By There’s an expression about the cobbler’s children not having shoes. We’re kind of like that. We are the cobblers AND the children, and we somehow have lots and lots of shoes, not all of them fit, and we keep making more anyway. In the spirit of wearing all our shoes (you’re still with me, right?) and getting more mileage out of them, we’re going to publish an archived episode of SparkToro Office Hours every Friday!
But don’t worry: we’re only posting past episodes that we believe are still relevant and useful today. Even better, we’re posting the Wistia embeds, so these videos are not only free, but also ad-free.
Today, we’re taking you back to October 2021. Joe Biden was president, Twitter wasn’t yet X, and I didn’t have braces. On this day, Rand led a presentation version of one of his best-performing blog posts (and my personal favorite), “Who Will Amplify This? And Why?” Scroll down for the full episode of SparkToro Office Hours.
What You’ll Learn
In this session, we break down why most content fails to gain traction — and what marketers can do differently to earn meaningful distribution. You’ll learn:
- Why most content never gets traction, including the data behind low shares, few links, and near-zero organic traffic for the majority of published content.
- Why amplification matters more than ever, as search engines and social platforms increasingly prioritize keeping users on their own platforms rather than sending traffic to external sites.
- How to identify the right audience for amplification, including the difference between current customers, potential customers, amplifiers, and the broader community — and why amplifiers are often the most overlooked group.
- The real triggers behind amplification, including novelty, emotion, incentives, visualized data, social proof, authority, belief reinforcement, and reciprocity.
- How to design content with amplification in mind, starting with a simple but powerful question: Who will amplify this—and why would they want to?
- Practical tactics for earning amplification, including building targeted outreach lists, and structuring posts to build engagement momentum before promoting links.
Enjoy!
Note: We recorded this webinar on October 2021. My, how time flies! Any screenshots of SparkToro are now outdated, but we think the takeaways from this episode stand the test of time. If you want more, peep the SparkToro Office Hours library.