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 conversions
▸ 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
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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
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ONE SIMPLE FORMULA

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

5. BRIAN SWICHKOW
▸ Social Engineer
▸ Founder, Ghost Influence
▸ Host, Ghost Influence Podcast
▸ CMO, PrimeMind
▸ @ghostinfluence
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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
▸ what it looks like to measure the analytics of success
▸ clearly defined steps to getting started
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BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE

7. STICK TO THE END
▸ link you to download this presentation
▸ baller checklist for getting started
▸ a gif of a puppy
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LET’S GET STARTED

8. LET’S START WITH A STORY…

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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. INSTEAD OF TELLING THE
WORLD WHO YOU ARE,
SHOW THEM.
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14. ALGORITHMS ARE DESIGNED
TO PREDICT PEOPLE, YET MOST
MARKETERS FOCUS ON THE
MATH INSTEAD OF HUMANS.
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DIGITAL EMPATHY IS SOCIAL LEVERAGE
WHAT WE’RE LEARNING
▸ people want to feel understood, not be told
▸ audiences should never outgrow their relevance
▸ 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

16. • 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
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PEOPLE FIRST PRINCIPALS

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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

18. DEMOCRACY IS MADE OF PEOPLE,
YOU CAN’T LEVERAGE ONE WITHOUT
UNDERSTANDING THE OTHER.
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19. THE WORD "DEMOCRACY"
LITERALLY MEANS "RULE
BY THE PEOPLE." IN A
(TRUE) DEMOCRACY, THE
PEOPLE GOVERN.
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20. BRAND PLATFORMS
DEMOCRATIC PLATFORMS
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USERS SELECT CHANNELS
USERS JOIN COMMUNITIES

21. BRAND PLATFORMS
▸ Facebook
▸ YouTube
▸ Twitter
▸ Instagram
▸ Vine
DEMOCRATIC PLATFORMS
▸ Reddit
▸ Imgur
▸ Voat
▸ Hacker News
▸ Product Hunt
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22. “A VOTE IS LIKE A RIFLE: ITS
USEFULNESS DEPENDS UPON
THE CHARACTER OF THE USER.”
Theodore Roosevelt
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goodreads.com/quotes

23. 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
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24. THERE AREN’T “INFLUENCERS”
WITHIN A DEMOCRATIC SOCIAL
PLATFORM, BUT THERE ARE
ELEMENTS OF TRUST THAT
BESTOW CERTAIN FREEDOMS
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25. “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
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26. ON AVERAGE, FACEBOOK USERS
CONSUME 660 PAGEVIEWS PER MONTH
ON AVERAGE, REDDIT USERS CONSUME
1,300 PAGEVIEWS PER MONTH
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27. 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
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28. CONTRIBUTION TO THE DISCUSSION IS
RAISED FOR THE SAME REASONS
STANDARDS ARE HIGHER, CONSUMPTION
PATTERNS ELEVATE UNDERSTANDING
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29. 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
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MASTER OPPORTUNITY
▸ Mention
▸ Google Alerts
▸ Textwalker Alerts
▸ Google Search Operators

31. 1. SELECT COMMUNITY
2. IDENTIFY LANGUAGE
3. ESTABLISH FRAMEWORK
4. LEVERAGE UNDERSTANDING
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FRANKENSTEIN FORMULA

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

35. NOTABLES
▸ distill the essence of those you want to model
▸ understand your market 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
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36. ghostinfluence
TAKE YOUR FIRST STEPS

37. 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
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38. THE ONE THING
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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

39. @GHOSTINFLUENCE
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DEMOCRACY CAN BE
LEVERAGED THROUGH
STRATEGIC CONTRIBUTION

40. ghostinfluence
HOW DO I APPLY THIS?
THE OBVIOUS QUESTION IS…
▸ Download this presentation — http://ghostinfluence.com/leveraging-democracy
▸ Download the reddit checklist — http://ghostinfluence.com/reddit-checklist

41. ghostinfluence
BIG STEPS OR SMALL STEPS?
MEASURE YOUR BANDWIDTH
▸ Ghost Influence Community — www.ghostinfluence.com
▸ $97 per month / $997 per year (16% discount)

42. LET ME KNOW HOW I CAN HELP.
@GHOSTINFLUENCE
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