Your natural tendency when visiting a site is to find what you're looking for then move along.  What do I need to do to get you to take a moment and share this post with your following?

Violate Your Schema:

Sounds dirty. It's not.

When I say, "Violate your schema" what I really mean is, "Make you rethink what you thought to be true".

A schema is an outline or model of things. It's short for schematic, which is a blue print of something. Everything has a schema. For example, our schema for soup is a liquid or semi-liquid with vegetables or sometimes meat in it. Our schema for work is getting up early, traveling to an office and helping a company make money for 8 -10 hours. Our schema for driving a car, in the US at least, is to drive on the right side of the road.

When you violate a schema, you no longer follow the blue print. If a car drove itself, it would violate our schema of driving. That's why Google's driverless car is so fascinating. It makes us rethink our concept of driving a vehicle. Our schema is broken, and we need to form a new one. To do that we usually look for trusted input from others, which prompts conversation and dialog. After we create a new schema, we have an urge for others to adopt the new schema as well, so we tell others about it.

A Few Examples:

What would you do if you saw a homeless man trying to give away money?

How about a company who cares more about employees than profit?

A world champion sumo wrestler that weighed 100 pounds?

You would probably tell others about it. Any type of content that violates a schema has the potential to be shared. The more extreme the violation, the more people will talk.

The Right Headline is 90% of the Battle

Consider the headline I used for this post, "How to force an article to go viral". It in itself violates a schema. You can't "force" content to go viral. But you clicked on it, because I created a gap in your knowledge. I claimed that you CAN force content to go viral, and I promised to show you how.

Unanswered questions are painful. Even if you don't care about Kim Kardashian, if someone says, "Did you hear what happened to Kim Kardashian?" You're going to want to know. There's a gap in your knowledge, and even if the knowledge itself isn't important, the fact that there is a gap in it is bothersome. We long to find answers to unanswered questions. Hence, we click.

There you have it:

Force content to go viral by violating schemas and enhancing your headlines by creating a gap in readers knowledge.

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EXCLUSIVE
By Dennis Clemente

Dan Cristo, director of SEO Innovation at Catalyst Online, a leading search marketing agency, doesn't seem to have any problem holding people's attention against the backdrop of a noisy bar on a Friday night. Cristo was presenting "Mastering the Art of Social SEO" at the Joshua Tree on East Avenue early this month. Find out more here at http://www.catalystsearchmarketing.com/pubs/social-seo-strategies/

"I thought for sure I was going to lose my voice," he said in jest, but the attendees clearly knew why he did his SEO presentation at the bar. In such a setting, people are more comfortable to "expand and deepen one's network."

Fortunately, Cristo speaks with emphatic clarity and enthusiastic openness. He genuinely likes to share his ideas. He breaks down traditional search against social search this way: The former is "authority," the latter is "intimacy."

He elaborated: "Social SEO is much like traditional SEO in the sense that search engines are looking for relevant, trustworthy answers to people's questions. The difference is how trust is measured. In a world without online social connections, trust is measured on 'topic authority', which links are used as a proxy.

"So where online social interactions abound, a second 'trust measure' is introduced, intimacy. The deeper your online connection, the most trust exists between two people. That new intimacy-based trust now affects search rankings," he added.

He gives an example: "If a good friend recommends a restaurant on Yelp, and I'm looking for a good restaurant, a search engine should rank that Yelp recommendation higher in my search results.

"This translates into an SEO strategy that looks at how brands can optimize not just web pages, but relationships to improve their search rankings."

Apparently, Cristo leads by example. His name appears on every page of Google results–his main website, twitter profile, linkedin account, Google +, interviews, and articles, among others. "Use social SEO to dominate the Google results page. You can do this by optimizing you social profile, sharing multimedia content and creating long-tail content."

Cristo is also persistent in saying "don't neglect Google+."

Whether you like it or not, Cristo said you need Google+ to establish a strong social presence. "If you want to use any of Google's products, you will also be using Google+. Why? Search is at the core of all Google products."

That search algorithm is being personalized for you. It comes from actions you perform on each of Google's products–Chrome, YouTube, Maps Android, Music, Docs, News, Calendar, etc. His insights appear to be plain common sense but he is clearly making people more aware of it.

