This is a guest post on Content Marketing Strategy by Andrew Wise at Wise Startup Blog
If you’re reading this post, then most likely you haven’t cracked the code of making your articles go viral.
I was in your same position 6 months ago, before I re-educated myself on how to come up with blog post topics influencers want to share.
But say you’ve cracked the code on creating great content, it doesn’t stop there.
Even the best content in the world doesn’t mean anything unless you know how to promote it.
Most bloggers,rightly so, are all about the creative process, promotion can often be an afterthought… or no thought at all.
When this happened to me, I sought to find out all I could about blog post promotion. Through a series of trials and errors, I managed to come up with 11 super simple content marketing strategies that got me 589 shares and 97 backlinks in less than 30 days.
If you want to see what worked from me, and also learn how you can implement them for your own blog, I’m here to share my results.
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Strategy #1: Reach out to influencers “top blogs” lists in your niche.
There is a reason that some bloggers are deemed “top” bloggers, whether it be because they have a proven method of success, they’ve been around so long that they are a staple to the community, or they’re just damn good.
If you want to be considered one of the best, you have to surround yourself with the best. There are few better ways to do that than to get one of the “top” bloggers involved in your article.
What I suggest doing is to do a Google search to find “top XX blogs” in your niche. If you’re a digital marketing blogger, you may want to search “top digital marketing blogs”. Often, people will put together lists to help the readers sift the good from the mediocre.
Once you have those lists, you’re going to want to grab as many names as possible. Every single “top” blogger mentioned deserves a spot. Create a spreadsheet with anywhere between 50 to 100 website links of “top” bloggers.
After you’ve made your list, you’re going to want to plug it all into Pitchbox, which helps you to automate your email efforts both quickly and more efficiently.
Then it’s all about emailing your top bloggers with a short paragraph about how you were hoping they could provide a quote about XYZ (whatever your blog post is about), and that you hope they’ll get back to you soon.
Chances are, with the number of people you reached out to, SOMEONE will respond and be willing to offer a quote.
When they do, input it into your article and send them the completed link both for their approval and so they can share it with their own readers if they see fit. Because they’ve been involved in the process, they just may share it with their readers.
If they don’t, you still managed to improve the validity of your post just by having an “influential” name involved in it, so you come out a winner no matter what.
Strategy #2: Use Fiverr to have a $5 infographic created about your post.
Humans are visual creatures. They’re also incredibly busy, constantly running from one place to another. Combine these two reasons and perhaps you’ve figured out why infographics have done so well as a content marketing strategy among bloggers.
If you are unfamiliar with the concept, an infographic is a fully visual graphic that provides all of the important information in a particular post. Basically, you want to condense your blog post into facts: statistics, important points, etc.
From there, you can post your graphic across your social media sites with a link to your full article. Heck, you can even use your infographic to complete mini guest spots on other people’s blogs, too.
Don’t worry if you’re not particularly graphic design savvy. Fiverr, an online marketplace for people to get into contact with freelancers, just may be the answer to your prayers. All you have to do is plug “infographic” into the search bar at the top of the screen to immediately be connected with dozens upon dozens of graphic designers, all who are willing to create an infographic for just $5.
You can sift through their profiles and portfolios, read reviews, and decide for yourself which designer is best for the job. Once you choose one, pay the small fee, send them your information, and wait a few days for your infographic to be completed. It’s that easy!
Strategy #3: Join LinkedIn groups and promote your blog post as part of your content marketing strategy
When people think LinkedIn, they think about those who are looking to connect with potential employers. While it’s true that the majority of Linkedin users are on the site for that very reason, it isn’t true for all users.
Linkedin offers a unique option to join “groups” in all sorts of niches. These groups are a great place to get your name and blog posts seen by others in your area.
Type your niche into the search at the top of the page, then filter so you are only viewing groups by clicking the icon to the left of the search bar. From there, you will be greeted with a large list of groups. When I say large, I mean LARGE.
