Brian Swichkow, infamously known as the guy who received over 450,000 visitors to his blog after posting to Reddit about how he pranked his roommate with targeted Facebook ads, shares arrows from his marketing quiver. He discusses how to leverage democratic social platforms, such as Reddit, Hacker News, and Product Hunt. Learn how to utilize the power of community platforms to rapidly develop your audience. Specifically, Brian will explore: - Why focusing on people, not algorithms, is a more profitable approach - Mastering communication in order to lead from behind the crowd - How democratic platforms work and why they're powerful - What formula to use to distill the best content for creation - How short term viral traction results in long term payoffs - First steps to take to learn and leverage ** Download To Access Resources Linked Within **

1. LEVERAGING DEMOCRACY
BRIAN SWICHKOW, GHOST INFLUENCE

2. YOU’RE IN THE RIGHT PLACE IF
▸ you want an evergreen strategy for increasing traffic and conversion
▸ you’ve been hit by algorithms and are back at the drawing board
▸ you’re tired of chasing trends and fighting for reach
▸ it doesn’t matter if you have no experience with Reddit or other democratic
platforms — what you learn today will amplify all of your social engagements
ghostinfluence

3. INTRODUCTION
▸ Built ex-fiancé’s dog a YouTube channel with 6,500 subscribers and 2M+ views
▸ Broke a server launching my blog | 450K pageviews, first 72 hours, $0 adspend
▸ Made a girl on Tinder world famous | 25 million impressions in under 72 hours
▸ Created “most absurd email to give in bar” | 11K pageviews first 30 minutes
▸ Achieved consistent 2,137% ROI selling information products on Facebook
▸ Increased client conversions 3,100% by suggesting a single UI change
ghostinfluence
ONE SIMPLE FORMULA

4. NEVER EXPECT YOUR
AUDIENCE’S STANDARDS TO
BE LOWER THAN YOUR OWN.
ghostinfluence
@GHOSTINFLUENCEtweet this

5. BRIAN SWICHKOW
▸ Social Engineer
▸ Founder, Ghost Influence
▸ Host, Ghost Influence Podcast
▸ @ghostinfluence
ghostinfluence
ADWEEK | BUSINESS INSIDER | FORBES | SEARCH ENGINE LAND | OBSERVER
REDDIT | HACKER NEWS | INBOUND | ENGADGET | CRACKED | AL JAZEERA

6. HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
▸ how to leverage the power of democratic platforms
▸ a simple formula for creating the most effective content
▸ how to avoid the pitfalls of hard selling in communities
▸ what it looks like to measure the analytics of success
▸ how these principals and processes save time and make money
▸ clearly defined steps to getting started
ghostinfluence
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE

7. STICK TO THE END
▸ link you to download this presentation
▸ all resources mentioned are linked within
▸ two special offers
▸ a gif of a puppy
ghostinfluence
LET’S GET STARTED

8. LET’S START WITH A STORY…

9. ghostinfluence

10. ghostinfluence
▸ 450K visitors in first 3 days, average time on site 2 minutes, 17K shares
▸ Featured by AdWeek, Business Insider, Inbound, Hacker News
▸ 1.5M visitors, 7M earned media impressions, 38K backlinks
▸ Covered by Search Engine Journal (x2), Cracked, Observer, Al Jazeera
▸ Media contacts, requests to speak, and introductions to clients for over a year

11. BLAKE JAMIESON
TINDER HACKS
RICHARD LITTAUER
THE USER IS DRUNK
UNICORNS
ANON
SHIRT WAS CASH
BOBBY EDWARDS
SQUATTY POTTY

12. ghostinfluence

13. ghostinfluence
DIGITAL EMPATHY IS SOCIAL LEVERAGE
WHAT WE’RE LEARNING
▸ people want to feel understood, not be told
▸ audiences should never outgrow their relevancy
▸ treat every follower like they’re your only follower (video)
▸ don’t underestimate the power of depth and detail
▸ accept compliments with gratitude, but bestow credit abundantly

