Although best practices are ideal strategies, they aren’t static.
In fact, revisiting methods and updating them accordingly is the preferred way to remain effective in an ever-changing industry.
Let’s examine three ways of distributing content and how to get them up to date.
1. Press Release Distribution
You can no longer simply email journalists and hope to get coverage online or in print-based media. It’s necessary to take a much more proactive approach to ensure your content gets seen by people who care about what you have to say.
PR Newswire is a tool that allows you to distribute press releases and other content to a huge network of influencers and decision-makers. You can quickly uncover and understand what topics are of most interest to your target audience, which you can then use to inform future content creation. Distributing your press releases to the right people is just the tip of the iceberg.
It’s also a good idea to employ media-monitoring practices to keep tabs on current trends. When people start talking about a subject that matches your press release, that’s a ripe time to push it to the masses.
This practice is also useful after launching a press release to track what’s being said about your brand and the recent news development.
2. User-Generated Distribution
It’s no secret that successful content is shareable. Keeping that in mind, it’s easy to see why the people who enjoy your content can be the same individuals who promote it.
Creating content that website visitors will naturally share is one of the most elusive yet rewarding practices a brand can implement. The growing trend of companies using earned media tactics to do this is a testament to the level of success user-generated distribution can achieve.
Along with your run-of-the-mill best practices in SEO, user-generated content distribution is more likely to be successful if you do the following:
- Collaborate with already successful publishers and experts: COVERGIRL has an influencer program set up that practically allows industry experts to create and distribute content for them. Check out this recent Instagram ad from Militza Yovanka.
- Write long form content: Quite simply, the more text and information you have on your website, the more likely your targeted audience is to find your content and share it. Check out this monster case study from AccessDirect. Not only is there a ton of written content, but the brand also included helpful charts and graphs to keep their audience interested.
- Format your content with shares in mind: A personal pet peeve of mine is when I try to save a cooking recipe to my Pocket account, but the recipe page is formatted in such a way that I can’t actually read it from within the platform. If you want more shares, consider what networks your users are most likely to use and format your content accordingly. So far, The Kitchn is the only recipe site I know of that consistently optimizes their recipes for sharing across other platforms.
3. Influencer Distribution
Because blocking many kinds of advertisements through browser-based tools is a common practice nowadays, it’s essential to feed content to your users in a way that comes across more naturally — through influencer marketing. The COVERGIRL ad I previously mentioned is an example of this.
This tactic involves partnering with people who have strong followings on websites like Twitter and Instagram and collaborating on how to promote your brand in ways that make sense for their audience.
Effective results are more likely to occur if you take the time necessary to find influencers who are a natural fit for your brand. Working with an influencer agency is also one of the fastest ways to connect with well-established people who get heard due to their massive followings.
According to Linqia’s 2017 State of Influencer Marketing Report, 89 percent of marketers depended on influencers last year to create authentic content about their brand.
In the months and years ahead, it’s easy to see how if you give an influencer something to say, he or she could be a key player for generating content that matters, thereby driving your distribution techniques.
Most influencer campaigns target women, but that may soon change based on the outcomes some brands get as they do things differently. Axe, the popular brand of body spray, is targeting men by emphasizing how paying attention to style is something worth doing, aided by male influencers. It has also recruited them to host events.
After studying these three distribution channels, you may realize it’s time to revamp your practices so they appeal to the modern market. However, you should never be afraid to get creative and try something completely new!
