Content distribution is promoting and sharing your content through channels and platforms to reach a larger audience. Any successful content marketing strategy must include it.
However, getting started can be challenging, given the abundance of platforms and channels. You can follow the essential steps for creating an efficient content distribution strategy with this comprehensive guide to content distribution. We will give you the resources and information to succeed, from determining your target market to choosing the best distribution channels and optimizing content. Let’s get started!
What Is Content Distribution?
The process of publishing and promoting your content via various media channels is known as content distribution.
Content distribution involves spreading your content to a broader audience beyond your website or social media channels. It uses various techniques, including guest blogging, paid advertising, influencer marketing, social media sharing, and syndication on external websites.
Content distribution aims to increase your content’s visibility and audience reach to attract visitors and keep them on your website or landing page. By leveraging various distribution channels, you can target different audiences and increase your chances of reaching your ideal customer.
A successful content marketing strategy must include content distribution because it increases the impact of your writing and boosts sales and revenue for your business.
Key takeaway: Content distribution is essential to any effective content marketing strategy. It involves disseminating your content through various channels and media formats to increase its visibility and reach a wider audience.
Why Is Content Distribution Important?
Having your content distributed allows you to make it more visible and accessible to audiences outside of your current one. Even if your content is well-researched and well-written, it might only get noticed with a solid distribution plan.
The following are some reasons why it is crucial to distribute content:
- Expands the audience for your content: Content distribution enables you to reach a larger audience than you could through organic means.
- Increase the diversity of your audience by distributing your content through various channels. Multiple channels will enable you to connect with people you might not have otherwise.
- Enhances the impact of your content: By making your content more visible, you can increase social media shares, engagement, and ultimately, traffic and sales for your company.
- Builds your brand: By consistently sharing top-notch content on various platforms, you can position your brand as a thought leader and win the audience’s trust.
- Data insights: The distribution of your content can give you essential information about how your audience interacts with it, the best channels to use, and the kinds of content that are most popular with them.
In conclusion, content distribution is crucial for promoting your content to the right audiences, establishing your brand, and generating interest in and money for your company.
Key takeaway: Content distribution is crucial because it broadens your content’s visibility and audience, amplifies its impact, strengthens your brand, and offers valuable data insights. It also diversifies your audience.
Types of Content You Can Distribute
Before choosing a content distribution platform, consider your existing content assets. Ideally, you should identify expectations regarding goals or key performance indicators (KPIs).
Depending on the content’s audience, format, and purpose, content marketers can use different channels to distribute different types of content. The following are some popular categories of content that you can share:
Blog posts and articles:
Written content is typically posted on owned channels like a company’s blog or website. Blog posts can provide valuable information to potential customers, establish the brand’s expertise, and help with search engine optimization.
Videos:
Videos are popular content distributed on owned, earned, and paid channels. They can include product demos, explainer videos, webinars, and other types of visual content.
Infographics:
Infographics are data summaries or information businesses can distribute quickly on social media and other channels. They are a fantastic way to communicate complicated ideas in a clear and eye-catching manner.
Social media posts:
Social media is an excellent platform for distributing short and shareable content. Social media posts can include images, text, videos, or a combination.
Whitepapers and e-books:
Whitepapers and e-books are longer-form content offering in-depth knowledge and establishing the brand’s authority in a particular field. They could be shared through owned channels or employed as lead magnets in email marketing campaigns.
Podcasts:
Podcasts are popular audio content distributed on various platforms, such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other podcast directories. They usually provide industry insights, interviews, and additional valuable information.
Other distributable content might include:
- Guides
- Research studies
- Pillar pages, research, and other long-reads (e.g., how-to guides)
- Case studies and success stories
- Checklists
- Templates
- Articles (non-blog posts)
- Product landing pages
- Newsletters
Key takeaway: When choosing a content distribution platform, consider your content type and the audience you’re trying to reach. You can increase the reach and impact of your content by choosing a suitable medium and format.
Three Major Content Distribution Channels
Content distribution channels are platforms for sharing content that can include websites. Specific channels can vary according to resource and audience specificities. However, they generally belong to three broad categories:
Owned Channels:
The content creator owns and controls these, such as a company’s website, newsletters, blogs, landing pages, mobile apps, or social media pages. The advantage of owned channels is that the content creator can control them and tailor them to their specific audience.
Earned Channels:
These are channels where third-party sources, such as media outlets, influencers, or industry publications, distribute the content. Examples are shares, mentions, reviews, guest posts, etc.
Earned channels build relationships and create valuable content others are willing to share.
Paid Channels:
These are channels where content is distributed through paid advertising, such as pay-per-click ads, social media ads, or sponsored content. The advantage of paid channels is that they can reach a larger audience quickly but can also be expensive.
