In the competitive landscape of B2B marketing, creating high-quality content is only half the battle. To truly maximize the impact of your content marketing efforts, you need a robust content distribution strategy. By effectively distributing your content, you can reach a wider audience, generate more leads, and drive business growth.
Content distribution is the process of sharing, publishing, and promoting your content through various channels to reach your target audience. It plays a crucial role in the success of your B2B content marketing strategy.
Content Creation vs. Distribution: Key Differences
While content creation focuses on developing valuable and engaging content, distribution ensures that the content reaches the right people at the right time. According to a study by the Content Marketing Institute, 88% of B2B marketers use content marketing, but only 35% have a documented content distribution strategy. This highlights the importance of creating content and having a well-defined plan for distributing it effectively.
Effective Distribution Maximizes Content Marketing ROI
Investing time and resources into content creation without a proper distribution plan can limit your content’s potential. A study by Kapost found that content distribution can generate 3 times more leads than paid search advertising. By implementing effective distribution tactics, you can maximize your content marketing ROI and achieve better results for your business.
For example, consider the case of Moz, a leading SEO software company. They invested heavily in creating high-quality blog posts, guides, and whitepapers but initially struggled to reach their target audience. By revamping their content distribution strategy and focusing on channels like email marketing, social media, and influencer outreach, they were able to increase their website traffic and generate more leads significantly.
B2B Buyers Consume Content Throughout Purchase Journey
B2B buyers consume an average of 13 pieces of content before purchasing. This highlights the importance of distributing your content across various stages of the buyer’s journey to engage and nurture leads effectively.
A great example of this is Salesforce, the leading CRM platform. They create a wide range of content, from blog posts and infographics to webinars and case studies, tailored to different stages of the buyer’s journey. By distributing this content through targeted channels like email campaigns, social media ads, and their website, they can guide potential customers to purchase.
10 Proven B2B Content Distribution Tactics
To amplify your B2B content distribution and reach, consider implementing these proven tactics:
1. Optimize for Search Engines (SEO)
To optimize your content for search engines (SEO), focus on incorporating relevant keywords naturally throughout your page. Conduct thorough keyword research to identify the terms and phrases your target audience is searching for. Strategically place your primary keyword in the title tag, meta description, header tags, and body content.
However, avoid keyword stuffing, as search engines penalize content that appears spammy or manipulative. Instead, prioritize creating high-quality, informative content that satisfies user intent and provides value to your readers. Combining keyword optimization with quality content can improve your search engine rankings and attract organic traffic to your website.
On-Page and Technical SEO Best Practices
Implement on-page SEO best practices, such as using relevant keywords, optimizing meta tags, and structuring content with header tags. Ensure your website has a fast loading speed, mobile-friendliness, and a clear site structure to enhance technical SEO.
HubSpot, a leading inbound marketing platform, is known for its strong SEO strategy. They optimize their blog posts and landing pages with targeted keywords, meta descriptions, and header tags to improve their search engine rankings. As a result, they attract millions of organic visitors to their website each month.
2. Leverage Email Marketing
Email marketing enables you to repurpose and promote your content across various stages of the buyer’s journey. By doing so, you can guide your audience towards desired actions and ultimately support your content marketing goals.
Leveraging email to share relevant content at each stage helps nurture leads and move them closer to making a purchase decision. Segment Email Lists and Personalize Content
Segment your email lists based on subscriber preferences, behaviors, and demographics. Personalize your email content to provide relevant and targeted information to each segment, increasing engagement and conversion rates.
For instance, Buffer, a social media management platform, segments their email list based on subscriber interests and behavior. They send personalized content recommendations and product updates to each segment, increasing open and click-through rates.
3. Promote on Social Media
Social media platforms offer vast opportunities for content distribution. By sharing your content on social media, you can reach a broader audience and engage with your target market.
Optimize Posts for Each Platform
Tailor your social media posts to suit each platform’s best practices. Use eye-catching visuals, compelling headlines, and relevant hashtags to maximize visibility and engagement. LinkedIn, in particular, is a crucial platform for B2B content distribution.
Hootsuite, a social media management tool, excels at promoting its content on various social media platforms. They create platform-specific posts, using images and videos to capture attention and drive engagement. Their LinkedIn strategy focuses on sharing industry insights and thought leadership content, which has helped them build a strong B2B following.
4. Utilize Paid Social Advertising
Paid social advertising allows you to target specific audiences and amplify your content’s reach. B2B platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook provide robust targeting options that allow you to zero in on decision-makers, influencers, and relevant industries. By leveraging these targeting capabilities, you can ensure your content is seen by the right people at the right time.
Target Specific Audiences on B2B Platforms
Leverage the targeting capabilities of B2B platforms to reach decision-makers, influencers, and relevant industries. Use compelling ad copy and visuals to grab attention and drive clicks to your content. A/B testing different ad variations can help you identify the most effective messaging and creative elements.
