After You Hit Publish – 5 Steps to Amplify Content
According to the Content Marketing Institute, 70 percent of people say that content marketing helps them feel closer to the sponsoring company. Good content published on your blog or website doesn’t just allow you to tell your brand’s story; it increases online visibility, helps connect you with your audience, and reminds people why your product is worth buying.
Easy enough, right? Create good content, engage your audience, and increase sales. Unfortunately this assumption is one too many businesses make. Even the best content isn’t going to automatically impact people or lead to sales. It takes time, effort, and content marketing to amplify your message, build trust, and influence your target audience.
Fortunately the hard part is done! You have a great idea written, polished, and ready to share. Instead of hitting publish and saying voilà, try taking these five steps to amplify your content, so your message travels even further.
1. Share from your company’s social media channels
Once this blog post goes live on SmartAcre’s website, it will also go on SmartAcre’s official Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn accounts. After you publish your content, be ready to share on social media and have a strategy for measuring useful KPIs like engagement and click-through rates. Create social media content that is unique to each platform and designed to engage your audience. For example, if photos perform well on your Facebook page, have a graphic ready to share that relates to your post. Make sure your Tweet is more than just a link and actually says something in 140 characters. Don’t be afraid to share the same piece of content again and again, just be sure to point out different ideas or alternative calls to action. Make sure this is noted in your content calendar even before you are ready to publish your content.
2. Share with your personal network
If you have something smart to say, it is OK to self promote and use your own professional network. Engaging with peers gives you the opportunity to share your message with people who are more likely to be interested and willing to engage. Share your content via your personal Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn (as appropriate – everyone uses social channels for different purposes). Send specific people direct messages asking for their thoughts and comments. It is important to take time to build a community.
3. Think about where else your content can go
Your ideas are on paper – what else can you do with them? Ask yourself the following:
- Can I turn this into an infographic?
- A presentation for SlideShare?
- A media pitch?
- A newsletter or email campaign?
- A podcast or vodcast?
- A promoted post?
- A whitepaper?
- Gated website content?
- Can I use this to update information in other marketing materials?
It is time to get creative here. Whatever you do, don’t let your message end with a blog post. If you need inspiration, check content marketing intelligence tools (some of our free favorites include Buzzsumo and Topsy) to see what related content is performing well, where it is being shared, who is influencing the conversation, and how it is being delivered.
4. Share with industry publications and experts
Even if you are not influencing the conversation yet, there are people who are. Find out who they are and try to engage with them (via email, social media, or by posting a comment on their blog). Invite them to read your blog post and share their feedback. Better yet, send it to them before you hit publish and ask them for an expert quote that you can include to add credibility to your content and expand your reach.
5. Analyze what worked and what didn’t
Experimentation is a big part of content marketing. Not every idea is going to resonate with your audience and that is ok. It is important to take time to review social media metrics, Google analytics, and other KPIs to determine if your content was successful and consider why or why not. Use this data to course correct and update your content strategy.
Instead of spending a ton of time spinning your wheels to write a new blog post, focus on quality vs. quantity. Build a community and find more people to read the great content you are creating. They will amplify your message. It will require effort and you won’t engage thousands of people overnight. Set realistic expectations but know that with a strategy for creating, sharing, and measuring, successful content marketing will come.
How do you amplify your content? Leave a comment below.