Distribute your content effectively with Content Distribution

Regular blog posts, posts on social media, sending out newsletters and even running a podcast – all of this counts as content marketing. In recent years, this type of marketing has developed into an independent “discipline” in the marketing mix. Of course you are aware of the added value of high-quality content for your users and therefore you spare no effort to deliver it. But what if your content doesn’t deliver the results you were hoping for?
We would like to show you what you should keep in mind when distributing your content in a targeted manner and give you a few tips on which threads you might still have in your hand that you haven’t thought of for the time being 😉

Back to the roots – What is Content?
What is Content Distribution?
What are the diffrent species of Content Distribution?
What are the types of Content Distribution?
7 steps to your own Content Distribution strategy
Conclusion

Back to the roots – What is content?

Content can appear in many different forms on the Internet. On a website, for example, this includes all graphics, images, audio files and videos.
In content marketing, however, the term “content” is much broader and includes the following:

• Blog, guest and technical articles
• E-Books & Whitepapers
• Customer magazines
• Social Media Posts
• Infographics and charts
• Audio formats like podcasts
• Videos and webinars
• Success Stories & Case Studies

Learn more about content, content types & content marketing here.

What is Content Distribution?

Your content distribution includes all publications, as well as the promotion and processing of your content. The distribution can be done in a variety of ways and depends on your goals and your target group. Not every medium is always suitable for your purposes.
These sub-areas are part of content distribution:

• Content Promotion
• Content Seeding
• Content Outreach
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Native Advertising

Read in the next section what these sub-areas are all about 😉

The subareas are often used synonymously with content distribution, but this is not entirely correct. Content distribution is the generic term for them.

What are the different species of content distribution?

As mentioned before, content distribution is the umbrella term for different measures that you can use to distribute your content. However, to get more reach and visibility, you don’t have to use all of them. Focus on the sub-areas that can quickly offer you added value.

1. content promotion

Content promotion refers to the targeted promotion of content to draw the attention of the target audience to the content and increase its reach. Content promotion includes activities such as social media marketing, email marketing, influencer marketing, paid advertising, and other methods to get the content to the target audience. This can help increase visibility of the content, generate traffic to the website, increase interaction with the content, and build brand awareness.

2. content seeding

Content seeding is a method of content distribution in which content is targeted to selected individuals or groups to gain greater visibility and reach. These individuals or groups are called “seeders” and can be, for example, bloggers, influencers, journalists, or members of online communities. The goal of content seeding is to accelerate the spread of content by using multipliers who have a wide reach and high reputation in their community.

3. content outreach

Content outreach is a method of content distribution in which targeted contact is made with individuals or organizations to increase the distribution of content. This can be achieved, for example, by creating relationships with influencers, bloggers, or journalists. Content outreach includes activities such as creating personalized emails, building media lists, and reaching people through social media. The goal of content outreach is to increase the reach of the content by sending it to relevant individuals and organizations who can share it with their own audience.

4. search engine optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your website to increase its visibility in the SERPs. With this optimization you increase the relevance and authority of your website for certain keywords. Search engine optimization includes for example

• the optimization of metadata
• the creation of high quality content
• the use of relevant keywords
• the improvement of the user experience

The goal of Search Engine Optimization is to achieve a higher ranking in the search results in order to generate more traffic on your website and thereby increase the conversion rate.

SEO and content distribution are very closely intertwined.

5. native advertising

In native advertising, the focus is on not showing paid advertising measures as such. This can happen, for example, in the form of your influencer marketing, through giveaways. In addition, Native Advertising ads are often referred to as “Sponsored Content” or “Promoted Posts” and can appear in the form of articles, videos, images, or other types of content. These ads seek to integrate with the environment in which they appear and adapt to the expectations of the prospects and the target audience. The goal of native advertising is to draw the attention of the target audience to the ad and achieve a higher click-through rate and interaction than would be the case with disruptive or obvious ads.

What are the types of content distribution?

The easiest way to capture the different types of content distribution is to use the PESO model. PESO stands for:

• Paid Media
• Earned Media
• Shared Media
• Owned Media

Paid Media

As the name suggests, this area includes paid measures and channels. There is a wide range of options available to you:

• Search Engine Advertising (SEA)
• Advertorials and sponsored posts
• Social Media Ads

With paid media, you will definitely get a good placement and can increase your visibility and reach. However, you should always keep an eye on your budget, because paid media can quickly become expensive.

