You can spend days or weeks on a piece of content. It could be, in your opinion, the best thing ever written. Maybe it is. But if you don’t have the right eyes looking at it, then that great bit of content was created for nothing.
Imagine your hand reaching out to grab the attention of your target audience. Those users have millions of other hands grasping at them too.
That’s not even an exaggeration. Across every platform, 4.4 million new blog posts are published. Daily. So how are you supposed to stand out? It might seem like an impossible task, but there are great content promotion ideas out there.
Why is this something to think about? You need content promotion ideas to increase traffic. To build conversations around your content and business.
Don’t stress, though. It’s easier than it sounds. Content distribution platforms both paid and free are out there. If you’d rather a more human touch, Quuu Promote can promote your content in over 500 interest categories to be engaged with and shared by real people. Your content is put in front of real people by real people. Cool, right?
Content promotion strategies are there to make everything that bit easier for you. When you’re taking things into your own hands though, consider some of these promotion tactics to make it last.
- Guest posting
- Reuse and recycle
- Trends, trends, trends
- Email campaigns
- Captivating calls to action
- Organic content always
- It pays to pay
- Communities are key
- Sharing is caring
- Everyone likes free
1. Guest posting
So, you’ve shared something. It’s quality content. But only your followers are seeing it. Sure, they like it. But they already follow you, so there’s not much promotion going on there. How can we flip that same content but make it exciting?
Guest posting is writing for a business or publication that isn’t your own. You still get all the credit for your awesome ideas, but also a new pool of users get to experience it from a guest blog.
One of the founders of the social media app Buffer, Leo Widrich, wrote around 150 guest posts when the app was launching. The app now has over 1 million downloads. The more he wrote, the more he was accepted.
General advice? Post somewhere relevant. Getting referenced by an authority in your industry means a lot. Build in natural links. And the obvious one: produce high-quality work. Is it worth it, I hear you ask? I’ll agree, it does sound like a lot of work. But even a few posts could get the ball rolling.
The essentials:
- Attract traffic back to your platforms
- Build a reputation for your content
- Form relationships with others in your industry
- Refreshing-promote content that isn’t from your page
- Establish authentic backlinks
Show potential customers your content is worthwhile before they even step onto your platforms. Even better? You’ll reach users that are genuinely interested in what you have to offer. Then? Boosts customer retention and ROI. Cast your net out further to a larger audience and reap the rewards.
2. Reuse and recycle
Sometimes content can feel a little stagnant. Sometimes you just don’t have time to create daily content. Maybe users are tired of seeing the same types of content. There’s a pretty easy solution to this, and that’s repurposed content.
Take Redbull for example. It’s a pretty exciting brand, especially across its social media platforms. With posts about motorsports and trick shots, it’s easy to get lost scrolling through mesmerising content.
But even a fast-paced brand like this one has quiet days. On Red Bull’s Instagram account, they recently posted a throwback to Red Bull Stratos 2012. This act of repurposing was super clever.
- It feeds into nostalgia marketing. This was an event a lot of their following would remember.
- Red Bull gets to recycle videos from back in 2012. Here’s some engaging content they made earlier. No cost, no hassle.
- Memorable content encourages social sharing. Having users share content builds traffic and hype around your brand.
It’s not just nostalgic content that Red Bull utilizes, though. They cross-post across their platforms. A lot of big brands do this. They may have bigger followings on other platforms and want to optimize promotion.
Say Red Bull tweeted out a poll or discussion to promote their brand. Red Bull has 2 million followers on Twitter as of October 2022. But they’ve got a staggering 16.4 million Instagram followers.
It makes sense to post on Instagram. But utilizing lots of different p
latforms is crucial for content marketing. So what do they do? They post their tweet on Instagram.
This way, they get to do some self-promotion for their brand and content while they promote their Twitter account. Two birds, one marketing strategy.