In response to the recent report about online buzz not working for Coca Cola sales, he acknowledges the brand for mastering traditional marketing, but not as much in terms of its social media approach.

Cristo is fully committed to his thinking: "Take a look at Coke's Facebook and Twitter pages; 99% of the time they are talking about themselves. They do that, because that's how TV works, but that's not how friendships work. How long would you hang out with a friend who talked only about themselves? Look at the engagement their posts get on Facebook: Out of 62 million fans, only 4,000 to 5,000 on average 'like' a post, with maybe a hundred or 200 comments."

"Compare Coke to Red Bull which has 37 million fans. Red Bull posts get 35,000 and 45,000 likes with 3,000 or 4,000 comments. The difference here is Red Bull is talking about extreme sports, athletes and amazing feats of accomplishment, not their own product."

He concluded: "It's not a question of whether social media drives sales. It's a question of whether Coke is participating in social media in a way that drives product sales. The data may say 'no'. However, run the same test with Red Bull, and the data will say, 'yes.'"

Catalyst manages 100 brands in the consumer package goods, automobile, B2B, retail, entertainment, software, technology, travel, healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. Its clients include P&G, Microsoft, Novartis, Whirlpool, and Pfizer. Headquartered in Nevada, it has offices in New York, Seattle, Chicago, Toronto and Montréal.

I had yesterday off. I'm not sure why some companies consider Martin Luther King Jr. day a national holiday and others don't, but ours did, and I made good use of it.

I woke up around 8 o'clock to a panic stricken doorbell followed by obsessive pounding on the front door. Our over zealous maintenance lady wanted to check our apartment's heating system. I left our super a voicemail last week about the heat not turning on consistently, and I specifically said, "DO NOT COME BEFORE 11 O'CLOCK!". Whatever.

Regardless of awakening, I was up, so I decided to get an early start on some web development work for my startup, Triberr. Dino Dogan and I have been building Triberr for almost two years now, and the time has come for a massive redesign.

We completed the graphic design portion last week, and now we're move on to connecting the interface to our database so things actually function. My goal for the day was to get the new Tribal Stream working, and I did, but it took me 12 straight hours of coding. For those not on Triberr, the Tribal Stream is similar to Facebook's news feed. It's the core of the site that has to be great, or people won't use the site.

At about 10 o'clock at night, Dino hits me up on Skype. He's very excited about a new idea – a completely reimagined Tribal Stream. Now you could probably imagine how I felt about blowing up the Tribal Stream I just spent my day creating. Needless to say it didn't bring a huge smile to my face, but I heard him out, and we ended the call with his usual, "Just sleep on it" closing argument. "Fine" I thought, now back to the task at hand – finishing the Tribal Stream.

An hour later Dino pings me on Skype again. He's got a few more reasons why we should implement his new re-imagined Tribal Stream. At this point I was like, "Look, your excitement level for this is a 9 right now. Mine is a 2. We need to get within 2 or 3 points of each other for us to continue the conversation". It's true, I just wasn't in the frame of mind to objectively evaluate a new, crazy idea. To me it was solving a problem that didn't exist, and I had real trouble trying to visualize what this might look like on the site. I was the drill bit, Dino the butterfly.

Critical vs Creative

People are usually typically critical or creative thinkers.
Critical thinking is a very deep, focused way to think about problem. It involves precise, persistent analysis of the issue at hand. For example, artists who need to either write a lot of music, or perhaps finish their novel, tend to take a writing retreat where they leave behind the distractions of their current environment to a cabin or something where they can emerse themselves in their writing. Often publishers or music labels will give deadlines to their artist to raise their stress which helps produce critical thinking.

Creative thinking on the other hand is more shallow and broad. When you're thinking creatively you start with a problem, then you move outward to look at the problem from a variety of perspectives. It's the typical, "Brainstorming" process where no idea is a bad idea, and the goal is to get people to throw out as many ideas as possible. This usually works best with a larger group of people with diverse backgrounds, because each will have slightly different perspective.

