Guide to Content Distribution

Year after year, hundreds of marketers report increasing efforts and spending on their content marketing, or intending to increase it. But great content is a waste if your audience doesn’t know it exists.

Content distribution is not only an integral part, but perhaps the most important part of your content strategy.

This guide will provide you with the necessary tools to distribute the content you create. Ultimately, you’ll be able to craft a content distribution strategy that puts your content in front of your audience and consumes it.

What is content distribution?

It is the process of sharing, publishing and promoting your content. It’s how you deliver your content to your audience members for consumption, across various channels and media formats.

Nowadays, social networks play a very important role in the distribution of content; let’s review what this really implies.

What is the distribution of content in social networks?

Social media content distribution is the process of sharing, publishing, and promoting content on various social media platforms. This content may be created strictly for social media, or it may be content picked up and used on other social media platforms.

It doesn’t matter what type of content distribution you focus on, the distribution process will happen after you’ve created your content. Even so, you must know where and how you are going to publish and promote it. Otherwise, your time and resources could be wasted.

As you can see, in recent years, we’ve seen rapid growth in the amount of content, with ever-decreasing demand. With almost 4.5 million blog posts published every day, we have a limited amount of content that we can consume. Marketing influencer Mark Schaefer argues that because of this “content impact,” content marketing may not be a sustainable strategy for all businesses.

It is up to each person to align with this theory; for now, I’ll outline everything you need to know to successfully distribute your marketing content.

Before we delve into the various distribution channels, let’s look at the different types of content you can create for distribution.

Types of content for distribution

There are many types of content you can create to market your business. Not all types of content are created equal (literally), each type typically requires its own content delivery plan.

E-books

Distribute the content of your ebook through a closed form on a landing page dedicated to it. An example of this is HubSpot’s landing pages, through which visitors can submit their information to access and read each ebook.

Videos

Upload your video content via YouTube or Video. An example of this is HubSpot’s Spanish YouTube channel, which shares branded content, how-to videos, and written content in video form. Also check facebook video download

Info graphics

Develop your infographic content through Pinterest as well as on your blog. An example of this is HubSpot’s shareable infographic blog posts on Pinterest. HubSpot also has its own Pinterest account where it shares its own infographics, as well as those from other brands.

Case studies and success stories

Disseminate case studies and success stories through a dedicated page on your website. An example of this is the HubSpot Case Studies page, where visitors can find all kinds of case studies with real HubSpot customers.

Webinars

Broadcast your webinar content via a banner on your website, as well as calls to action (CTAs) in your blog posts. An example of this is HubSpot’s webinar page, where visitors can browse and access free webinar content.

Blogging

Distribute the content of your blog through it. You can also send a daily or weekly newsletter with a summary of your best or recently published content. An example of this is the HubSpot Blog, which contains multiple sections (marketing, sales ,  and  service ). They each have their own home page and email newsletter.

Content distribution channels

Content distribution channels are the channels through which you share and promote the content you create. The channels you use to distribute your content vary based on your audience and resources.

There are three types of distribution channels for more targeted content: owned, earned, and paid.

The diagram below illustrates how these three content distribution channels overlap and how you can combine them to improve their impact and reach.

Distribution of content through own channels

Own channels are those contents that your company owns. You can control when and how content is published to your own channels. This includes your website and blog, your social media profiles, your email newsletter, or a mobile publishing app.

Distribution of obtained content

Earned channels (also known as “shared” channels) are when third parties promote or share your content. These third parties could be customers, journalists, bloggers, and anyone who shares your content for free, hence the name “earned” or “earned.”

These channels include PR, social shares and mentions, guest articles and roundups, and product reviews. They also include forums and communities like Reddit or Quora. While posting on these sites is free, the content is owned by these third parties, so it is included in earned channels.

Paid Content Distribution

Paid channels refer to when your business pays to distribute its content on certain channels. This primarily includes pay-per-click (PPC), paid social media ads, and influencer content.

Pay Per Click (PPC) Ads

With PPC, an advertiser pays when people interact with your ad through impressions or clicks. PPC falls under search engine marketing (SEM) and, when done correctly, helps you get quality leads.

PPC ads are most common on search engine results pages (SERPs), but are also used on social channels. When combined with an SEO strategy, PPC can be an integral element of your inbound marketing efforts. One of the main PPC platforms is Google Ads.

Sponsored content

Sponsored content is promotional media, paid for by an advertiser, created and shared by another person, brand, influencer, or publisher.

Sponsored content is most effective when it includes a person or brand that already speaks to your audience and buyer personas, and therefore aligns well with your brand.

As a result, sponsored content generally feels natural rather than invasive or disturbing. There are a variety of ways you can use sponsored content, including images, videos, podcasts, social media, and any influencer content.

Paid influencer content

Paid influencer marketing requires you to employ leading content creators in your business niche to help you improve your brand awareness, traffic, and conversions among your shared target audience and target audience.

Influencer marketing is effective because it leverages powerful strategies like word-of-mouth marketing and social proof, which to today’s shoppers can seem more trustworthy and credible than marketing a business does itself. In fact, brands are expected to spend up to $15 billion on influencer marketing by 2022.

Paid Social Media Ads

Paid social media ads can include PPC, sponsored, or influencer content. Paid social media ads are a way to share your marketing messages and campaigns on social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram, while targeting a specific audience on those platforms.

PPC advertising, branded content, influencer-generated content, and display ads are all examples of paid social media. A paid social media strategy will likely incorporate tools that are native to specific social media channels, like Facebook Ads or Instagram Ads, to create, schedule, and share ads to reach your target audience.

Next, let’s review what a content distribution strategy is and why it’s so important.