Take a look at your content. Is there anything you can put a new spin on to keep it relevant? Or some social media content that can be repromoted to keep it visible? Maybe you have some video content that can be turned into a podcast. Or an article that would make a great infographic.
3. Trends, trends, trends
Often, a new piece of content can get lost in the vastness of the internet. It’s so fast-paced. It can be hard to keep the audiences’ eyes on your work when there’s a shiny new toy every few seconds.
It’s not your fault. The average user’s attention span is nothing more than a blink of an eye. 8 seconds to be exact!
But one thing that guarantees engagement, is trends. Jump on the bandwagon with your interpretation of a trend. Trends, particularly seen on the social media app TikTok, can be long lasting and great for promotion. If you do it well, they’ll think you’re a fun brand and not even realise it’s digital marketing.
The clothes brand Zara is a master of content promotion through trends. One of their more recent TikTok posts promotes their new Phygital collection. You’d hardly know it was an advertisement. It’s not the product that’s getting the attention.
The video features some pretty amazing ASMR. The trend of ASMR found its feet in 2020 and has been going strong since. In the past 3 years, the search interest for A.S.M.R content increased by over 140%.
You might be wondering if participating in trends takes away from the promotion of your content. We all think of trends and we think, well, this will only be here for a week. By the time you produce the content, won’t the trend be lame already?
The trick is to research which trends have longevity. By building foundations in a trend that has a loyal and long-standing following, Zara increased their outreach by finding a whole new audience.
People who enjoy ASMR will be brought to Zara’s TikTok because it is marked as relevant content. This is often done through algorithms and hashtags.
Also:
- Keeping up with trends shows users you have a consistent brand in a world of constantly changing digital marketing.
- Following the latest trends proves that you care about your consumers. You want to know what they’re interested in.
- Gives consumers something to associate you with. Great for brand awareness.
- Keeping your eye on trends is a great way to also keep up with your social media strategies.
4. Email campaigns
Email marketing is a fantastic way to communicate with consumers. It’s a large captive audience. Most people you know will have and use an email address.
No, not like all those spam emails we know and hate. We’re better than that. I mean a carefully curated email list. Promoting content organically. Using email marketing to deliver a useful service.
Email marketing is something that just can’t be forgotten. It’s easy to think it’s outdated when you consider the wide world of social media marketing.
But an estimated 4.3 billion people worldwide are email users in 2022. That’s a lot of people. A huge portion will be your demographic too. Go get ‘em.
Emailing is perfect for large and small businesses. But here are some dos and don’ts.
| Do consider your target audience. You’ll want a different tone for each section in your campaign. | Don’t send out a generalized email to as many people as you can. You want content that people can respond to. |
| Do plan your emails, your follow-ups, and when you want to send them out. | Don’t spam your users. Send useful emails when relevant, don’t bother them. |
| Do make sure your emails have a bit of personality. A template is fine, we know content is time-consuming. But make it unique. | Don’t send out something boring. Make sure your email aligns with your brand and doesn’t sound like every other email consumers are sent every day. |
| Do use interactive content in your emails. Add in some gifs, images, or videos. Having a video in your email can increase click rates by 300%. | Don’t forget to include something for users to click on. An email that leads nowhere will get forgotten. A link to your social media channels never hurt anyone. |
Email marketing is a great way to measure your metrics too. You can use your open rate to see how engaged your subscribers actually are, and what you might need to do to increase this.
Welcoming emails are a great idea. Introduce your brand with some engaging content and subtly promote the content you’d provide. Include some interesting facts that you think might help with retention. Give consumers a choice.
Do they want to be a part of regular emails? Maybe they want to join your newsletter? Let the cycle of marketing continue.
It’s that easy.
5. Captivating calls to action
Calls to action (also known as CTAs) are those short phrases that tell you to do something. You might not think about them too much, but they are more than the cherry on top of your marketing plan. If you’re working with SEO or digital marketing, you need it.
There’s plenty of advice out there for writing one, but why are they important for content promotion?
