Estimated reading time: 7 mins
Too often companies invest in content development without thinking about the final but incredibly important last step: publishing. Where you choose to publish your content can have as much impact on your content marketing success as what you choose to say.
In this post, we’ll discuss strategic content distribution, which involves both publishing (choosing the best platforms for posting your content) and amplifying (ensuring people see your content) what you have created.
Establishing a Process for Creating Content
This post is the last in our series covering the steps of a successful content creation process. We’ve seen that step 1 is to come up with effective content marketing ideas. Step 2 ensures that your content has a main point. Step 3 involves incorporating the 5 components of an effective content piece.
This post provides an overview of publishing and amplifying content for maximum impact.
Publishing
With so many options available these days for publishing and sharing content, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. You may be tempted to publish content everywhere possible or decide that publishing on your company website suffices.
Both of these approaches will curtail the potential impact of your content. Narrowing your publishing strategy may mean that you aren’t engaging your target audience. Broadening your publishing efforts may dilute the effect of your content.
The goal of strategic publishing is to get your target audience to read and interact with your content. This requires intentionally choosing the platforms that your audience frequents.
As Jeff Stephenn writes on Entrepreneur, “Each platform requires a learning curve. Each requires time and effort to determine exactly how you can leverage it. Each requires you to start anew in audience building and content creation.”
That’s why it’s important to spend time determining what options for publishing your content best align with your content goals. “Intentionality in choosing your distribution channels will not only benefit you – saving time, energy, and resources – it will benefit your audience, as well. They will get your best content, the content that has been crafted with a focus on their needs and real solutions,” writes Julia McCoy.
For businesses that offer products and services to pharma companies, there are a few strategic channels to consider when publishing content.
Company Website
The most important place to publish your content is on your company’s own website. When you use your own website to house content, you have full control over the tone, style, message, and voice. It also presents an authentic way for visitors to connect with your brand.
“Blogging gives your business a way to touch on issues and concerns of interest to your prospects, while also sharing what you and your employees are passionate about. Your blog posts give you a unique opportunity to share your voice and personality, building up trust and increasing your brand’s likeability quotient,” writes Jayson Demers.
According to Hubspot, businesses that produce their own content:
Receive 67% more leads
Experience 13x more ROI
Get 97% more links
With encouraging statistics like those, it’s no wonder that “consistent, high-quality, and engaging content impacts audience decision-making more than any other technique.”
Guest Posts
Another option for publishing content is to write a guest post for the website of an influencer in your area of expertise. This allows you to take advantage of their existing audience and
demonstrate your expertise, both of which build your reputation. Writing guest posts is so effective that Neil Patel, a content marketing leader, calls it “the best inbound marketing strategy.”
Industry Publications
Publishing an article in an industry journal is an especially effective way to successfully leverage content marketing to attract business from pharma companies. “By building thought leadership within a trade publication, you'll easily draw leads to you for all sorts of conversion opportunities. Once you publish, readers will ask to connect with you on LinkedIn, follow you on Twitter, engage with you in comments on the publication, and if you know how to work these touch points well, they'll eventually follow you back to your website for more contact opportunities,” writes Tami Wessley.
Publishing content through trade publications also builds and educates your audience. “Writing informative, how-to, and opinion pieces for online publications is a fast and efficient way to reach new audiences and guide them back to your site,” writes Matt Camp.
The pharma industry has several journals that are worth considering if your content aligns with their focus, including:
Online and Print Publications
More general publications like Forbes and Entrepreneur may also offer a good option for publishing content. While they are not as specialized as industry journals, these types of magazines enjoy a wide readership that will increase your content’s reach.
Publishing in print magazines is also an often-overlooked strategy in our digital age. Print is making a rebound because it “gives your customers something to sink their teeth into. You can discuss topics at greater length and give your readers something to hold onto for more than a few fleeting seconds. Since print is now considered ‘non-traditional’, it’s the perfect medium to use to capture — and hold — attention,” writes Annette McCrary.
Social Media
For B2B pharma companies a selective approach is required to determining which social media platforms to use. While Facebook or Instagram may be popular social media platforms for other industries, they don’t attract the same audience as the two platforms we recommend for pharma content publishing: LinkedIn and SlideShare.
As we explore below, promoting content through social media that’s already published on your website (or elsewhere), is different than using a social media platform to house content.
In our experience, LinkedIn is the best option to use for publishing content directed at a pharma audience. “Publishing content on LinkedIn allows you to expand your brand, connect with your network, and build trust,” writes Paige Southard, Hubspot.
