Unless you’ve been living under a rock in the
last few years, you know content is king and content marketing is the new
black. Good content is incredibly effective. It boosts brand awareness, drives
consumers to purchase your product, and it gives you much desired SEO juice.
But with every marketer on the planet—from your local
hair stylist to the white house—producing content, getting your video
or blog post noticed is an ever more challenging task, and that amazing piece
of content that you spent time and money on may find itself on the back shelves
of the web, waiting to be discovered…
So how do make sure your content gets to its target audience?
Unless you’re basing your marketing plan on your
content “going viral” (that’s about as likely as someone next to
you at the coffee shop doing the Harlem Shake), you should start with a content
distribution plan, which would typically combine a number of free and paid
distribution methods. Here are some of the key ones for you to consider:
Post Content On Your Website
The most obvious place to start with is your own company’s
website. Make sure that your content is easy to find and use large thumbnails
and clear headlines to drive clicks. Encourage website visitors to share your
content through a social sharing toolbar, such as AddThis, ShareThis and
Shareaholic.
Send Your Content by Email
If you have a good opt-in database, promote your content by
sending email to the full list or to a relevant segment. While no longer a
popular option, you can also purchase a list from a third-party vendor. Always
use a marketing tool such as MailChimp, HubSpot, Marketo or Eloqua when you
send emails so you’ll get the analytics you need to
optimize your campaigns.
Share on Social Networks
Always share your content on your company’s social media
properties, such as your LinkedIn page, Facebook page and Twitter. It is
recommended you use social publishing tools, such as HootSuite, Buffer, PaperShare and HubSpot.
These will help you schedule your posts and provide analytics on engagement.
Post to Content Sharing Websites
Publish your content on websites such as YouTube, SlideShare,
Vimeo, Pinterest, Vine and Instagram. Focus on the websites where your target
audience is likely to consume your content, and invest time in properly tagging
and describing your content so it will be easy to find.
Use Sponsored Updates
As competition for attention becomes fiercer, many social
networks now offer sponsored updates. Pick some of your best content items and
experiment with paid promotions on the social networks where your target
audience is most likely to frequent. Make sure you set clear goals and are able
to measure returns.
Advertise on Display Networks and Paid Search
Although CPCs are ever increasing and banner effectiveness is on
the decline, experiment with advertising your content on different networks.
Make sure you have tracking codes and goals set up properly so you’re
able to measure performance.
Run Social Network Ads
Many social networks, such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, let
you run ads targeted by interests, behavior, location, skills and more. While
these ads are typically not very effective for promoting content, experiment to
find out if they might work for you.
Get the Media and Bloggers to Promote Your Content
Issue press releases about key content items, such as interesting
survey results. Pitch your content to reporters and share it with influential
bloggers you have a relationship with.
Promote on Content Discovery Platforms
Get your content recommended alongside editorial on some the top
publisher websites using a content discovery platform such as Taboola. These
platforms use mathematical algorithms to recommend your content to those most
likely to take interest in it. They typically use a CPC model and are used in
addition to or as a replacement of traditional display or paid search ads.
