You could write the most helpful, educational, and entertaining piece of content ever created, and it will mean very little without the proper distribution and promotion plan. Researching your ideal buyers to determine where they find their information will help guide you to which channels to publish your work. However, there are some channels that show consistent success and should be a part of any content distribution plan. Here we take a look at five effective ways to promote content online.

Social Media Advertising

For the majority of B2B organizations, LinkedIn will be the best social media platform to spend your social media advertising budget. Facebook can be effective for those targeting smaller, locally owned businesses, but for the most part, your focus should be on LinkedIn. Their ad platform offers a wide variety of ways to narrow your audience to ensure you're targeting the correct contacts. Several ad formats can be used depending on the goals of your campaign. Some best practices include using at least four different ads per campaign, narrowly targeting your audience, and allocating a budget that allows you to reach your entire audience multiple times throughout your campaign.

Social Media Discussion Groups

Discussion groups on both Facebook and LinkedIn can be great places to network and promote your content. The key is to make sure you're interacting with other people's posts and being an active participant in the group discussions. Simply posting your material and waiting for others to engage with it will not yield results. Post relevant content that will provide value to the group members and be helpful by commenting and sharing their posts to increase reach. You want to be careful to follow all of the group's rules and avoid posting so often that your content comes across as spam. Avoid being overly promotional and focus on being a valuable member of the group.

Search Engine Advertising

As it becomes tougher to gain page one rankings organically, investing in search engine advertising products like Google Ads can be a great way to draw in prospects looking for a solution like yours. Your ad copy and target audience will ultimately play the biggest role in your success, or lack thereof. As with any form of advertising, you will need a well-developed plan to avoid wasting your money. There are various online courses you can take to help you master the ins and outs of Google advertising, but in many cases, it will be best to seek out an expert to help with your campaigns. And while there are other search engines out there, keep in mind that Google controls nearly three-quarters of the search market.

Organic Social Media Posts

Simply posting organically to your company pages and leaving it at that will not give you the results you're looking for. Thankfully, there are many ways to get your content in front of your target audience without having to pay for advertising. Company participation is essential and getting everyone in your organization to like, share and comment on your social media posts is a must to build your audience and credibility. Using relevant hashtags can significantly increase the reach of your posts and make them searchable. Tagging industry leaders in posts that fit their expertise will encourage their engagement, which can open up your audience significantly. Organic social media is still a viable means for distributing content, and it just takes a little more work than in the past.

Monthly Email Newsletters

Email has long been an effective way to get content out on a large scale. As email boxes continue to overflow, you need to find creative ways to garner opens and clicks. A monthly email newsletter can be an entertaining way to educate your prospects and distribute your content. Newsletters should involve press releases, blog content, industry news, humor, and even helpful life hacks. The idea is to make these newsletters as fun and informative as possible without them being overly self-promotional. This is where knowing your audience thoroughly comes in. It's great to know the pain points of their organization, but knowing a bit about their personal interests will help you create newsletters that people actually read.

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