Your Guide to Content Distribution: What It Is and How to Leverage It

Imagine spending countless hours creating the perfect blog post, video, or infographic, only to have it go unnoticed. Unfortunately, this is the case for several content creators and marketers.

The answer will probably be no for most people for several reasons.

Did you know that

• According to Ahrefs, 90.63% of all content published online gets no traffic from Google.
• 68% of businesses report a higher ROI from content marketing when combined with a distribution strategy.

These figures highlight a critical truth, while creating quality content is crucial, so is promoting it on the right platforms. Otherwise, your target audience won’t even know that you’ve published the best resource or content on your website.

Today, all online platforms are cluttered with information, and people don’t have enough time to manually type a particular website and explore its content (unless it’s important to them).

Hence, the only solution to this problem is a well-defined content distribution strategy. As the name indicates, it involves distributing content on relevant platforms for easy discoverability.

The more you distribute your content, the easier it will become for your target audience to find, read, and engage with the content.

The best part of content distribution strategy is that businesses of all sizes and industries can benefit from it. Even if you don’t run a full-scale business and sell services as a coach, consultant, freelancer, etc., you will still need content distribution to reach a greater audience.

This blog aims to guide you through your content distribution strategy. We have covered the A-Z of content distribution so you understand how it fits into your content marketing plan and ways to leverage it correctly.

Content Distribution: Understanding the Basics

Content distribution is a simple concept, yet many businesses get it wrong. There is a myth that only certain types of content can be used for distribution. In reality, you can distribute any type of content, as long as it is relevant to your audience.

While some businesses only create a content distribution plan for their blogs, it can also be done for white papers, elaborate niche-specific guides, research reports, ebooks, case studies, videos, checklists, infographics, podcasts, and almost every other type of content you’ve produced.

The key to content distribution success lies in picking the right distribution platform for every content asset.

Popular Content Distribution Channels

If you work closely with content marketing professionals, you’ll know that there are three main types of content distribution channels, i.e., owned, earned, and paid.

Each channel is important and does an excellent job of putting your content in front of your target audience.

But you can only benefit from these channels if have a good understanding of each. If you’re new to content distribution, let’s start by understanding the fundamentals of each platform shared below.

1. Owned Channel

Whether you run a small or mid-size business, you’ll always have some owned content distribution channels at your disposal. Since these channels belong to your business, you have full control over the type of content you want to share, distribution timing, and frequency.

Some examples of owned channels include your website’s blog, social media handles, email newsletters, own app, YouTube channel, podcast, etc.

If you use owned channels for content distribution, you may not get instant results (especially if you’re new to content creation and distribution), but the gradual results will be sustainable and stable.

2. Earned Channel

Earned channels belong to third-party individuals/businesses/platforms. Blogs, niche-relevant review sites, social media handles, and traditional media like newspapers, TV shows, etc., are a few examples of earned channels.

These are the channels that share your content content because they find it insightful, or resonate with their audiences.

The most common earned distribution channels are social media shares, user-generated content, mentions in industry forums, media coverage, and unpaid influencer recommendations.

3. Paid Channel

Lastly, paid channels refer to content distribution channels that require a content promotion fee.

Did you know that nearly two-thirds (63%) of companies utilize paid channels to speed up the distribution of their content and enhance visibility?

Paid channels are the most important parts of content marketing plans for medium and large-scale businesses because they deliver instant results. The only downside of paid channels is that they require steady investment for content promotion.

The moment you stop paying for these channels, the promotion will instantly stop, lowering the content reach and engagement.

Some examples of paid channels include search engine ads, social media ads, influencer partnerships, paid press releases, banner ads on mobile apps, etc.

How to Pick the Right Content Distribution Channel?

If you’re creating different types of content at scale, picking the right content distribution channel is crucial. Many businesses get overwhelmed with this task, which ultimately affects the final results.

As per Forbes.com, in 2024 73% of businesses use organic social media for content distribution.

If you don’t have a content marketing professional to design content distribution plans and pick the right channels, always make the decision based on the content type and channel’s theme.

For example, if you want to share a customer success story, then the website’s blog section and social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter) will be better content distribution channels than Pinterest or Medium.

When you want to boost your sales and reach instantly paid ads across search engines and social media are the best option.

Similarly, if you want to share a newly launched product, then a paid press release will be a great option. YouTube and other social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram are better content distribution channels for sharing videos and reaching younger audiences.

Always ensure the content type and formats are supported by your selected content distribution channel.

This will drastically increase the chances of your content being discovered by more people, leading to increased reach, engagement, and, eventually, conversions.

Steps to Build a Winning Content Distribution Plan

Having a well-defined and designed content distribution plan can save you from last-moment panic-induced decisions. The plan also ensures that everyone on the team remains on the same page and collaboratively works towards a shared goal.