Typing “digital marketing” brought me over 4,500 groups in that niche. Now it’s up to you to sift through the groups, join a few, and see how they are. A few things to keep in mind so you join the best group as possible are as follows:
- Join a group with a balanced number of posters and commenters. You want to take notice of whether or not people actually comment the posts or if they go unnoticed while others post their own content.
- Join a group that isn’t too fast or too slow. A slow-moving groups means that no one pays attention to it. A fast-moving group means that you’re going to have to really fight to be seen. You want to find a happy medium.
After you join the “right” group(s) for you, get to posting! A good content marketing strategy suggests a link and a short summary should do the trick, and you can reel in the traffic with minimal effort on your part.
Strategy #4: Reach out to link roundups.
Because there is so much competition out there on virtually every subject imaginable, it should be a surprise to absolutely nobody that some bloggers have sought out to cut out the negative articles and focus on the positive.
Much to the benefit of the readers, “link roundups” have become all the rage. Basically, certain bloggers will sift through dozens and dozens of articles in a particular niche during a week or month to find the best of the best. They will then take those “best” articles and include them in a link roundup post as part of their content marketing strategy.
The idea behind it is that readers no longer have to waste their time reading mediocre articles and can get right to the good stuff. It can be extremely difficult for less popular bloggers to make their way onto these lists. That’s why I recommend reaching out to people who do these link roundups posts and promoting your article to them.
You don’t have to be pushy to do it, either! Just send out an email to let them know that you appreciate all of the hard work they do in putting these posts together, and that you’d love for them to read your blog post and let you know what they think. Perhaps, if they think it’s up to par with the rest of the material they promote, they could include it in their next roundup?
These bloggers have no ulterior motive but to provide their readers with top content. For that reason, they will have no qualms about putting your blog post on their list if it’s well written and informative. That’s why it’s so important for you to make sure that you are putting your best foot forward here. If you supply them with a mediocre article, you’re putting out a bad first impression and you’ll probably get skipped over.
But, if the article is well written and you are polite in your email, there’s no reason they won’t say yes and give you a shot!
Strategy #5: Install Yoast SEO plugin.
Yoast SEO, a WordPress marketplace plugin, not only guides bloggers on their journey for search engine optimization, but helps to better their writing. It judges your blog post on countless criteria (title, link useage, keywords, readability, etc.) before you ever even click the “post” button.
It’s main goal is to help the blogger put out the best material possible while also providing you with the best SEO in the WP marketplace right now. Yoast is a must for your content marketing strategy.
My one and only gripe with this plugin is that it is extremely advanced, and novices can easily become overwhelmed and drown in the options available to them. It is for that reason that I always recommend SEO newbies take the time to become familiar with this program before they dive right in. Read a few tutorials, watch a few Youtube videos, and make sure that you are using it to its fullest potential so you can get the most out of it as humanly possible!
Trust me when I tell you that Yoast is the best and simplest option for promotion. All you have to do is run the program and it tells you exactly what needs to be done!
Strategy #6: Find people on Twitter with a similar interest.
Twitter’s Advanced Search option is a great place to find people who are interested in the niche your blog post is written on. To get started, type those keywords into the search and find tweets that include those keywords.
For example, if your post is on blog monetization and you search “blog monetization” into the advanced search, you can then look through tweets of people who are writing about exactly that. From there, it’s up to you to tweet those you feel could or would benefit from reading your article with a link to your blog post and a short (under 140 character, of course!) explanation of what it is.
Most Twitter users receive a notification whenever their name is @’ed, which means that they are almost guaranteed to see your link. That’s why this is so beneficial. If nothing else, they’ll probably be curious enough to click – at least I know I would!
What happens after that, of course, is up to the person themselves. But you can know that you did just about everything that you could in order to get your blog post seen by the people who want to see it.
Strategy #7: Become a guest contributor.
I will never fully understand the negative connotation that follows guest posting around. There are so many bloggers – too many, if you ask me – who see guest posting as some kind of cheap sellout.
