So you’ve produced some awesome, shareable content. It’s insightful, it’s engaging, and you’re pretty confident that it has the potential to get the results you want. The problem is, you’re not sure how to get it to people. That’s where content distribution comes in.
Successful content syndication isn’t about spreading your content too thin, which would mean sacrificing quality engagement in exchange for broader but less meaningful visibility. Instead, it’s about strategically placing your content where it resonates with the ideal audience, which will generate tangible benefits for your business.
Let’s dive deeper into this Content Distribution Guide:
What is content distribution?
Content distribution refers to the process of disseminating content to your target audience through a variety of channels, including owned media, earned media, and paid media. Effective content distribution helps increase brand awareness, generate leads and sales, and establish a strong online presence.
Success lies in achieving the right mix of distribution for your content and audience. Which media channels should you focus on to improve your digital presence? What types of content are ideal for distribution, and on which channels? This guide covers all that and more. So let’s dive deeper into content distribution.
Types of Content Distribution
Own Channels:
Owned channels are the logical starting point for distributing content. You can create, distribute, and test a variety of content at your own pace, focusing on your target audience and customers. Content can be published on the company website, blog, social media pages, or distributed via email to customer or prospect lists.
Channels Earned:
Earned channels are more difficult to acquire, as you will need to approach external entities and convince them to share your content on their platforms. Examples of earned channels include social media shares, backlinks, media coverage, and influencer collaborations. Earned media requires you to build relationships with external partners, which takes time and effort. However, distribution on earned media is very valuable, as it helps businesses reach a wider audience and increase their online presence and credibility.
Paid Channels:
These channels involve paying directly for content promotion or advertising, such as social media ads, sponsored content, pay-per-click (PPC) ads, or native ads, such as Outbrain. The “trick” to a successful paid content distribution strategy is careful planning, budgeting, tracking, and optimization to avoid overspending and targeting the wrong audience.
Own Distribution Channels You Should Use
If content is king, then owned content marketing channels are your kingdom. This is where you have the most control over your message, crafting and amplifying it through the following organic channels.
Landing pages
A landing page is a web page designed to receive traffic from various sources such as email campaigns, social media promotions or search engine results.
Landing pages are where visitors “land” after clicking a link elsewhere on the web. They allow you to deliver targeted messages, drive conversions, and accurately measure the success of your campaigns.
Blogs
A blog is a regularly updated section of your website where you post articles related to your industry, company, or products. They are a great way to drive organic traffic to your website.
Blogs are great for establishing authority in your industry, improving search engine optimization (SEO), and providing value to your audience through informative or entertaining content. They are also a fantastic source of repurposed content to distribute on social media as posts.
An email newsletter is a regular email sent to subscribers, usually containing news, updates or promotional content related to your business.
Newsletters have many advantages. They allow for direct communication with your audience in a place most people check daily: their inbox. They are great for fostering engagement, maintaining relationships with your audience, and promoting new content or offers.
Case studies
Case studies are a powerful tool for demonstrating the value of your products or services. By highlighting real-world examples of how your company has helped its customers, you can show potential clients that your offerings are beneficial and proven.
The key to a successful case study is to make it relatable and engaging. Help your prospects understand everything your business can do for them by putting a human face to their current pain points and desired success. Use storytelling techniques, focusing on the problem-solution-outcome structure to shape the narrative.
Whitepapers
Whitepapers are in-depth reports that explore a specific issue or topic related to your industry. The benefits of whitepapers include opportunities to educate your audience, establish thought leadership, and generate leads.
Creating a whitepaper requires extensive research and a deep understanding of your subject matter. It’s important to present complex information in a clear and concise manner, and always provide actionable insights.
Webinars
Webinars are live, interactive online events that allow you to share knowledge, present your products or services, and interact directly with your audience. They are a great platform to showcase your expertise, answer questions, and build relationships with potential clients.
To make your webinars engaging, focus on providing value. You can choose topics that are relevant to your audience, invite industry experts as guest speakers, and encourage participation through Q&A sessions.
Social media content is a must-have for any brand’s marketing strategy, as it allows them to directly engage with their audience, build relationships, and foster customer loyalty.
