What is content distribution?
Content marketing is the practice of creating fresh, interesting and informative digital content which will directly or indirectly promote the brand. Content distribution is an element of content marketing, which is concerned with the distribution of the content via popular web portals where the target customer will be best exposed to the marketing material.
There are thousands of web portals to choose from however, not every portal will naturally host the environment in which the brand can best engage its target customer. This is where expertise are required in the field of content distribution. Domain, trust, citation, traffic, trend, audience and syndication possibilities are factors that require in depth analysis before choosing a website to distribute the brands content.
Channels for content distribution
Native advertising:
This format utilises advertorials and sponsored content on big brand portals i.e. the websites of national newspapers and industry authorities. Contacting the websites directly is the usual path taken to secure the required media space.
Marketing automation systems:
Cloud based software platforms that enable distribution, management, tracking and engagement analysis of content to multiple social media networks and blogging platforms simultaneously. The market leaders in this sector are.
www.hubspot.com
www.silverpop.com
www.uk.marketo.com
www.pardot.com
www.eloqua.com
Distribution vendors:
They provide a role similar to the traditional media buyers of old however these new age technology vendors can add a big boost to a marketing campaign.
A good content monetization strategy is to place external links to the brands content underneath stories on authoritative news websites www.taboola.com and www.outbrain.com are well placed to deliver this service.
www.linksmart.com has a large catalogue of popular websites across a broad spectrum of niches. There service will place a link to the brands content in newly published articles.
For mass syndication across thousands of sites www.cision.com and www.prnewswire.co.uk have one of the biggest portfolio of sites to blast content out to. However be cautious with mass syndication, make sure the provider is not outputting the content to low visitor interactivity websites.
Remember the objective of content distribution is to expand on the brands inbound marketing effort unlike outbound marketing strategies which force the offering into the face of the potential customer. The focus of inbound marketing is to create content which facilitates a channel to the brand that the target customer can find as a result of their own endeavours.
About The Author:
Geoff Digital is a Senior SEO Consultant at Gtec Media Ltd
Contact: @geoffdigital