PRSarahEvans: Twitter Link Bait Genius

How familiar are you with PR Maven Sarah Evans?

She is the communications director for a community college, has over 28,000 followers on Twitter, and is an excellent speaker at Social Media Breakfasts and conferences across the US.

And she is a freaking genius when it comes to Link Bait.

Link Bait = Inbound Marketing

First let me explain what link bait is. Link bait describes the strategy of attracting natural back links to your website by creating buzz about a specific topic or event. Sarah uses Twitter as a community forum to share ideas, and she has provided a terrific example of how to:

1. Inform Twitter Users who the Experts are in different Industries/Fields
2. Stoke Community Involvement
3. Generate Buzz, Cement her own Expertise, and Gain New Followers…

How did she accomplish all this? You could call it crowdsourcing, or a super survey, but it all boils down to asking the Twitter community to nominate their favorite ‘Tweeple’ in a specific field and then vote for the top nominees. Winners are chosen as one of the ‘Top 50 Tweeple’, and voting ends on August 28th, 2009.

Why is this Top 50 List so freaking genius?

First of all, let’s be honest, it appeals to the egos of popular Twitter users (Disclaimer: I am nominated in the Top 50 Tweeple, and damn honored at that). Second, it’s a community effort.

By that I mean no one person chooses who will be among the list of nominees, and who will be added to the final list of 50. Voting is done on Sarah’s website and via Twitter (and links go to Sarah’s personal blog).

Top 50 Tweeple Results

Once everything is said and done, several groups will benefit. The people who participate in the nomination and voting feel like they made something happen as a direct result of their effort, and form a bond with both Sarah and people on the list.

For the Twitter Top 50, they gain new followers and an opportunity to grow their own communities. Even the people who do not make the final cut get a boost from being nominated (it’s nice to know people care, after all!).

Did I mention links?

Sarah benefits from all the wonderful links to her website, establishing her brand as a trusted source and telling Google she is worthy of inclusion in search engine results pages (SERPs). You and I may benefit too — damn right I will include a mention in my Online resume that I am a Top 50 Tweeple if I am fortunate enough to make the list!

Finally, we all learn a great lesson about building communities, inspiring word of mouth buzz, and creating irresistible PR strategies/tactics. Hell of a lesson, wouldn’t you agree? So now that you understand how the list works, how will you design one of your own to share…