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Content Marketing channels

Date
October 23, 2022

When it comes to content marketing, you need to create content that is interesting and engaging for your audience. But, once you have created this content, you then need to distribute it in a way that will reach the most people possible. This is where content marketing channels come into play.

There are many different types of channels that you can use, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. In this blog post, we will discuss the importance of different channels, different types of channels, how to choose the ones that are right for your business and use them to distribute your content.

What Are Content Marketing Channels?

Content marketing channels are the different ways that you can distribute your content. Some of the most popular channels include social media, email, and search engines. Each channel has its own strengths and weaknesses, so it is important to choose the ones that will work best for your business.

  • Consider your objectives from choosing your content marketing channels. What are you trying to achieve with your content? Do you want to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or drive sales? Once you know your objectives, you can start to narrow down the channels that will be most effective for your business.
  • Consider your target audience. Who are you trying to reach with your content? Each channel has a different audience, so you need to make sure that you are choosing channels that will reach the people who are most likely to be interested in your product or service.
  • Consider your budget when choosing content marketing channels. Some channels are more expensive than others, so you need to make sure that you are choosing channels that fit within your budget.
  • You need to study your competitors. What content marketing channels are they using? How effective are they? By studying your competitors, you can learn from their successes and avoid their mistakes.

How do you ensure that your content will work across different channels?

The answer, unfortunately, is not as simple as it may seem.

Different channels have different strengths and weaknesses, and what works on one channel might not work on another.

For example, Facebook is great for short, sharable content, while LinkedIn is better suited for longer-form articles. Similarly, Snapchat is perfect for behind-the-scenes glimpses into your brand, but Instagram is better for showcasing your products or services.

The key to success is understanding the specific needs of each channel and tailoring your content accordingly.

Of course, this isn’t to say that you can’t repurpose your content.

For example, a blog post can easily be broken up into smaller pieces for social media, or an Instagram video can be repurposed as a webinar idea.

The important thing is to understand how each channel works, the content consumption patterns and what kind of content will be most effective on each one.

By doing so, you’ll be able to ensure that your content marketing efforts are always on target.

Types of Content Distribution Channels

There are three main types of content distribution channels: paid, owned, and earned.

  1. Paid distribution channels include things like paid search ads, sponsored social media posts, and paid email placements. Paid distribution is a great way to reach a large audience quickly, but it can be expensive and might have a longer learning curve depending on the type of content and audience being targeted.
  2. Owned distribution channels are those that you own and control, such as your website, blog, email list, and social media accounts. Owned channels allow you to reach a large audience at a relatively low cost, and you can track the results easily. However, the reach is limited to those who visit your site or subscribe to your email list and dependent on social platform algorithms for organic reach.
  3. Earned distribution channels are those that you don’t control, but that distribute your content through their own channels. This includes things like social media shares, links from other websites, and mentions in online publications. Earned distribution is free and has a wide reach, but it can be difficult to track the results.

When it comes to content marketing, it’s important to have a clear goal in mind for each channel you use. Not every channel will work for every business, so it’s important to select the ones that best align with your goals.

For example, if you’re trying to increase brand awareness, guest posts on sites like HubPages or posts on Twitter or LinkedIn may be a good choice. If you’re looking to generate leads, Facebook or Instagram could be better options. Once you’ve selected your channels, you can start creating content that supports your objectives. If you’re not sure where to start, consider hiring a content marketing agency to help you develop a strategy and create high-quality content that will reach your target audience.

Does the Same Content Work for Different Content Marketing Channels?

No – not all content will work for all channels. You’ll need to create different content for each channel to ensure that it’s relevant and engaging for your audience. It doesn’t have to be unique pieces of content  for each channel, but a blind copy and paste will definitely not work.

For example, If you’re using LinkedIn as an owned channel, you’ll need slightly longer posts with more detailed information about a specific point and most likely have a question as a CTA. This usually triggers commenting on the post and increases the reach of the post to 2nd and 3rd level connections as well.

