This guide from Modern talks you through 101 different ways to distribute your content, the essential foundations for a good content marketing strategy and how to ensure you maximise the potential of your content both in terms of reach and how long it lasts.

1. a guide from
101 WAYS TO
DISTRIBUTE YOUR CONTENT

2. 101 WAYS TO DISTRIBUTE YOUR CONTENT
www.modernb2b.co
You’ve taken the time to produce that great piece of content you know that your
target audience is going to love. You’ve worked out the strategy, invested in the
research. You’ve finalised the copy and the design looks great. Now your content
is all packaged up and ready to go.
SO WHAT’S NEXT?
First things first, rest assured you’re on the right track. In today’s market, producing
original content is one of the best tools a digital marketer can use to generate
awareness, nurture interest and ultimately capture data that can be converted
into high quality leads.
All you need to do now is squeeze every last drop out of your investment and
make it work as hard as possible for your business. To help get you started, we’ve
put together a comprehensive list of the different ways you can promote and
spread your content. Some of these take effort; others are quick and easy wins.
Just remember: always link back to the download page in order to boost your
conversions. And while we recommend that you do as many of the suggestions
as you can – it’s important to stagger your activity to reap the most benefit.
A good distribution plan will last at least 3 months and can easily edge up
to 6 months. So, keep promoting it until you really can’t promote it anymore.
Good luck!
The Modern Media team
0117 332 6700
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3. 101 WAYS TO DISTRIBUTE YOUR CONTENT
www.modernb2b.co
HERE IT IS:YOUR 101 WAYS TO DISTRIBUTE CONTENT
FOUNDATIONS
Often, it’s the simple things that are overlooked, but without the basics in place,
you’ll miss out and won’t know if your hard work is paying off.
1. Keywords: get your keywords in order. All content needs keywords as they form
the basis of your meta-data for PDFs, hashtags for social media and tags for
video, as well as keywords for standard written text. These need to be well
documented and included as part of your distribution plan.
2. Objectives: think about what you want to achieve. How far do you want to
spread your content and what level of response do you need? Think about
awareness metrics (impressions, reach, engagement and shares) and direct
response metrics (website traffic, form conversions, opportunities and sales).
3. Tracking: you need to know what’s working, so ensure that UTM tracking codes
are set up and that you monitor them. Google has excellent documentation
on setting up UTM tracking codes. Start simple and then build up to more
complex tracking elements. Bit.ly is also essential, allowing you to shorten those
long tracking links into customised, social media friendly short links.
4. Production schedule: if you’re serious about distributing your content, you’re
going to need a production and distribution schedule. You can’t do everything
at once and you don’t want it all going live together. Good content, and the
promotion of it, should last at least three to six months.
OWNED MEDIA
For a good place to start, it’s best to think about the assets you’re completely in
control of, i.e. your website, blog, newsletters and emails.
5. Website: promote your content via a button or link on the homepage.
6. Website: include your content in your resource library or white paper downloads
section.
7. Website: weave key themes from your content into relevant content/pages
on the website and link back to it.
8. Blog: write a specific blog post, or several posts, about the content and link
to the download page.
9. Blog: add a call to action box after every blog post with a link to the download
page.
10. Blog: include a button or visual in the sidebar with a link to the download page
or a data capture form to download it immediately.
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4. 101 WAYS TO DISTRIBUTE YOUR CONTENT
www.modernb2b.co
11. Email: include a download link in email footers for all key employees, so every
time they email their network, your content is promoted.
12. Newsletter: include your new content in your regular newsletter or send it as an
individual email in its own right.
13. Think about cross promotion in other internal media or within other white papers,
including your new content as a link with promotional text within existing content.
For instance, go back over your old blog posts and ensure that you add a link
to your content from relevant posts.
14. Send it to your existing network and ask them to share it through their preferred
channel.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Beyond your owned media, social media is the natural place to spread your content
further, generating both leads and awareness. Don’t forget, the more you get
involved in these communities, the more likely it is that you will get people interested
in what you are saying and doing.
