If you’re just starting your content marketing program you probably understand that it’s not enough to create content. You have to get it out into the world.
Of course, there are tools made specifically to help you do just that. But there are also less obvious techniques and platforms that you can tap into to give your content the strength to travel the distance of the internet.
After you finish your next piece, consider some of the techniques and platforms below and ask yourself which would help you reach the right people in communities that are receptive to your message.
If the channel offers the opportunity to build meaningful relationships with your audience, it might just have a positive impact on your business.
1. Moz Pro
Type: SEO Content Distribution Platform
The Basics: When you think of Moz Pro, you might think of an SEO tool, not a content distribution tool. The truth is, the two are inseparable. SEO tools help you to bring quality traffic to your website and blog, often making them the first step in distributing great content. Moz’s tools help you understand your visitors, track your rankings, and optimize your pages so you can rank for your target keywords.
What People Love: Link Explorer. Link building is a tedious, but necessary endeavor when you’re trying to increase website traffic. Moz Pro helps you find new links and maximize the effect of those you already have.
From the Happy Customer:
“Moz is the only data source that gives us real insights into link equity. There is nothing like the MozRank and Domain Authority metrics on the market. We refer to them constantly.”
– Will Critchlow, CEO, Distilled
2. Mention
Type: Influencer Content Distribution Tool
The Basics: At its core, Mention is a media monitoring tool that lets you track everything important about your brand and your customers. It goes beyond monitoring, it helps you to engage with the most important influencers in your space.
By planning campaigns that reach the right people, you can grow your social media presence deliberately, focusing on the voices that matter most. With Mention you can prioritize your biggest advocates and respond to them first.
What People Love: The beautiful, in-depth, client-ready reports.
From the Happy Customer:
“It makes sure that we’re not wasting time targeting our product to people who aren’t going to be interested.”
– Connor Parker, Brand Marketing Manager, Soylent
3. LinkedIn
The Basics: There are millions of professionals who check LinkedIn every day, and it’s probably safe to say that most of them don’t also check your blog. Luckily, you can take advantage of LinkedIn Publisher, cross-post your blogs, and increase your chances of developing fruitful B2B connections.
Savvy marketers put up their best content, making sure it links back to their blog, and use the platform as a way to amplify the reach of their work, raise brand awareness, and – if it’s done right – draw in new readers and customers.
What People Love: The automatic distribution and increased reach. Your articles will show up in the newsfeeds of your followers and connections. Depending on their settings, some people might even get notifications.
Better yet, your posts will appear in LinkedIn’s search results, the articles that perform well may even be shared with relevant users beyond your network.
From the Happy Customer:
“I truly value all that LinkedIn has to offer, but the publishing feature has produced so much for my business, that I will continue to use it on a frequent basis.”
4. Medium
Type: Content Distribution via Hosted-Content Platforms
The Basics: Medium is a publishing platform that’s used by publishers and marketers, which might ex
plain why over 30 million readers visit the site each month. In contrast to LinkedIn, the readership is much more interested in entrepreneurship, new media, and creativity. When you cross-post on Medium, you can add a call-to-action at the bottom of the post — you may see a serious bump in traffic if you invite people to subscribe to your own blog.
What People Love: That their otherwise unseen content can start showing up in search engines! Because Medium is an established site, it has a strong domain authority — that means articles on Medium are more likely to show up at the top of internet search results. That’s great news for you and your article, which inherits that authority and has a better chance of getting seen.
From the Happy Customer:
“Since returning to Medium in late October, I have increased from 3,500 to 20,000 email subscribers.”
5. Quora
Type: Community Q&A Content Distribution Tool
The Basics: Quora is a Q&A site where people ask questions and experts (or sometimes non-experts) answer them. Many of those experts are marketers or business owners who take the opportunity to teach people while also building their reputations and driving traffic back to their own sites.
Create a profile and start answering questions on any topic. Word to the wise: do a little research and find out if there are active topics related to your business and if your target market is using the site before you start responding.
What People Love: People love how Quora satisfies their curiosity and makes them more curious — when you get sucked in, you’ll find answers to all of your questions, even those you didn’t know you had.
From the Happy Customer:
“Right now Quora is the number one traffic driver for my blog.”
– Imran Esmail, Founder of EscapeYourDeskJob.com
6. Infogram
Type: Content Visualization Platform and Distribution Technique
The Basics: Use Infogram, or other visualization platforms, to quickly repurpose your articles into compelling infographics that can be understood in a glance. Your first step is to create the infographic—it should be pretty easy to rewrite the key points of your article and then use the drag and drop tool to pair each point with a visual.
Make sure that your visuals fit your brand style and design. Don’t stop there though. The secret is to then submit your images to visual graphic directories like http://visual.ly or http://reddit.com/r/infographics. That’ll increase the chances that your post gets picked up and shared.
What People Love: The ease-of-use and professional-styling. Also, saving money on graphic designers!
From the Happy Customer:
“Infogram’s interactive charts can double the engagement on a page.”
– Matt Martel, Executive Editor, Presentation and Photography at Fairfax Media
Now that you’ve got a more complete view of the platforms and techniques available to distribute your content, remember to choose wisely.
Always consider who your audience is, what they’re looking for, and whether the channel you find them on is one where they’ll be ready to receive your message.