Even the greatest piece of content will have little impact if it is not distributed properly. There are a seemingly endless number of distribution channels that can be used to circulate your content. Each one falls under one of three categories; owned, paid and earned. Here we break down the components and uses of each type of content distribution channel.

Owned Channels

“Owned channels are the content properties your company owns. You can control when and how content is published on your owned channels. These include your website and blog, your social media profiles, your email newsletter, or a mobile publishing app.”

• Website Content – Website content is instrumental in SEO and the information on your site should be well organized and clearly communicate the purpose of your business.
• Social Posts – Consistently posting targeted educational and entertaining content to company pages and encouraging employee participation through individual accounts will improve brand awareness.
• Company Blog – Your company blog is at the heart of your content marketing strategy. Using a variety of different media including written articles, videos, and infographics, it is recommended that B2B brands post 12-16 times per month to their company blog.
• Email Newsletter – A monthly newsletter that includes company highlights, employee spotlights, blog recaps and humor is a great way to engage current and prospective clients.

Paid Channels

“Paid channels refer to when your company pays to distribute your content on certain channels. This primarily includes pay-per-click (PPC), paid social advertisements, and paid influencer content.”

• PPC – Advertising through search engines can help you gain website visitors and generate leads by targeting keyword phrases that mirror the online search trends of your target audience.
• Social Ads – Social media ads allow you to get very granular with your targeting and make a great complement to account-based marketing programs that also include telephone and email components.

Earned Channels

“Earned channels (also known as “shared” channels) are when third parties promote or share your content. These third parties could include customers, journalists, bloggers, and anyone who shares your content for free — hence the name “earned”.”

• Mentions – Any time a reputable company or individual mentions your business online it helps to build awareness, credibility and reach.
• Shares – Shares of your content by professional connections, clients, influencers, media outlets and other businesses can greatly increase your reach and overall online presence.
• Forums – Forums such as Quora can be very effective in building awareness, but it is important to remember that although posting is free, many of these forums own the content posted to them.
• Reviews – Positive reviews and well-crafted responses to online complaints can have a serious impact on the perception of your brand.