Content Marketing Channel Objectives

There are three main objectives for content marketing channels: branding, lead generation, and sales.

  1. Branding refers to creating awareness of your company and its products or services. Branding content is typically designed to be entertaining or informative, rather than directly selling something.
  2. Lead generation refers to generating leads that may eventually convert into customers. Lead generation content is typically designed to be helpful or persuasive, rather than entertaining.
  3. Sales refer to actually making sales to customers who have been generated through lead generation efforts. Sales content is typically designed to be very persuasive and pushy, as it’s meant to close the deal.

How to Select the Right Content Marketing Channels

There are a few things to consider when selecting content marketing channels:

  1. Your Goals – The first thing you need to do is identify your goals. What are you trying to achieve with your content marketing? Once you know your goals, you can start to identify which channels will be the most effective for reaching those goals.
  2. Your Target Audience – Who are you trying to reach with your content? Consider things like age, gender, location, interests, and buyer insights when narrowing down your target audience. You’ll also want to consider where your target audience is spending their time online. Once you know who you’re trying to reach, you can start to identify which channels they’re most likely to be using.
  3. Your Budget – How much are you willing to spend on content marketing? Content creation and distribution on some channels can be expensive, so you’ll need to consider your budget when selecting channels. If you have a limited budget, you may want to focus on owned or earned channels, as they tend to be less expensive.
  4. Your Competitors – What are your competitors doing with their content marketing? Study their strategies and see what’s working for them. You can then adapt their strategies to fit your own business.
  5. Your Resources – Do you have the resources to create and distribute content on multiple channels? If not, you may want to focus on a few select channels that you can realistically maintain. Remember that its important to be consistent when creating and distributing content.

How to Create a Winning Content Distribution Strategy on your channels

A content distribution strategy is designed to help you achieve your business goals by getting your content seen by the right people at the right time. But with so many different channels and options available, it can be tough to know where to start.

We’ve put together a 5-step process that will help you create a winning content distribution strategy of your very own.

1. Select Your Channels

As mentioned above, the first step in creating a winning content distribution strategy is to select the channels that you’ll use to distribute your content. There are dozens of different options available, so it’s important to take the time to research each one and decide which ones are right for you and your business.

2. Prioritize Your Content

Not all pieces of content are created equal. Some pieces will be more important to your business goals than others, so it’s important to prioritize accordingly. When deciding which pieces of content to prioritize, take into account things like:

How well the piece aligns with your overall marketing strategy

  • How popular the piece is likely to be with your target audience
  • What part of the buyer’s journey is the content piece for
  • How much effort is required to create the piece

By taking these factors into account, you can ensure that you’re prioritizing your content correctly.

3. Decide on the KPIs You’ll Track

You need to have a way of measuring its effectiveness. This is where KPIs come in. KPIs, or key performance indicators, are metrics that help you gauge how well your strategy is working and whether or not it needs to be adjusted.

There are dozens of different KPIs that you could track, but some common ones include:

  • Website traffic
  • Social media engagement
  • Lead generation
  • Sales conversions

4. Adjust Your Promotional Message Based on Performance

As you begin distributing your content, pay close attention to the way that it performs. Use the KPIs that you identified in step 3 as a guide, and adjust your promotional message accordingly. If certain pieces of content aren’t performing as well as others, don’t be afraid to make changes until you find something that works better.

5 . Measure Performance Regularly 

Content distribution is an ongoing process, which means that you can’t simply set it and forget it. Measuring performance on a regular basis is critical if you want to ensure that your strategy remains effective over time. Set aside some time each week or month to review your KPIs and make any necessary adjustments to ensure that your strategy is still on track.

In conclusion, selecting the right content marketing channels for your business and creating a successful content distribution strategy can be a difficult and time consuming task, but by following the steps outlined in this article, you can get a jumpstart.

By selecting the right channels, prioritizing your content, and tracking performance regularly, you’ll be able to create a strategy that helps you achieve your business goals.