The blogosphere and the world of social media is, by and large, ruled by human emotion. As web developers, marketers and entrepreneurs seeking exposure, we can choose to embrace the passions that dominate the creation of links, or we can ignore them and give our competition a potential edge.
In my experience there are a handful of emotions that dominate the desire to link or share content. Below, I’ve ranked each emotion by effectiveness in terms of enticing the sharing behavior online (and, cheesily, added images to assist in my explanations):
#1 – Anger
Bloggers link when they’re angry – this trait rules the political blogosphere and often makes for huge stories in the technology and business worlds as well. It’s only human nature to get mad and start tossing around URLs to either back up your point or refute the opinions of others.
#2 – Pride
One of the most universally effective emotions to capitalize upon is pride. If you win an award or receive some very nice praise, or even get a positive mention, you’re likely to point it out. This is also a winning strategy to employ with widgets – if your widget can make the blogger/site owner look good, chances are they’ll be embedding it on their site.
#3 – Excitement
All those Wii & Apple fanboys have a lot of excitement, and they’ll link to anything with a KB of images and a mention of their favorite product. This applies to news, companies, products and services as well as anticipation over upcoming events. If you create buzz before a launch or announcement, you’ll have even more success when the date arrives (even if the links are the result of a letdown).
#4 – Surprise
Shockingly, shock itself is a great way to draw in links. Surprise readers with a bit of information they’ve never heard before and the reward is often links. Viral content creators will sometimes take old news, or old data, and repackage it in such a way that it catches the audience off guard.
#5 – Envy
If you can’t help but be jealous of someone else’s success, you very well might mention them on your blog or site. That craving to have what they’ve got or build what they’ve built is strong incentive for discussion and interaction. But, beware, if you’re playing this game in the SEO world, get ready for some purposeful ignoring – I know I’ve been guilty of glossing over an obvious mention simply because I didn’t want to pass on the link love.
#6 – Sharing
It’s only natural to want to share what you find interesting with others. This is probably one of the top reasons I link out on SEOmoz, and it’s also one of the biggest ways to earn links with linkbait-style content. You rely on the fascination of the audience to provide your page with links inviting their audiences to check out what you’ve got.
#7 – Thoughtful
If your content can make your readers think, there’s a good chance it will spark a link when they finally grok what you’ve put together. I see a lot of great blog posts like this through Techmeme, where a discussion will spark greater brainstorming and evolve into something new and equally worthwhile.
#8 – Confusion
When particularly puzzling content arrives, it inspires some of the emotions that suggest we should share our problems to help bring clarity. This isn’t always a very strong technique for attracting links, but I’ve certainly linked out to pieces that made me say “huh?” and I’ve seen plenty of others do it as well. The only problem is that usually, the content was unintentionally confusing…
#9 – Disappointment
The only time you’ll see a link from this emotion is when expectations are high or the buzz in the outside world is tremendous. When the iPhone launched, dozens of pieces of linkbait earned thousands of links with the “I’m not impressed” style. Again, it’s tough to do this one intentionally, and, to be honest, you probably don’t want to.
#10 – Shame
Embarrassment is certainly not the leading cause of link growth, but there are those rare times when a piece of news will force a reckoning that demands links. Exposing weakness, foolish or simply a wrong move can result in the shameful link. Be careful how you play this one, though. Chances are, the party you shame won’t be the one linking, but rather, other detractors will pick up on it.
What can you do with this information? It’s easy – just apply the emotional test to the content you produce and try to give some emotional incentive along with the information you supply. Make mentions of sites, companies or bloggers from whom you’d like to earn a link. Discuss your subject with passion and personality as well as factual data. Imagine yourself as an outside and ask the question – “why would I link to this?”
I think you’ll find that a little emotion goes a long way on the web.
p.s. Sorry for the odd color on the photos – I’ll have to fiddle with my camera settings.