15. Ask your internal employees to share it on their social media platforms.
16. Twitter: tweet about your content regularly as standard posts and as images,
picking out topical themes if possible, and don’t forget to include relevant hashtags.
17. Twitter: use free Twitter Cards to promote the content to your followers. These
have much better stand-out than standard tweets. Again, remember those hashtags.
18. Twitter: set up an advanced search to identify those with a need and reach out
to them by offering a helpful link to your content. Read more about advanced
Twitter search here.
19. Twitter: pin a tweet to the top of your profile page, make sure you include
a tweet with an image.
20. Twitter: start a regular Tweet Chat around your content’s topic and share a link
to your download at the end of the session. These can be regular events, not
just a one-off.
21. Facebook personal page: add your content to your personal stream.
22. Facebook company page: add the content to your wall and create a tab
to specifically promote it.
23. LinkedIn company page: post a company status and share it with your company
followers. Pin it to the top of your company page.
24. LinkedIn personal page: also share it on your personal status and email
it to your network.
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5. 101 WAYS TO DISTRIBUTE YOUR CONTENT
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25. LinkedIn Groups: introduce your content as a question in relevant groups or use
it in an existing discussion (without spamming people).
26. LinkedIn: create a LinkedIn Pulse post with links back to your content.
27. LinkedIn Group owners: explain the benefit of your content to LinkedIn Group
owners and encourage them to send an email to their group offering it as a free
expert business briefing.
28. Google+ personal account: add your content to your page and send it directly
to the inboxes of your network when you post.
29. Google+ company page: also add it to your status including hashtags and link
back to the page. Don’t forget to +1 the download page as well.
30. Google+: post a full article to your Google+ page using the 10,000 character
count. You can add links to your download pages.
31. Google Hangout: organise a Google Hangout to talk through and discuss your
content. Don’t forget to promote that too. This is particularly great as a teaser or
after the initial launch to discuss feedback and thoughts.
32. Tumblr: add your content to your page with calls to action throughout the posts.
33. Flickr: add the front cover to your Flickr account as a graphic and include a call
to action.
34. Pinterest: add the front cover with a link to your download page and pin it. Don’t
forget to include hashtags.
35. Instagram: add the front cover as a new post, make sure you include a link
and plenty of hashtags.
36. SlideShare: create a SlideShare and link back to the download page on your
website.
37. SlideShare: grab the embed code and share it on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn
and Google+.
38. Wikipedia: contribute to your subject area, reference your addition and link
back to your content.
39. YouTube: create a short video synopsis of the content, load it up to YouTube
and include lots of relevant tags and the link to download the full content.
40. YouTube: create a playlist around the content on your YouTube channel.
41. Vimeo: also add your video to Vimeo. Again, use tags and include a link back
to your download page.
42. BrightTalk: add the video to BrightTalk (if you have the budget).
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6. 101 WAYS TO DISTRIBUTE YOUR CONTENT
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43. Scribd: add your content as an ebook.
44. Vine: create a short series of videos that promote your content and link back
to your download page.
45. Podcast: create an audio file of the content and upload it to PodBean.
46. iTunes: load a podcast up to iTunes to make it widely available. Don’t forget
to promote it too.
47. SoundCloud: upload a podcast to your SoundCloud profile.
48. Q&A sites: people use Q&A sites in their personal lives to get recommended
answers to common problems. They’re becoming more popular for business
users too – so make sure this avenue doesn’t get overlooked. Start with Quora.
49. Yahoo Answers: add a link as support to your answers, just keep the answers
relevant to your business.
50. The AnswerBank: add a link as support to your answers – just keep it relevant.
ONLINE TOOLS
Outside of your own channels and social media, there are several other ways
to distribute your content digitally. We’ve included these in this section.
