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Reverse Engineering Successful Content
Most successful content comes down to three things
The story
The data
The production
I lied
An existing audience also helps
When you don’t have one…
Let’s be honest
This content marketing thing is bloody hard
It looks so easy
Brainstorm
Choose an idea
Brief a designer
Publish it
Promote it
Job done
It’s not that straightforward
“Let’s throw a guy out of a spaceship”
Brainstorming and idea generation isn’t as easy for most of us
It needs restraints and guidelines
No, not all ideas are good ideas
Doing it consistently is the hardest part
My approach to these issues
I’m not a creative
But he can build stuff
We worked on our processes from scratch
I had a few strong influencers
But at heart, I’m an SEO
I like processes and reverse engineering stuff
Can I just reverse engineer what others have done and do it a little bit better?
Yes*
*Sometimes, ideas just fly and you have no idea why or how
*You only learn by actually doing this stuff
The whole process is actually really big
I’m going to focus on a specific part of the process
Feeding strong research into your brainstorming / idea generation stage
Our goal is to create a brief for everyone involved in the brainstorm…
…that contains themes, data, visuals, guidelines and restraints
The process
Find the stories / themes
Start here
Read this post for the basics https://moz.com/blog/generate-content-ideas-using-buzzsumo-and-apis
Look at (content) competitors
Scan the results
Look for the trends
Look for the trends
It may be due (partly at least) to Nomadic Matt having a large existing audience
Run several competitors together
You can also use keywords
Export to CSV
Then run through URL Profiler http://urlprofiler.com/
Some pivot table magic…
Find the most linked to domains
Do a deeper dive for more insights
Are long-form content ideas good?
What content types work well?
Paste the titles into a word cloud http://www.wordle.net/create
Scan this list in your CSV
Can I do any of them better? (this could be a restraint)
Can I update any of them for 2016? (this could be an opportunity)
Add all of this to your brainstorming brief
http://epicbeat.epictions.com/
http://huballin.com/
http://huballin.com/
https://www.brandtale.com/
https://www.brandtale.com/
https://www.brandtale.com/
Find data sources
Know what’s available
Know what’s available
http://www.statista.com/search/?q=travel%20destinations
Can you get your own data?
Try a little bit
This could be a restraint (£££)
Add all of this to your brainstorming brief
Find visuals
Don’t overthink this
Can I do it just a bit better? (this could be a restraint or an opportunity)
Has it been linked to?
Link  
Yep
Print and add to the brainstorming brief
One final tip on setting expectations
“I want 10,000 Facebook Likes and 500 Links per content piece”
Fairly unlikely…
A takeaway for you… www.aira.net/brainstorm
Get in touch if you have questions! paddy@aira.net
How to Reverse Engineer Content - Paddy Moogan
How to Reverse Engineer Content - Paddy Moogan
How to Reverse Engineer Content - Paddy Moogan
How to Reverse Engineer Content - Paddy Moogan
How to Reverse Engineer Content - Paddy Moogan
How to Reverse Engineer Content - Paddy Moogan
How to Reverse Engineer Content - Paddy Moogan
How to Reverse Engineer Content - Paddy Moogan
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How to Reverse Engineer Content - Paddy Moogan

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A process from Paddy Moogan on how to reverse engineer successful content and learn what you can do to increase the chances of your own content being successful.

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How to Reverse Engineer Content - Paddy Moogan

  1. 1. Reverse Engineering Successful Content
  2. 2. Most successful content comes down to three things
  3. 3. The story
  4. 4. The data
  5. 5. The production
  6. 6. I lied
  7. 7. An existing audience also helps
  8. 8. When you don’t have one…
  9. 9. Let’s be honest
  10. 10. This content marketing thing is bloody hard
  11. 11. It looks so easy
  12. 12. Brainstorm
  13. 13. Choose an idea
  14. 14. Brief a designer
  15. 15. Publish it
  16. 16. Promote it
  17. 17. Job done
  18. 18. It’s not that straightforward
  19. 19. “Let’s throw a guy out of a spaceship”
  20. 20. Brainstorming and idea generation isn’t as easy for most of us
  21. 21. It needs restraints and guidelines
  22. 22. No, not all ideas are good ideas
  23. 23. Doing it consistently is the hardest part
  24. 24. My approach to these issues
  25. 25. I’m not a creative
  26. 26. But he can build stuff
  27. 27. We worked on our processes from scratch
  28. 28. I had a few strong influencers
  29. 29. But at heart, I’m an SEO
  30. 30. I like processes and reverse engineering stuff
  31. 31. Can I just reverse engineer what others have done and do it a little bit better?
  32. 32. Yes*
  33. 33. *Sometimes, ideas just fly and you have no idea why or how
  34. 34. *You only learn by actually doing this stuff
  35. 35. The whole process is actually really big
  36. 36. I’m going to focus on a specific part of the process
  37. 37. Feeding strong research into your brainstorming / idea generation stage
  38. 38. Our goal is to create a brief for everyone involved in the brainstorm…
  39. 39. …that contains themes, data, visuals, guidelines and restraints
  40. 40. The process
  41. 41. Find the stories / themes
  42. 42. Start here
  43. 43. Read this post for the basics https://moz.com/blog/generate-content-ideas-using-buzzsumo-and-apis
  44. 44. Look at (content) competitors
  45. 45. Scan the results
  46. 46. Look for the trends
  47. 47. Look for the trends
  48. 48. It may be due (partly at least) to Nomadic Matt having a large existing audience
  49. 49. Run several competitors together
  50. 50. You can also use keywords
  51. 51. Export to CSV
  52. 52. Then run through URL Profiler http://urlprofiler.com/
  53. 53. Some pivot table magic…
  54. 54. Find the most linked to domains
  55. 55. Do a deeper dive for more insights
  56. 56. Are long-form content ideas good?
  57. 57. What content types work well?
  58. 58. Paste the titles into a word cloud http://www.wordle.net/create
  59. 59. Scan this list in your CSV
  60. 60. Can I do any of them better? (this could be a restraint)
  61. 61. Can I update any of them for 2016? (this could be an opportunity)
  62. 62. Add all of this to your brainstorming brief
  63. 63. http://epicbeat.epictions.com/
  64. 64. http://huballin.com/
  65. 65. http://huballin.com/
  66. 66. https://www.brandtale.com/
  67. 67. https://www.brandtale.com/
  68. 68. https://www.brandtale.com/
  69. 69. Find data sources
  70. 70. Know what’s available
  71. 71. Know what’s available
  72. 72. http://www.statista.com/search/?q=travel%20destinations
  73. 73. Can you get your own data?
  74. 74. Try a little bit
  75. 75. This could be a restraint (£££)
  76. 76. Add all of this to your brainstorming brief
  77. 77. Find visuals
  78. 78. Don’t overthink this
  79. 79. Can I do it just a bit better? (this could be a restraint or an opportunity)
  80. 80. Has it been linked to?
  81. 81. Link  
  82. 82. Yep
  83. 83. Print and add to the brainstorming brief
  84. 84. One final tip on setting expectations
  85. 85. “I want 10,000 Facebook Likes and 500 Links per content piece”
  86. 86. Fairly unlikely…
  87. 87. A takeaway for you… www.aira.net/brainstorm
  88. 88. Get in touch if you have questions! paddy@aira.net

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