So you’ve created a great piece of content with loads of information and relevant keywords. Your post even shows up on the first page of Google, but the traffic to your content is still poor. Sound familiar?

Promotion is the step many companies fail at when it comes to content marketing. They think their job is done once they’re done creating the campaign or have posted content on social media. A word of caution – unless you are astonishingly lucky, the audience may not even notice it. At least not without a bit of extra effort put in by your team.

This is simply because the internet is a crowded place. Although your content may be amazing, you’re not the only one who creates content.

Here are the common challenges faced by marketers when promoting content:

  1. High and ever-increasing competition.
  2. Insufficient resources.
  3. Keeping content powerful, engaging and unique.
  4. Having unrealistic expectations.
  5. Creating and maintaining effective publishing schedules.

You should consider content promotion from the day you start creating content until the time it’s published. You also need to understand the way people share content. It rarely happens that an influential share is followed by a cascade of successive shares. So if you wish to see your content drive marketing goals and serve its purpose, you need to promote it.

In this article, we’ll talk about the top five ways in which you can connect your audience with your content.

1. Contact influencers who share similar content

Contacting influencers who shared similar content like you published is among the simplest and most effective ways to promote your content. If you search for the topics you normally write about using tools like BuzzSumo, you can get a ton of popularly-shared articles related to what you write.

In the search results, there’s an option to “View Sharers.”

Once you click on this, you will be able to view the list of influential people who have shared the content. These are the influencers you need to reach out to in order to get them to share your content. Since they have shared content similar to yours, there’s a good chance they will be interested in what you wrote.

Here are few things to include in your “contacting other influencers” strategy:

  • Look for influencers who’ve shared posts similar to or related to your content, and make a list. Maybe they’re still interested in the topic and will enjoy reading your work.
  • Look for the contact information of these influencers and send them personalized emails. Your emails should clearly explain why your post will appeal to their audience.
  • If you’re unable to find their contact information, consider tweeting to them.

But it is crucial that the influencers you work with are relevant to your brand. With tools like Hypr, tapinfluence, Insightpool or Grin, you can search for relevant influencers without breaking a sweat. Its unique filter options allow you to filter by engagement rates, social network and location so you can zero in on ideal influencers.

2. Promote your content through content syndicators

Collaborating with a website that has a larger audience and is more authoritative can greatly amplify your content’s reach. Content syndication is the process of republishing existing content on other websites in order to target a larger audience. Syndicated content not only increases your content’s reach but also drives traffic.

To maximize results, you shouldn’t concentrate only on the content creation process. Think of promoting both your existing and new content.

Here are all the steps you need to take in order to get the most out of content syndication:

  • Establish goals. Your goals should be in terms of leads, traffic, backlinks and awareness.
  • Locate potential syndication partners. Once you’ve established your goals, you’ll have an idea of the type of content you wish to promote.
  • Guest post. Guest posts are one of the best ways to promote your content. Search and contact websites that accept guests posts in the particular niche you follow.
  • Pitch with email. Once you find out with whom you need to connect with in order to syndicate your content, create an email pitch. Keep it short and to the point.
  • Stay proactive. Don’t put all of your efforts and faith in only one website or person when promoting your content. If a particular website or authority does not want your content to be featured on their website, don’t be disheartened. Look out for other opportunities until you find one.
  • Maintain long-term relationships. Once you’re able to syndicate your content, maintain relationships with host websites by providing them with more quality content.

Here’s a perfect example of content syndication:

Image via HuffPost

The screenshot above shows writer Mark Tseng-Putterman’s post on the top 8 Asian American movements that took place in the U.S. This post was originally written for Medium and has been since posted on HuffPost. This way, the writer is not only able to amplify the content’s reach but also increase traffic.

3. Promote your content through social media groups/communities

Sharing your content in communities or groups on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc., can help you gain targeted exposure. This type of exposure is way beyond the reach you get from your current connections. However, follow the below-mentioned rules for the best results:

  • Don’t focus only on self-promotion. Do not join a community or forum only to share and promote your content. Actively take part in the group’s discussions, and make sure you comment on and share other people’s content. Solely focusing on self-promotion will be considered spammy, which won’t do any good for you.
  • Share your best work. Do not share all of the articles you have written. Post only your best work and you’ll surely be noticed.

Here’s a great example of how you should share your content in groups and communities. In this screenshot below, you can see an influencer marketing professional sharing a link to a group called Influencer Marketing Mastermind Group. The article is relevant to the group as it is about influencer marketing rookie mistakes. It was originally published on LinkedIn, and then shared with the Facebook group.

Image via Facebook

4. Promote your content through forums

You can also successfully promote your content through popular forums such as Reddit and Quora. But it’s important to know that each of them has their own rules. They also can be very disapproving when it comes to self-promotional content. However, this does not mean you are forbidden to use these sites.

Reddit

Before using Reddit for promotional purposes, understand this: Redditors hate promotional content. You need to crack Reddit’s code and understand what users like so you can reap the benefits.

Reddit communities such as r/b2b_sales/ and /r/b2bmarketing/ are perfect platforms for you to engage with readers who might be interested in what you have to say. But before you start promoting your own content, engage with the content you like by giving upvotes and providing insightful comments on them. This will help you become a genuine Redditor and win the trust of other users.

When you feel that you’ve become a trustworthy entity, then share relevant branded content. Chances are it will be accepted by the majority of users.

Quora

Quora is a platform where you share your knowledge on topics you’re well-informed in. Just like Reddit, the secret to success on Quora is to establish a presence in the community.

Create a Quora profile and do what Quora users do – answer questions. Also, make sure you upvote and share answers you like.

By doing this, you’ll portray yourself as someone who has knowledge in a particular field. Try adding links to relevant articles you’ve written that will help Quora users in learning more about the topic.

Neil Patel, for instance, regularly answers questions related to content marketing on Quora. One of the questions he answered was related to beginner mistakes in content marketing.

He wrote a lengthy and detailed answer to establish his expertise in the field. In the middle of his answer, he inserted a link to one of his blog posts that will help readers learn more about a certain topic that he mentioned.

5. Promote your content through content curation platforms

Content curation is an integral part of any digital marketing strategy. It helps you maintain a publishing schedule that is consistent and high quality.

Manually locating the most relevant content in any industry and then broadcasting it on multiple channels is a hefty job.

Curata is an excellent content curation platform, where you have tons of companies on the lookout for quality, relevant content to share. It allows users to seamlessly publish and promote valuable content through all their social channels. You even get recommendations for content relevant to your brand, which you can share to engage your audience effectively.

Conclusion

Adding the above tactics to your promotion strategy can generate greater exposure, stronger leads and higher conversion rates.

We also suggest taking a look at OSI Affiliate, which is an Easy-to-use affiliate software that makes it easy to recruit and empower affiliates and influencers to promote your brand.

Know any other content promotion strategies? Feel free to mention them in the comments section below.

Shane Barker is a digital marketing consultant who specializes in sales funnels, targeted traffic, and website conversions. He has consulted with Fortune 500 companies, influencers with digital products, and a number of A-List celebrities.