LinkedIn Sponsored Content is a particularly effective format for B2B marketers. It lets you promote your blog posts, guides, and other content directly in your target audience’s LinkedIn feed.
Asana, a project management tool, has successfully used LinkedIn Sponsored Content to reach decision-makers in specific industries and job functions. By leveraging LinkedIn’s detailed targeting options, they were able to drive high-quality traffic to their content and generate leads.
Facebook and Twitter also offer valuable opportunities for B2B paid social advertising. Facebook’s lookalike audiences allow you to reach people similar to your existing customers or website visitors.
Twitter’s keyword targeting enables you to reach users based on the terms they search for or engage with.
Measuring and optimizing your paid social campaigns is crucial for success. Key metrics to track include click-through rates, conversion rates, and cost per acquisition. By regularly analyzing your performance data and making data-driven optimizations, you can maximize the ROI of your paid social efforts.
5. Tap into Influencer Marketing
Partnering with influencers allows you to leverage their authority and influence to drive more visibility and engagement for your content. When an influencer shares or promotes your content, it exposes your brand to their loyal followers who trust their recommendations. This can lead to increased traffic, engagement, and conversions for your business.
Influencer marketing also helps you diversify your content distribution channels and reach audiences that may be difficult to target through traditional marketing methods. By working with influencers across different platforms and niches, you can expand your brand’s presence and attract new prospects who are interested in your offerings
Co-Create Content and Earn Influencer Shares
Co-creation is one of the most effective ways to leverage influencer marketing for content distribution. Partnering with influencers to create content, such as blog posts, webinars, podcasts, or videos, can be incredibly powerful.
Combining your brand’s expertise with the influencer’s unique perspective and storytelling abilities can produce high-quality, valuable content that appeals to your audiences.
Co-creating content with influencers allows you to tap into their creativity and authenticity. Influencers know how to craft compelling narratives and engage their followers.
By allowing them to inject their personality and style into the content, you can create something that feels genuine and resonates with their audience.
When you co-create content with influencers, you also increase the likelihood of earning their shares and promotion. Influencers are more likely to share content they have had a hand in creating, as it reflects their own brand and expertise.
By involving them in the content creation, you can encourage them to actively promote the piece to their followers, driving more visibility and engagement for your brand.
For example, SAP, a global software company, successfully partnered with industry influencers to create blog posts and videos showcasing their technology solutions. By leveraging the influencers’ expertise and audience, SAP was able to reach a wider B2B audience and generate more leads. The influencers shared their unique insights and experiences with SAP’s products, creating authentic and relatable content that resonated with their followers.
Similarly, Cisco, a multinational technology conglomerate, regularly collaborates with influencers to co-create thought leadership content. They work with industry experts and thought leaders to develop blog posts, whitepapers, and webinars on relevant topics such as cybersecurity, networking, and cloud computing. By partnering with respected influencers in their field, Cisco can enhance its credibility, reach new audiences, and drive meaningful engagement with its target market.
To make the most of influencer co-creation, it’s essential to choose influencers who align with your brand values, have a genuine interest in your offerings, and possess a deep understanding of your industry. Take the time to research potential influencers, analyze their content and engagement rates, and ensure their audience matches your target market.
6. Syndicate Content on Third-Party Sites
Content syndication involves republishing your content on third-party websites and platforms. This tactic helps expose your content to new audiences and drive referral traffic back to your website.
Republish on Industry Blogs and Platforms
Identify relevant industry blogs and platforms that accept syndicated content. Ensure to follow their guidelines and provide proper attribution to your original content.
Kissmetrics, an analytics platform, syndicates its blog posts on popular marketing and entrepreneurship websites like Entrepreneur and Marketing Land. By republishing their content on these high-traffic sites, they can reach a new audience and drive referral traffic back to their website.
7. Engage in Community Marketing
Participating in online communities and forums related to your industry can help distribute your content to targeted audiences.
Participate in Online Communities and Forums
Engage in discussions, answer questions, and provide valuable insights within these communities. Share your content when it adds value to the conversation and helps solve community members’ challenges.
Drift, a conversational marketing platform, actively participates in online communities like GrowthHackers and Inbound.org. By sharing their content and engaging in discussions, they can build brand awareness and drive targeted traffic to their website.
8. Collaborate on Guest Posts
Guest posting involves writing content for other reputable websites in your industry. It allows you to tap into new audiences and establish thought leadership.
Contribute to Industry Blogs and Publications
Identify industry blogs and publications that accept guest contributions. Craft high-quality, informative articles that align with their editorial guidelines and provide value to their readers.
Moz, the SEO software company mentioned earlier, has a strong guest posting strategy. They contribute articles to leading marketing and SEO blogs, providing valuable insights and establishing themselves as industry experts. This has helped them attract new audiences and generate high-quality backlinks to their website.
9. Repurpose Content into New Formats
Repurposing your content into different formats can extend its reach and cater to various audience preferences.