51. Bookmarks: social bookmarking is a great way to tag, organise and share
information with other community members. It’s easy to do, and it can also
improve your organic SEO efforts. Delicious allows people to save links to
content and is a great place to start.
52. Digg: another very useful site to save links and share them.
53. StumbleUpon: adding a page to StumbleUpon allows people to find your
download page or website depending on their interests.
54. White paper directories: if you’re producing a more technical piece, there are
many places you can post your content for your target audience. These are
often niche directories or forums, which allow valuable content to be shared
as part of a resource. They’ll be specific to your industry, so keep it relevant.
55. Find White Papers: full of people researching business content.
56. Syndicate your content: create a short blog series about the content and post
it on relevant industry sites, forums and communities.
57. Guest blogging: share your content through more popular blogs relevant
to your subject area. Find relevant blogs and reach out to the authors/editors
to see if they’ll take your submission.
58. Hashtags.org and Twubs: create your own specific hashtag and register
it with a hashtag directory. This helps people find your hashtag and use it when
they’re retweeting.
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7. 101 WAYS TO DISTRIBUTE YOUR CONTENT
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59. Webinar: create a presentation and set up a webinar to get people to discuss
the topic, then share your content with them as a thank you. Use GoToWebinar
to get started.
PAID MEDIA
Ok, so some of this may be beyond budget. Some, such as Pay Per Click (PPC),
can be very cost effective if it’s done right. You need to think carefully about this
area and choose what’s right for you.
60. Google AdWords: use your content as a call to action to drive traffic to the
landing page.
61. Google Remarketing: target those that visited your site but didn’t download
your content.
62. Google Display: advertise through the Google Partner Network to extend
reach and generate awareness.
63. Google ‘Similar to’: another Google Display option that specifically targets web
users that have a similar profile to your website traffic. Ideal for targeting new
specific audiences.
64. Bing Ads: the most common default search engine on Windows devices. It’s
also essential if your target audience is in the US.
65. LinkedIn advertising: use the content as a call to action in display advertising
to a targeted group of LinkedIn members.
66. LinkedIn Sponsored Updates: these are ideal for getting your content directly
into the home feeds of targeted members. Make sure you include an image
and a strong call to action.
67. LinkedIn Lead Accelerator: target LinkedIn members outside of LinkedIn across
the wider web.
68. Banner ads on relevant industry titles: promote your content via banner
advertising on partner websites.
69. Sponsorship (usually via trade websites): if you have budget, you can try paid
sponsorship spots and posts directing your audience to your content.
70. Newsletters (other peoples): paid newsletter insertion in partner’s newsletters
or publication’s newsletters.
71. ExploreB2B: share articles. Contributors publish articles that have a B2B focus.
Then, ExploreB2B spreads the word using its social media presence.
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8. 101 WAYS TO DISTRIBUTE YOUR CONTENT
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72. Webinar partner: offer the content as a free giveaway as part of someone else’s
webinar. Just make sure they’re complementary to your business or already
part of your partner network.
73. Cost-per-lead programmes: include it in relevant cost-per-lead programmes
for your industry. This is where people download content on media sites and
you’re passed the data for a set cost-per-lead.
74. TV (hee hee!)
75. Direct mail and other print media.
76. StumbleUpon: offers a paid discovery feature that allows you to put your ad at
the forefront of people’s interests. This isn’t always a B2B audience, but can
extend your reach to new audiences that typically B2B channels might not reach.
77. Twitter: use paid Twitter advertising to reach wider audiences, such as Twitter
Lead Gen cards and sponsored tweets.
78. Facebook: use paid advertising wisely to target business audiences.
79. Pinterest: consider paid advertising on Pinterest to specific audiences.
INFLUENCERS, BLOGGERS AND PARTNERS (AKA ONLINE PR)
Contacting bloggers, influencers and your key online media titles should really be
a regular part of your inbound strategy. Use your new unique content to keep your
influencers and partners interested in what you are doing – and of course writing
about you.
