Does it ever seem like you’re just yelling into the abyss while you’re generating content? Gone are the days when merely creating and posting an amazing article drew thousands of people who wanted to read it.
It’s never enough to merely generate fantastic content in the cold, hard realities of a content marketer. Digital marketing Virginia Beach professionals suggest that businesses must also get that fantastic content in front of the right audience, at the right moment, and with little resources. This is why a content marketing distribution network is so crucial to your overall approach.
Every strategy has its own set of limitations.
Before we go any further, let’s take a look at the two most frequent content distribution techniques: organic and paid.
Any distribution that you do not pay for is considered organic. It may range from organic traffic of guest blogging material in online sites to search engine marketing to social bookmarking by people who admire your content and can’t wait to pass it on.
Organic methods, on the other hand, have limitations. It’s becoming more difficult to gain organic exposure on social media networks like Facebook and Instagram. Even if hundreds of people enjoy and share your work, there’s still a lot more you can do to get real results.
This is where compensated distribution comes into play. This approach, like its organic cousin, can include a variety of methods, although it typically involves Google AdWords expenditure and sponsored social media marketing.
If organic distribution is the lighter fluid, paid distribution is the match that lights your content marketing fire. And, like lighter fluid, it must be used with caution. You might burn down your assets too rapidly if you don’t have enough direction or planning, and your entire approach could suffer as a result.
Steps to a More Effective Content Distribution Strategy
Your content marketing strategy is only as good as its capacity to motivate people to take action. Without a two-pronged delivery service, your material will struggle to reach, much alone influence, your target audience. Here are four stages to creating a successful distribution strategy.
1. Get to know your target market.
It’s all too easy to get caught up in the trap of attempting to contact as many people as possible. This is particularly true when low-hanging fruit like social shares or website views are all you need to demonstrate ROI immediately.
Assume, though, that you’re mailing your material to potential consumers of Virginia Beach IT companies. Are you going to congratulate yourself for mailing out 1,000 mailers? Obviously not.
Instead, decide where to disseminate your material based on your intended audience and also what you discover about them. “Who are my clients?” is an example of a question you could be asked. “How did they find out about my business?” “How did they engage with content, and where did they find and consume it?”
2. Use organic distribution as a litmus test for paid advertising.
Don’t rush into paying a lot of money to distribute or promote each piece of content. For one thing, that strategy would quickly deplete your money, and it is also ineffective.
Instead, let your material spread naturally first. Track its success for a few weeks, then invest in the items that have proven to be the most effective. Identify what action you want consumers to do after they read your content, and promote the ones that get the most people to do it.