No matter how grandiose or groundbreaking your branded content is, that doesn’t necessarily mean anyone’s going to read it. In fact, many of the 347 blog posts that get published each minute on the Internet don’t reach their full potential because they lack an adequate promotion strategy. Promoting content and content distribution through earned and paid media strategies can give your content the kick in the pants it’s been waiting for.
Below are the five core benefits of content promotion and distribution that together form the simple-to-remember acronym STACK.
Broadening the reach of your content by earning coverage or paying for placements on trusted media outlets can drive significantly more social shares. Earned media coverage will take on a life of its own, earning social shares to the media coverage that links back to your content. Paid media, such as native advertising, will send more traffic to your content, which translates into more shares.
Traffic to the earned and paid media you’ve promoted your content to, along with increased social shares, will significantly increase the traffic to your branded content. Dedicated media outlets whose only business model is content will often have larger audiences than corporate blogs, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Plug directly into their audiences with content promotion to drive more traffic to your branded content.
A key benefit of content distribution is that it can significantly increase the exposure of your branded content. Earning a placement (or even better, syndication) in a popular media outlet or community your target audience frequents allows new readers to discover your content’s awesomeness. A blog-and-pray strategy, where content marketers use corporate social media accounts and organic search as the sole strategies to promote content, can greatly limit the awareness of your content.
Make no bones about it: The primary reason we create content is to drive more conversions. Barring that your content isn’t set up to convert, increased social shares, traffic, and awareness from earned and paid media will lead to more conversions. In many cases, media outlets will link directly to high-impact content, such as guides and studies, that resides behind a gated lead form.
This list of content promotion benefits wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the increased Klout that can be achieved through the promotion and distribution of your content. Your company authors' Klout scores are an important metric to boost because it directly correlates with their Google Authorship weighting. The higher an individual’s Google Authorship weighting, the more likely it is that their content will show up prominently within Google’s organic search results. Increased shares and traffic gained through content promotion strategies raise Klout and Google Authorship.
Keep these five S.T.A.C.K. content promotion benefits in mind next time you’re seeking to drive more returns from content marketing. To learn more quick insights on content promotion and distribution that will keep your content ahead of the crowd, check out our Content Promotion and Distribution Cheat Sheet.
