Effective Content Distribution
In today’s digital world, content distribution is a key component of any marketing strategy, and any business worth its salt should be aware of it. After all, what’s the point of creating killer content if you never manage to get any eyes on it?
In order to reach the 4.95 billion people milling about on the internet (4.62 billion of which are using social media) and develop content marketing programs that are effective, you need to learn about the right ways to distribute your content.
Did you know that only one in four B2C businesses rate their content marketing as extremely or very successful? That’s according to the latest research put out by the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs research.
If you want to be part of that successful 26%, then it’s time to up your digital marketing game. Read on for a breakdown of what content distribution is, terrible distribution practices you might be doing, and the correct way to distribute your content and reach your audience.
What Is Content Distribution?
You likely already know what content marketing is — and you should, as it’s one of the most effective forms of advertising you have at your disposal.
You can look at content distribution as an essential step in the process of a good marketing strategy. First, you outline your goals, create quality content in line with those goals, and then you distribute that content — handing it to your ideal audience on a silver platter so all they have to do is consume it. If you mess up that last step, then all your investment in content marketing is just going to go down the drain.
Summarized in a sentence, content distribution is the action of publishing, sharing, and promoting your content, ideally through the media formats and channels that your audience prefers. As mentioned previously, most of the world’s internet users are also social media users, so social media platforms are a prime stage for distributing your content. You can create content strictly for the platform you’re publishing on, or you can reformat content you have elsewhere for use on social media.
Publishing on the right platform is one of the hardest parts of content distribution because you’re up against stiff competition. Consider the fact that for every second that passes on the internet there are:
- 1,134 Instagram photos uploaded,
- 9,851 Tweets sent,
- 93,845 YouTube videos viewed,
- 99,221 Google searches made, and
- 3,111,739 emails sent!
Tough market, isn’t it? Obviously, when you’re facing a market as saturated as this, you don’t want to make mistakes when you’re designing your content marketing programs. And yet, mistakes are made. Take a good, long look at your current distribution practices and try to spot any of the terrible practices outlined in the next section.
Terrible Distribution Practices
Do you like blogs? They’re a pretty neat marketing practice that’s seen a good ROI for businesses that publish regularly, but how many blogs do you think are published every day?
No madman is ever going to read all of those, and yet the number one mistake that marketers make is that they do not diversify distribution. Posting your content once as an article or a blog is simply incorrect; you need to cast a wide net across various platforms.
Other common terrible distribution practices are:
- Distributing on the wrong platforms for the business’ ideal audience — Each social media platform has a certain demographic that uses it.
- Not reusing or re-optimizing content — If you have good content, it’s a shame to only use it once.
- Posting content at the wrong time — Launching a marketing campaign when your ideal audience is asleep or at work isn’t going to do you any favors.
- Not using paid campaigns — Relying solely on organic traffic is a romantic notion, but failing to take advantage of the tools available on the market is just going to limit your success.
The Correct Way To Distribute Content
Content distribution is a long, arduous road. It’s not a one-and-done thing — to ensure maximum visibility for one article, you need to distribute snippets of it throughout the year to drive awareness.
You also need to make the most of your content by reoptimizing it for various mediums, as dictated by the preferences of your audience.
Are you a B2B company looking to market to industry professionals and freelancers? Use your article as a LinkedIn post.
Are you an e-commerce company looking to sell clothing or other visually-striking products to a Gen Z audience? Transform your article into a series of Instagram posts they will appreciate.
Is your audience too busy to read through long articles? Open up Twitter and modify your article into short, easy-to-read tweets.
Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube — the list is long, varied, and full of possibilities for distributing your content.
One of the best ways to distribute your content right now is actually through video. In 2021, it was the second-most used content type by B2C marketers, and it tops the ranking for what both B2C and B2B marketers are looking to invest in for 2022. 72% of B2C marketers and 69% of B2B marketers make up that statistic — and you should get in on it too.
Conclusion
The art of effective content distribution can be a difficult one to learn, especially as new trends and technologies crop up every day. It’s only further complicated by the fact that what works for one business might not work for your own, so developing a good content marketing program will involve a lot of legwork on your end. As long as you always keep your goals in mind and ensure that you’re working on distributing snippets of your content throughout the year, you’ll surely find the strategy that works for you.
Sources:
https://www.outbrain.com/blog/content-distribution/
https://www.thetilt.com/content/mistakes-content-distribution
https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/b2c-2022-research-r3-1.pdf
https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/B2B_2022_Research.pdf
https://datareportal.com/global-digital-overview
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