. How do you make your list posts stand out?

Anyone can be a talker, but there are certain types of people online that will relay your message faster. I’ll teach you the different types of talkers, how they can help you and how you can connect to them.

You can thank me later.

The Curator

The curator is a content marketer that finds the best information and presents it in an easy to understand manner.

Rohit Bhargava called it the next big social media job of the future. He described it as “Someone whose job it is not to create more content, but to make sense of all the content that others are creating. To find the best and most relevant content and bring it forward”

Curation, for the most part, hasn’t become a full time social media job but it has become a vital part of many people’s careers. There are sites like paper.li that curate information however people respond best to content that is which is hand-picked by a curator who focuses on a particular topic.

This can be:

• A list post
• A regular collection of the best articles for that niche (such as Kristi Hines Fetching Friday)
• A twitter list
• A PDF Magazine or newsletter

The information can be presented in many forms – it’s up to how the curator how they share the information. The consistent thing is that there is a focus on quality and that the information is grouped.

Why we need curators:

• People are busy and don’t have time to filter through, and organize, information.
• Curators can make more connections between information as they are exposed to a lot more of it
• Curators allow you to monitor trends across multiple industries easily. This allows you to monitor complimentary niches

Curators are one of the easiest type of talkers to find. Most regularly seek contributions from their community.

• Allison Boyer will ask for posts at the end of her Brilliant Bloggers column at the Blogworld Blog. She’ll also ask via twitter.
• Kristi Hines has the following text below her Fetching Friday posts: “Looking for some link love? Articles featured in the resources come primarily from people I interact with in the comments, and on the social networks. So comment away , and join me on the networks below, and if your article/photo/video catches my eye, it may appear in following Fetching Friday posts.”
• Jonathan Wondrusch asks his readers for their recommendations in his resource posts
• I ask my close friends, and my twitter followers, for recommendations when I’m writing a list post.

If you want to read more about this concept, you can read Rohit Bhargavas follow up post, The Five Models of Content Creation.

The gatekeeper

The gatekeeper is a person that restricts the flow of information. They can work in an official manner, either as a team member or the person that fields the majority of communication to that person, or be a friend that unofficially passes on the best information.

They don’t usually add to the conversation. They have the ear of the influencer that hired them and their biases/opinion may affect how the influencer perceives you.

See, it’s not only the influencer that matters. Gatekeepers also talk privately amongst those in their peer group. Basically, if you piss off a gatekeeper you can really damage your reputation.

We need the gatekeepers to prevent the influencer from being overwhelmed. The alternate is that they will cut off communication channels and that you’ll have to compete against a lot of noise to get attention.

How to get to the gatekeeper:

• Create great content. In Referral Engine, John says that “great content gets you past the gatekeeper”
• Be professional. Some people treat the gatekeeper as second class, especially if they are an employee. If you’re rude to the gatekeeper, you can be pretty sure they will warn their peers, and superiors, about you.
• Make their job easier. Provide all the information they need the first time, and follow up with their responses promptly. Treat them like you would their boss.
• Let them access review copies. When I was a gatekeeper, people who let me access the product beforehand usually got a quicker recommendation
• If they turn you down, ask if they have any recommendations. Sometimes a product may not be a right fit for the blog, but most gatekeepers are really savvy. I used to love recommending other sites as it made me, and my boss, look good.
• Don’t try to be friends unless you actually plan to follow through. I get really annoyed at people that work hard to develop a rapport, and then stop communicating once they’ve got what they want. It’s a gatekeepers job to tell those above them why something is awesome. You’d save so much more time by being friendly, honest and explaining why you want the authority to talk about your thing.

The filter

The filter is someone that goes through the masses of information and finds the hidden gems. They differ from the curator in that they search for one gem, rather than collating multiple resources

The curators are awesome. However, they generally rely on stuff that has been referred to them. The filter has a lot more time to research to ensure that something is high quality. We need them because they are able to put in the time to find the best information that everyone can then benefit from.

• Srinivas Rao finds people with compelling blogs, and filters out the irrelevant information to create highly useful interviews at BlogcastFM
• Ainslie Hunter filters through many courses to find the people who are the best teachers for Courses That Matter
• Jess Van Den finds the best from the craft and creative communities, and highlights them on her blog and twitter account.