Earned Media

If your content is published by someone voluntarily and without any consideration, this is called earned media. This includes, for example, publications in newspapers, blogs or trade magazines. With earned media, however, you do not have control over who distributes your content and what is made of it. Negative press, for example, can make the rounds very quickly. However, we do not want to paint the devil on the wall. Earned media certainly has a positive effect on your reach, and the free distribution should also be nice.

Shared Media

Shared media is probably the best known form of content distribution for you.
If you publish a post in the social media channels, you naturally hope that the users will interact with it by liking, commenting or sharing it. This type of content distribution is also free of charge for you and can help you to get a lot of reach very quickly if one of your posts goes viral. However, in order for your posts to get your reach, you must of course abide by the platform operator’s rules of the game. Also, you can sometimes only access limited numbers and evaluations of your post, that depends on which evaluation options the operator of the corresponding platform offers you.

Owned Media

Owned media describes all media channels that your company owns. This includes your company website, your blog, customer magazines and also your newsletter. You have “control” over these channels, which means you can decide for yourself how long content and, above all, which content is visible to users. In addition, you can create your own analyses, such as visitor numbers or clicks, through a short official channel. Owned media can be time-consuming, because the content of your channels needs to be created, maintained and expanded.

7 steps to your own content distribution strategy

You now know the basics of content distribution. But you should not start distributing your content without a concept. Without a suitable plan, in the worst case you will lose time, money and even your energy.
That’s why we would like to give
you a little guide on how to create a plan for your content distribution.

1. define target group

The first step is, of course, to determine which target group you want to reach via which channel with which content. The target group for your content does not necessarily have to be exactly the same as for your sales measures. Content distribution can pursue a wide variety of goals; for example, you can address potential new employees via social media.

Learn more about target group analysis here.

2. the right content

In the following, you need to think about what content you want to publish. You should clearly structure your topics and decide for which channel they are best suited. If you already have existing content, we advise you to check it regularly to see if it meets your content marketing guidelines. You should also define in which form you want to publish the content:

• Blog
• Whitepaper
• E-books
• Webinars
• Newsletter
• Brochures
• Mailings
• Podcasts
• Guest contributions
• Instructions
• Customer magazines

3. define channels

Depending on your target group and your choice in which form you want to distribute your content, the decision about the appropriate channels is of course crucial. Is your target audience active on social media? Do you need a blog for your business? These are all questions that you need to answer in this step. You should keep in mind that the motto “a lot helps a lot” does not apply in this case. If you choose too many channels for content distribution, they also want to be regularly supplied with new content. This is the only way to reach your target group in the long term.

4. determine key figures

Your strategy only makes sense if you set comprehensible and measurable goals. You can use the SMART method for this. This helps you to clearly define your key figures and to understand which ways of content distribution work well for you and your company and which do not.

5. create editorial plan

To keep track of your content distribution, you should definitely create an editorial plan. In it, you can record which content is to be published, when and where, and by whom. You don’t necessarily need a sophisticated system for this, an overview in an Excel spreadsheet can be very helpful here 😉

6. content creation & distribution

Planning is followed by practice. Now it’s time for you to get to work. We would like to point out to you that the creation of high-quality content cannot just happen on the side. Especially becauseSEO also plays a big role. Therefore, plan enough time for the creation of the content and note this in your editorial plan. Often the creation of infographics is underestimated, especially if you are not yet so skilled. Once your content is created, it’s time to start distributing it. Make sure that your content is shared exactly where it is intended to reach your defined target audience.

7. analyze measured values

Last but not least, you should of course evaluate your previously defined key figures to see if you have achieved your goals. A good analysis of all aspects can help you for future content projects. If you have not reached a goal, analyze the “why?” and start with improvements at these points. This is the only way you can constantly improve your content distribution strategy and get more reach and leads in the long run.

Briefly summarized – Conclusion

You should never neglect your content distribution in the context of content marketing. However, careful planning is the key to long-term success with the distribution of your content. Choose the right distribution types for you in the right mix on the right channels. Not everything can help you achieve more reach. If you have set your focus and track your goals regularly, nothing can go wrong with your content distribution strategy 😉