With any good marketing at your organization or elsewhere, inevitably tons of content creation is involved. Afterall, this content is used (and is valuable) for social media, paid ads, SEO, employee advocacy, and beyond.
It’s also how your company connects and educates customers, prospects, and employees. However, no matter how good your content is, you need an even better content distribution strategy.
The traditional content process followed something like this:
- Research topic and keywords
- Write, edit, edit some more, publish
- Share to each social media channel
- Send in an email newsletter
- Move on to next post and repeat
That just doesn’t cut it anymore. People expect more from the content they click, social media algorithms can bury your branded content, and there is more digital noise to stand out against.
This means, you need to spend time more on content distribution and use different techniques so the content is actually being seen consistently.
The 80/20 Rule of Content
If you are on the marketing team or active in content creation, you’ve probably heard the 80/20 rule mentioned before. It applies to various aspects of marketing and business.
This breakdown is also known as the principle of Pareto Distribution which can be seen in many aspects of business and society.
But if it’s new to you as it relates to content, then stick with me here. The 80/20 rule in content marketing just means that you should spend 80% of time promoting your content and 20% creating content.
You should still be creating quality content and content with a purpose, but often marketing teams put too much into pumping out new content. Instead, the value is focusing on pumping out more quality content, and distributing so that more eyes are seeing the value you created.
The 80/20 rule won’t work in your organization’s favor if you are still creating half-baked content that serves no purpose. Additionally, not all content needs as much promotion as others, it really depends on what value it can serve for your organization.
For example, a blog post about a product feature probably does not need high promotional focus. But a new ebook that is incredibly valuable and educational, you’ll want to use many distribution channels and time to get the content out to the world.
Effective Content Distribution Tips
So, how can your organization get better at content distribution? There are many channels that are worth pursuing, but here are a few tips to keep in mind to drive the most effective web traffic.
Use Remarketing for Content
Although paid advertising costs are rising, it doesn’t mean your organization should not be finding ways to utilize these channels. And this is especially important for content distribution and ensuring you are targeting people that would take an interest in the latest from your brand.
One of the most cost-effective ad techniques is remarketing. These are people on lists who have visited or website or taken certain actions. Any new piece of content you create can be worthy of remarketing ads and keep people familiar with your brand engaged further.
Almost every paid advertising platform has some form of remarketing options, so you can test different audiences and content types on these platforms. Common remarketing options would be Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google.
Build Relationships for Content
By building a network of professionals and content creators, you can tap into a whole new market for current content and future content.
For example, as you build your network of thought leaders, creators, and socia active people — you’ll find more will interact or share with content you distribute.
Additionally, you can use these contacts to get insights, quotes, or even have them guest post. Most are going to help you share and distribute your content, which will reach new audiences unfamiliar with your brand and content.
This takes time as you want to build genuine relationships and networks, plus you shouldn’t just be spamming them asking for shares of content. Provide value to get value back!
Get Employees Involved
As paid advertising costs rise, people are tuning ads out, and social algorithms are getting more challenging for branded accounts.
This is why your employees’ social networks have become a strong content distribution channel. The reality of ad costs has made the immediate resource of employee advocacy extremely enticing for companies.
We’ve found employees have an average of 1,000 social connections. If your organization for example has 1,000 employees creating and sharing content, they have a combined potential average reach of 1,000,000!
Additionally, people trust content and recommendations from their friends, colleagues, and family over other forms of marketing. Now, this is not something you can force employees to do but it can be a powerful marketing and content distribution channel.
A bonus feature in EveryoneSocial is the ability to add social posts for employees to engage with. Meaning it quickly alerts employees of branded shares, which they can like, add comments, or reshare — increase the visibility on social platforms.
Repurpose Content In Different Formats
Generally, almost any content your organization creates should also have opportunities to be repurposed in various formats. This content distribution tip is important because it gives your company various opportunities to create unique experiences in different ways.
If you wrote an educational blog post, you should be able to create video snippets from it, maybe derive a webinar or several for that matter, and even something like an infographic from the original post!
The way people consume on various channels can be different, so by providing various formats you are increasing brand awareness and ensuring your content goes further.
Many marketing teams are doing this now, but often these simple content distribution tips can fall behind or become forgotten. When you create a piece of great content, immediately write down the ways this could be repurposed or what sections of the content you can use further.
Consider Syndicating Content
Another great way for your blog content to reach more people is through content syndication. Many big media sites work together to do just that and connect each other’s content across different platforms.
Take a look at publications out there, many offer options for you to submit your feeds to do so. Others, you can reach out and form a partnership.
But now, your content is reaching new audiences. You also want to ensure that the media site follows proper syndication protocol for SEO purposes. Like a line in the beginning or end that links to the original source.
Additionally, ensure they are using the “rel canonical” tag. This lets search engines know where the original content came from.
Add Value to Online Conversations
When distributing content marketing teams often look at sharing from brand accounts and maybe to employees through an employee advocacy program.
While those are must-haves and can reach more people — there is one other area of social media to monitor.
Look for conversations that are relevant to the content that your company has already created. There is a delicate balance here as you don’t want to “social hijack” threads or content by spamming your company content. Instead, provide value to the conversations you spot, interact, and genuinely care.
If it makes sense to link to the content or reference it then do so, as it can be super helpful to the conversation. Watch your connections and conversations, search for specific topics and keywords, and get involved!
Places like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Quora are great ways to get your knowledge and content out there further.
Collaborate with Other Brands
Finding valuable brand partnerships are also a great way to boost your content distribution. We’ve done that ourselves a few times and you’ve seen many other well known organizations do the same.
The goal here is to find a brand that also targets similar audiences and has attention from people you think would find value in your content, product, or services. And vice versa, as you want this to be a two way street where both sides can benefit.
And your brand partnerships can include various options or combinations of distribution channels. Like cross promotion on social media or newsletters, co-webinars, co-guides or case studies, or other unique ways to get attention to specific content.
Final Thoughts
Content distribution is one of the most important processes you can do for your organization. It helps get more eyes on your content and creates more brand awareness.
But above all, your quality content can help solve a pain point for people that will (hopefully) lead to an eventual sale of your product or service.
And while content creation is important, it’s your distribution tactics that ultimately lead to success.