How to Connect With a Filter

Connecting with a filter can be difficult. They will get a lot of resources sent to them and won’t have the time to check them all out. Here are the tips that have helped people connect to me:

• You’ll often find that filters have an inner circle made up of talkers. Look at me. My inner circle is Catherine Caine (cheerleader), Jonathan Wondrusch (curator) and Srinivas Rao. If someone in my inner circle is impressed by you, I’ll be willing to invest more time into researching you
• I have friends that are filters within their own communities that I get information from. It sounds complex, but telling them about your new thing may increase the change of the information being sent up to me.
• In most cases, other people will be talking about you or your thing. Linking to what they are saying may help me figure out

See – it’s like networking marketing. Only instead of getting money, the person at the top gets authority and a lot of information. The higher someone gets, the more they rely on a group of their own filters to save them time on research.

Most people try to get attention of the filters at the top, and that is a good strategy. However, they are very busy. It’s unlikely they’ll be unable to do much with the information. Starting at the bottom can result in more people talking about you and more trust as you’ll have a wide range of people recommending you.

You will have to be up front when you approach people. I, like many of my peers, get offended when someone engages me and has an ulterior motive.  We get pitched a lot and like it when you make our job easier and send us a new resource. Remember: focus on the benefits to their audience.

The connector

Theconnector is a social person that has built a reputation from connecting people and products. They are useful because people seek them privately for their opinions on products.

This is my main talking style. Trust me – the industry needs people like this. They can see tiny connected threads that link seemingly unrelated bits of information. If they decide to help you out, they can shave months off your career by connecting you to the right person.

It’s easy to see a connector – especially if they are also a cheerleader. Some of their connections are public, where the blatantly connect people via social media. However most of the connections are done in private, or via recommendation. This is the best way to identify them is to watch the conversation around them or wait until they try to connect you with someone.

Most people wouldn’t peg me as a connector – they only realize this when they are told. The main reasons I get identified as one is:

• When someone mentions my connecting skills in a blog post. This is common with the reflective posts after an event, like BlogWorld, or when someone summarizes their blog’s progression for that year
• When I do a popular list post. Most of the conversation will be about the people on the post, but there is a low level of discussion around the author.
• When I get a specific referral.

How to Find a Connector

The best way to find a connector is to monitor the conversations in that niche. It is time consuming but well worth it. However, connectors get asked for favors a lot. I’d be very careful how you approach them. I’d suggest you:

• Do your niche research. It always annoys me when people ask for help when they haven’t put any effort into helping themselves.
• Ask if they have any recommendations of people you could connect with. Mention your research and ask if there are any complimentary niches or people you haven’t thought of. Show that you respect their time and expertise.
• Connect them with people in your immediate network. Helping them goes a long way

The connector isn’t the best type of talker to try and connect to but if you do it correctly, it can be a very powerful relationship.

The cheerleader

The cheerleader is someone who is very vocal when they find something they love. They will tell everyone. Danielle Laporte is a classic example. When she finds something she loves, you know about it. Everyone knows about it.

We need cheerleaders. We need people who find cool stuff for the sheer fun of it. We need these people to remind us it is that we do what we do. Now, a cheerleader is probably the least effective talker to connect with unless they share traits with another talker profile.

The best way to get the attention of the cheerleader is via organic networking. If you are referred, provide all the information they need to make it easy for them to decide whether to recommend it or not. Be useful, but not pushy. Respect that they have become successful because they are discerning about product quality.

Types of talkers to be wary of

While this guide has focused on the positive talkers, you must remember that not everyone has the tact and credibility required to effectively connect to them. Be very careful that the people you talk to don’t fall into the following categories.

The collector

These talkers focus on building relationships to increase their metrics. They want more followers so that they can leverage the statistics for purely commercial gain. They’ll position themselves as a connector but do very little genuine connecting.

These are the type of people you’ll see in the press. They often have great reach but very little conversion. Many of the collectors I’m friends with are good people – I value their friendships highly. I’ll just be reluctant to refer people to them lest they become just another impersonal statistic.

The suck up

The suck up is someone who will only talk to you for their benefit. They’ll often come out of the woodwork after you’ve accomplished something amazing.

They are fine people to talk to, but it can be time consuming to constantly question their motive. They’ll ask for favors and advice just to connect with you, and brag about their connection with you. They can tarnish your brand if they try to leverage your trust for their gain. It depends on how credible they are.

Like with the collector, they are mostly good people. You just have to be extra careful about being associated with them.