Key takeaway: Content creators must consider a mix of these channels when developing a content distribution strategy. By combining owned, earned, and paid channels, creators can reach a broader audience, build relationships with other content creators and influencers, and control the message they want to convey.
Choosing Between Content Distribution Channels
Consider a few things if you’re unsure how, where, or when to promote your content. You can find comprehensive details on the different kinds of content distributed through those channels and target KPIs and other crucial metrics to keep an eye on. To simplify choosing your optimal channels, we’ve prepared some comparisons below.
Earned Content Distribution Channels
Generating traction on an earned content distribution channel is precious if your platform consists of an influential person, a thought leader in your field, or a significant media publisher. You expose your brand to a massive group of people already interested in or devoted to that media outlet.
The drawback of using these channels is that you have less control over what is published because you use someone else’s resources. Evaluating out-of-date content, monitoring its effectiveness, and turning users into leads make it more challenging. Another problem is that the content’s owner can remove it anytime.
Owned Content Distribution Channels
These channels are essential to the success of any brand. You own them, and you alone have complete control over the content.
Why is this significant? You can edit the copy to improve performance, keep track of your backlink profile, and implement interlinking strategies. Additionally, you can interact with your “owned” audience directly and develop these contacts to move them down the funnel.
Paid Content Distribution Channels
These are the most challenging channels because they demand careful budgeting and ROI forecasting. However, they allow you to launch a marketing campaign in a single day and obtain immediate, measurable results that impact the bottom line.
Eight Steps to Creating a Successful Content Distribution Strategy
Building a winning content distribution strategy involves careful planning and executing steps to help you reach your target audience and achieve your marketing goals. Here are six steps to help you create an effective content distribution strategy:
1. Identify your target audience:
Understanding your target audience is essential for creating a content distribution strategy that resonates with them. Develop buyer personas to identify who your target audience is, their interests, behaviors, and where they spend their time online.
2. Determine the suitable content formats:
Choosing the correct content formats that resonate with your audience can make a big difference in the success of your content distribution. Identify the type of content that will be most effective for your audience, such as blog posts, infographics, videos, podcasts, or social media posts.
3. Choose the proper distribution channels:
Identify where your audience is most active, including social media platforms, email, blogs, and other relevant websites. Consider the strengths of each platform and how you can leverage them to distribute your content effectively.
4. Develop a content calendar:
Plan the content you create and distribute over time to ensure consistency and balance across channels. A content calendar will help you keep your audience engaged and interested in your content and track your progress.
5. Put together your content:
After you have built your editorial calendar, conducted audience research, audited your content, and chosen your distribution channels and content types. It’s time for you to start producing content.
There are a few crucial factors to take into account when creating content. These include the number of people on your team, industry, and brand. The following advice will help you produce content that appeals to your target audience:
Pick a suitable format:
You can choose the content formats most likely to interest your target audience based on your research. Blog posts, videos, infographics, podcasts, and social media updates are popular.
Emphasize quality:
No matter what format you use, ensure your content is well-written, well-researched, and beneficial to your audience. Quality content is more likely to be shared, linked to, and cited by others, which can increase the authority and visibility of your brand.
Maintain consistency:
To keep your audience engaged, you must regularly publish high-quality content. Consider planning your content ahead of time and maintaining a regular publication schedule.
Collaborate with others:
Collaboration with influencers or other brands can assist you in reaching a larger audience and creating more engaging content. Think about hosting a webinar, writing a guest post, or working with another person on a social media campaign.
6. Make sure your content is search engine optimized:
Make sure your content is search engine optimized so that your target audience can find and share it with ease. Use keyword research and on-page optimization to increase your chances of ranking highly in search engine results pages.
7. Assess and make changes:
Take regular stock of how well your content distribution efforts are working and make any necessary adjustments. Make data-driven decisions to improve your strategy by monitoring the effectiveness of your campaigns with analytics tools.
You can develop a successful content distribution strategy that reaches your target audience, encourages engagement and conversions, and aids in accomplishing your marketing objectives by using the above steps.
Key takeaway: Building a winning content distribution strategy involves understanding your target audience, choosing the proper content formats and distribution channels, developing a content calendar, optimizing your content for search engines, and regularly measuring and adjusting your strategy based on data-driven decisions.
Conclusion: Smart Content Distribution Can Help You Grow
In conclusion, intelligent content distribution is essential to help your brand grow and reach your target audience. However, no content distribution strategy works for everyone—acting without a plan wastes time, money, and effort. Developing a comprehensive method that considers your target audience, content formats, distribution channels, and optimization strategies is essential.
By carefully planning and executing your content distribution strategy, you can effectively reach your audience, drive engagement and conversions, and achieve your marketing goals. Ultimately, taking a strategic approach to content distribution can save you time, money, and effort in the long run and help you achieve sustainable growth.
