[Infographic] Steal Our Content Distribution Ideas For 2016

Updated! Last year we wrote a post asking you to steal our content distribution ideas for 2015.

Now that 2015 is nearly over, I thought I’d let you know how those ideas panned out and give you some tried-and-true ways to distribute your content in the New Year.

It’s pretty safe to say that businesses are waking up and realizing that the “write epic shit” phase of marketing is over.

Getting your content seen, getting it to move, and getting your audience to fall in love with the content you’re constantly delivering is NOW.

Here’s how to get that done in 2016.

If you haven’t read our 2015 Content Distribution post, you should definitely do that first to better help you follow along with our content distribution ideas for 2016.

What Is Content Distribution?

We covered a bit of this in the last post, so for this post I’d really like to focus on the different types of online media, or converged media.

There are three main areas your business should be focusing on:

1. Owned media
2. Paid media
3. Earned media

Owned Media Overview

1. Your website
2. Your blog
3. Your emails
4. Your content assets (think downloadable content)

Owned media really relies on inbound marketing, and even though marketers have pushed inbound marketing as a cure-all, it has its limits.

Like when:

• Your clients aren’t searching for you online
• You aren’t asking for sign-ups or leads (or aren’t doing it well)
• You aren’t segmenting your list(s)
• You aren’t offering anything of real value

Organic traffic continues to get smaller and smaller. And only the cream will rise to the top.

Paid Media Overview

1. PPC Advertising
2. Social advertising
3. Content syndication
4. Press Releases (though these are really lagging in shareability, and I think you’re better off with blog posts versus press releases!)

PPC and social advertising are some of the easiest ways to gain entry into paid media with your content.

But the advertising world isn’t what I’d call “easy.”

Earned Media Overview

1. Syndicated blog posts
2. Guest posts
3. Influencer outreach
4. Networking (targeted networking)

Shares are perhaps the most important social metric, and the sharing of your content is a form of content distribution.

So make sure your plan includes ways to get people to move your content!

What Content Distribution Ideas Worked (And Didn’t) In 2015

Last year we gave you 5 ideas to try and that we were trying or attempting to try.

Here’s how they panned out:

1. [Owned] Create content cycles for your sales funnel.

We are still playing “leapfrog” at the end of 2015 and will be continuing to do so in 2016.

“Leapfrog” is really just a fun way to say that each piece of your content should use another piece to be a springboard.

Essentially, this is how you’re constantly nurturing your audience.

• Thanks for reading our blog post, have you signed up for our blog posts to be delivered to your inbox with free subscriber gifts each week?
• Thanks for being a part of our weekly blog subscription, have you signed up for our newsletter/webinar/free event?
• Thanks for attending our event, have you download our ebook on this [topic]?
• Thanks for downloading our book, how about a free consultation?

And so on and so forth.

Get the idea?

2. [Owned, Paid, Earned] Make a distribution plan for your blog.

This was our plan for 2015 and how it worked (or didn’t work) for us:

1. Create a special community for blog subscribers — This works really well and we have extremely high open and click-through rates with this (smaller) list.
2. Running targeted, paid ads to our blog posts (on Facebook) — We did this for a little bit but we stopped after a while since our organic reach and growth on Facebook is higher than the 0-6% organic reach they promise. We may run some targeted ads this year but we’re not running to do this. Now, if you’re a NEW blogger or have a newer Facebook community this may be an area that you have to pay more attention to!
3. Using Triberr to connect with blog readers and influencers — Again, we use Triberr but it isn’t at the forefront of our strategy. The platform hasn’t evolved enough with blogging and content shock, so we use it in targeted ways but not daily.
4. Posting twice per week (frequency) — Though this has been on our “to-do” list for several years, we can’t seem to make it happen. However this year we’re taking it off the list and focusing more on QUALITY content. We’ve enlisted the help of a few guest bloggers who do very well when it comes to getting our content shared.
5. Using plugins to share old content is still a part of the strategy, but we also use automation tools like IFTTT to help reshare evergreen content, as well as do some scheduling by hand.

With Twitter disabling share counts for content, we’re seeing yet another way in which content distribution and sharing of content has been affected by non-owned channels.

This is why you MUST concentrate on your owned content and channels (email list vs. social media) in 2016.

3. [Owned] Add new channels for distribution.

Mallie Hart and I launched a podcast last year and we had a good run for a small period of time.

I could blame the shift from podcasting to sites like Periscope and Blab but in all honesty my time grew shorter and shorter as B Squared Media grew and I wasn’t able to invest the time it takes to run a podcast.

This is the very reason we haven’t invested in any of the other new sites like Snapchat, Meerkat, the ones mentioned above, etc. … and now Facebook offers live streaming!

Here’s my honest opinion about all of these new sites: if you have the time to invest in them, go for it.

But if you don’t have hours for testing, research, planning and execution, then stick to what you know. I promise you, it will be okay!

I haven’t let FOMO get the best of me and (partly) because of that I more than doubled my business in 2015.

4. [Paid & Earned] More (and more TARGETED) networking.

One of the biggest payouts for 2015 was being a contributor for Mark Schaefer’s {grow} blog.

Not only did I grow my core audience, I joined Mark on a project called The Content Code, got new clients from referrals, and got an additional two more paid writing gigs — which are ongoing.

These projects and writing gigs led to thousands of dollars in revenue for B Squared last year.

Additionally, I joined two networking groups, one locally in NJ and one in NYC.

To date, I’ve been able to secure nearly $60,000 in new business from these groups, and with what’s in our pipeline, that number could reach $100,000 before I’ve even been in the groups for one year.

Networking, by far, has been the best way to ensure that my content is getting seen, but more importantly, that my business is thriving.

#LessNumbersMorePeople is going to continue to be our mantra for 2016.

5. [Owned] Create more nurture content.

Last year, we took the B Squared Media website through a major overhaul.

That went really well.

However, through our active listening efforts, we found there are still a few gaps with our branding and marketing efforts.

The two major problems are:

• New B Squared advocates call us “B Squared Online Media” versus “B Squared Media.” That’s a BIG branding issue for us.
• Some people still don’t realize that A) we offer done-for-you social services or B) what “done-for-you” means

With that in mind, we’ll be updating our site again for 2016.

When it comes to owned content, content distribution, and nurturing your potential and would-be clients, you have to understand that it starts with listening.

It takes a constant effort on our part to:

1. Listen for gaps in our nurture processes
2. Keep tabs on what areas have the biggest gaps
3. Evaluate which gaps lead to the biggest disconnects (conversions)
4. Make a plan to close the gaps
5. Execute
6. Rise and repeat

5-Step Content Distribution Infographic

Here is everything above, spelled out in five simple steps!

What Will Your Content Distribution Plan Be This Year?

Did you focus on content distribution in 2015? How did it go?

What are your plans for getting your content seen in 2016? We’d love to hear from you!

Give us a shout out below and help us be in the know.

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Brooke B. Sellas

Brooke B. Sellas is the in-the-trenches Founder & CEO of @HelloBSquared, an award-winning social media, advertising, and social media customer care agency. She's also the author of Conversations That Connect -- a book all about social listening and social media customer care. Brooke's marketing mantra is “Think Conversation, Not Campaign” so be sure to give her a shout on the socials!

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