Almost every B2B company realizes the importance of content marketing. In fact, 91% of B2B respondents in a Content Marketing Institute study said that they are already using content marketing.
However, only 24% of respondents in the study said that their content marketing approach was very or extremely successful. And 53% said that it was moderately successful, while 21% only experienced minimal success. For 2%, their content marketing approach was not at all successful.
Moderate to minimal success is not enough though, if you’re going to experience growth as an organization.
There are many factors contributing to these unsatisfactory success rates. But one of the main reasons could be the fact that many businesses focus all of their resources and effort on content creation.
While creating quality content is the foundation of a successful content marketing strategy, you also need an effective plan to promote the content you’ve created.
Otherwise, you’ll just be spending lots of time and money on developing high-quality content that no one really knows about. Most people aren’t going to discover your content on their own.
For your content marketing efforts to pay off, you need to effectively promote the content that you’ve created to get it in front of a relevant audience.
#1: Promote New Content through Automated RSS Emails
Email is still the most commonly used way for B2B marketers to distribute their content. The previously-cited CMI study found that 93% of respondents were using email in the form of newsletters and welcome emails for content distribution. It is also the most effective format, with 74% of respondents voting for it.
Image Source: Content Marketing Institute
One of the best ways to distribute content through email is by using RSS. You can set up a recurring campaign to send out an email update to subscribers whenever you publish a new post. You can also use an RSS content block so that whatever marketing email you send out automatically includes the latest content from your feed.
Here’s how an RSS email will look:
You can use tools like FeedOtter to simplify this whole process. This tool allows you to create automated campaigns where you schedule content to be sent from any data source including RSS, XML, and JSON.
The best part is that the tool simplifies the process of creating a content newsletter personalized for each recipient.
#2: Announce Your New Content Through Stories
Social media is the second most popularly used format for content distribution, with 92% of respondents in the CMI study using it. It is also the third most effective format.
You may already be using platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to share your new content. But you should also consider trying out Instagram.
More specifically, you should try using Instagram Stories to announce your new content. This could be highly effective because 400 million people use Instagram Stories on a daily basis.
And since Stories are highlighted at the top, you can ensure higher visibility even if your regular feed posts get lost among other posts in your followers’ feed.
If you have more than 10,000 followers, you can directly add the content link in your Stories using the “Swipe Up” or “See More” feature. If not, you can add the relevant link in your bio and then include a CTA in your Story, telling the audience to follow the link in your bio.
Dribble, for instance, regularly conducts short interviews with designers and creatives who use their platform. They then promote these interviews through various channels, including Instagram Stories.
Recently, they interviewed Tymn Armstrong, a San Francisco-based designer and shared a short clip of the interview through their Stories. They included a link to a page where readers can access a mix of video and written content from the interview.
#3: Empower Your Employees to Share
One effective yet often ignored content promotion tactic is to activate employees. Your employees could be the best advocates for your brand. They have their own social circles and channels through which they can effectively promote your content. And with a recommendation from a real person, there’s a good chance your content can get a good reception.
You can use tools like Hootsuite Amplify and Sigstr to improve your content promotion efforts via employee advocacy. Amplify makes it easier for your employees to discover and share approved content with their social media followers. With the Sigstr platform, you can customize your employees’ email signatures to include CTA banners promoting your new content.
#4: Invest in Paid Social Promotion
While you may be trying to reduce your content marketing costs, paid promotions have become a necessity if you want to reach a relevant social media audience.
This is because social media platforms have started to prioritize relevancy over recency. This means that they will first display content from accounts you interact with the most instead of content that’s been published recently.
So it’s getting harder for businesses to gain organic visibility for their social media content. You need to invest wisely and amplify the content that you share through social media.
This will ensure better visibility for your content. It will also help you reach, attract, and engage highly relevant users who could potentially become loyal fans.
Take a look at how Leadfeeder has amplified the content they organically share on social media to attract a relevant audience.
Powwownow, a conference calling company, used this same tactic of sharing organic content on social media and paying to promote it. Coupled with an excellent content creation strategy, their paid promotion efforts resulted in a 2083% increase in engagement. They had a 162% higher reach, a 154% growth in followers, and a 350% increase in traffic via social.
Conclusion
These are some of the best ways to take your B2B content promotion to the next level. You need to improve your email distribution efforts with automated RSS emails and start using new channels like Instagram Stories. You should also start activating real people, preferably your employees, to share your content. And finally, invest in paid social promotions for your organic content.
Have you tried any of these tactics? Which one’s your favorite? Let us know in the comments.
You may also want to read: The Power of Ephemeral Content: 4 Ways to Boost Your Brand Awareness
5 Ways to Promote Your Blog Content
Content Marketing Tips for your eCommerce Blog
Featured image: Copyright: ‘https://www.123rf.com/profile_aniwhite‘ / 123RF Stock Photo
Shane Barker
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