If you want links, it is the Linkerati you need to get the attention of.
The Linkerati are those who link
They are distinctive from your customers or your clients or the other people you would like to impress, but do not have the power to link to you.
There are various tribes within the Linkerati, and these all respond to different stimuli.
Most are excited by information.
Not just any kind of information, but information that intersects their current thinking. Which raises other problems.
How do you find out which kind of information intersects the thinking of the Linkerati?
How do you get the linkerati to take notice of you information?
How do you create information which will juice up the linkerati enough for them to link to you.
You have to tap into the Lizard brain, or the Old brain. You need to get down to fundamentals.
People link, motivated by emotion. It’s why popular bloggers can produce mediocre content and get links. Emotion counts.
A lot of the linkerati get emotional about data, particularly when it’s represented in a graphical format. Hence the rise of infographics for seo. The brain can digest pictures or visualisations quicker than text and the linkerati love information that is steam pumped into the visual cortex.
Although linkbait is still effective, an infographic or visual based linkbait will generally get more links.
But, if you are not part of the linkerati it’s very tricky to get into the head of this tribe. You certainly have no chance if you are a suited marketing executive, you must dip into the tribe and employ a translator, negotiator, emissary.
The best advice I can give is become like them. Even if you are one of the Marketing Executives, come over to the side. Other than that, you are going to have to talk to one of us who can communicate with both sides.