The modern-day content creation journey doesn’t just end with creation but only begins. Standing out in this multiverse of marketing requires more than appealing visuals and writing.
A carefully curated distribution strategy can save the day by ensuring the content reaches the audience that deserves it.
Brace yourself as we take you on a content distribution exploration ride to learn about channels and strategies that can maximize your reach.
The Appetizer: Pre-Production Planning
The Blueprint
- Topic and Keyword Exploration: Your content’s voyage begins long before it takes form. It comes down to researching and producing content people want to consume. Think value, problem-solving, entertaining, differentiated, or just plain old better.
- Collaborations: Collaborating with influencers, brands, and thought leaders can extend your content’s reach. For example, a podcast interview or listicle blog post mentioning 10 brands or influencers has potential distribution baked in, as people love sharing content about them.
- Content: No matter how good your distribution is, if the content sucks, then people will leave, and it won’t achieve its mission of engaging audiences and converting them to followers, subscribers, or customers.
- Understanding Market Sentiment: A deep dive into your market’s needs, preferences, and consumption habits will guide your content’s tone, format, and distribution channels.
- Trends and News: Leveraging trending topics or news can catapult your content to the forefront. It’s about being at the right place at the right time and angle.
Considering these prerequisites carefully can set up the foundation for your distribution success after ensuring that it is focused on visibility and engagement.
The Execution: Distribution Center
Once your content is polished and ready, the real work begins. Distribution is where strategy meets execution. Here are the channels and tactics to consider:
1. Google Search / Organic
Although it isn’t always an instant win, ranking on page one for a relevant keyword with good search volume is one of the best long-term content distribution strategies.
Google Search is the gift that keeps on giving, and as opposed to social media, where you might get an initial surge of views or engagement and then fall to zero, organic traffic often works in the opposite direction.
But how do you rank?
- Define a relevant keyword for your content.
- Choose a high-volume keyword with low competition if you have a strong authority for the domain name. Try using Google’s Keyword Planner to check the traffic.
- Content optimization by the keyword. For instance, if it’s a blog, ensure the keyword is integrated into the article headline, body, URL, title, and meta description.
- The content published should be relevant and credible.
- It is worth noting that your domain authority is one of the most significant determinants of organic traffic. The best way to grow this is through backlinks that can be earned through features on other websites, especially ones with strong domain authority and large audiences.
2. Social Media
Tailoring messages to fit every platform’s format and audience to improve engagement. This should be a no-brainer social media strategy.
Example: You interviewed a marketing giant’s CMO on your podcast. Don’t just tag them in the post.
Tag their firm, their colleagues, and maybe some founders from companies the firm has invested in. This can get you a lot more than simply tagging the guest alone.
If you want to go the extra mile, send personalized messages to people on social media or via email, mentioning the post that might be relevant to them.
If you want to go the extra mile, send a personalized message to people on social media or via email mentioning the post and that it might interest them.
Instagram Collaborations are a game changer too. If you’re posting on Instagram, relatively new features like Collab posts will post your content onto the wall and feed of collaborators, instantly giving you more reach.
3. Repurposing
Content can be repurposed and used according to the needs of the hour. For instance, a video podcast episode on YouTube could become a blog post, a transcript, an audio podcast episode for Spotify and Apple Podcasts, a library of short videos for TikTok and Instagram, and even a carousel post on LinkedIn with key takeaways.
4. Reposting
Reposting is one of the simplest yet effective ways to distribute your content. Posted a blog on your website? Post the article to Medium and LinkedIn. A podcast episode on Spotify? Post it to Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music. A short video on YouTube? Post it to TikTok, Instagram, and X.
The list goes on. But how can you pick the proper distribution channels?
Try matching audience preferences, content type, and marketing goals with the channels that best suit your needs. Analytics and experimentation can help refine this.
5. Third-Party Publications
It is entirely okay if you don’t crunch big numbers on social media and haven’t cultivated an excellent mailing list yet. If that is so, chances are you rely on social media algorithms to find and amplify your voice, which backfires more than it works.
Try making the most out of credible third-party publications by offering your content, preferably as an exclusive. For starters, guest posting can be a good idea.
The content should have at least one backlink to your website to help build domain authority and rank for the content in Google search results and help you capture potential leads and customers and grow your audience.
Engaging in syndicated agreements with third parties, from which you can post content on your channels but are free to duplicate, can be a good idea. The catch is that they must use canonical links that credit your version as the original.
6. Mailing Lists
If you don’t have an email list, make one ASAP. As opposed to social media, where connections with the followers are predicated based on
a) the social media platform continues to exist (consider the fall of MySpace or Facebook’s waning popularity)
b) serving your content to followers.
A mailing list implies you own the communication channel and don’t get blocked or flagged by email filters as spam. Your subscribers don’t unsubscribe, so you can rest assured that about 80% or so of your emails will be delivered, and if the quality of your emails is high, 50% or more will be opened and engaged.
You can’t afford to have a mailing list in a world of ever-changing algorithms and social media platform preferences.
7. Paid Ads
Here’s a little example for those who don’t understand paid ads.
For example, if you spend $1,000 on advertising a new E-book, which generates 500 downloads, 50 of which convert to customers worth $50, then you’ve made $2,500, earning $2.50 for every $1 spent.
But the catch here is if the math doesn’t stack up and you don’t have a big budget to spend on building brand awareness, try to reconsider this approach and focus on content that is essentially free and permissionless.
8. Direct Outreach
This is a great direct approach and can help quickly generate thousands of downloads.
For instance, you publish an eBook called The Literature Department. A direct outreach method would mean you would now search for literature students, writers, and authors at publishing houses across the targeted geographies and send a short message introducing the eBook with a download link.
The motive isn’t to sell but to provide value, and it works surprisingly well, provided that the message is short and to the point. Start with what’s in it for them.
9. Partnerships
You can join a private group or even create a syndicate yourself, which comprises brands and personalities who engage with each other’s content and promote it.
The End: Wrapping Content Distribution
Mastering the art of content distribution requires magic. It requires carefully understanding the audience, utilizing the proper channels, and optimizing the overall approach based on analytics and feedback.
The end goal is to reach a wider audience and engage and convert them, so quality content creation and optimizing websites and channels for conversion are no-brainers.
