As you know, SmartLinks are self-managed and, as soon as they are launched, your core supporters are spurred to share it further and so are their circles and so on.
Aside from the PPC SmartLink reward itself, SmartLink referrers also earn rewards based on their reputation. This added feature is an integral part of ensuring that referrers avoid spammy behavior and make them select the people with whom they share your SmartLink based on their circles’ centers of interest and how it matches your SmartLink content.
Since it is in referrers best interest to maximize Click Through Rate (CTR), they are more likely to invest their effort in sharing SmartLinks that are informative or provide an attractive CTA.
So, what can you do to entice referrers to share your SmartLink?
Focus on the Topic
Unlike typical PPC solutions, SmartLinks pay zero attention to ad or keywords bidding. Instead of relying on an algorithm that requires content writers to construct their content around set keywords that some algorithm will pick up and use to increase or decrease your content visibility, SmartLinks use human connections to find people interested in your content’s topic.
When receiving your SmartLink, referrers will see your content’s title, thumbnail text, and image. This should give them enough information to decide if the topic is relevant for all or part of their audience.
Whether or not they themselves click to open the link and check your content depends on their personal interest. In any case, they can opt to share your content with the segment of their circles interested in your topic and stay clear of the segment of their audience that is unlikely to find your content relevant.
This means the generic topic of your content needs to be apparent in the thumbnail.
Select the Right Content
When selecting the URL to share, always keep in mind that the content it contains is what will entice referrers to share your SmartLink.
The easiest way to think about what good content is is to think about what you would share on Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, or Reddit to attract your audience.
The same logic to attract eyeballs on social media applies when creating a SmartLink. As a refresher, here are a few well-converting types of content:
- Informative Content: this type of content is designed to increase traffic to your website, and needs to abide by the three rules of informative content: Be Informative, Interesting, and Relevant.
There are a few different types of informative content:
- News: this can be news about a new development of the company or product, a recent achievement such as a new partnership, a new investment round, a high ranking new hire, a prestigious award received and so on
- Report: the result of research ran by the company, analysis of an industry-relevant report published by a reputable source, analysis of trends etc.
- Educational: the world is changing at increasing speed, and keeping up to date with new concepts, products, technologies, trends and more is a daunting challenge. Educational content can be anything that brings the reader more information about an evolving or traditional topic.
- Actionable content: covers any content that includes a Call to Action (CTA). In addition to the existing Donation, Token Sale, and Zoom SmartSession action specific SmartLinks, 2key is developing more targeted CTA specific SmartLinks that will be released in the future. In the meantime, PPC SmartLinks can be tailored to generate conversion from the published content. Think of target actions such as:
- Sign Up
- Download
- Install
- Buy
- Register
- Review
- Myriad of others
2key SmartLinks also let you create a Hosted SmartLink, which is a SmartLink entirely produced on 2key.io. This is ideal if you want to post content unrelated to your website or blog or for any other reason.
Select the Right Format
Not all content is equal, and today’s online world provides many options. Depending on your topic and on the type of content, you might want to select the optimal format to match that content, or even mix and match. For content types that do not contain written text, make sure your SmartLink thumbnail text matches the content.
Here are the most popular content formats available today.
- Blog Posts
- Long-Form Articles
- Original Research
- Video
- Infographics
- Images
- Case Studies
- White Papers/Reports
- Ebooks
- Presentations
- Webinars
- Quizzes and Polls
- Podcasts
- Checklists
- Product descriptions
Optimize Your SmartLink Design
Catching the eye of referrers and viewers also depends on how well your SmartLink thumbnail is designed.
When you create a PPC SmartLink, you can either copy-paste an URL or create the entire content from scratch.
In both cases, paying attention to the thumbnail is critical for optimal sharing and conversion.
When you copy-paste an URL, 2key automatically extracts the URL’s default image, title, and metatag and uses them as the default option.
The two most critical elements are the image and the title, though the description is crucial as well.
Sometimes, corporate branding requires images that reflect the brand’s visual language but fail to be eye-catching in a less focused environment, or fails to convey the content’s message effectively. It might be too small or too large and require resizing.
Both changing and resizing your default image can be done straight from the SmartLink creation dashboard
Similarly, the title might be part of a series or complement the brand’s storytelling plan, but not be informative or attractive as a stand-alone title.
You can modify all these elements straight from the start when creating a PPC SmartLink.
In the example above, the default image, text, and metatag were pulled.
The default title includes the default identifier “2key blog|” and the original blog title “Launching 2key Reputation Mining V1”.
This might be very good for an audience familiar with 2key and already interested in its development. However, to reach a wider audience, a different title might be more efficient. As the technology is likely to be particularly appealing to the crypto-community that is often looking for ways to earn tokens, this title might be more effective:
“Earn More 2KEY Tokens - 2key Launches Reputation Mining”
Similarly, the blog’s image is in line with 2key color language but contains very little informative elements. Opting for a different image might increase conversions.
Lastly, the metatag pulled by 2key SmartLink had not been optimized, so it pulled the metatag generated by default, namely the first lines of the blog’s opening paragraph. Replacing it by “Boost your reputation score by sharing SmartLinks the smart way and earn reputation points yielding more 2KEY tokens. Find out about 2key new Reputation Mining” conveys more information and is more likely to lead viewers to actually click the link to access the content.
Select the Right Reward per Click
When your content is designed to maximize the thumbnail CTR, it is time to opt for the type of reward that will be shared by referrers.
Referrers can see the amount of the reward per click when they click the Refer and Earn button on the preview.
This might be a decisive factor for them to decide to share your SmartLink. A good rule of thumb is to check what your main keyword Cost per Click (CPC) would be on Adwords and aim at between 50% and 150% of that amount and keep in mind that this reward is distributed to the people who share our content instead of lining the pockets of a mega-corporation.
Another option is to take inspiration from the average cost per click on social media, keeping in mind that 2key SmartLinks’ blockchain enhanced ad fraud protection already cancels out the upto 30% loss coming from fraudulent clicks on social media and PPC marketing solutions.
If you think your content speaks for itself and opt to give no reward for sharing it, referrers will still earn reputation points that earn them tokens, so they still have an additional incentive in addition to the value of the content.
Otherwise, just enter your selected price per click and your budget, with zero need for costly analysis and guessing games about the keyword price fluctuations.
Define Your Target Audience
Fine-tune your target audience.
Only clicks coming from an audience matching your target audience will be rewarded.
You can define your target audience according to age, gender, or geographical areas.
Defining your targeted audience encourages referrers to share your SmartLink with more care, as unapproved clicks generate negative reputation points and adversely affect their Reputation Score, which reduces their earnings from the Reputation Mining pool both in the short term and in the long term.
Select Your Seed Audience Segment
When you launch your SmartLink, you share it with your core audience. Selecting the segment of your core audience most interested in your SmartLink content.
People typically coalesce around shared interests, and statistically, the segment of your audience most interested in the SmartLink’s content is more likely to have an audience interested in that topic.
Now you are ready to create highly converting SmartLinks with maximum viral potential. Keep in mind that as a SmartLink creator, you can also earn 2KEY Tokens by gaining reputation points, so not only will perfecting your skills at creating optimal SmartLink increase their efficiency, it can also result in 2KEY Tokens gains.
