If you’re stressed about having to constantly push content out on the web to remain relevant, you need to stop putting so much pressure on yourself. The key is to share GOOD content, not A LOT of it. GOOD content is anything that delivers value. Valuable content is anything that provides timely, relevant and useful news or information to the reader. Once you have that GOOD content, you can use some of these best practices to share it far and wide.
Don’t be afraid to repeat
Yes it’s true that your readers or viewers might get tired of seeing you share the same old content every week, but it doesn’t have to be the same old content every time. Remember content can always be re-purposed: maybe use a different headline or change the introduction to appeal to different audiences. And if your following is growing at a steady rate, you will most likely have new followers who haven’t seen all of your content yet and you don’t want them to miss a thing. Think of television commercials and how often they play the same commercial during one program. There is no shame in their repetitive game and there shouldn’t be any shame in yours either. If you are really worried about getting called out on your repetitiveness, wait a couple of months before sharing the same content. Chances are, with a little re-purposing, no will notice
Share your content widely
If you have found 10 online forums where your target audience visits to discuss matters related to your product or service, then there is probably another 10 just like it out there waiting for you to share your thought leadership. Facebook alone has groups of all different sizes related to one or more subjects and other social networks like LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube and even Twitter will also have several groups where you can share content, get your name and your brand in front of prospects and build your following. Check blog posts that discuss relevant topics as well and share a link to your content in the comments. Just make sure it relates to the blog or that could be annoying.
Don’t forget your website
This sounds like a no-brainer, but when I started writing ‘red papers‘, I shared them everywhere except for my website. Not on purpose though, it was just a simple oversight. Even though you get no traffic on your website, you must always think of it as your online hub to store and share information about you and everything you do. You always want to direct the traffic back to your website. After all, it’s your 24/7 employee that is ready and available to share your information with all your website visitors; so why not give it some work to do.
Don’t forget social media
Also a no-brainer, but if you are starting or in the middle of building a strong social network, then they want to hear from you too…that’s why they started following you. So use your Facebook, Instagram, YouTube to promote your content and drive traffic back to your blog or website.
Use online advertising
Traditional advertising is fading and almost going the way of the dinosaur. It’s really just the top brands and Fortune 500 companies that continue to make use of television and billboard ads because they can afford it and it works for them. But online advertising presents opportunities for small outfits like you and I to reach a wider and more targeted audience and at a rate we can afford. With pay-per-click campaigns, online advertisers can set their own budget according to what they can afford and really drill down their target by country, city, age, gender, education and more. With as little as $100 per month, you could launch a Google Adwords campaign that will send your website to the top of the search results and have the business calls rolling in.
I would love to hear some of your suggestions and stories on how to share content and build those relationships in the comments section below.