Transform into Videos, Infographics, Podcasts
Transform your blog posts into engaging videos, infographics, or podcasts. These visual and audio formats can be shared across different platforms and appeal to a broader audience.
Unbounce, a landing page builder, repurposes their blog content into various formats. They create videos, infographics, and slideshares based on their popular blog posts, which they then distribute across social media and other channels. This helps them reach new audiences and reinforce their message through multiple touchpoints.
10. Use Content Distribution Platforms
Content distribution platforms, such as Outbrain and Taboola, can help amplify your content’s reach through paid promotion.
Amplify Reach via Paid Distribution Platforms
Utilize these platforms to promote your content on relevant websites and reach a targeted audience. Set clear goals, monitor performance, and optimize your campaigns based on data-driven insights.
Intercom, a customer messaging platform, uses Outbrain to distribute its blog content to a broader audience. By promoting their articles on relevant websites through Outbrain’s network, they can attract more qualified leads and drive conversions.
Measuring Content Distribution Success
Measuring the success of your content distribution efforts is essential to ensure that your strategy is effective and driving the desired results.
By tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) and analyzing data from various distribution channels, you can gain valuable insights into what’s working and what needs improvement.
Define KPIs and Goals for Distribution
The first step in measuring content distribution success is establishing clear KPIs and goals aligning with your overall business objectives. These KPIs should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
Some common KPIs for content distribution include:
- Website traffic: Track the number of visitors to your website from each distribution channel to determine which ones drive the most traffic.
- Lead generation: Monitor the leads generated from your content, such as form submissions, newsletter sign-ups, or content downloads.
- Engagement rates: Measure engagement metrics like time on the page, scroll depth, and social media interactions (likes, comments, shares) to gauge how well your content resonates with your audience.
- Conversions: Track the number of conversions from your content, such as sales, demo requests, or event registrations.
For example, if your goal is to increase brand awareness, your KPIs might include website traffic, social media reach, and media mentions. If your goal is to generate leads, your KPIs could focus on form submissions, content downloads, and email sign-ups.
Use Analytics to Track Channel Performance
To effectively measure content distribution success, you need to utilize analytics tools that provide insights into the performance of each distribution channel.
Google Analytics is a powerful tool for tracking website traffic, user behaviour, and conversions. It lets you see which distribution channels drive the most traffic to your site, how users interact with your content, and which pages generate the most leads or sales.
Social media analytics tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Buffer provide detailed insights into your social media performance. These tools allow you to track metrics like reach, engagement, and click-through rates, helping you identify which types of content resonate best with your audience on each platform.
Email marketing platforms like Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor offer analytics on email open rates, click-through rates, and conversions. Tracking these metrics lets you determine which email campaigns are most effective at driving engagement and conversions.
For example, Salesforce, a global CRM company, uses a combination of Google Analytics, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and Tableau to track the performance of its content across various channels.
By analyzing data from these tools, they can identify which types of content generate the most engagement and conversions and optimize their distribution strategy accordingly.
Optimize Distribution Strategy Based on Insights
Continuously analyzing your content distribution data and using the insights to optimize your strategy is crucial for maximizing the impact of your content.
By identifying the channels and tactics that yield the best results, you can allocate your resources more effectively and focus on the areas that drive the most value for your business.
This may involve doubling down on high-performing channels, experimenting with new tactics, or adjusting your content format to suit your audience’s preferences better.
A/B testing is a powerful technique for optimizing your content distribution strategy. You can determine which elements resonate best with your audience and drive the desired actions by testing different headlines, visuals, calls-to-action, or distribution channels.
Regularly reviewing and refining your KPIs and goals is also essential to ensure your content distribution strategy remains aligned with your evolving business objectives. As your business grows and your audience’s needs change, your KPIs and goals may need to be adjusted to reflect these shifts.
For example, HubSpot, a leading inbound marketing and sales platform, continually optimizes its content distribution strategy based on data insights. They use a combination of analytics tools to track the performance of their content across various channels and regularly conduct A/B tests to optimize elements like headlines, visuals, and calls-to-action.
By continuously refining their approach based on data-driven insights, HubSpot has significantly increased its website traffic, lead generation, and customer acquisition.
Conclusion
B2B content distribution is a critical component of a successful content marketing strategy. By implementing a mix of proven distribution tactics and continuously optimizing your approach, you can effectively reach your target audience, drive engagement, and achieve your content marketing goals.
The key to success lies in understanding your audience, leveraging the proper channels, and providing value at every touchpoint. By consistently delivering relevant and high-quality content to the right people at the right time, you can establish your brand as a trusted authority in your industry and drive meaningful business results.
Remember, content distribution is an ongoing process that requires experimentation, analysis, and refinement. Stay up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices, and don’t be afraid to try new tactics to amplify your content’s reach and impact.
By following the proven strategies outlined in this article and learning from the real-world examples provided, you can take your B2B content distribution to the next level and achieve the success your content deserves.