Drill Bits and Butterflies

Critial thinking is like a drill bit, and creative thinking is like a butterfly. A good company has both drill bits and butterflies. The creative thinkers who dream up innovative new ways of doing things, but left alone they'll have a drawer full of great ideas that never see the light of day. Critical thinkers who are great at execution and incremental improvements, but lack really ground breaking innovation.

Steve Jobs Was a Butterfly

Take Apple for example. Steve Jobs was clearly a creative thinker, and Woz was the quintessential critical thinker. Together they built an amazing company. When Jobs left Apple, they failed to innovate, and the company almost closed. After his return Apple came out with the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, iTunes and other amazing products that disrupted entire industries. Now Steve is gone again, and the company is back in the hands of a critical thinker.

Butterbits and Drillfies?

It is possible for one person to be both a critical and creative thinker? Yes… just not at the same time.

I can see this in my own life. During the day I'm a Director of SEO Innovation butterfly. I'm responsible for coming up with new, innovative ideas for our agency.

Outside of work, I'm a tech founder and lead programmer for a startup. There are bugs to fix, customers to support, and a redesign to implement. Site's don't improve themselves, and there is a lot of pressure to make Triberr better.

After I finish my work day as a butterfly I have an hour train ride home. I try to read a book or watch a movie in an effort to clear my mind and switch thought modes. When I get home I eat some dinner and start coding. It's a daily metamorphosis.

Creative Thinking Environments

If you need your team to get creative, first remove them from their current task-based environment. Make sure they are well fed, stress free and in a good mood. Focus on creating fun, encouraging laugher and building trust. This type of environment is a petri dish for great ideas.

Critical Thinking Environments

If you need your team to get things done, create a critical thinking environment. Remove distractions like TV, meetings, email and IM. Outline goals, set objectives, prioritize tasks and give short, firm deadlines.

Make sure they have the proper resources to get the job done. This means things like food should be abundant and accessible. No need to leave the office for lunch, bring it in. Make sure their tools are top of the line so they don't run into any blue screens of death. Be available to answer questions and give guidance. Nothing is worse then waiting on someone to get back to you with an answer.

Most importantly…

If you want creative and critical thinkers to work together, don't put them in a room until they are within 2 or 3 points of each other. Switching between being a butterfly and drillbit is exhausting, and can't be done well on the fly.

If you need people to switch gears, first evaluate the situation. Try to identify which type of thinking is best for the problem. Once you know if critical or creative thinking is required, adjust the environment to facilitate it. Introduce your team to the adjusted environment, and slowly bring the room to a boil, so to speak, so that everyone is on the same page with what they need to accomplish, and how you'd like them to think about the problem at hand.

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I just logged in, err… I mean, "arrived at" the Sheraton Hotel in Boston.

I was greeted by a friendly front desk receptionist who checked me into my room. As she was processing my information she asked if I had a computer with me. "In fact, I do" I told her. She went on to explain how the Sheraton Hotel has free wifi in the lobby. "That's great" I said, "but I don't sleep in the lobby. What about in my room?" She responded with, "Wifi in your room cost, $12."

"Why not give me free wifi in my room?" I said, a bit upset that the Sheraton doesn't offer complimentary wifi. You know what her answer was? Simply, "The Sheraton doesn't do that".

Guess what… That's a huge problem for me. I don't want to watch your TV, and I don't want to talk on your phone. I bring my own computer, tablet and phone, but in order for them to work well, I need Wifi, and I find it unacceptable that an industry built around convenience and lifestyle accommodations doesn't consider Internet access as part of the room package.

INTERNET IS NOT A LUXURY, IT'S A NECESSITY!

Especially for bloggers! By not including Interntet in our stay you're either taking advantage, or you don't recognize Internet based business as legit. Either way it's disrespectful for those who need the Internet. I'll repeat it… Especially for bloggers!

Will Social Media Save the Day?

The very first thing I did when I got into my "disconnected" room was tweet @sheratonhotels from my room. They were quick to respond, and a few interactions later they located my reservation and asked for my email address to follow up. Great, except I never got an email.

Influencers, Your Time Has Come!

