I’ve been dating BuzzStream Outreach for quite some time now. However, unlike classic love stories, our relationship wasn’t so romantic at the beginning. I am the first to admit; I wasn’t attracted to BuzzStream Outreach functionality, its intelligent options or advanced communication. Furthermore, I didn’t ask any of my friends whether BuzzStream Outreach is a good tool. Instead, I was drawn by her sleek and sexy lines, beautiful contours and nice choice of colors. What can I say, I am a simple guy. But, as the time went by, I started appreciating this tool. I realized that this is actually one of the best (if not the best) tools I’ve had. Even though we lived in harmony for some time, after a while, I started noticing certain flaws.
BuzzStream Outreach was great in social situations. You can take her to a party and she would instantly make friends. Whether it was a big group of people or individuals, my little Buzz was always charming. Nevertheless, there was one thing that I really hated. She didn’t make friends on her own. I always introduced her to my friends and it seemed that she was simply unable to make that initial introduction without my help. Luckily, she wanted to change, to get new skills and to become better at meeting new people. This is how BuzzStream Discovery was made.
BuzzStream Discovery at First Glance
BuzzStream Discovery is separate from BuzzStream Outreach. It is still in beta version but it works pretty nicely. While BuzzStream Outreach is used for prospecting, extracting contacts and email outreach, BuzzStream Discovery is primarily used for targeting influencers. For example, when you prospect with BuzzStream Outreach, you get a list of all the emails within a company or a website. Even though it is quite efficient at doing this, you may miss your target and send an email to a wrong person. On the other hand, BuzzStream Discovery targets authors who wrote on a particular topic making search much more precise. Furthermore, this tool also gives you influencer’s Twitter account which means that you can contact the person directly without any hassle. In a way, I view BuzzStream Outreach as a tool for macro outreach to companies while BuzzStream Discovery is for micro outreach to authors.
What can Discovery do for you?
Let’s say you are writing about Penguin update. After finishing your article, you are still not completely satisfied with the way it looks. By typing “Penguin update” in the search box of BuzzStream Discovery, you can get all the relevant articles written on this topic. The interface of the program is pretty good so you won’t have to visit article itself. In most of the cases, you will be able to tell if the content is relevant just by looking at its title and by reading the brief snippet below. If you’re after influencers with over 10 000 followers that have recently published a new article on targeted topic, BuzzStream Discovery can find you the right people in a couple of clicks. Cool, right?
What’s interesting about this tool is that it shows results in a form of individual experts, not blogs. So, do not be surprised if you see three article links, all pointing to different websites. Basic search provides you up to 3 relevant articles per author. However, you are able to look for additional posts by accessing the profile page of that individual. But, that is not all. There is this nifty option called “Footprints”. It gives you access to influencer’s Twitter account as well as all the websites where he or she has published content. As if that wasn’t enough, there are some additional statistics such as number of posts and average number of shares. This will definitely help your effort during the outreach process. As a cherry on the top, there is a “Network” section which shows you all the bloggers who are in some way connected to before mentioned influencer.
An Example from Our Work
A while back we needed to create an expert roundup and we used BuzzStream Discovery to do so. I needed to find influencers that were interested and have written about the Penguin update I mentioned earlier. So, I opened BuzzStream Discovery and I simply wrote “Penguin update” in the search box. I got over 1600 results for this keyword within the tool.
Then I used this simple, step-by-step approach:
- I didn’t activate any filters within BuzzStream Discovery besides Domain Authority (I used DA>20 filter) as I needed authors that have covered the topic at least 2-3 times. It didn’t matter when the post was written. All I cared about was relevancy.
- I started checking the results and the snippets below them for articles that were dedicated to Google Penguin update. The best-case scenario was the keyword “Penguin update” to be mentioned within the title of the article. But even if it was mentioned in the body of content, and the article was circulating around Penguin, I still made sure to include the article in my list.
- I clicked on “view profile” to learn more details about the Penguin author that I already selected. If his/her Engagement and Activity levels were high – great. If not, but he/she had a nice amount of followers, it was still worth the shot.
- I copied 1 or 2 highly relevant topics to my own topic in a simple Excel sheet that had these 3 columns: URL, name. Twitter account and email of the author.
After I finished collecting all the sites that I considered relevant enough, I started extracting their emails so that I could start pitching them. That’s it! Simple, yet very effective method. With the help of BuzzStream Discovery, I was able to get the laser focus audience that my previous email campaigns lacked.
How do we use it in other ways?
We use BuzzStream Discovery for every stage of publishing process. After deciding on a topic and choosing proper keywords, we use it to find similar articles written by influencers within our niche. Research is an important aspect of our profession. It can provide us with fresh ideas, a new perspective and it can also tell us if our topic will be interesting to the readers. Unlike Google search, BuzzStream Discovery gives you precise data regarding number of social shares. This means that you are able to quickly judge the potential success of an article before you even check it out. In other words, you may be able to find hidden gems which are otherwise overshadowed by the ranking system and domain authority of big websites.
Before publishing the content, we like to share it to some of the influencers and get their feedback. Have in mind that these individuals have already written something similar on the topic making them likely readers. Furthermore, they have fresh, relevant information which can be used to improve your article at the same time. Similarly to movies, they can be your test audience which can give you valuable tips and hints. There is an additional benefit to this. If your article is good enough, they might share it on their favourite social network or even link to your page upon publishing.
After our content goes live, we continue to use the program. BuzzStream Discovery is a great way of finding influencers for email outreach. By promoting content, you are becoming visible to the general public. So, in a way, the fun never ends. BuzzStream Discovery is also great for finding Twitter accounts. Given that we simply love this social platform, it is a big help. Following popular influencers gives you valuable insights about your industry. This is the best and the quickest way to learn more about your environment, trends, rumors and anything else that may be of interest. Naturally, respectable bloggers are always the best source of information.
Why is BuzzStream Discovery so important to us?
Search engine optimization can be a tricky job. Like with any other type of business, connections are the thing which can propel you to new heights. At the same time, they can quickly ruin you. This is why you need to be careful when managing your relationships. Each one of us has different character. One misstep and everything can go up in smokes. However, when we visit a website, all we see is a picture on the screen. There is a long way from initial contact to becoming a friend with somebody. On that journey, there are numerous things that can go wrong disabling us from creating a relationship. By using BuzzStream Discovery, we are able to understand influencers a little bit better; to get more data about their followers, articles and connections. This can give us valuable insights getting us closer to a person.
Also, there is another factor that needs to be considered. When looking for influencers, Google search is oftentimes lackluster. In order to get the best results, we need to visit each and every site separately and to go through numerous articles. It is a very stressful and time consuming process. Even after we are finished, there is no guarantee that we have found all the influencers. Remember; some of these individuals are rarely active on the internet while others do not care about high Google rankings. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that they are irrelevant or powerless. On the contrary; many influencers intentionally avoid excessive exposure. BuzzStream Discovery gets you closer to these potent individuals. It provides you with contacts which you cannot find anyplace else. And, at the end of the day, they just might be the relationship you are looking for.
Nikolay Stoyanov
Nick has over 8 years of professional experience in the field of SEO. During the years he has done pretty much everything – black hat, grey hat and white hat SEO. Ultimately, the white side prevailed. He strongly believes that the future belongs to the white hat SEO techniques. He enjoys commenting on SEO blogs and is active on some of the biggest SEO forums. His nickname there is niksto82.Disclaimer: The author's views are entirely their own, and don't necessarily reflect the opinions of BuzzStream.
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