Through original creation or licensing and curation,

content is available for brands to leverage to boost

their visibility, engage with new audiences and
drive leads. Without a thorough distribution strategy,
your content is dead in the water.
This guide is designed to help you develop a
content distribution strategy for your brand.
Move to the Beat had all the trademarks of a
genius content distribution strategy. By carefully
identifying their business goals, producing content
that aligned with their brand, and then distributing
that content in places their audience actually spent
time, CocaCola hit the sweet spot of content
marketing
01 Knowing what to say
The first step here is to identify your business
goals. What are you trying to achieve with your
content! "ou might be trying to increase user
engagement, boost brand awareness, promote
thought leadership, or drive leads. Whatever your
goal may be, content must be carefully created and
curated to balance what you want to communicate
#product promotions, events, news$ and what your
reader will find valuable.
02 Knowing what the audience
wants to consume
%ndependent of editorial or marketing goals,
understanding your audience is critical to
successful content distribution. What are the
daytoday problems for your audience! &re you
speaking to them as individual consumers or as
representatives of a B'B or B'C brand! &re they
signing the invoice or do they need to influence
purchase decisions up the chain of command!
%deation to distribution of your content should be
tailored to your target consumer.
03 Knowing how and where
they spend their time
%t(s important to grasp consumption behaviors.
When are consumers interacting with the most
content! )o they consume your competitors(
content! *ow are they discovering it! &nalytics
can provide useful insight into these behaviors and
uncover valuable trends. +sychographic data is
readily available from social and search analytics
tools.
Remember: There is no one formula for creating
an e,ective distribution strategy. Tactics will vary
based upon your business goals, industry, content
type, and resources.
Tactics.
While there are many di,erent methods
for distributing content based on channel,
audience, and business goal, all methods
can be bucketed into paid and unpaid
#earned$ distribution methods.
-. Tactics
/Traditional marketing
talks at people.
Content marketing
talks with them.
/Content is of great importance,