- It’s the simplest way to promote your content. Summarize what you will do for consumers in a short sentence.
- Throwing back to the last point, using one clear CTA in emails increases clicks by 371%. If that’s not enough, it boosts sales by 1617%.
- You get to guide your consumer. Maybe you’re trying to promote some content but it just isn’t reaching your audience. Write an irresistible CTA and get them right where you want them.
Let’s look at an example, Headspace, a mindfulness app. The app uses a bold CTA at the bottom of its home page. But why exactly does this CTA stand out against the others?
The majority of CTAS are something along the lines of ‘try now’ or ‘sign up free’. What’s good about Headspace is that the CTA promotes the type of content that consumers can expect.
Repeating the word ‘headspace’ builds a strong brand. You know the app will promote peace and mindfulness. I don’t know everything about Headspace, but the CTA tells me what to expect.
You want consumers to take action, it’s in the name. But by having a personalised CTA like this one, you speak directly to the target audience. It says: I want you to sign up because you need this content.
If you’re struggling to make your CTA more personal, consider a landing page. A landing page is useful if there’s one thing in particular you want users to do.
You’re telling your consumers where they should go. Use this to promote content that reflects your brand and what matters to you most.
6. Organic content always
We all know organic content. It’s embedded in our marketing campaigns. Whether you realize it or not, if you’re considering email marketing or think you’ll give Tiktok a go, you’re already halfway there.
We need to reach users, of course, but we want to do this naturally. Not just for our brands, though that’s important too. Organic marketing tells search engines that your content is relevant to your audience. That means plenty of content promotion.
It keeps you memorable too. Organic content increases brand recall by 27% if it’s seen before a paid advertisement. Here are some examples:
- Resources. Have content that you can refer back to at any time, like podcasts and blogs. Imagine them like crops. You’ve got traffic to harvest without planting anything new.
- Make time for your consumers. Reply to comments, resolve issues quickly, and ask them questions. It keeps them engaged and reminds them of the humans behind your brand.
- Influencers are your friends. Not really, but they sure are helpful. They’re someone separate from your brand for consumers to trust, and they often do.
Let’s dive a bit deeper into influencer marketing. Influencers are amazing at building relationships with their followers; it’s how they make their money. The beauty of this is that their followers trust them just as much as they would a friend.
Influencer marketing is a form of organic content. Though it’s a paid partnership, consumers enjoy the content that isn’t manufactured by the company. Getting an influencer to promote your goods or services makes for content that feels more authentic.
This works because the promotion doesn’t feel like a promotion. It feels much more friendly. A whole 62% of consumers trust influencers more than celebrities when it comes to promoting products.
It doesn’t have to be a long-term relationship either. Influencers will work with you on one piece of content, such as social media posts or an appearance on a podcast. Most influencers will sneak in the ‘paid advertisement’ disclaimer to keep everything organic.
Love Island Alum Tasha Ghouri teamed up with Fenty Beauty for one post. The purpose? To promote a competition created by the beauty brand. The competition’s purpose? To promote their new foundation.
It’s one big content creation and content promotion cycle.
7. It pays to pay
Okay, so now we’re talking about the complete opposite tactic to before. It’s teamwork, not competition. Use a combination of organic and paid promotions to find that sweet spot.
The statistics are there to prove it. When you use user data in advertising, 50% of adult users reported that it helps them discover things that interest them.
So, how does it work? We know staying visible on social media isn’t an easy feat. Why not pay for your brand to take up space? By paying, you fast-track your brand awareness and reach because users are being brought to you instead of seeking you out.
Sometimes paying for content promotion is the simplest way of guaranteeing your spotlight.
Probably the most effective of these content promotion ideas is through social media advertisement. It’s grown in popularity over the last few years. And why wouldn’t it? More than half of the entire world (59%) uses social media.
If there’s a platform in particular to utilise, it’s Facebook, with ad revenue of $84.2 billion in 2020. The social media platform has a wider demographic compared to other social media apps and is key for maximum content promotion.
