7 ways, 

how to actively promote your content 

 

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Have you ever looked into the terms "content seeding" and "content promotion"? It’s about the proactive distribution of your own content online - a tactic that plays a major role in inbound marketing. By using content promotion, marketers want to continuously expand their reach, achieve downloads and generate more leads. But how exactly do they achieve this?

Inbound marketing means: companies create useful rather than promotional content to attract potential customers to their website. In addition to freely accessible content, premium content, that can be viewed in exchange for prospects' contact details (lead generation), is provided.

With inbound marketing, companies are found by their customers, not the other way around. Means: contact is initiated by the customer, unlike in classic advertising campaigns (= outbound marketing). 

Search Engine Optimization, sharing on social media, and creating YouTube videos are part of any content management plan. But there is more: there are other ways you can actively promote your content. In this post, we would like to introduce you to 7 further popular methods.

First, however, you should make yourself familiar with the main principles. Content promotion is done through three main channels: 

  • Owned Media: content is published on your own channels (blogs, newsletters, customer magazines, brochures, social media…) 
  • Paid Media: you advertise your editorial content by paying for it. 
  • Earned Media: you place your publications on third-party sites for free (mostly PR, for example, to be mentioned in magazines, professional portals or online communities)

So what tactics can you use to expand your audience or readership? 

Content promotion is always done through the three main channels of Owned Media, Paid Media and Earned Media. 

Owned Content 

1. Share content via segmented email marketing 

Very few people visit your website regularly to check for new published content. That’s why it makes sense to keep interested parties up-to-date on new posts via email.

Almost every company does email marketing these days. What about you? Make your visitors aware of your offer and build a mailing list. Anything else would be wasted potential! 

Remember that probably not all content is relevant to your entire contact list. Segment the email lists by asking, (best case, already during the registration,) in which topics the new subscribers are interested or which expectations they might have regarding the upcoming information flow (e.g. product info, tips & tricks, case studies). This way you can share the best suitable content with the right people.

2. Reproduce and reuse older content 

There's an ideal content format for every audience and situation. By repackaging content you've already created into different formats, you can easily reach a wider audience. 

A concrete example would be to collect the main points from a blog article and put them into a Slideshare presentation or an infographic. Surely not everyone has the time or inclination to read a 2000-word article. Also: infographics are wonderful to share on social media, while presentations are often distributed in a business environment. 

Paid Content 

3. Google Ads campaigns 

With PPC campaigns , you can achieve increased visibility for individual content offers easily and in no time. Your ad will then not only appear on the first page of Google search, but also right at the top. This way, your content won’t be longer overlooked!

To earn as many clicks as possible, your ad title should suggest that your content offer leads directly to the solution of a problem (e.g. "How to book long-distance travel that fits your budget"). 

Google Ads also offers display ads, which market your content on relevant websites. You can choose on which pages, apps, and platforms you want the ad to appear. 

4. Content distribution networks

Use specialised networks such as Outbrain to place your content articles in reading recommendations on third-party sites. Outbrain is a leading recommendation platform for the Open Web that works with major media companies like Der Spiegel, The Guardian, and CNN. 

With this type of paid marketing, your content is displayed at the end of thematically related posts as further links ("You might also be interested in this"), which leads new prospects to your website. 

In addition to Outbrain, other successful providers are: Taboola, Opinary and Plista.

Through cooperation, you can show presence outside your own channels and gain new readers.

Earned Content 

5. Build up cooperations

Publishing professional articles and interviews with experts on third-party websites with high traffic, high credibility and a positive image is another way to draw attention to your company. 

Websites that have some similarities with yours, but are not direct competition, are suitable for a possible partnership. Research which websites your buyer personas browse and find out if they accept guest posts. You may then need to apply or submit an article example. Otherwise, you can also write a short email to the editorial team, or simply get in touch via Xing, LinkedIn or Facebook.

If you are a placing some specialist articles on portals such as marconomy.de, you can briefly introduce yourself in an expert profile and link your social media accounts at the end of the article. In some cases, you may even include a call-to-action. It's important that your article doesn't sound like self-promotion and is highly informative. 

By regularly sharing content outside of your own channels, you show presence and can attract new readers to your website. 

6. Benefit from the success of other industry experts  

Do you know companies or experts who have built a high reach but are not in direct competition with you? Make them a tempting offer! The goal is to convince the industry experts to share your content with their own followers.

You can achieve this by, for example, including a quote from the person in your article, mentioning them by name in a positive way or linking to one of their articles. Then send the article / link  to the mentioned industry expert. You can either hope that your post will be shared without further action, or kindly ask for it.

Best case: sharing your post pays off for both parties - your content is brought to a wider audience, while your readership is introduced to a new name. A classic win-win situation!

7. Post content to online communities and groups 

Groups, forums and online communities can be worth a mint. Join those groups (e.g., on Facebook or LinkedIn) where your buyer personas prefer to hang out and get active!

As a member of the community, you will always be up to date about which topics are relevant and are being discussed particularly. Do you have a suitable solution? You can join the discussion, write helpful comments, refer to your offer or share useful content to attract new followers. Of course, you should always observe the group rules and not publish completely promotional posts.

Bottom line: Get more reach with a good combination of owned, paid, and earned media.  

You create up-to-date content that is helpful, original, and valuable - but as long as your content doesn’t achieve visibility online, your best efforts will be for nothing. To be successful at inbound marketing, you need to take advantage of every opportunity that opens up to you.

Content promotion via paid media allows precise audience targeting and attracts a higher reach, but it only has little "credibility." If you distribute your content through your own channels only, you won't get far either. This is where content seeding via earned media becomes important: guest posts on industry-specific sites give you a high credibility and increase your reach. However, choosing this path is definitely more tedious and less controllable. 

One thing is for sure: by using different content promotion techniques, you can benefit from the respective advantages and limit your risks at the same time.

Webmag: The easy way to digital content marketing

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Thanks to modular editors such as Webmag, they can now be easily put together by using drag & drop and preconfigured design templates. No special knowledge is required. You don't need designers, IT people or agencies. Just content.

In 15 minutes we will show you how you can easily create your own digital content formats with Webmag – and multiply your reach.

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