When we think about content distribution, we might think of many different things. Before you add this into the budget plan for your business, it is worth first understanding exactly how the distribution of content works and how paid media features into your success.
How you distribute your content is imperative to its success. In a very saturated web market, even unique and high-quality content can fall off the radar. Paid media can help improve your outreach if used right. In recent years, paid content distribution has claimed more and more significant. Since 2014, the spending on paid media have seen a 5x increase.
Let’s take a look at how paid media works as content distribution and everything else you need to know.
What is Content Distribution?
Content distribution, in short, is the act of promoting your content to online audiences. The simple act of content production is no longer enough to capture the audience’s interests. To be seen, you need to get your content in front of the masses.
For this, you can use multiple media formats through various channels. Here is how these channels are categorized:
Owned Content Distribution
This is when you promote content on a platform that belongs to you, such as your blog, email newsletter, social media, etc.
Earned Content Distribution
Earned Content Distribution is when third-parties distribute your content or promote content about you. It includes things like press coverage, guest articles, re-tweets, and shares, or product reviews.
Paid Content Distribution
As the name implies, this is when you pay a third-party for content distribution. Payment can take various forms. Commonly it works as a Pay-per-click (PPC) model. The owner of the content pays an amount for each time someone clicks through on their ad.
How Does Paid Content Distribution work?
Paid media is often used by bloggers and content creators only just starting out. It also works for those that want to grow their business fast and have the budget available to do so.
Especially with Pay-per-Click (PPC) models, you often get the opportunity to segment your target audience and specify some information about the people most likely to engage with your content. This means you can promote to the right audience.
There are various channels you utilize for paid content distribution.
Here are a few of them.
With native advertisements, you choose to advertise your content on websites with a similar target audience to yours. Native ads enable you to pay to display your content through traditional ad campaigns that don’t disrupt the site’s editorial experience.
Another way to pay for content distribution is through Paid Search. You can sponsor your content on search engines like Google to be bumped up as one of the first results when your audience searches for relevant terms.
Search engine marketing is challenging to master. Your success will rely on effective keyword research and may be affected by changes in the algorithm. Different platforms also come with different variations, and the sponsored spaces are often noisy and crowded for popular keyword terms.
Paid search marketing has the potential to generate three times the leads per dollar spent, according to a study by Kapost.
Influencer Marketing is another form of paid content distribution that has become more popular in recent years. This is where you pay an influencer on social media (YouTube, Instagram, etc.) to promote your content organically in their own posts.
They could re-tweet your content regularly, review your products to their audiences, and drive traffic to your site. Influencer marketing isn’t always paid. But if you’re looking to engage high-profile celebrities and wish to establish long-term partnerships, you will generally have to support them with some compensation.
Finally, Paid Social media Promotion includes platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. This is where you use the platform’s native advertisement scheme to pay to have your content displayed across the platform. This uses a PPC approach (typically), and you can specify some details about your target audience. To make the best of this paid content distribution method, you should focus on the social media platform that best captures your target audience’s interests.
Find the Best Content Distribution Strategy for You
No matter which model of distribution you use, it’s essential to carefully research beforehand and select the best possible content to promote. Research keywords thoroughly and optimize your landing pages before you advertise. This way, when your ads draw in visitors, you can hopefully enjoy the best possible conversion rates.
If you have the budget, paid media is a great way to increase your content’s reach in 2020. Unsure about your marketing strategy? ZAK agency is a creative and agile digital agency based in London that can help you refine your content distribution strategy. Get in touch, and we’ll have a chat!
