It’s safe to say there is no content shortage.
Millions of new blog articles are published every day.
Most of them add little to no value though, and most of the articles that do don’t get the attention they deserve.
Why?
Because the content isn’t being distributed.
People aren’t reading it because they don’t know about it.
It’s just content sitting on a site, gathering e-dust.
Content marketing encompasses much more than just creating content.
After you create it, you need to make sure people read it.
Sadly, most content marketers will queue an article for sharing in Buffer, mark their task as done, and move on to writing their next article, which receives an equally low number of visitors.
This is wrong.
Everyone needs to be held accountable within a company, including content marketers.
Create a content strategy that clearly defines the goals you want to reach.
Ross Tavendale has come up with his so-called COPE framework here, which is very comprehensive – check it out.
How can you even look back at your work and learn from what went well and what didn’t without these goals?
The ROI of doing content marketing without distribution is going to be very low.
Especially in high-competition markets.
You won’t stand a fighting chance.
People will be reading your competition’s content even though it may only be half as good as yours.
Sounds frustrating, right? And unfair.
Good. That’s because it is both of these.
While Google is getting better and better at figuring out what quality content is, it’s far from perfect.
You’ll frequently encounter the most popular content rather than the best content at the top of the SERPs.
On social media platforms, it’s popularity, in the form of engagement with your content, that makes or breaks content success.
Ever heard the phrase “If you build it, they will come”?
Yeah, that’s not true in most cases.
Yes, you can do something very spectacular that goes viral.
But most people will just have to work their asses off to get people to come and buy their product.
The same goes for content marketing – you’ll have to put blood, sweat, and tears into distributing your content. You’ll then see your content gain attention, attract links, and start to rank.
Content distribution is about understanding your target audience, building relationships, and creating a repeatable framework.
Below we’ll go through five steps to get started with content distribution.
Find Your Target Audience
On which platforms is your target audience present?
Find out, and engage.
Every community has places where members come together virtually – and in real life.
Discover where these are.
Here are some examples for digital marketing:
- Reddit.
- GrowthHackers.
- HackerNoon.2
- IndieHackers.
- Slack.
- Discord workspaces.
- Facebook groups.
- Telegram.
- WhatsApp groups.
Research Successful Content Formats
What content formats perform exceptionally well on the platforms your target audience hangs out on?
Analyze that content and figure out why people love it. You need to learn what makes your target audience tick.
In order for your content distribution to be successful, you need to create the right types of content.
So this research is input for the content creation phase.
Example: People in the SEO space love case studies. This case study from Apollo Digital was successfully distributed and gained 88 referring domains as measured by Ahrefs.
Build up a Reputation & Engage With Others
Participate in discussions on the platforms you’ve identified in step 1.
Build up a reputation and engage with others in similar roles, and maybe even in the same space if you’re not competitors.
Build an Amplification List
When you’re engaging with others, you’ll find you really click with some of these people.
They are great candidates to put on your amplification list – the people you’ll be able to call upon to amplify your message.
Email Outreach
Don’t underestimate the power of targeted email outreach (don’t spam, however!) as part of a content distribution strategy.
You need to take the right approach though; personalize the outreach and ask people you’re reaching out to for feedback.
Use Paid Advertising.
Leveraging paid content distribution may be a great kick-starter for your content distribution – but it can also be absolutely necessary if you’re in a very crowded niche.