+aid advertising can 0umpstart engagement at the

launch of a campaign when your content hasn(t
been seen by many eyes. %t(s also e,ective at
revitali1ing and giving additional reach to e2isting
content that has historically performed well with
your audience.
%n this section, we(ll e2plore three paid tactics3
4 &d networks
4 +aid social promotion
4 5ative advertising
Pay Per Click (PPC advertising is the most
common, paid method for boosting your brand(s
visibility online. ++C promotes content online
that attracts clicks from users6when a user clicks
on the ad, the marketer pays per click. There are
two types of ++C ads3 search and content.
!earch PPC re7uires the marketer to select
specific keywords that, when searched by a
potential consumer, will cue the display of paid
search ads for your company(s website. The
most common ad e2change is 8oogle &dwords,
but there are many others including Bing &ds by
Microsoft. The marketer must pay a given amount
each time an ad is clicked so selecting relevant
keywords that attract viable leads is key. While
traditionally, paid ads often drive to a company(s
product page or ecommerce site, now marketers
are increasingly using paid advertising to promote
content. Why does this work! 9eaders are more
inclined to click on useful or informative content
over blatant promotions.
Content PPC ads appear as content on sites, often
underneath similar articles in a 9elated &rticles
widget. Many di,erent ad networks have harnessed
content ++C such as :utbrain, 8ravity, Clicksor, and
:ne;pot.
"est Practices
01 <or search ++C, select your keywords
carefully. =eep in mind what your target
audience may be searching.
02 >ngaging copy is vitally important
to successful ++C advertising. The best
advertising te2t includes a call to action and
the same keywords that the user originally
typed into the search bar.
03 +aid advertising works particularly well
at the beginning of a campaign when you(re
trying to ramp up initial engagement with
a piece of content. %f you can boost initial
engagement, your content may be featured
on /most read lists, blog posts, or a site(s
hompage. This will drive further organic
tra?c that is earned, not paid
Paid #d$ertising
%ia !ocial &etworks
Many social networking sites, in addition to
providing free promotional platforms, also
feature paid ad channels for brands to harness.
@inked%n ads and sponsored updates, promoted
Tweets, accounts, and trends, and sponsored
<acebook updates and ads are 0ust a few that
allow for highly targeted content distribution.
%n 5ewsCred(s e2perience, @inked%n has been
a valuable distribution tool due to its growing
popularity and evolving marketing products.
ABC of member engagement on @inked%n is
with content. Compared with Twitter and
<acebook, @inked%n generates the highest
visitortolead conversion rate that(s nearly
.2 higher. :utside of 5ewsCred, other brands
are e2periencing superior results on @inked%n.
& targeted and engaged audience is key to
company success. @inked%n company page
followers were '2 more likely to purchase from
and recommend the company. Meanwhile,
B'B conversions were D2 higher on @inked%n
than on Twitter and <acebook.
While we(ve e2perienced success with @inked%n,
brands should test multiple ad types across
multiple social channels to see what works best
for their marketing strategy.
"est Practices
01 Carefully consider the costperclick
of each distribution method, not all social
platforms are created e7ual.
02 +aid social campaigns can get
e2pensive. &s marketers on a budget, it(s
often wise to drive people to gated content
so that your social.e,orts can be used as a
lead generation tools.
&urturing
@ead nurturing is the process of building
business relationships with prospects early in
the buying cycle. While the prospect may not be
ready to buy, the ultimate goal is to develop a
strong rapport to earn their trust when they are
ready to purchase your product. @ead nurturing
begins when a prospect fills out a form for your
website, white paper, newsletter, or sales in7uiry.
The relationship is maintained through periodicallytimed
communications #newsletters, calls, emails$
that continue through the sales cycle.
@ead nurturing is easily e2ecuted through marketing
automation platforms like Marketo and *ubspot.
%t relies on a series of communications that are
targeted and distributed based on demographic,
behavioral actions, and the stage of the sales cycle.
+ersonali1e content to a segmented
audience based on their industry, web
behavior, 0ob, function, or vertical.
&utomatically serve content based on
the prospect(s stage in the buying cycle.
Continually track the prospect(s
interactions with the brand and stage
in the buying cycle.
'ead &urturing
accomplishes three goals:
01
02
03
"est Practices
01 :ptimi1e your site for your CT& or
form. %nclude fields that capture company
information, business needs or interests,
and contact information.
02 >very page of your site should have a
tracking code or munchkin to monitor user
activity, including time spent on your page
and bounce rates.
03 Make it easy #and obvious$ for users
to find the /Contact Es button.
0( +roduce and gate only your relevant,
highvalue content.
)oogle*
;ince its launch, 8oogleF has garnered the second
largest active followerbase after <acebook.
Between this massive distribution network and
ease of sharing, 8oogleF is an obvious choice for
supplemental content distribution
4 +osting on 8oogleF results in improved search
results on 8oogle. +ost actively in order to improve
;>:.
4 &dd the FG button to your site. Websites with the
FG button generate ..B2 more 8oogleF visits than
sites without. #*ubspot$
Pinterest
This imagedriven social platform sees .- million
uni7ue monthly visitors and drives more tra?c
to websites and blogs than Twitter, @inked%n,
8oogleF, or "ouTube
4 +in images that link back to your site. The
purpose of +interest is to engage users through
visual content, so choose enticing images in
order to drive tra?c back to your site.
4 %nclude rich descriptions along with your pins.
Consider discoverability when pinning content
and use accurate descriptors to simplify search.
4 =eep ;>: in mind when naming your images.
9emember that your content is not only living on
+interest but also on search engines all over the
web. Esing descriptive file names can improve
your organic searchability.
'e$eraging +ree
content plat+orms
<ree content platforms, like "ouTube and ;lideshare,
give brands the functionality distribute content to
and engage with a builtin audience. These media
platforms are 7uite di,erent "ouTube is suited
for video content while ;lideshare allows brands
to publish presentation decks but both provide
brands the opportunity to promote anything from
thought leadership to events and campaigns.
,ou-ube
Considering that DHC of people say they(d be
more likely to seek out information about a product
or service after seeing it in an online video, it(s
safe to say that video should play a role in every
company(s content strategy. I-C of B'B marketers
use some form of online video as part of their
content marketing e,orts.
-B :rganic )istribution
,ou-ube "est Practices
01 Epload all video assets. This will increase
the chances of your content being found and
shared by an engaged audience.
02 8ive your videos searchable descriptions
and tags.
03 Jary your content. %nclude howto, case
study, conference and event footage, and
interview videos.
0( %nclude your website url in the video
description to increase site tra?c.
0. >mbed your videos on your own website
to make them more discoverable and create
a richer e2perience.
!lideshare

01 Make sure your title slide is easy to

read and visually interesting. The truth is that
people do 0udge a presentation by its cover,
so make sure you appeal to your audience(s
aesthetic right o, the bat.
02 :ptimi1e your ;lideshare for ;>: by
including keywordrich titles.
03 +romote your presentations across
multiple social channels and your blog.
0( 9epurpose your white papers and guides
into ;lideshare presentations. "ou can reach
additional audiences by 0ust changing the
format of your content.
<or many businesses, ;lideshare has become an
integral part of their content distribution strategy.
More than 0ust a place to upload webinar slides
and case study decks, ;lideshare is a social
communitywith H- million monthly visitors who
are ready to engage with your content. The key
to ;lideshare is creating content that is relevant
or useful to your target audience.