Following my recent blog on maximizing content marketing ROI through repurposing, I want to share recommendations for distributing content – through inbound (social media, company blog) and outbound (email, paid media) channels – for maximum visibility and impact.
Any content distribution strategy should have two fundamental goals:
- Accurate targeting of buyers and influencers to ensure you attract the right prospects
- Maximum visibility and engagement within your target audience
I’m going to briefly explain the importance of No. 1 and how to achieve it, then drill into ways to leverage various inbound and outbound channels.
A robust marketing content distribution plan starts with analysis of the addressable market of buyers with the professional titles you’re targeting. That will help determine the feasibility of your lead goals, your ability to support those goals through social media and your website (for inbound leads) as well as your marketing database (for outbound campaigns). An industry trade association or publication – as well as the Bureau of Labor Statistics – are good sources for this market insight.
Turn Up the (Channel) Volume
With your universe of targets quantified, you can begin planning how to reach those prospects across channels to ensure you engage them in the manner to which they are most receptive.
Determining the optimal mix requires analysis of past engagement by persona to understand how your targets prefer to interact. I’m not suggesting that you should look to pursue them in all channels. But you have to leverage more than one channel to get comprehensive distribution – and therefore opportunities to engage throughout the buying process – from the top to the bottom of the funnel.
Let’s consider social media as an example of how you can gather and analyze response data for channel-centric insight into your target customers. Study registrants that came in via Facebook and LinkedIn campaigns to understand who’s willing to register via social media, then similarly scrutinize the titles you reached but didn’t convert.
These findings will give clear direction into whether social is the right medium for your target audience. When social is part of the mix, it’s important to know the brand that is most impactful in driving outcomes, then leveraging that brand to the maximum extent.
Experience has shown social media can account for as much as 30% to 40% of inbound leads or registrations, so it has potential to serve as a core channel in many industries and for many target customers. Facebook and LinkedIn also offer paid options with granular targeting capabilities; marketers should consider organic AND paid social campaigns.
For maximal inbound distribution via your brand’s website, it’s all about two acronyms: SEO (search engine optimization) and UX (user experience).
Your SEO experts – internal, agency or both – can guide you so your content emphasizes the most frequently searched keywords, uses optimized URLs and metadata for Google discoverability, and is promoted on high-traffic pages with strong link quality. The SEO team can help craft reader and Google-friendly titles, blurbs and copy to ensure content elicits the highest engagement and conversion.
Quality UX – which is key to conversion once target customers arrive at your blog and website – requires a strong measure of analytics to determine calls to action that resonate with your audience, as well as optimized registration flow that shepherds site visitors through pages efficiently. You’ll need to consult with your analytics team and your UX team to ensure your site is an effective driver of inbound engagement.
That’s the inbound side of the equation. Now let’s look at achieving reach for your content through outbound.
Outbound Content Marketing Distribution
For optimal email performance, determine your internal list size and past conversion rates to understand what percent of your lead goal can be achieved via email. This is a logical step after the market sizing exercise detailed above. If your list isn’t large enough to achieve a reasonable percentage (at least 25%) of your overall goal, evaluate how third parties can boost your results through their lists and email marketing capabilities.
Most brands can – at minimum – augment their reach by engaging third-party demand generation experts and media partners that have loyal audiences, robust email lists and strong content syndication repositories – not to mention sophisticated social media skills to promote your content.
Of course, other paid media options – such as banner ads and paid search – are often viable contributors to a multi-channel lead strategy for the right products and industries. Retargeting ads – served to those who have shown interest but have not yet converted – can be particularly useful.
By leveraging inbound and outbound channels aggressively to reach your target customer, you’ll ensure your content distribution strategy delivers the payback your business leaders expect.
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: How to Distribute Your Marketing Content
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