Have you ever seen blog posts that look something like this?
“10 Experts Weigh In On How To Cook The Perfect Turkey”
“30 Top Social Media Tips According To Leading Experts”
“5 Designers Share Their Best DIY Decorating Tips”
If so, you’ll understand what I mean by crowdsourced blog posts. These posts rely on industry experts to share their views, opinions or top tips on a particular topic. Typically, each expert will have been asked the same question, and then the post will simply list the answers.
Social Media Examiner frequently uses this strategy for their own blog posts. For instance, here’s a post I participated in titled 20 Social Media Marketing Tips From the Pros:
These types of posts are FANTASTIC for building links that get more traffic to your site as well as for building a name for your own blog (and for yourself!). But how do you do this, exactly? How do you know what question to ask, what to write about, and how to go about contacting industry influencers? Without further ado, here’s how to use crowdsourced blog posts to get more traffic plus so much more!
How to get more traffic & free blog content with influencer roundups
Creating a crowdsourced post is actually much easier than you think. Most of your work will involve actually contacting experts in your field and asking them to participate. Once you have all the responses, it’s simply a matter of cutting and pasting!
Step 1: Come up with a topic that will grab your community’s attention
The key to the success of your crowdsourced post will be coming up with a topic that’s highly relevant to your audience. Resist the urge to cover something that’s been done a hundred times before. In general, more specific topics are better…but not so specific that only a small segment of your audience will actually be interested in it.
There are many ways to come up with ideas for your post. Some of my favorite strategies are:
• Looking through your website analytics to see which posts or topics have been most popular in the past
• Looking through your blog comments to find unanswered questions your audience is asking
• Engaging in some social listening to see what questions members of your target market are asking on social media. I use Periscope for this daily!
For many more ideas for coming up with new content ideas, check out my post How To Come Up With 50 Content Ideas in 30 Minutes Or Less.
Step 2: Come up with a targeted question
Once you have a good idea for a general topic, it’s time to drill down and come up with a specific, compelling questions that would catch the attention of both industry influencers and your audience.
Here’s an example: Let’s say my main topic was cake decorating. I could choose a general question like “What are your best tips for cake decorating?”, but I may want to dig a little bit deeper; for example, “What is your #1 tip for creating a wedding cake on a budget?”.
Step 3: Ask influencers for their input
You might imagine that experts in your field don’t have the time or interest in contributing to your blog. However, you might be surprised at how many are willing to help!
Your best bet will be to personally email each influencer and ask them to participate in your post. Pose the question you came up with in step 2, and ask them to share their best tip. I’d recommend specifying a general word count, keeping it to a maximum of about 300 words per person (anything more than that and you may have trouble finding willing participants!).
I would also recommend asking permission to use their headshot along with the post, and ask them if there’s a specific bio they’d like you to use or a page they would like you to link back to.
Step 4: Publish and promote your post
Once you have all of your responses, you can simply cut and paste them into your blog post! Remember to include the headshot, bio and website URL you collected in step 3.
I highly recommend sending a link to each influencer as soon as the post is published. Thank them for participating, and let them know where they can view the post.
THIS is the key to get more traffic to your blog! As these influencers share your post with their audience, you can sit back and watch your traffic, links and reputation grow!
You’ll also want to put in a big push to promote the post to your own audience. These types of posts are great for getting traction with your own audience, as people love to share expert tips. Be sure to promote it on social media (you can mention or tag the participants in your post), as well as to your email list.
A final note: Keep in mind that your crowdsourcing a post doesn’t always need to involve industry influencers. Some topics will lend themselves well to simply asking your fans, followers or website visitors to comment or leave their best tips.
Have you ever crowdsourced a blog post? How did you do it? Share with us below!
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Great idea! Who doesn’t love advice from multiple experts in one place! Thanks Kim!
Hi Kim, thanks for sharing this. Even in 2018, your post still relevant for me as a blogger. (y)