If you’ve never created a content distribution plan before, the six step-by-step tips shared below can help:

1. Research Your Target Audience

You can never go wrong by knowing your target audience inside out. Conducting thorough target audience research will help you determine which platforms they use the most, the type of content they consume, topics that interest them the most, etc.

All this can be used to create and distribute content that grabs maximum eyeballs and boosts brand awareness.

Define Your Audience Segment

Start by identifying the key groups within your target audience. You may have different buyer personas based on demographics, interests, or behaviors. Break your audience down into segments such as age, gender, location, profession, and purchasing habits.

For example, if you’re running a B2B company, your audience could include decision-makers, influencers, and end-users within organizations. For a B2C business, you might segment your audience by lifestyle, interests, or income level.

Use Data and Analytics

To learn more precisely about your ideal target audience, you can tap into the ongoing conversations by visiting the forums they engage in. You can also check their comments on podcasts or social media platforms to learn more about them. Conducting surveys is also an excellent option.

But these are extremely draining and time-consuming processes, so look for sophisticated tools that offer target audience research as a top feature.

2. Decide What Content to Distribute First

Some businesses make the mistake of spending too much time on content creation and less on content distribution. If you don’t want your content to go unnoticed, start by prioritizing what content to distribute first.

Understand Your Objectives

Before choosing what to distribute, clarify your goal. Are you trying to drive traffic, generate leads, build brand awareness, or boost engagement?

Your objective will determine which content aligns with your strategy. For example, if your goal is to drive traffic, focus on creating high-performing blog posts, customer success stories, or in-depth guides may be the best move. If brand awareness is your focus, consider sharing videos, infographics, or content that tells your brand’s story.

Leverage Analytics

Conduct a content audit on your website and social media channels to determine what content assets you already have and the best distribution channels for them.

You can use Google Analytics or any other content analysis tools like Ahref, Semrush, etc to identify the best-performing blog posts and share them on other channels for better reach.

Consider Timeliness

Sometimes we produce content which are time time-sensitive. For example, consider the 4th of July Sales promotion. You can’t post a 4th of July Sale promotion content in August, or a Christmas wish content in February, right?

So one of the most important things in content distribution is to prioritize the content to yield maximum engagement.

Repurpose High-Value Content

Sometimes it happens that few of the the contents have performed exceedingly well. For example, if one of your blogs on customer success stories received a good number of views, share it on social media sites with a captivating caption or brief teaser that makes people want to click on the attached blog link and read the full blog.

You can do the same for social media content by analyzing their performance.

3. Pick the Right Content Distribution Channels

Once you’ve finished the research, content creation, and content asset prioritization phase, select the right distribution channel for each.

Understand Your Audience’s Preferred Platforms

The most important step in choosing the distribution channel is to understand the platforms preferred by your audience. Different platforms attract different audiences, so it’s important to focus on where your target audience is most active.

LinkedIn is ideal for B2B content, thought leadership, and professional networking.

Instagram works well for visual storytelling, influencer collaborations, and lifestyle brands.

TikTok is ideal for short videos, viral content, and engaging younger audiences through trends and challenges.

Facebook reaches a broad demographic and supports various content types like articles, videos, and community engagement.

YouTube is great for educational or entertaining video content.

Podcasts are becoming increasingly popular, especially for delivering in-depth insights, interviews, and discussions. If your target audience consumes long-form audio content or prefers learning on the go, distributing podcasts on platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts can be highly effective.

You can also promote these episodes through social media channels or embed them in blog posts for cross-promotion.

Email remains a powerful channel for distributing content directly to your audience’s inbox.

As per Forbes, in 2023, over 50% integrate email marketing into their strategy.

Email allows direct engagement, ideal for sharing blog updates, podcasts, or special offers. Segment your audience to personalize content and increase engagement.

Just like email marketing, SMS marketing is a direct, highly effective method to share time-sensitive information or engage audiences on a more personal level. Use it to share new content, promote exclusive offers, or send event reminders, ensuring high open rates and engagement.

Align Content Types with Channels

You can not go with the same content for all the platforms, you need to come up with different sets of content for different platforms.

For example

Blog posts and in-depth articles work well on your website, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Videos are best shared on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and even TikTok if your audience skews younger.

Did you know that? In a survey, 86% of marketers said that video has helped increase their website traffic.

Infographics perform well on visually-driven platforms like Instagram and Pinterest.

Podcasts can be distributed on audio platforms like Spotify, and Apple Podcasts, or promoted via social media.

Choosing the Right Distribution Channel

One of the key steps to reach your goal is to choose the distribution channel.

Divide the entire distribution plan into three main categories, i.e., owned, earned, and paid. Now, assign the content assets to the relevant channel based on the budget, content type, and KPI.