Although I’ve heard the arguments, and the vast majority stem from those who say you never receive any long-term recognition, I can’t help but disagree. While it’s true that, as a guest poster, you will receive more attention from your guest post than you will for your blog, it’s also true that ANY attention is important.
If your post is good enough, people will seek you out and find your blog. They will read your other content, and they will become a dedicated reader. A guest contribution post on a more successful blog is a way for you to show off your writing chops to a large audience and introduce yourself to them.
You cannot force them to look at your blog and you cannot force them to Google you after they’re finished reading the article, but you can educate them about who you are and what you do. Them reading that one guest post from you means they know more about you now than they did an hour ago, and that’s a success in my book.
Strategy #8: Share your latest blog posts in your newsletter.
Once you gain some sort of success with your blog, your natural next step should always be to start your own newsletter. Not only are they a great way for you to connect to and remain relatable to your audience, but they also serve as an awesome way to promote your content to people you know want to see it.
Think of it this way: Someone who takes the time out of their day to subscribe to receive emails from you most likely wants to hear about your latest blog posts, right? Email marketing is a great tool to add to your content marketing strategy.
All you have to do is provide a short sentence about what the post is about along with a link. They’ll do the rest for you.
If you’re not sure where to begin, get started by finding the best email software for you. From there, your main focus should be on growing your email list.
Strategy #9: Join a forum in your niche.
Before there was Facebook and Twitter, there were forums. Basically, a forum is a place for people with similar interests to get together and talk on various “threads” regarding their shared interest. You can comment around, teach, learn, and get comfortable with one another.
The good news is that social media hasn’t slowed down forums much at all. They’re still out there and stronger than ever, so now is as good of a time as any to get in on the action and involve yourself.
First, do a Google search to find the right forum for you. To make it simple, I suggest just searching “your niche + forum” into a Google search bar and sifting through the results for yourself.
Make sure that the forum you choose to become a part of is still relatively popular and posted on, and that the people in it stay on topic and informed. Once you introduce yourself and comment around a bit, you can start posting your articles.
You don’t have to do much, either. They’ve already proven that they are interested in what you have to say because they are on a forum about the subject. Simply leave them with a link to the article and a short description of what it is.
They’ll do the rest of the work.
Strategy #10: Promote your posts on a subreddit.
Reddit is awesome. Not only are the people filled with information and sass, but there is a subreddit for basically every niche imaginable. This makes it the perfect place to promote your content. Just make sure that you do so wisely.
Reddit is known for being a bit… brutally honest with people, so be sure to keep that in mind. If they don’t like your post, they will downvote you. If they think you only joined so you could shamelessly self promote your content, they will downvote you. If they flat-out just don’t like you, they will downvote you.
If you join Reddit, I suggest familiarizing yourself with your niche’s subreddit. See how it works, read the rules, and comment around on a few posts to become acclimated. The more familiar with it you are, the easier it’ll be for you to start posting. Once you do, don’t spam the page with all of your posts. It’s a surefire way to get them to hate you and for your plan to completely backfire.
Strategy #11: Pay Twitter to promote your content.
There is nothing wrong with paying for promotion. It doesn’t mean that you aren’t working hard – it simply means that you are seeking some help from a source more powerful than you could ever obtain on your own.
Twitter’s paid promotion feature is a simple concept, too. After you tweet out a message, you will see a small icon in the bottom of the screen that almost looks like a succession of bar graphs. You will click that small icon and be brought to a page asking if you’d like to promote this tweet. From there, all you have to do is enter your billing information and you’re all set!
My one and only word of warning on this is that paid promotion can inevitably become costly. Companies like Twitter charge on a per-click basis. If you are unfamiliar with the concept, this essentially means that they will charge you every single time someone clicks your link from the tweet. When you are doing this sort of promotion on a site as popular and widely traveled as Twitter, your costs will inevitably add up.
Make sure that you’ve set aside a specific budget for your paid promotion and you’ll be fine. There’s nothing worse than drowning in a sea of unexpected expenses!
