Many of us are guilty of not promoting our content enough. After the first few tweets heralding the arrival of a fantastic new blog, article, video or infographic, it can be hard to know what to do next. Being unsure of effective ways to promote a piece of content outside of social media is a common obstacle, but one that is easily overcome with just a few simple strategies. With a promotional plan prepared beforehand and a few tried and tested routes to fall back on, you can continue to push your new content for much longer than the length of a Twitter post or Facebook message.
Effective content marketing means ongoing updates and regular posts – you can’t just embark on a single content blitz and then leave it to gather virtual dust for weeks. Here’s how you can continue to leverage your content beyond those first few social media posts.
Continue to use social media
Perhaps you’ve posted a link to your content a few times throughout the space of a week or so but not had much luck when it comes to increased traffic. Never fear – the key is to keep plugging away. Experiment with different hashtags when you post your content, and be sure to include a wealth of social media sharing buttons on every piece of content you create. Share it with LinkedIn groups, utilize social bookmarking services like StumbleUpon, and don’t neglect sites like Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram if they align with your target demographic.
Reach out to influencers
The clue is in the name – you’ll only get the best out of social media if you socialize! Conduct a quick search of similar articles or relevant topics to get an idea of the type of people influencing your target audience. Reach out to a few of them and ask if they’ll share your content – the worst that could happen is that they politely decline. If you manage to get them to share an article of yours, you’ll benefit from increased traffic and you’ll also receive influence-by-association, helping you inch closer to thought-leader status in your industry. It’s a win-win! Keep in mind that the best outreach happens with existing connections so taking the time beforehand to network, engage with those writing on similar topics and build relationships with influencers before you ask for a favor will often yield better results. If you are pro-active about building your network and conversing with influencers, this step will come naturally to you.
Use email marketing
Email marketing is big business, and a great way to get more eyes on your best content. Giagom Research conducted a survey of 300 US-based digital marketers and found that email marketing was still the best method to increase awareness, acquisitions, conversions and customer retention. 70% of consumers say they always open emails from their favorite companies – and if you start sending out original, engaging content, you’ll have a much higher likelihood of being one of those favorites.
Offer complimentary content
Complimentary content is valuable content which is totally free for users to download – as long as they submit an email address that you can send the content to. This could be a podcast, a vlog, a whitepaper or some other form of content that communicates valuable ideas to your target audiences.
Whitepapers are a great way to promote your content around a central theme – especially if you’ve worked hard to accumulate masses of statistics and figures that can be analyzed and communicated in a lengthy document. Whitepapers are great for lead generation and data capture – many sites offer free downloads in return for a visitor’s email address, which can then be added to the aforementioned email marketing mailing lists. Podcasts or online seminars are also easy for consumers to digest and will prompt people to subscribe.
Look to build high-quality links
The type of links you’ll be able to build depends entirely on the content which you create, but there are plenty of opportunities out there, whatever platform or multimedia you’re using. For instance, submit videos that are hosted on your website to YouTube too, and use other video networks to link back to the media or video page on your own site. Infographics directories are also a great way to get your infographics seen and boost your SEO credentials with organic search traffic.
Repurpose your content
If you’ve generated enough data to turn into an infographic or work into a podcast, it’s highly likely that you can repurpose that information and turn it into another form of content that might appeal to different cross-sections of your target audience. For example, if you created an infographic showing some graphic representations of statistics, you could also create an accompanying blog post to break down those stats further, or host a Q&A panel session in webinar format to sift through the data even further and give the content a new lease of life.
