You have a content strategy. You know your buyer and how to create valuable and helpful content they love. Now, how do you get it in front of your prospects? And more importantly, how do you get them to help you spread the word about your content?
Use the following content distribution checklist to garner more leads and develop brand awareness.
Content Distribution Checklist
The following checklist guides you through many steps to distribute and promote your content. Print it out and pin it to your bulletin board, or save it to Evernote or Google Docs so you and your team can access it and use it at any time.
Social
- Post small quotes or snippets of your content to owned social channels with a link back to the full content piece.
- Make it easy for visitors to share your content by including share buttons within the content piece.
- Research and take advantage of alternative channels where you can share your content (for example, Quora, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, Quibb and Reddit).
- Share your content in relevant groups, communities and pages within social channels.
- Add links to your content within the resources section or tab of your owned social media accounts (LinkedIn's Projects Section or a custom Facebook tab).
- Share and repost your best-performing content more than once, periodically. Use a tool like Hootsuite or Buffer to manage your posting schedule.
Paid
- Promote your content through paid media
- Google AdWords
- Facebook
- LinkedIn
- Instagram
- Pinterest
- Snapchat
- Outbrain and Taboola
People
- Reach out to employees, friends and family networks where appropriate and encourage them to share your content through their social channels.
- Find non-competing thought leaders who are relevant to your audience and share their content on your owned channels.
- When you create new content, send it to those same thought leaders and they will likely reciprocate and share your content with their network.
- Send your latest content pieces to relevant thought leaders, giving them a day or more of exclusive access before you share the piece with your own audience.
- Send a message to your sales team, including a drafted email so they can easily share the new content piece with their customers and prospects who they think might be interested.
Website and Blog
- Repurpose existing content, and make it available in many formats (infographic, slide deck, webinar, blog post, PDF, checklist, podcast episode, video).
- Add content to the resources section of your website.
- Include links and CTAs to your content within relevant blog posts and webpages.
- Include embed codes on your infographic blog posts so your readers can easily embed the infographic on their blog.
- When gating content behind a form, keep the number of form fields low and as non-invasive as possible — ideally five questions or less.
Database and Online Communities
- Email your content to your contacts database and send a follow-up email to those who didn't open the first.
- Search for forums and questions on the web that your content can answer, and post an answer to the question with a link to the relevant content piece.
Syndication
- Syndicate your content. Partner with other blogs that are willing to publish your content, two weeks after it has first gone live. Use Medium, or become a regular contributor on a popular online publication like Huffington Post or Entrepreneur to spread the word about the content on your website.
Content Distribution Best Practices
Keep these few things in mind as you are working to get your content out to your target audience.
Avoid Spamming on Forums and Groups, and Be Respectful
When posting content to unowned and unpaid channels (like forums or social media groups), be respectful and do not spam. It is best to spend time building relationships and trust within each distribution channel/community before sharing your content there.
By asking and answering questions, replying to comments you agree with or have additional input on, or thanking community members when they post something you find valuable, you can build rapport and establish a presence on these platforms.
Create a Publishing Schedule to Orchestrate Your Content Distribution
Maintain a list of distribution channels and websites and spread your publishing schedule across them so you aren't posting too often to any given channel and overwhelming your audience.
Build Relationships with Brand Advocates and Evangelists
Build relationships online and in the real world to create a list of brand advocates and evangelists who are eager to share your content. When sharing content with anyone you hope will help spread the word, include some suggested blog post copy and social sharing messages to make it easier for them to promote your content.
Focus On Quality, Not Quantity
Even today, many publishers are obsessed with pushing out more and more content instead of taking the time to craft valuable resources. Since Google no longer rewards poor-quality content, there simply is no reason to be fixated on a ruthless and fast-paced publishing schedule. Give yourself time to develop great content and worry less about the volume of content you’re producing.
Get Your Content Seen by Your Audience
You’ve taken the time to develop great content that your audience would love. You know who they are, what words they use (to describe their problem and desired solution) and where they like to hang out online. The only step you need to take now is to deliver it to the people who are eager to consume it.
A checklist is a valuable tool; you can add to it or remove from it as you please. But keep in mind that it’s not about the quantity of actions you take. It’s about having a predictable process that allows you to think about how you can take quality actions on a regular, ongoing basis.
