27 million pieces of content are shared every day. That’s a huge number, and it seems like every topic imaginable has been covered from every angle imaginable. If you want to make an impact in such a crowded space, it’s not enough to post something on your website and hope it will get seen. You have to be proactive and make people see it through content amplification.
What is Content Amplification?
Essentially, content amplification is using a variety of tactics to get more people to look at, download and share your content – whether it’s a blog post, infographic, white paper or study. Amplification is essential if your marketing strategy relies heavily on content marketing, but it’s not always easy. To ramp up your amplification game, here are six tips and techniques:
- Get strategic. Make a calendar and schedule your content based on what’s timely. You can’t predict everything, but having themes or a general sense of what you’ll share in the coming months can help you stay focused and gives you enough time to create quality content. It also gives you an opportunity to research existing content and figure out how you can make it better. There’s always an alternative for conveying an idea in a way that’s more engaging, eye-catching or informative.
- Post where people are looking. Thousands of people browse and share content from Medium, Quora, SlideShare and Reddit every day. If these sites already have guaranteed audiences, why not take advantage of them? You can create content specifically for these platforms, such as answering questions related to your expertise on Quora or simply link to your content that’s hosted elsewhere.
- Turbocharge posts on social media. Sharing your content on social media is a no-brainer, but just posting it on your profile a few times doesn’t cut it anymore. To ensure that your intended audience sees your content, you have to make a bit of an investment. Every social media platform has a way to promote posts, and it’s an easy and affordable way to get more eyes on your content.
- Don’t forget email. One of the easiest ways to spread your content and get more email subscribers? Offer people a free download in exchange for their email. As long as the content you’re offering is valuable (like an e-book or how-to guide), it’s a tried-and-true tactic. Once you build your list, you can share even more content via your newsletter. Try adding a link to your latest blog post to your email signature as well.
- Ask for help. It’s not unusual to reference experts, brands or other articles when you create content, especially if it’s informational or fact-based. When you share your content, tag the people you’ve mentioned to let them know they’re included, and they might be inclined to share your content with their own followers. Better yet, ask influencers for a tip or quote to include in your content beforehand and they’ll almost certainly share it once it’s published.
- Make your content bigger. Writing a blog is an easy and relatively quick way to generate content, but a single blog post can only go so far. “Bigger” content, such as books and studies go much further. Excerpts can be shared across an infinite number of sites, and they can generate a number of reviews and interviews. Although small pieces of content have their place, writing a blog post will probably never be as prestigious as putting “researcher” or “New York Times Best Selling Author” on your resume.