For example, if you want your target audience to download your eBook or industry report at zero investment, promote it on your owned channel, or through email marketing.

If you want to boost your sales, reach a new audience, or build your brand, going with paid media is the best way to achieve it.

For faster results, you can explore barter collaborations with niche influencers for better results. You must also evaluate and match the content format with the distribution channel’s theme. For instance, video content will perform better on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, whereas text-based content is ideal for content syndication platforms.

4. Optimize and Measure

To effectively measure the success of your content distribution, it’s essential to define the right KPIs for each asset and channel. This ensures you focus on meaningful metrics, such as downloads for gated content or engagement for social media posts, rather than vanity metrics.

Additionally, tweaking your promotional message for each platform will help resonate with your audience without sounding overly promotional.

Finally, consistently measuring performance and testing different approaches will allow you to refine your strategy, ensuring long-term success in content marketing.

Decide the KPIs to Evaluate Performance

It is the most crucial step because it will give you data-driven insights into what’s working and what needs to change. The best content marketing professionals finalize KPIs for each content asset based on the distribution channel.

For instance, tracking downloads will make greater sense for gated content like eBooks, industry reports, checklists, etc., than organic search views.

Similarly, engagement metrics like likes, shares, and comments will be better KPIs for evaluating social media content performance rather than views.

This step will ensure that you don’t focus on vanity metrics that don’t align with the content’s purpose and goal.

Tweak Your Promotional Message

Businesses often invest in content creation and distribution with the ultimate purpose of increasing brand awareness and conversions. Hence, most content pieces have some degree of promotional essence that links the content to the brand.

If you want to grab the maximum reach and win peoples’ trust and interest, you must present the promotional message in a way your target audience likes.

Avoid sounding overly promotional or insensitive because it could attract a severe backlash. For instance, if you’re sharing a blog post in a niche forum, ensure it appears helpful to the target audience instead of looking like full-blown promotional content.

Every piece of content must be tweaked for messaging before being distributed on any platform. It is time-consuming but is also highly rewarding.

Measure the Content Performance

The interesting part about content marketing is no one can guarantee what will work. Sometimes, the most exciting topics don’t perform as well as we think they would. Hence, the best way to win in content distribution games is by constantly publishing and testing what works better on which platform. Consider investing in a premium content analysis platform that displays the KPIs on a single dashboard.

It will give you a bird’s-eye view of what content types drive the most engagement, which blog topics perform better, how people engage with your content, and more. You can use these insights to plan future content distribution efforts for the best results.

Keep testing content at scale and double down on the content topics, formats, and platforms that are generating top results.

Secret Strategies to Get Better Results with Content Distribution

The most successful businesses have a solid content distribution plan to support their brand awareness, client acquisition, and sales efforts. While most organizations witness decent results by following the ‘by the books’ rule, those with extraordinary results often go the extra mile while distributing content.

If you want to outperform your competitors and distribute your content like a pro, we have some expert tips for you. Implement the following content distribution strategies for massive success:

Promote with Banners, Pop-ups, and Sidebar CTAs

It is the best way to ethically put your content in front of warm leads. This strategy falls on the ‘push’ side of the ‘pull and push’ marketing principle and presents your content to website visitors through pop-ups, banners, and sidebar CTAs.

However, ensure the pop-ups aren’t intrusive and don’t disrupt the user experience on your website.

Pitch Content to Relevant Newsletters

Since email newsletters have performed exceptionally well in recent times, you can always benefit by partnering with a popular, niche-specific newsletter owner.

If you have recently started writing newsletters and want high-quality sign-ups, you can pay successful newsletter owners for every successful sign-up from their list. This paid content distribution channel will give you the highest ROI.

Syndicate Your Blogs

Content marketing experts don’t talk about this strategy much, but it delivers impressive results in the long term. There are numerous publications that syndicate content, meaning they republish blogs as excerpts or in their entirety.

The guidelines for syndication vary based on the publication, so you must reach out to the shortlisted publications for precise guidelines. An easy way to find such publications is by typing ‘republished with permission + keyword.’ Once you’ve got some recommendations, search further by typing ‘publication name + alternatives.’ It will bring your blogs in front of a more targeted audience.

Mastering Content Distribution: Your Key to Long-Term Success

Regardless of the industry you operate in or the scale of your business, you will always need a well-designed content distribution plan for higher targeted reach. Businesses that do this right often win in the short and long run.

Whether you want to attract more sign-ups for your mini-courses or want your brand to be known as a reliable industry leader, the right content distribution can help you achieve it. Start small and scale as you develop a better understanding of this process.

If you’re ready to take your content marketing to the next level, we’re here to support you. Our team of content marketing experts will create a personalized distribution plan that aligns with your goals and delivers real results.

Let us help you build a strategy that drives engagement, attracts the right audience, and strengthens your brand’s presence. Contact us today to get started!