19 Content Distribution Hacks

Content marketing is great, that's established. But so few blogs and brands spend the required time, effort and $ on content promotion, distribution and such, they are missing out on the true ROI of content marketing. The 20/80 rule says that for every 1 hour you spend on content production, spend at least 4 hours on content promotion and distribution. 

So without further adieu, let's try to brainstorm ideas on how do do this: 

1- Repost content at least 6 times on different channels to get its full value. Since its reach may be limited when you share an update or tweet it, don't assume it isn't ethical to re-share it several times. I see content marketing experts forever reposting the same content, so why can't we. 

2- Consider a paid service like Outbrain, and explore content distribution and discovery platforms. Adblade and Taboola come to mind. 

3- Pay to play: Facebook boosted posts ("Sponsored"), good targeting. 

4- Promoted Tweets: You pay only when the user engages with your tweet. 

5- LinkedIn Sponsored Updates: this certainly makes getting more company followers easier.

6- Boost Owned Content: via SEO value, driving referral traffic and community building. Having a blog with fresh articles, enables your brand to develop an engaging tone. If your content marketing and SEO is high quality, it will gain traction organically over time.

7- Share content on social media groups, namely Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest boards and Google + groups that are targeted to your niche industry & audience.  

8- Send PMs to brand advocates that you know like your content via a Twitter message, LinkedIn Message or via an Email, they may be grateful that you shared it if it relates to their field of interest. 

9- Share links to your content or the article itself to your Email list. This can be part of your Email marketing strategy. 

10- Reach out to an influencer to get a quote, share with them your topic and ask them if they would be willing to provide a point of view. This will help generate extra traffic of your post and give it more social & knowledge authority. A service like Buzzstream can help you find the right influencer. 

11- YouTube Ads: So you pay when your ad is watched. PPV. YouTube's analytics are pretty incredible. 

12- Paid Misc. Consider also Reddit Ads, Google Adwords, Stumbleupon Paid Discovery, etc. 

13- Create content snippets, micro content snacks from your content to boost social media content that ties to your articles. This is just good branding.

14- Retargating. If nearly 2% of website visitors convert, do retargeting campaigns to get the other 98.5%. Track visitors using cookies, pay per click via retargeting ads. Bring them back up the funnel. The future of retargeting for content promotion is huge I think. 

15- Ask content producers who aren't direct competitors but share industry interests to share your content. Approach them as you would influencers, with tact and an offer of reciprocity. Niche community curating is a social thing, and will be good for your social media audience. 

16- Re purpose your content, turn an article into a Podcast, or even into a Video content. In the mobile era, this is very important. Because you will get to different market audiences this way, not everyone has the time to read your article, but maybe as a podcast they would listen.

17- Guest Blog. This cannot be over emphasized. The bigger the natural reach of a content producer, the better their message can get across, so develop skills at blogging in your industry for different blogs, make a name for yourself. Also, connect with other bloggers, journalists and content producers on Twitter, and ask them if they would write about your brand, product, etc... Search for sites with "write for us" or "contribute to our blog" (plus your industry niche) to find blogs open to outside contributers. Rank your potential blogs by traffic (via Alexa). 

18- Do PR, make News. The goal here it to get major media coverage, the reward is a big spike in reach. News coverage does garner attention, it may fuel social amplification and help you be a player in your industry in your city or country or continent. How digital PR hits News is changing fast, so keep up with this.  

19- Invest and leverage social media properly, enjoy it, play with it. Be consistent and post quality content frequently. Balance your content, curating others, sharing authentically and socializing (e.g. Twitter chat events). This will help you diversify your brand and gain brand advocates.