20 Effective Ways to Develop a Content Marketing Plan

Content marketing allows businesses to accomplish several goals. These digital assets don’t just drive traffic, improve SEO, and engage audiences. They also establish a brand’s reputation for being a trustworthy source of information in their field.

Arguably the best way to promote content is to send it out to a clean email list of active subscribers. Apart from that, however, there are several ways to make the most out of every piece of content you own. Here are 20 proven-effective methods:

Content Marketing on Social Media

Social networking sites like Facebook and Instagram are excellent platforms on which to target and engage relevant groups of people. Here are things you can do on these sites to promote your content:

1. Craft multiple social media posts

Create several snippets to promote the same content using unique social media posts. You can use interesting quotes, impressive statistics, title variations, and several other details. You can even use social media management tools like Buffer and Hootsuite to schedule your posts.

2. Be active in relevant social media groups

Find at least one active group in your niche and establish your presence there. Make sure you participate and add value to the community so that the other members are open to hearing from you whenever you promote your own content.

3. Maintain an active Instagram presence

Whether or not you think your brand is suited for the visual presence that Instagram demands, it won’t hurt to try reaching out to its 1 billion monthly active users. All you need is a photo or video accompanied by a few strategic hashtags, and you’re good to go!

Outreach and Influencer Marketing Tactics

Influencer marketing doesn’t just have a direct impact on your sales and traffic, but also to your reputation. Here are some ways you can align yourself with respected people in your niche.

4. Contact relevant influencers on LinkedIn

If you keep an active LinkedIn profile, chances are you’ll have at least a 2nd-degree connection to influencers in your niche. That makes it easier to get some attention. Send them a direct message about your content and ask them to share or even link to it.

5. Get an industry expert’s opinion

Before you publish your content, reach out to industry experts and ask for their opinion on the matter. Let them know that you’d like to quote them on the piece along with a link to their sites. That makes them more likely to share it with their own followers.

6. Mention your sources on social media

If you’ve referenced some important people or publications in your content, mention them in some of your social media posts. They’ll get notified of the mention and there’s a chance they’ll re-share to their own followers.

7. Convince your sources to share your content

If a simple mention doesn’t work, try sending an email or a direct message letting them know that you referenced them in your content. Make sure you send a link to the page and encourage them to share and link to it as well.

8. Connect with those who have shared similar content

Search for relevant terms on Google and look for popular articles that are similar to the one you’re promoting. Then, take the URLs of those pages and search for them on social networks. Reach out to the people who have shared those articles and convince them to share yours as well.

Link Building Strategies

Getting high-quality backlinks for your site doesn’t just allow you to increase your traffic sources, it also boosts your SEO. Here are some incredibly effective link-building strategies:

9. Connect with those who have linked to similar content

Several online tools like Link Explorer and Ahrefs allow you to check for the domain authority of a website and backlinks to a webpage. Use them to find publishers that have linked to content similar to the one you’re promoting. Then, reach out to them to let them know why yours is better.

10. Find guest posting opportunities

Guest posting allows you to establish your name (and URL) on other digital publications. It offers considerable impacts on SEO, direct traffic generation, and brand building. Just make sure that you only post on relevant, high authority blogs and websites.

11. Link from your popular old content

Link building isn’t limited to external links – internal links matter too. Find your best-performing articles and add links to your newer content. That way, the more established pieces can drive traffic to your fresh ones.

12. Participate in content promotion communities

Sites like Triberr and Blog Engage are platforms specifically made for content marketing. Submit your content to gain exposure and traffic. If your content is engaging enough, some members of the community might link back to it from their own site or social media accounts.

13. Join Q&A sites

Question-and-answer platforms like Answers and Quora are excellent places to establish your authority in your niche as well as gain a few backlinks. Respond to questions relevant to the content you’re promoting and make sure you strategically include a link to your page.

14. Maintain a Tumblr feed

Use Tumblr to post snippets or even visual content to promote your articles. Make sure you include your link as well as a call-to-action that encourages others to share your post. Don’t forget to use relevant hashtags to reach your target audiences.

Content Generation

You can restructure your content in a variety of different formats to cater to a wider audience. Here are some of the best ways to repurpose your content to improve your visibility:

15. Produce a video to engage a different audience

Video is now a critical medium to reach relevant audiences. In fact, the average consumer is expected to watch 100 minutes of video content per day by 2021. Create a short video highlighting the most important parts of your written content. Link to your article in the video’s description. Then, promote the video on your social networks as well.

16. Design a slide deck to tap a new audience

Slideshows reach yet another type of audience. You can repurpose your content to create visually appealing slides that promote your brand and link back to your written content. If compelling enough, these slides might even gain you some valuable backlinks.

17. Develop a whitepaper

Create a professionally laid out .pdf version of your content. Make sure the design reflects your brand. You can then use this as an incentive to sign up for your email list. Or, you could upload it to sites like Scribd and DocDroid to link back to your original content and gain additional traffic.

18. Create a must-read collection of relevant content

Use tools like Flipboard to curate valuable content in your niche. Don’t just link to your own content but include relevant articles from respected websites. Whenever possible, mention users you include in your magazine to encourage them to check it out.

Paid Promotions

Paying for ad placements is an incredibly effective way to instantly drive traffic to your content. Here are ways to make sure your ad budget is spent on relevant, high-value audiences:

19. Pay for social media promotions

Paying for ads to promote your content on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter might take a chunk out of your advertising budget. However, it will immediately give you exposure to an audience that’s hyper-targeted for your niche. But it is necessary to track your social media activity so that you can evaluate which actions are the most effective

20. Advertise on a native advertising platform

Native advertising platforms like Outbrain and Redirect match the design and layout of the page on which they appear. So, they don’t look or feel like ads at all. Advertising on these platforms will allow you to gain traffic from relevant sources without having to deal with guest posting or link building processes.

Wrap Up

These 20 ways to promote your content are useful things that you can do, beyond broadcasting to a clean email list of your business’ subscribers. Most options are free and the rest can be an efficient use of your marketing budget if done correctly. Nevertheless, your considerable effort and commitment to follow through will pay off through a steady stream of web traffic, a remarkable online presence, a reliable source of revenue, and an excellent brand reputation.

Book your free strategy call with us today to find out more about how you can optimise your digital content promotion.