80. Influential bloggers: send your content to key bloggers and give them a sneak
peek. (They may well give you some valuable feedback and even give it a
mention. Don’t forget to thank them in the credits.)
81. Influential Tweeters: leverage your relationships with key industry Tweeters
to push your content further and extend your reach.
82. Re-spin some of the content and send it out to your key media partners with
a download link in the author’s credit section.
83. Print your content and circulate it to your best clients and prospects as an extra
value-add.
84. Trade shows: print out and bind it, giving it to high value prospects that visit
your stand.
85. Networking events: organise a real-life networking event for your audience
and offer the content as a value-add for attending.
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9. 101 WAYS TO DISTRIBUTE YOUR CONTENT
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INDUSTRY TRADE PRESS
We shouldn’t forget good old fashioned trade press and the value of a well-written,
well-targeted press release. Getting published in your top trade magazine is good
for morale, good for awareness and can really help your content to spread online
too (for example, through social bookmarking and social media as the publication
promotes the content).
86. Industry specific trade magazines: the trade press are always looking for good
content. They’re even likely to have a section dedicated to white papers and
reports. Get a press release written and send it off (and don’t forget to follow-up).
Add your content to their white paper or research section.
87. Use your content as the basis for a feature or round-table discussion within your
industry. This works particularly well for surveys and research-based content
that’s valuable to the publication.
88. Press releases: create a press release about the content and publish through
free PR newswires. Although it’s unlikely the release will get picked up through
these free services, the aim here is to get search engines to pick it up and rank
it highly, pushing traffic to your website through organic search.
89. PRNewswire.com: a news distribution channel to help connect your content
with your audience across the globe.
90. Openpr.com: another free press release distribution service. There’s a maximum
of three releases per day; the only downside is that the releases contain third
party ads which can be intrusive.
MAKEYOUR CONTENT STRETCH
What else could you do with your content to make it go further? From videos to
infographics, there are plenty of other creative ways you can maximise your return
on investment.
91. Turn your content into a presentation and share it on SlideShare or Authorstream.
92. Print and bind it: give the content to your sales teams to give to prospects.
93. Do a video Q&A with a key member of the senior management team or a key
customer about your content and why it’s of value to your audience, then push
them to the download page. Don’t forget to upload the video to YouTube too.
94. Make a series of infographics about your content. Distribute the infographics
on your own media channels with links back to your download page.
95. Visual.ly: submit your infographic to their library for wider distribution.
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10. 101 WAYS TO DISTRIBUTE YOUR CONTENT
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96. Infographiclove.com: another infographic distribution website. Remember your
tags though.
97. Infographicportal.com: another infographic sharing platform that tags content
into relevant sectors.
98. Memes: make the content into bite-sized chunks to distribute to meme sharing
websites. First though, use your meme on your own channels.
99. Reddit: a news website that’s fast becoming the home of pithy news on the
web. Submit it.
100. Know Your Meme: the internet meme database, so a great place to add
your meme.
101. Create an eBook and load it to Amazon Kindle for public download.
SO THAT’S IT!
This guide is just a quick introduction to the many ways that you can distribute and
maximise awareness of your content. If you have any comments or ideas – share
them. And if you’d like to discuss any or all of our ideas in more detail, just get in
touch. We’d love to hear from you.
ABOUT US
Modern Media is an award-winning B2B technology marketing agency offering
integrated digital campaigns that drive growth. We focus on lead generation and
customer engagement, underpinned with strategic thinking and solid metrics.
NOT PRODUCED ANY CONTENTYET?
Talk to us about developing your own unique content that gets results. Whether
you’re thinking about a research-led thought leadership report or a technical white
paper – we’ll help you to define your strategy and write and produce your content.
And of course, we can manage the distribution and data capture too.
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11. info@modernb2b.co
www.modernb2b.co
0117 332 6700
101 WAYS TO
DISTRIBUTE YOUR CONTENT