14. ALGORITHMS ARE DESIGNED
TO PREDICT PEOPLE, YET MOST
MARKETERS FOCUS ON THE
MATH INSTEAD OF HUMANS.
ghostinfluence

15. • BECOME A MEMBER OF YOUR AUDIENCE
• SPEAK TO A WHOLE, AVOID IRRELEVANCE
• FRAME AND PRESENT, DON’T PITCH AND SELL
• REWARD PARTICIPATION WITH YOUR ENERGY
• AVOID BROAD LANGUAGE IN COMMUNICATION
• GIVE CREDIT EVERYWHERE POSSIBLE
ghostinfluence
PEOPLE FIRST PRINCIPALS

16. ghostinfluence
MASTER COMMUNICATION
▸ How to Win Friends & Influence People
▸ Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone
▸ Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator
▸ Dataclysm: Who We Are (When We Think No One's Looking)
▸ Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age
▸ The Definitive Book of Body Language

17. DEMOCRACY IS MADE OF PEOPLE,
YOU CAN’T LEVERAGE ONE WITHOUT
UNDERSTANDING THE OTHER.
ghostinfluence
@GHOSTINFLUENCEtweet this

18. THE WORD "DEMOCRACY"
LITERALLY MEANS "RULE
BY THE PEOPLE." IN A
(TRUE) DEMOCRACY, THE
PEOPLE GOVERN.
ghostinfluence

19. BRAND PLATFORMS
DEMOCRATIC PLATFORMS
ghostinfluence
USERS SELECT CHANNELS
USERS JOIN COMMUNITIES

20. BRAND PLATFORMS
▸ Facebook
▸ YouTube
▸ Twitter
▸ Instagram
▸ Vine
DEMOCRATIC PLATFORMS
▸ Reddit
▸ Imgur
▸ Voat
▸ Hacker News
▸ Product Hunt
ghostinfluence

21. “A VOTE IS LIKE A RIFLE: ITS
USEFULNESS DEPENDS UPON
THE CHARACTER OF THE USER.”
Theodore Roosevelt
ghostinfluence
goodreads.com/quotes

22. NOTABLES
▸ content is tied to a community (not an individual)
▸ this affords the message to be larger than the individual
▸ people’s responses are binary (acceptance or rejection)
▸ it’s a strikeout or a home run, nothing in between
▸ every outcome offers communication intelligence
▸ circular feedback loops amplify future success
ghostinfluence

23. THERE AREN’T “INFLUENCERS”
WITHIN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIAL
PLATFORM, BUT THERE ARE
ELEMENTS OF TRUST THAT
BESTOW CERTAIN FREEDOMS
ghostinfluence

24. PLATFORM DYNAMICS
CHANGE CONTENT DYNAMICS
ghostinfluence

25. ORIGIN OF VOICE
▸ Vine, 6 second videos, humor and wit
▸ Twitter, 140 characters, updates and news (headlines)
▸ YouTube, full video (related content), “browsing”
▸ Instagram, images, focused user on photography
ghostinfluence

26. “GETTING PEOPLE TO HEAR YOUR STORY ON SOCIAL
MEDIA, AND THEN ACT ON IT, REQUIRES USING A
PLATFORM’S NATIVE LANGUAGE, PAYING ATTENTION
TO CONTEXT, UNDERSTANDING THE NUANCES AND
SUBTLE DIFFERENCES THAT MAKE EACH PLATFORM
UNIQUE, AND ADAPTING YOUR CONTENT TO MATCH.”
Gary Vaynerchuk
ghostinfluence

27. ON AVERAGE, FACEBOOK USERS
CONSUME 660 PAGEVIEWS PER MONTH
ON AVERAGE, REDDIT USERS CONSUME
1,300 PAGEVIEWS PER MONTH
ghostinfluence

