Content Promotion: Even Great Messages Aren't Any Good If No One Receives Them
While most businesses embrace content creation as a strategy for connecting with their audience, many of them only use half of the equation when it comes to digital content. They focus on content creation, but not on content promotion.
Many marketers take an “if you build it, they will come approach” to content.
They don’t develop or execute a media distribution strategy that pushes content out to the masses and attracts audiences. This is problematic because even if a message is incredibly impressive, amazing, and exciting -- it doesn’t matter if no one sees it. So if you are struggling with getting your content out there, you aren’t alone.
Many businesses could use a little help with their content promotion and for that, here are eleven ways to spread the word about your content.
Content Promotion Tactics You Can Start Right Now
To beef up your content promotion, consider using a few of the following media distribution and marketing channels.
Organic Social Media Posts
One of the most common ways that businesses share their content is through social media, particularly organic social media. Organic social media posts are updates you share through profiles without paying for promotions. The messages are organically spread to and by audiences. As you lay out an organic social media posting strategy, keep the following ideas in mind.
- Set a schedule. The most effective social media content promotion plans are consistent. So set a schedule for your posts that guides you to post often and regularly.
- Follow the 30/60/10 approach. Social media must be varied to be interesting to audiences. So schedule your posts using the 30/60/10 approach. Make 30% of your posts about your content, 60% about content from others, and 10% about promotions for your business.
- Leverage Facebook groups. While there are many strategies for effective social media content promotion, one of the most often overlooked strategies is creating a Facebook group. Creating a Facebook group with people of similar interests is a great way to build a direct line to an engaged and interested audience.
Paid Social Media Posts
Social media feeds are full, which makes it difficult to stand out and compete with the constant flow of content. So pair your organic social media content strategy with paid promotions. Figure out which social media channels your target audience uses most, and pay for sponsored posts to ensure that your messages stand out and attract attention.
Paid Search & Display Ads
Another way to pay for powerful content promotion is through paid search and display advertising. Paid search ads help your business get to the top of search results regardless of your SEO standings. Target the keywords your audience uses and post ads for your best content and landing pages. Also, use display ads, that appear alongside other content on third-party websites, to connect with audiences as they browse other sites.
Related: Demystifying Digital Advertising: 12 Ways Local Brands Can Run Paid Ads
Guest Blogging
If you don’t have an engaged, loyal audience for your blog, borrow one from a website that does. Find a blog or website that has the audience you would like to reach, and offer to write a post for their site. This is an important part of powerful content marketing, and a good way to get exposure for your brand. It is also a smart way to promote your content as many guest writers are permitted to include links back to their content.
Republishing & Repurposing Content
To get more eyes on your content, make sure you spread it out across the internet. Reuse your content by repurposing and republishing it on other websites. You can either repost it as is or reformat it into another type of media. This process increases your chances of more people seeing your content as you are also leveraging the audience of other media channels and platforms.
- LinkedIn: Publish a blog on your website and then republish it as an article through your LinkedIn profile. At the end of the LinkedIn article, include a statement that says where the article was originally published and also link to the original.
- Medium: Like LinkedIn, you can republish an article on Medium and refer back to the original post as an attempt to tap into the platform’s large audience.
- Slideshare: Turn your content into a short slideshow and upload it to Slideshare to give new life to your message and connect with a larger audience.
If you use this tactic as part of your content promotion strategy, keep in mind that when you republish content, you need to do it in a way that search engines approve of to avoid search ranking penalties.
Syndication
Another way to leverage other blogs and repurpose your content is through syndication. Content syndication is the act of republishing content originally published on your blog onto third-party websites. For example, you could form a relationship with another blog in your industry wherein you publish a blog on your site and a few weeks later, the blog publishes the same post on their site while giving you and your business credit.
Content Distribution Networks
One more content promotion tactic that uses other blogs to increase your exposure is partnering with content distribution networks. Content distribution networks push your content out to other blogs. It is a type of native advertising that makes your content fit with the natural flow of a blog, and then uses “additional reading” or “you may also be interested in” sections to promote your content. Popular content distribution networks include Taboola and Outbrain.
Influencer Marketing
You don’t always need a big network or blog to spread your messages with the masses. Sometimes, you just need one person. Influencers are people who have a big following and authoritative voice in a specific industry. When these people share content, it is often read and shared by many others. To engage in influencer marketing:
- Find the most relevant influencers. Research people in your industry to find the most powerful influencers. There are a variety of influencer marketing platforms you can use in your research.
- Mention influencers in your content. To encourage influencers to share your content, make them a part of it. Mention influencers in your content to draw their attention to your work. They will appreciate the extra publicity and be more likely to share your content.
- Let influencers know when you feature them. If you mention an influencer in your content, let them know about it. Tag them in your social posts or even send them an email telling them about your mention.
Traditional PR
Through traditional PR, you make connections with your community and local media outlets to build interest for your content. If you release a piece of content or have an important message you want to your community to know about, reach out to local newspapers, radio stations, and newspapers. Let them know why it is newsworthy and beneficial for your community. This helps your content promotion as the media outlet may cover the story and share it with their audience.
Related: How to Get Local Press Coverage for Your Business
Digital PR
Just as you can use public relations to connect with traditional media outlets, you can also use it to connect with digital media outlets. When you have a piece of content or a story you think would interest the audience of other blogs or websites, share it with the editors. Explain why you believe it would interest their readers to encourage them to share your message with their audience.
Email marketing is a great way to distribute your content out to interested audiences. But, it only works if you have an email list. As soon as you begin using an online presence to connect with audience, create a strategy for collecting email addresses from readers. Through email marketing campaigns, you can easily promote your content because you have a direct line of communication to an audience.
As you can see, there are multiple and varied ways to promote and distribute content.
Some digital marketing strategies are more effective than other, some cost more money, and others take more time. And most importantly, some will work for brands and not work for other brands.
It’s important to test and try out different methods to see which tactics provide the best content promotion for your unique business and audience.
Still struggling with content promotion?
Content promotion isn’t always easy, but it is important. You can’t rely on audiences stumbling across your great content. You must set up systems that spread your content and draw audiences back to your website.
If you’re struggling with the content promotion process, MyArea Network is here to help.
Not only can we help you develop a marketing strategy, we can also help you promote your content through our Local Area Sites and media distribution channels.
We already have a large audience that we can leverage to promote and share your content. Contact us today to see how we can improve your content promotion and get more eyes on your most important messages.