It’s vital to identify which platforms your target audience is present on. A business-to-business (B2B) company might find more success on professional networking sites like LinkedIn, while a business-to-consumer (B2C) company might thrive on Instagram or Facebook. Think about social media demographics, too.
Earned media channels you should know about
Earned media channels help brands build credibility and expand their reach. If your owned media is your kingdom, earned media is your state’s outpost, where you exchange goods and information overseas.
Guest Blogging
Guest blogging involves writing articles for other companies’ blogs. By leveraging the host blog’s audience, you increase visibility and establish authority in your industry.
Find blogs that align with your brand values and target audience, and suggest topics that offer value to the host blog’s readers while subtly promoting your brand or product.
One of the biggest opportunities in guest posting lies in the potential to generate backlinks, which improves your website’s SEO. However, as with all forms of blogging, it takes considerable time and effort to create high-quality content.
Public Relations Associations
Public relations (PR) partnerships involve collaborating with media outlets, influencers, or other brands to generate positive publicity.
PR partnerships are particularly popular in event marketing. Consider donating your time and expertise as a guest or speaker at an industry event. You’ll get the chance to interact with interested audiences in person, developing real connections while expanding your network.
Forums
Forums are online discussion platforms where users share information and engage in conversations about specific topics. They are ideal for brands looking to showcase their knowledge and build credibility.
Find relevant threads on one of the most popular online forums, such as Reddit, which has 850 million active users who access the platform at least once a month. Quora is also popular, with over 400 million unique visitors per month.
Review Sites
More than 99.9% of online shoppers read reviews before making a purchase at least sometimes, and 98% consider reviews to be an essential resource when choosing what to buy.
To take advantage of review sites, encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews about their experiences. Respond quickly and professionally to both positive and negative reviews to demonstrate your commitment to customer satisfaction.
Reviews are also one of the content formats to consider adding to your website. Add snippets or use a tool to automatically post reviews from a third-party site to your page.
Online Newspapers and Magazines
Online newspapers and magazines reach wide audiences and offer a platform for brands to share their stories, knowledge or contributions to their industry.
Consider pitching story ideas that highlight your brand’s unique value proposition or expertise in your industry. Alternatively, you could contribute articles or opinion columns on topics relevant to your field.
Content discovery platforms
Content discovery platforms help users discover new content based on their interests. They allow brands to attract new audiences by promoting their content alongside related articles.
The main opportunity with content discovery platforms is the potential to reach highly targeted audiences. Create captivating headlines and images for your promoted content to increase click-through rates.
Podcast Hosting Platforms
Podcast hosting platforms are one of the most popular content channels today, offering brands the opportunity to engage audiences in a personal and immersive way.
The big opportunity here lies in the growing popularity of podcasts and the deep engagement they generate. However, the limitation is that creating high-quality podcast content requires considerable time and resources.
Paid media channels for content distribution
Paid content distribution allows you to grow faster. Continuing with the kingdom analogy, paid media is your (well-intentioned, non-violent) army. Use it to capture attention and win over new audiences.
Collaboration and mentions of influencers
Partner with influencers in your industry to promote your brand or content. This strategy leverages the trust and connection that influencers have already established with their followers.
Identify influencers who align with your brand values and have a strong connection with your target audience. Develop a mutually beneficial collaboration where they share or mention your content in their posts or videos.
Social media ads
Social media ads allow brands to display promotional content directly in users’ feeds. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter offer advanced targeting options to reach your ideal audience.
Social media ads and promoted posts are the most popular form of paid distribution for both B2C content (used by 88% of B2C marketers investing in paid channels) and B2B brands (85%).
Search Ads
Search ads are ads that appear on search engine results pages (SERPs). Find prospects who are actively searching for what you sell.
The main opportunity of search ads is their ability to drive highly targeted traffic to your website.
Native advertising
Native advertising involves promotional content that integrates seamlessly into the platform where it is published. This could be a sponsored article on a news site or a promoted post on social media.
To incorporate paid advertising into your content marketing, create content that closely aligns with the platform’s style and tone while also promoting your brand or product.
The main advantage of native advertising is its potential to engage users without interrupting their experience.
Identify which content assets are working best for your organization and use that to determine which pieces you should focus on. Once you’re clear on which content assets need to be distributed, it’s time to understand the available channels and let those content assets expand.