Since LinkedIn attracts executives and other professionals, content is more likely to reach decision-makers and influencers in your niche. LinkedIn is “full of senior-level business professionals, decision-makers, and C-suite executives who are busy networking (and not procrastinating) on LinkedIn,” writes Neil Patel.
Here are some compelling stats about LinkedIn users (and your potential audience):
LinkedIn is the most popular social media platform with CEOs (source)
40% of LinkedIn members login daily (source)
The best-performing content pieces on LinkedIn are in-depth and actionable (source)
6 out of 10 LinkedIn users are interested most in industry insights (source)
43% of LinkedIn users are interested in new products or services (source)
The takeaway from these statistics is that LinkedIn users are active, motivated, and eager for (your!) content. As Neil Patel notes, “People are out there starving for quality content.”
SlideShare
Another option for publishing content is SlideShare. This platform is well-suited for visual content, making it easy to turn existing presentations into content. One significant benefit of SlideShare is that you can determine the category of your presentation, allowing you to better target your audience.
SlideShare presentations and infographics also tend to rank well in search engine results (often better than content on your own site), so a well-optimized deck can generate traffic from visitors who would otherwise have not found your site.
Evergreen content, or content that is designed to drive traffic to your website over the long haul, performs best on SlideShare. The longer your presentations appear on SlideShare, the more traffic they will attract.
Here’s an example of content we’ve published on SlideShare:
Amplifying
Once your content is live, it’s tempting to think your work is done. But, one of the most crucial pieces of content success still needs to be done: amplifying. While there is some overlap between publishing and amplifying, amplifying your content is a different ballgame than publishing it.
Amplifying content is promoting it so that more people lay eyes on what you’ve created. “Content amplification is the process of helping your content reach a significantly wider audience – hence, ‘amplifying’ the signal of your content,” writes Dan Shewan. Done correctly, amplification “can deliver incredible results. It can expand your audience immensely, establish your brand firmly at top-of-mind among consumers in your industry, and create new opportunities to drive leads and sales.”
An effective content amplification strategy incorporates owned, paid, and earned media to reach the widest audience possible within your targeted niche.
Owned
Owned media includes the channels you have control over, such as your website, social media profiles, and email list. With owned media, you decide “what is displayed...and when it’s displayed. You control how often content is posted and how long it remains public. Owned media is versatile and has a long life span,” writes Susan Moeller.
Paid
Paid amplification, such as sponsored content and advertising, is another form of media to use for content amplification. Paying to play can reach members of your target audience more effectively and quickly than organic methods. Paid amplification also gives you powerful targeting tools to get the right message before the right people and analytical tools to refine your ads.
Earned
Earned media is unpaid exposure for your company. It can come in the form of customer testimonials, social media posts, word-of-mouth referrals, or curated content.
Earned media can be a powerful source of content amplification because 83% of people trust recommendations from people they know. Earning a mention from someone in your target audience’s network, particularly an influencer, can net substantially more interest in your company than paid and owned media alone.
“Earned media can impact the emotional appeal people feel with a brand, influencing their behaviors and buying decisions,” writes Chris Lynch, Forbes.
The most effective content amplification strategy harnesses the power of each of owned, paid, and earned media to increase brand exposure.
Evaluating Potential Platforms for Content Publication and Amplification
By this point, you know that a strategic approach to both publishing and amplifying your content yields the most desirable outcomes for your content marketing efforts. Finding the right rhythm to publishing and amplifying content can be challenging, though, with so many options available.
This chart, which we use to plan our own content marketing efforts, provides an overview of available publishing and amplifications options.
Conclusion
Strategic content distribution includes both publishing and amplifying your content on the right channels for maximum exposure to your target audience. The most important place to publish your content is your company’s website because you control the user experience through the format, calls-to-action, and other on-page elements such as subscription forms and contact information.
Other publishing options, like guest posts, industry journals, and broader publications, can provide extra juice to your content marketing efforts. Pairing these strategies with earned, owned, and paid amplification is the most effective way to help your content reach its target audience.
For businesses that offer products and services to pharma companies, having the right team in place to develop and execute publishing and amplifying strategies is crucial to their success. This often requires third-party help from a partner with deep experience both in the pharma industry and content marketing.
The team at Pharma Acumen has helped clients successfully leverage content marketing to attract new clients and increase their online presence. To learn more about how our industry-leading strategies can grow your business, contact Brian today.