Social Content Distribution

I remember publishing my first bylined article as a newly minted content marketer. I obsessively refreshed Google Analytics. I looked at the share counter on the post. I waited for comment moderation requests to hit my inbox.

And I was heartbroken when pretty much no one read my blog.

At that moment, fighting off despair at my desk, I came to an important realization: You can have the best content in the world, but if you don’t share that content in places where interested people might see it, ain’t nobody gonna read it.

You see proof of this every day in social news feeds, forums, and newsletters. The posts that show up over and over aren’t necessarily the best posts—sometimes, they’re not even well written or original. But they are the well distributed, and in the game of virtual thrones, your content wins or it dies a sad, isolated death.

Jon Snow Sadness

Source: MTV

Because I don’t want your content to die in isolation, I’d like to share 5 social marketing tactics for content distribution. These ideas can help you get more eyeballs on the great content you’re creating and increase the likelihood of it being shared or upvoted, driving more visibility for your brand or business.

Let’s get to it!

1. Post multiple times on your own social channels.

You’re already distributing your content via your company’s social media accounts. But are you also re-posting that content on a regular basis? Sharing your content multiple times is especially important on channels like Twitter, where the average shelf life of a post is only 18 minutes.

If you serve an international audience, you should also consider posting during social media primetime in all of your key time zones. At Ceros, we serve a lot of clients in Europe as well as the US, so we tend to repost our articles in the wee hours of the morning in New York to hit business hours abroad.

2. Include a click-to-tweet in your content.

Click-to-Tweet provides the ultimate sharing convenience for your readers—all they have to do is click twice and they’re done. It also give you more control over what your readers share. You can craft the post to say exactly what you want it to say, include a trackable link, and tag your Twitter account so your business gets the credit for your content.

This type of sharing call-to-action is especially effective for a stat or quote that a reader might want to share with their social following. Here’s a nice example from a Kapost page that contains a number of marketing stats:

Click to Tweet example

3. Share content with mentioned or quoted people in your piece.

This can be a highly effective tactic, especially if you already have an existing relationship with the thought leaders you mention in your article, eBook, or infographic. Email tends to be the most effective way to share a piece with people, but if you don’t have email addresses, a direct tweet at the person can be effective as well.

Twitter influencer outreach

4. Repost on social syndicates like Medium and Pulse.

Medium is a great outlet for resharing content, whether you share an entire post word for word or create a condensed or customized version. Lots of folks read it (17 million unique visitors per month and counting!); it’s really easy to share Medium posts on social due to their Twitter integration; and content looks equally nice on desktop and mobile.

Medium repost

The same trends apply for LinkedIn Pulse. If you can get your article featured, your content will reach a lot of people who may then go and check out your company on LinkedIn as well. Keep in mind, however, that Pulse posts tend to do better when targeted around topics LinkedIn users care about: career advice, self-improvement, business tips, and timely news.

LinkedIn Pulse

5. Post to social forums and communities.

There are a variety of forums and communities you can share content with. Which ones you use depends largely on your industry and audience.

In general, there are two types of forums you can leverage:

  1. Industry-specific forums: These include sites like Inbound.org, Growth Hackers, Designer News, Hacker News, and more.

  2. Generic forums: These include things like LinkedIn Groups, Google+ Communities, Subreddits, and Quora.

The Bottom Line

Your marketing content’s performance has just as much to do with how you distribute it as it does with how much effort you put into creating it. Leveraging the power of social, you help your content gain visibility and expand your audience by targeting just a few key social channels as distribution outlets.

Liked this post? View the original over on Ceros.com.