Content Distribution is the new King Ding-a-ling...

It's one thing getting your head around content creation. It's something else entirely processing the chaotic world of content distribution.

"But Andy, my company is B2B, so LinkedIn is enough for me. Right."

No Nigel, it really isn't. And here's why.

Your buyers are human first

Just because your buyers reside here for periods of their working day, doesn't mean they don't spend copious amounts of time death-scrolling the likes of YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, X, and dare I say it...

Facebook.

With YouTube now in the number 2 spot for global search engine traffic, and TikTok evolving faster than a LinkedIn guru launching a new engagement pod... Dismissing their place in your overall marketing strategy is a huge mistake.

"But I just about have time to knock up a wooden, half-arsed bit of writing for LinkedIn Andy. Now I need to dance in my pants on Tiky Toky?"

Don't panic Susan, I have the solution. And no one wants to see those pants.

Long-form content has its uses.

Over the last 2 years, we've worked with several people who all suffered from the same problem.

'A need to write War & Peace every time they released a new post'.

It's a trait commonly associated with LinkedIn newbs with a tendency to overthink everything they want to say. What should take 5-10 minutes can easily take 2 hours as they continue to add perspective and context to a post that needs no more of either.

But there is a place for this over-engineered, long-form content and it lies either within our beloved LinkedIn or on the pages of your very own website.

Think about what you're reading now for example. Imagine if I'd released this as a post.

A newsletter or article can become the foundation for a mountain of content options that may last you a week, or even a month depending on your posting frequency. To understand how, read on.

The art of taking a lot from a little

Coming up with something to say every day is hard. Making it engaging is even harder and when you ask people to keep it brief...

Now you're taking the piss.

Your book-like content has a place on the web and acts as a very important validator of your knowledge and expertise. But as a social media post, designed to capture people in milliseconds and retain their attention right till the end...

It's not gonna work.

But what about if you wrote said long-form content in such a way that it could be sliced into sections, each one offering a piece of value in its own right? Imagine if you could then take those slices and distribute them as individual posts.

Wouldn't that be something?

A week's worth of content (or more depending on the length of the original) all without having to activate your brain more than once.

But we can take this even further...

You now have a ready-made video script...

Now I know what you're thinking.

"For fuck sake Andy, will you stop banging on about video. I hate my voice and have a face for radio that only a mother could love. And she's borderline."

Whilst I understand your reservations, I will indeed, never stop banging the video drum when it comes to building a network and connecting with people online. If you want me to stop, you'll need to block me. And even then I'll probably find a way.

Half the battle with video content (as we've found countless times) is knowing what to say and having to record it 87,000 times. The sad news about the second part is, you are what you are, you sound how you sound, and you look how you look.

No amount of takes will change that.

But imagine already having a script to keep you on track and remove the need for your brain's creative side even to activate. That would be epic right?

How to keep it natural...

You've probably already guessed, but in about 2 weeks (depending on when you're reading this) there will be a ton of video content being released on my profile across multiple platforms. When that happens, your first thought might be...

"I've heard this before somewhere."

This article will act as a script for a long-form video about the importance of content distribution and will initially be hosted on our YouTube channel. Obviously, that last sentence will not be included. Or that one.

To ensure they come across as natural as possible, some form of editing software is needed (we use Adobe Premier Pro) and you will need to work on your expressive voice (something we can help with). If you can remember 1-2 sentences at a time and deliver them with confidence, the magic of making it flow can happen in post-production.

Then once you're happy with your final edit, you have the following:

• A long-form article for high-intent buyers to consume
• Multiple short-form posts for top-of-funnel folk to enjoy and remember
• A long-form video to help with SEO and your multi-touch presence on the web
• The chance to now cut said video up for even more social content but this time, for multiple channels.

Multi-platform distribution

Back in the good old days of employment, clients would make the fatal mistake of pausing traffic sources that didn't return an ROI in isolation. From 4 or 5 channels, they would look to cut costs by eliminating a source without pound notes against it because they couldn't see its value in the campaign overall.

Until they paused the source and every other channel took a nose dive.

Think about your own online journey from initial product discovery to eventual purchase. It certainly isn't quick and there are often many touchpoints involved. These touchpoints are the little reminders we all need to cement an idea in our minds and take us to the point where we simply can't live without the product or service on offer.

Without these touchpoints, your ideal customer never has enough data to make the final decision.

Distributing your content across a multitude of platforms doesn't mean they will all start to return inbound leads in isolation. People will usually end up in the place they feel most comfortable reaching out (email, website, LinkedIn). This doesn't mean however that 10 minutes before they finally took the plunge, they weren't watching you on TikTok, YouTube, Or Instagram.

They just didn't want to message you there.

A content strategy that only considers one platform is not a strategy at all. By placing every last hope on one channel, your content has to work too hard, and you are missing key moments throughout your ideal clients' online content consumption.

Conclusion

Creating content that people remember for the right reasons is a lot of work. If you are dedicating the hours, you need to make sure you're getting ROTI (return on time invested).

Video, as much as many of you reading this may not want to admit it, is the best way to ensure you are being seen across all of your ideal client's touchpoints. It is also the best way to build trust before they even work with you.

And that is a hugely powerful lead driver.

If you want to work with us on a 1:1 basis and really maximise your content opportunity, drop us a DM today.

Stay Unconventionall.