Content Distribution Channels aren’t talked about much in the social media space but they are critical in the startup world.
I’ve thrown a new buzzword at you so we’ll start with a definition.
Distribution Channels are places where your target audience congregate online to satisfy their thirst for more information about your subject.
For startups, distribution channels are where they find new users for products and services. You are familiar with “The Big Three” distribution channels: Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
The problem is that the Big Three are charging for access to your potential audience which disqualifies most businesses from using them. This means your post is reaching a sliver of your targeted audience.
There are a few more interesting tactics to maximize your reach on Facebook for example. But it’s time for you to look for new places to distribute your content.
Try These Content Distribution Channels
Niche Community Sites
Niche publishers are launching single-subject sites where content is curated by the community. The best content gets “upvoted” and the dogs get downvoted and ignored. Visit Inbound.org and growthhackers.com for stellar examples of well managed sites with active communities.
How to use it:
Step #1: Find a community site that is relevant to your subject. If you can’t find one, make one.
Step #2: Start submitting blog posts/articles that hasn’t already been posted. Do NOT submit your own site until you have submitted at least 20 other sites.
Step #3: Upvote articles that you like. Leave thoughtful comments whenever you can.
Step #4: Submit your content. Make sure you follow the community site’s editorial rules to the letter.
Triberr
Triberr encourages publishers to organize into tribes that implicitly agree to share each other’s content. It’s a solid concept. It helps that the Dino Dogan, Triberr’s founder is a tireless advocate for this channels benefits for new and established content publishers.How to use it:
Step #1: Start or join an existing tribe relevant to your subject.
Step #2: Share other tribe member’s content like your life depended on it. Reciprocity is currency on Triberr. Fellow tribe members won’t share your content if you are stingy with the share icon.
Outbrain
Outbrain is a pay-to-play content distribution platform. Here’s how it works. You give them your
RSS feed or specific posts to promote. They serve your feed or post via their Outbrain widget that displays your content as related posts around the web.
How to use it:
Make sure you have a revenue-producing component to your blog since you will need to pay cash to get your content distributed. It doesn’t make sense to pay .10 cents a click for 100% free content.
Outbrain will review your content before approving you for the service. They tend to reject blogs that feature purely self-promotional posts.
Pay close attention to your costs to make sure that you are seeing a return on your investment. Give the service a couple of weeks to get decent data to evaluate.
Instagram
I’m mentioning Instagram because they’ve struggled to create a solution that makes sense for
content publishers. As of today, you can’t place a link to your site in the description of a photo uploaded to network making it tough to tell how your visual content is performing. I’m betting that Instagram will fix this soon immediately making Instagram a must-have channel.
How to use it:
Step #1: Start with sprucing up the featured photo for your blog posts. I recommend using a service like Canva to quickly make darn good looking visuals that include your blog title.
Step #2: Upload the photo to your Instagram account.
Step #3: Instagram allows you to put a clickable link in your Profile. I recommend sending Instagram followers to a landing page offering a bonus for signing up for blog post updates.
Check out Sue Zimmerman. She rocks instagram and has some savvy tips for you.
Pinterest
I’m being Captain Obvious here but Pinterest is a excellent content distribution channel for
publishers who can visually repurpose their content. Pinterest has a virtual lock on the female demographic and is doing a great job growing its reach.
How to use it:
Step #1: Like Instagram, snazzy visuals are a must for attracting attention. Use Canva to here too.
Step #2: Upload the photo to your Pinterest account. I recommend creating a Board for the different subject categories you address on your blog.
Step #3: Make your visuals easy to share on Pinterest. You can use a free plugin like SumoMe to add a “Share Me” button on your photos or add a Pinterest Share icon. I prefer the SumoMe plugin because it easy for readers to use and I don’t have to use extra real estate in my share bar.
LinkedIn Content Posts
Status updates are obsolete but LinkedIn Content posts still attract attention and engagement. I’ve seen my peers quietly testing LinkedIn content posts and attracting a highly-targeted professional audience for free. Get on it.
How to use it:
I recommend creating original content / blog posts for the LinkedIn audience.
LinkedIn users are a picky bunch and they hate rehashed content. Writing something tailored to a specific community of professionals will boost your readership and shares.
Viveka Van Rosen my favorite LinkedIn shaman offers some actionable advice here.
Reddit -> Subreddits
Reddit is legendary for melting web servers when someone manages to get their url on the front page of the site.
Reddit also maintains a dizzying array of niche communities called “Subreddits.”
Now, I’ll be frank – some of these subredditts make my skin crawl. There are some dark corners that offends my family friendly, Sunday School sensibilities but…
Participating in highly targeted subreddits can create the foundation for a stampede of traffic to the right content. Just be good.
How to use it:
Reddit rewards unselfish, prolific, sharers.
You’ll need to make a committment to slowly build your credibility within the subreddit over months.
Consistently finding and sharing interesting content will earn the credibility you’ll need to get your stuff shared. Since it’s lame and frowned upon to share your own links you’ll need to depend on the community to notice and share your work.
Slideshare
I’ve watched a few of my clients and my PS Podcast co-host crush it on Slideshare.
Slideshare is a presentation aggregator that is like Pinterest for the B2B crowd. The network has done a good job giving us white-collar types access to the network with some great tools like video presentations and opt-in tools.
How to use it:
Step #1: Study the top presentations. Successful Slidesharing is 50% art and 50% science. Carefully review the top presentations for the subject keywords you’re targeting.
Step #2: Get a great presentation design. Top presentations look spectacular. The photos are top-notch and the text on the slide works with the visuals. I’ve found great Slideshare presentation designers on Odesk for less than $100.
Step #3: Promote and Embed. Embed your Slideshare in a blog post to get more eyeballs on your content. Share it on all your social channels as well. I normally promote a single Slideshare presentation 1-2x a day for a month since it’s easy for a single tweet or Facebook update to get lost in the feed.
Did I Miss One?
Click over to Google+ and tell me about a content distribution channel that has performed well for you that we haven’t mentioned.