Three scrolls in on Facebook and I already found a sponsored post. The brand Bird & Blend Tea Co. were advertising their limited edition tea blend.
By using attractive imagery, lots of emojis, and a Halloween theme you just can’t resist, you’re drawn in.
Here’s why this works. The promotion is for something limited edition. This makes you feel the pressure of missing out. Promotional FOMO (fear of missing out). The advertisement is up-to-date. The Halloween theme is exactly what you want to see at the end of October.
A promotion like this is great for showing off your products. The carousel format lets you post more than one image in a single ad. This adds a bit of interaction for the user and will lead to more clicks.
Don’t forget, social media channels also include a nifty insight tool. This is pretty valuable information. You can find out what content your audience likes, what doesn’t work, and which platforms you should focus your attention on.
8. Communities are key
It’s easy to get swept up in extravagant promotion plans. But have you tried reaching out to communities? There are platforms out there specially designed for discussions and advice. Why not join them?
Here are two to keep in mind:
- Quora
If you enjoy being online, you’ve probably heard of Reddit at some point. It’s an online community of all kinds of different forums. Conjure up any topic imaginable and you bet it’s being discussed somewhere.
Reddit users are super engaged. 47% of Reddit users are online nearly all the time. This means they’re way more likely to show their interest in your content.
Utilize the committed audience. Ask for feedback on your content. One of the things the app is used for is content rating. Find discussions where your content might be relevant.
Remember though, their users care a lot. I mean, you have to if you’re going to be online all day. Dedicate some time to building a reputable account to gain loyalty.
Quora
Quora is a channel for asking questions. One user can ask a question and other users can join in on the discussion and offer an answer or advice. The platform has seen significant recent growth and could definitely be a useful asset.
Using Quora is a great way of building relationships. Sure, you’re promoting your content, but you can phrase it as helpful advice.
It also works like a guest post. If you answer questions with authority, users are more likely to trust your content. Build up your reputation this way for results.
9. Sharing is caring
It sounds obvious, but utilizing sharable content is so important when it comes to promoting it. Sharable content leads to 7 times more traffic.
Users can share your brilliant work with their mates and boom, content promotion. But for this to work out in your favour, you’ve got to deliver something worth sharing.
There are a number of components to successful sharable content. Emotive text, fun infographics, humour, and interesting copy are much more likely to earn a share because they have personalities.
If you want to be a little extra about it, consider doing a giveaway. Brands big and small offer products and services to boost interest and create some very sharable content.
Your consumers get something for free. All they have to do is tag a friend, follow your account, and share the post to their story. It sounds like a win-win, right?
10. Everyone likes free
If someone hands you a free sample, you almost always take it. Why? It’s free. Consumers who are given a sample will buy the product 35% of the time.
A free sample doesn’t have to be jam slathered onto a wooden spoon in a supermarket. One of the easiest content promotion ideas is to give users a taster of what you offer.
- Send new content out to your email lists: This way, consumers feel as though there’s value to being a part of it. It also helps to build your customer retention.
- Give users early access to exciting content: Provided they sign up for your newsletter or your email list. Consumers want to feel special, so show them that they are.
- Offer users a reward for giving you feedback on your content: It’s always a good idea to get consistent comments on your content so you can improve it. Consumers love to see you taking their ideas on board. It’s great for your relationship.
Conclusion
To give your quality content meaning, you need to promote it. Give your content what it deserves and make sure as many people see it as possible.
There’s a 70/30 rule for social media that applies here. 30% of the time you should be posting and sharing content created by you. And 70% of the time you should share content that wasn’t created by your brand.
The combination is the winning strategy. Be a part of something. But also be unique. Your content is the way you’re seen, the way you prove how valuable you are. Just think about the people out there who need you, but don’t know where you are yet.
We’ve given you all the content promotion ideas, so now let’s put the time in. Have you seen success with other methods? Let us know in the comments below!