I'm not joking when I say, "Bloggers are the celebrities of the Internet" And the thing about celebrities is they have the ability to influence the behavior of others. Just ask President Obama if Clooney and Opera played an important role in his elections.

Now when you have influencers using your service, you (Sheraton Hotel) need to take the time to understand who they are, and what their needs are. In my case, I need Internet access, and shouldn't have to pay $12/day ($4,380) a year for it. You want your hotel rooms to resemble a night's stay in my house, then include Wifi. Take away your tiny TV with it's confusing remote control, and your antique telephone, and give me Internet access so I can use my laptop and tablet to get work done.

How hard is it to cross reference your guest information with their Facebook account to see if they are a blogger, or if they work an online industry like SEO, or maybe they love sharing pics on Instagram. These people need Internet more than they need a sample of body lotion.

Repent and Change

1. Pay attention to who your guests are and what they need
2. Monitor social media outlets
3. Follow through with customer service
4. Identify influencers and treat them special

Use your voice

If you agree that companies like Sheraton need to get real, and stop adding fees for Internet access, join me in a tweet:

These thoughts are my own, and in no way reflect those of my employer.

If you've got thoughts of your own, feel free to leave them in the comments below.

I have found a basic, natural principal in life to be true… If you want to to improve your output, focus on the input.
Such a simple and profound truth, yet so often overlooked.

At work I was faced with a task… Get 5 top notch SEO articles written in 7 days. I could write them myself, or have others write them, but one way or another I was responsible for getting the task completed.

My first reaction was to write them all myself. I was mentally prepared to sit down and start pumping out articles when I realized there was no way I could write that many high quality articles in such a short time without either killing myself or churning out crap.

So I changed my approach and decided to have others write them instead

But how am I going to get 5 co-workers to write these articles on top of their current workload? Sure, I could just say, "Hey, you have to do this. Make it a top priority and get it done." But is that really the best approach? I can guarantee it won't be their best work, and I'll probably strain a few relationships in the process. What to do?

Focus On The Input

What inputs would I need to write the best article ever?

Well, sleep for starters. You can't drop nuggets of awesome on the page when you mind is wishing it were back in bed.

A chunk of uninterrupted time is also a crucial input. I can't write a masterpiece in between meetings. I need a quiet area where I know I won't be distracted for at least a few hours. Someplace I can put on some enjoyable background music while I convert ideas to words.

These next 4 come from my good buddy, Dino Dogan.

1) Personal experience – You're never going to write something that hasn't already been written about by someone else before. But what you can do is share your personal perspective on the topic. You can share your experience, and what you learned from it. You can communicate it in a new and fresh way.

2) Inspiration – It is easy to tell the difference between content that's inspired vs. required. If you're not inspiried to write, chances are it's going to be bland.

3) Impact – It's no fun writing for an audience of one. If you knew that hundreds, maybe even thousands of people would read and be impacted by your words, you would approach it with a, "Better bring my A-game" attitude.

4) Recognition – A job well done deserves an applause. Recognition is a powerful motivator, and although it comes after the output, just knowing that there's a very real possibility of getting recognized for outstanding work is a strong input.

Make It Tangible

I looked at these inputs and decided to package them into something tangible I could give someone who would write an article for me. If sleep is an input, then let them come to work late. If interruptions are a problem, clear their schedule for a few hours and give them an office or reserve a meeting room for the day. If inspiration is necessary, setup an interview with an expert or leader on the topic. If recognition is important, I'll figure out where the recognition should come from, and setup the process ahead of time.

By focusing on the input, I'm not just sucking the life out of co-workers. I'm investing in them. I'm giving them the tools they need to create the type of output I'd like. Now of course I'll need the proper approval and help from others to make this package a reality, but the important thing here is the that focus is on the inputs.

Output Will Never Be Greater Than the Input

If the only input is a salary, you're only going to get 8 hours of work. Nothing more.

Invest in your employees minds, and they will come up with creative ideas.

Invest in their emotional state, and they'll happy and proud to do their job.

Invest in their life outside of work, and they'll never clock out.

Invest in their success, and they'll invest in your customers success.

Want More?

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And leave a comment on an input/output. For example, "Want better tasting food… Use better tasting ingredients.