As buyers spend more time with online articles, blog posts and reviews, and rely less on advertising for product information, companies have quickly caught onto the fact that they need great content to attract new customers and retain their current ones. Many of them have addressed this need by publishing blogs on their websites that relate to issues and common customer challenges in their industries. However, simply creating content and posting it is not enough to get seen.
According to Steve Rayson of Buzzsumo, 50% of content out there receives eight shares or less. If you’re spending the average one to two hours to write a blog post a few times per week, a lot of your time is already being consumed by content marketing. But that’s just the beginning; you still need to promote your content to make sure it gets noticed.
Here are five methods you can use to get your blog posts more exposure amongst your audience and beyond.
Repost where your audience lives
Does your B2C demographic hang out on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and/or Pinterest? Are you trying to find a B2B audience on LinkedIn or on message boards related to your niche? By reposting where your audience is hanging out already, you’re bringing the content to them. They don’t have to actively seek you out. Just make sure that you’re reformatting your blog post to match the platform. For example, you could make your blog post into a slideshow for SlideShare, create a Pinterest infographic from it, and queue up tweets that’ll promote the blog multiple times for a few weeks, according to GetResponse’s Pam Neely.
Include influencers in your posts
Interview industry influencers for posts on your blog, and also include links to content on their websites. They may promote your blog on their networks, which will result in more traffic heading to your site. As for interviews, you could do a Q&A with one thought leader or a listicle that’s comprised of quotes from many influencers (i.e. Social Media Predictions from the Top Marketers, The Best Movies of all Time According to These Movie Reviewers). If you’re writing about a topic that’s relevant to an influencer’s content, and you hyperlink to his or website, make sure you tweet your blog post at him or her. Hopefully, it’ll get retweeted.
Send out through your email newsletter
Email provides a direct connection and remains one of the most effective ways to reach your customers. Your subscribers may not follow you on social media, but they do check their email daily, if not more frequently. Include a snippet of your blog in your newsletter, along with a link that readers can follow and read the full post. Remember to entice your readers with an interesting and personalized subject line as well.
Post user-generated content
Content marketing is all about focusing on the consumer. So why not showcase your customers’ content? They will share it with their friends and spread the word, and you’ll increase brand loyalty at the same time. You can grab user-generated content from your social media sites (i.e. pictures on Instagram or wall posts on Facebook). Utilizing user-generated content is also a time saver, and takes some of the work out of coming up with an original post.
Incorporate original visuals
By 2019, it’s projected that video will account for 89 percent of all internet traffic. Along with photos and infographics, it’s extremely important that your blog contains visual elements. While long-form text-focused content certainly has its place, you need to vary what you offer to your readers. Invest in original photos, graphics, and videos, and you’ll be on your way to earning more eyeballs on your blog.
You’ve taken the first big step, which is setting up your blog. Now it’s time to treat every post as a public relations campaign and promote it through multiple channels. It’s the only way you’ll stand out amongst the crowded content marketplace in 2016.
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