Are you ready for it? Marketing cliché dropping in 3…. 2…. 1….
Content is King!!
Gosh, I think that must truly be the most overused phrase in marketing speak at the moment. I’ve only been at this for just over a year, and I think I’ve probably used it a dozen or so times. It makes my eyes roll back into my skull every time I see it (which is a lot), and I try my best not to use it as much as is possible nowadays.
However, there is one tiny issue with that.
It is still true.
After all, clichés are clichés for a reason, and content is still top of the pile when it comes to getting your brand out there. You’ll find no shortage of guides telling you how to create great content. From headlines, to tools, to writing – there is a guide out there to help you ensure that your content is the best it can be.
But, let’s not forget that the end goal of creating content is to build your reputation as a person/company that knows their stuff, and to bring potential customers to your front door (whether physical of virtual). So, once you are holding your expertly crafted content in your eager mitts, you want to know about the best ways to promote that content, and in turn promote your business.
Let’s look at some of the great ways, then, that you can use content marketing to promote your company.
Find The Appropriate Sites
Let’s take the article that you are reading at this very second as an example. If I wanted to find an online guide that will help me use content marketing to promote my business, what am I likely to search for on Google?
I may throw my net wide and look for ‘marketing blog,’ or maybe be a little more focussed with ‘content marketing blog.’ Try lots of different search terms and see what yields the richest and most relevant results.
Not only will carrying out this process clue you in on great keywords to use for your content, but it will also get you a list of sites that publish similar content to add to your contact list.
Whittle The List Down
You will have likely found a whole load of sites that are in the same ballpark as the content you want to promote, but we’re not done yet. Now we need to break the list down to only the most relevant and useful pages.
This isn’t to say that you should throw away the rest. Keep them for future content marketing you may need to carry out.
You are looking to judge the site based on three key characteristics:
- Domain Authority
- Social Reach
- Content Sharing
Domain authority (DA) refers to a site’s SEO power, and determines how highly it stands in the Google rankings. There is little point in looking to sites on page three or four to promote your content, as their chances of being seen are slim.
Social reach is how popular the page is on its various social media platforms. Does it have lots of followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+? On top of this you need to know whether the community is a vibrant and engaged one, or are they populated by fake, paid-for accounts?
The ones with the best social media communities go on the list, as shares from them could mean massive traffic for you.
Of course, none of this matters if they are not in the habit of posting anyone’s content but their own. If they don’t post other people’s articles, then it is unlikely they will change that policy just for you. That’s where content sharing comes in.
Get In Touch
Follow them on their social networks and engage with them both privately and publicly. A great way to get their attention is to use one of their posts as a reference in one of yours and then tweet it to them.
Remember, behind these pages are human beings, and most/all human beings love having their egos massaged. Send them an email saying how you’re a big fan of their work (be polite and respectful, without being too sycophantic) and would they like to write a guest post for your website. If they agree then they will likely promote the post themselves and do some of your marketing work for you.
Then you can ask to write one for them. Repeat this process for the sites on your list and quite soon you could have a little network of sites all sharing, writing, and promoting each other. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement that will increase the chances of your website getting noticed.
There you have another quick guide to online content promotion. Please let us know your promotion tactics in the comments below.
Have fun.