You’ve spent precious time, energy and other resources creating content, a blog, video series or audio training, with some of your best ideas. You feel accomplished and you’re stoked for it to catch fire online. This one’s going viral and you know it. You post it everywhere and wait.
Then…
Crickets (ok, well maybe a couple website visits and a few social media “likes” if we’re lucky).
What happened?
Why?
Maybe you just have to be patient, consistent and persistent. You’re audience will come around then. Right?
But maybe something is missing. Maybe you’ve overlooked something. Because when you know your stuff, write a great post or shoot a killer video it should spread like wildfire…at least that’s what you see with your favorite marketers, experts, and thought leaders.
Promoting Content Online
What we often overlook is that content creation is just one part of the equation. You have to promote your content as well. And you have to do it well. Let’s look at how to unlock where your content will thrive online.
Stand In Your Brand- What’s your brand purpose? What does your brand promise? What’s your brand persona? What are your brand skills and strengths? Understanding these help cultivate a brand voice that’s consistent and influential. Knowing your brand will help you decide where you and your content will thrive. This is the priority for showcasing your content in the best light. Although video is a hot content medium currently, if you’re no good on camera then YouTube, Facebook Live and Instagram stories could be detrimental to your success. Start with narrowing down what you’re good at (better yet, great at) in order to WOW your audience.
Persona Precision- Get very detailed with your customer profiling and buyer personas. Very specific demographics and psychographics can help you define your audiences interests, where they spend their time, people they follow, characteristics the relate to, needs they have and ambitions they want to fulfill. All these and more can be powerfully informative. Such as…Do they prefer to read, listen or watch? Will they favor short and quick or long and thorough? Is it information or inspiration they want? Or are they ready for implementation and integration? Know them so well that you’re practically in their head.
Priority Platforms- Promoting everywhere is great, but not until you’ve really fine tuned a core 2–3 platforms. Even focusing your efforts on one until you have a streamlined and effective process can be more beneficial than being spread too thin. These platforms should be the places where you excel as well as where your audience engages frequently. Always take into consideration the elements of each platform. For example, if you’re a great writer then you’re potentially benefit better from platforms that have a publishing element or if you’re talented behind the camera then engaging on platforms that have video elements may be best. Also consider groups on platforms. Although some platforms aren’t great in general they may have topic specific groups that have extremely engaged audiences. Take this into account and choose the spots where the audience engages both with the content as well as a community.
Catalytic Content- Decide the type of content relevant for your audience. It’s very important to take into account all of the above in order to determine what content works best where and when. Knowing your buying cycle and where each audience is on that cycle can help you in deciding the content type that will have the greatest impact. Understanding, who, where and when will ultimately impact what content will be best. It could be the difference between a quick, simple infographic for one audience on one platform or a researched and thorough report on a different on. Learn even one of these and you’re ahead of the masses just throwing stuff up on social media.
Share with Your Subscribers- Don’t forget your subscribers! You can’t believe how often I work with businesses so focused on trying to bring in new customers that they forget about the audience they already have. Your subscribers should be your primary audience you deliver content to. Send them it directly first, package it or re-purpose it in a simple and valuable way. A Newsletter with best monthly content is always good or a weekly “What You Missed” e-mail works great too. Sending a quick blog summary with a link back to the original is a great way to increase traffic to your website. Find ways to share the variety of content you create with your subscribers without bombarding them (every audience is different).
Seamless Strategy- Be strategic first!!!! Take time to really think these things (and others) through. If you’re just throwing things at the wall, hoping something sticks, the odds are you will waste a lot (too much) time, energy and resources. On the other hand, do not over analyze and become paralyzed. Find the happy medium and take action. What is the goal of your content promotion? Is it to generate brand awareness, website traffic, lead generation or selling your products or services? Define your strategies, take action and be consistent. Test,
Track and Measure- Things don’t always go as planned. Actions must be taken to know if things are off in your strategy. Remember, every business is unique, every audience is different and the platforms and markets are constantly in flux. You may think a platform is perfect, but get zero traction. You may believe an audience will be massively engaged, but they’re not. And you may create what you believe to be the perfect piece of content, yet it gains minimal traction. Be willing to explore. If you’re not getting traction test new and different platforms that still fit the above criteria. You never know when you’ll find a gold mine. Test, track and measure everything to find what is truly working in your business and for your audience. Invest in and leverage the technology and outsource help when possible.
Where to promote content doesn’t have to be a guessing game, nor an uphill trek. Be clear, be strategic and evaluate your work. You’ll find a spot, if not several places, where your great content will receive the love it deserves. If you still have questions, feel free to leave them below in the comments section or join my subscribers community and shoot me a message.
