Creating a Successful Promotion Plan for Content Marketing

  Written by Easther Sudharta on Jan 17, 2012 8:22 pm

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Let's say that you have just created an awesome piece of content. You think you are finished with it right? Wrong! If you want your content to really take off, you have to give it some promotion for increased exposure. If you are creating content regularly, your best bet is to create a streamlined contentpromotion plan to follow. The following is an example of a content promotional plan and tips that you can use to base your own upon.

Step 1: Social Media Promotion

Social media promotion is definitely the biggest and best of them all. Your content has the best chance at becoming a viral hit if shared on social networks. You should start by focusing on the top four networks including the following. Twitter When it comes to Twitter, you have to think about the wide range of times that your audience is online and tweet accordingly. For important content, you should consider tweeting three times - once in the morning, afternoon, and evening. This should allow you to hit most of the major timezones in your region while catching people who follow up on their Twitter activity at different times of day. How do you make sure you don't sound like a broken record? Modify your content's title. When tweeting this post, for example, the title variation could be as follows.

• Creating a Successful Promotion Plan for Your Content
• Content Marketing Essentials - Creating a Successful Promotional Plan
• How to Create a Successful Promotional Plan for Your Content

This will allow you to share your content multiple times per day but not drive your followers who might catch all three tweets insane. Facebook There are several ways to promote content on Facebook. The first is to simply share it on your own page and/or profile's wall. Be sure to do so on Facebook itself as Facebook gives preference to updates on its own network vs. networks from third party apps. Some tips for a great status update on your wall include:

• Editing the description beneath your content's link to entice clicks.
• Adding a comment to get extra attention to the update.
• Choosing a thumbnail that best represents the post.

In addition to sharing the status update on your own page and/or profile, you should also consider sharing it to relevant groups and pages on Facebook. Please note the key word - relevant. Don't just go and spam - think about which groups and pages have the best potential audiences for your content and share it with them only. Google+ Sharing on Google+ is similar to Facebook, with the exception that you cannot alter the description beneath your link - you can only change the thumbnail and add an additional comment. The key to a great description below the link on Google+ is using a great meta description for your content's page. The meta description will be used as the snippet for the Google+ share instead of the first sentence of the post. Also be sure when you are sharing your content on Google+ that you carefully consider Public vs. limiting to circles. Anything limited to a circle means that it is not public to just anyone who visits your profile or possibly even search engines! LinkedIn If your content would appeal to the professional world, be sure not to forget sharing it on LinkedIn. Again, the same rules apply - make sure to edit the description beneath the link, thumbnail, and add a great comment to your share. Also, be sure that, if you belong to relevant groups on LinkedIn, that you share your content with those groups as well. This can be done by using the Share link next to your update once it is posted. From here, you can share the update with your groups. Be sure to edit the details about your content to fit the groups you are sharing it with for added impact!

Step 2: Social Bookmarking

Next on the list of content promotion is social bookmarking. This includes submitting your content to Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Delicious, and other social bookmarking networks. You have three options when it comes to social bookmarking. Self-Submission You can submit the content yourself. Some people do not consider this the best idea because it always looks better if someone else promotes your content. But if you are looking to gain quick traction and you don't have an established network of people who use social bookmarking sites, this is the way to go. Asking Someone Else to Submit Next, you can ask someone in your network to submit your content. This is a great idea if you know someone who has a good bit of influence and followers on a particular social bookmarking network. Usually people like this will be able to generate the most traffic / votes for your content on that network. Using a Service If the goal is less about social bookmarking popularity and more about creating some backlinks to your content, then you can try using a service to submit your content to lots of different social bookmarking networks. Mandloys is one example of a service that will submit your content's URL to 500 networks for only $9.90USD. Simply fill out a form, pay by Paypal, and you are all set to getting 500 social backlinks to your content.

Step 3: Blogger Outreach

Once your social media and bookmarking promotion is completed, you can look to get more attention towards your content by using blogger outreach. This is simply finding other blogs in your niche to write about your piece of content and link to it. Definitely start with some sites where you know the blogger behind them, and then move on to relevant sites in your niche. When you email them, be sure to sell them your content - let them know what benefits your content will bring to their site including audience interest and engagement. Also, be sure to personalize each email - people can sniff out a generic pitch a mile away!

Step 4: Blog Commenting

If you don't know a blogger well enough to pitch them with your content, the other way to get your content on their radar is through blog commenting. No, you don't want to put the link to your content in the body of your comments on the blogosphere. What you want to do is look for blogs that allow you to link directly to your content. Blogs using the CommentLuv plugin will do just that - they will allow you to choose from the latest posts on your blog to leave as a link below your comment. Simply search Google for keywords related to your piece of content and the words “commentluv enabled" to see blogs whose audience would be interested in your content. Try to only comment on recent blog posts so that you will get the most traffic exposure.

Step 5: Supplementary Content

Last but not least, create supplementary content that will link back to the big piece of content that you are promoting. If you belong to a popular niche article directory, you can create an article or two that links back to your main piece of content. If you guest blog for other sites, you can promote your piece of content in the author box (or in the main body of your post if allowed). If you are invited to contribute to a crowd-sourced piece, see if you can integrate your piece of content into your answer. Just keep an eye out for any opportunities you already have to promote your content! These are only a few suggestions on ways to promote your content. What is on your to do list for promoting a particular piece of content? Please share your techniques in the comments below.

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