28. PEOPLE HUNT FOR WHAT’S BEST AND
COMPETE TO BE FIRST TO SUBMIT
THEY’RE PROGRAMMED TO BE OF VALUE
TO THE COMMUNITIES THEY’VE JOINED
ghostinfluence

29. CONTRIBUTION TO THE DISCUSSION IS
RAISED FOR THE SAME REASONS
STANDARDS ARE HIGHER, CONSUMPTION
PATTERNS ELEVATE UNDERSTANDING
ghostinfluence

30. NOTABLES
▸ democratic platforms are the ultimate proving ground
▸ win within a democracy and you win everywhere
▸ epicenter of content coverage and syndication
▸ communities validate content for publishers
▸ publishers source democratic platforms for proven content
to cover, winning there equals massive free press
▸ when content is interlaced with a brand, you win big
ghostinfluence

31. ghostinfluence
MASTER OPPORTUNITY
▸ Mention
▸ Google Alerts
▸ Textwalker Alerts
▸ Google Search Operators

32. 1. SELECT EXAMPLES
2. IDENTIFY COMMONALITIES
3. ESTABLISH FRAMEWORK
4. LEVERAGE UNDERSTANDING
ghostinfluence
FRANKENSTEIN FORMULA

35. ghostinfluence
DANDELIONS OAK TREE
▸ shallow roots
▸ low success rate
▸ short lifespan
▸ annoying as fuck
▸ deep roots
▸ strategic investments
▸ extended lifespan
▸ respected and desired

36. 1. INITIAL WAVES OF TRAFFIC
2. EARNED MEDIA IMPRESSIONS
3. CIRCULAR LEVERAGE
ghostinfluence
ANALYTICS OF SUCCESS

37. NOTABLES
▸ distill the essence of those you want to model
▸ understand your markets and make targeted investments
▸ fertilize the perspectives and beliefs of the community
▸ use alert systems to “be everywhere” and bring value
▸ create circular leverage and focus on supporting others
ghostinfluence

38. ghostinfluence
TAKE YOUR FIRST STEPS

39. YOUR FIRST STEPS
▸ like you would learn a language, immerse yourself
▸ join, observe, read, converse, and then begin to speak
▸ join communities that are relevant to you
▸ different communities are relevant to you in different ways
▸ use the frankenstein formula to evaluate and predict
▸ use the ‘rising’ section and make bets on performance
ghostinfluence

40. THE ONE THING
ghostinfluence
THERE ARE NO “TRICKS” TO USE HERE.
EFFECTIVE LEVERAGE OF DEMOCRATIC SOCIAL
PLATFORMS REQUIRES CONTRIBUTION…
WHICH YOU CAN (AND SHOULD) DO STRATEGICALLY
DEMOCRACY CAN BE
LEVERAGED THROUGH
STRATEGIC CONTRIBUTION

41. @GHOSTINFLUENCE
ghostinfluence
DEMOCRACY CAN BE
LEVERAGED THROUGH
STRATEGIC CONTRIBUTION

42. ghostinfluence
HOW DO I APPLY THIS?
THE OBVIOUS QUESTION IS…
▸ Download this presentation — http://bit.ly/leveraging-democracy
▸ Follow the “first steps” on your own
▸ Listen to the Ghost Influence Podcast
▸ Join the Ghost Influence Community

43. ghostinfluence
BIG STEPS OR SMALL STEPS?
MEASURE YOUR BANDWIDTH
▸ Ghost Influence Community — www.ghostinfluence.com
▸ $97 per month / $997 per year (16% discount)
▸ Bonus: 5, 1 hour private sessions with year membership
▸ SEMrush Guru Plan 15 Day Trial — www.semrush.com
▸ Promo Code: SWICHKOWEBINAR-YK9BGIIV

44. LET ME KNOW HOW I CAN HELP.
@GHOSTINFLUENCE
ghostinfluence