Writing a blog post and hitting “Publish” can feel like a big accomplishment, but there’s more work to be done if you want to see a significant return on the content you create.
88% of B2B marketers currently use content marketing as part of their marketing strategy. That means a lot of competition for the attention of your audience, so you’ve got to do something different to get your content out in front.
Here’s a look at the 25 most effective methods, both via app and open web, to promote your latest blog post.
1. Twitter
Share your content out to Twitter, then schedule additional tweets to go out over the next week. Each one should be unique and provide a different spin on the title. This allows you to A/B test and see which wording works best with your audience. Try to incorporate images into your split testing, as well.
“Start slow, collect some data about your audience, and then increase the frequency of your tweets with images over time if you find they’re successful with your followers,” says Brittany Leaning, content strategist for Hubspot.
2. Pinterest
You don’t have to have a tangible product to take advantage of this magazine-style visual marketing tool for sharing your content. You just need an image that’s optimized for maximum pin-potential. Take the time to create images that clearly express the value behind your content instead of just pinning a featured image to Pinterest.
3. Facebook
Make it a habit to push your content out through all the social channels, especially Facebook. Do a quick status update to your personal and professional networks, to start.
If you’re an active member of relevant groups, then share the content link there as well. You can also use paid promotion tools to greatly improve the reach of each piece of content.
4. LinkedIn
Share your blog posts to your LinkedIn profile, as well as to any of the groups that you manage or are active in – just remember, share it only where it’s relevant. Be courteous of group rules as well, as some groups have guidelines for content sharing and self-promotion.
5. YouTube & Video Sites
Every blog post presents an opportunity to repurpose your content. If possible, turn it into a video. You can make it fast by pulling the most pertinent info, like a powerful tip, and turning it into a 15-30 second video that directs viewers to your site to digest the rest of the content.
6. Instagram
Like Pinterest, Instagram doesn’t have to just be about images. You can use this app and clever hashtagging to promote your latest blog content. Post images with a compelling caption, share a snippet, ask a question, or simply direct them back to the newest piece of content.
Instagram doesn’t let you insert a link directly into the caption, but you can put your main blog link or site link into your “About” segment.
7. Broad Emails
Make use of your subscriber list, and put out a regular newsletter that catches people up on the latest posts from your blog. You can also email your list whenever you put up a new post – just be mindful of frequency so don’t annoy your subscribers.
8. Direct Emails
If you mention someone in your blog post, especially an influencer, send them an email and let them know about it. It’s a great way to draw attention to the content, especially if they share it out to their network.
“This sometimes works better than just tweeting it at them because it’s more personal and others can’t see that you’ve emailed them,”says Dan Norris, co-founder of WP Curve.
9. Notifier
ContentMarketer.io has a tool called Notifier that scans your posts for Twitter users, then composes tweets to let them know they were mentioned in your content. This can encourage those being mentioned to share the content, but it also tags them so their followers can see when your tweet goes live.
10. Digg
Digg is a news aggregator with a curated front page, aiming to select stories specifically for an Internet audience, such as science, trending political issues, and viral Internet issues – and it’s also a great place to promote blog content.
11. Reddit
Reddit has subreddits in thousands of different niches, so you’re likely to find something relevant to your business or industry. It’s a great way to get targeted exposure – just be aware of link-dropping rules. A lot of communities want people to be active and involved before promoting content.
12. Flipboard
Flipboard is a web-based platform with over 80 million users that allows you to turn your blog content into a magazine-style layout. Better yet, it does all the work for you. You can join the ranks of big-name blogs like CopyBlogger that are sharing the best of their content within their niche.
13. Niche Forums
There’s always value in being an active member who provides useful content and insight within a niche forum. Once you build a rapport with a community or group, you can start sharing your content, or place a call-to-action within your forum signature to drive traffic to your most relevant posts.
14. Aggregation Sites
Sites like AllTop.com and Technorati are content aggregation sites that can add your feed for effortless traffic. Just sign up, submit your link, and watch as organic referral traffic begins to grow.
15. Document Sites
Package your blog posts into PDF files and share them on sites like Slideshare and Scribd. If optimized properly, you’ll get additional organic search visibility while also tapping into the huge internal audiences of these sites.
16. Infographics
Whether it’s a string of tips or a data-heavy piece of content, turn it into an infographic. They’re easy to digest and just as easy to share. You can then post that content to sites like Visual.ly or Dailyinfographic.com while also pushing it out through your social channels.
Neil Patel wrote a terrific post on how to promote Infographics to drive them to viral status.
17. Quuupromote.co
Quuu makes it easy to share your articles and blogs to thousands of influencers across a variety of social platforms. It’s a great way to put your content in front of the people most likely to read and share it.
18. Tweet High and Low
Retweet your content and mix in tags of lesser-known bloggers along with big names. This is a great way to get retweets from the lesser-known guys, since it’s a big ego boost for them to be mentioned by SMEs. They will want to make sure their audience sees it.
19. Blog Commenting
Watch your network for relevant blogs from other influencers in your subject area. If you find an opportunity to leave a comment, then you can work in a link back to your post. Just don’t spam links. Make it a valuable reply.
20. Quora
While the Quora user base is more business and academic oriented, this is still a great way to build brand authority by answering questions. When you find questions relevant to your recent blog post, you can reference that post as a means to provide a more detailed answer – and get more traffic back to your content.
21. Vine
A Vine is just six seconds of video, but you can use that fraction of time to create a fun, engaging, or entertaining teaser for a blog post. Share that vine out once it’s live with a link back to the blog post. It’s a creative and unique way to stir attention that’s not widely used.
22. Generate Snippets
Break your posts down into as many easy-to-digest snippets as possible, then use them to generate a series of social posts that individually link back to your blog content. These snippets can then be scheduled out using a tool like Hootsuite, and you can use custom URLs from a service like Bitly to track conversions.
23. Ask For The Share
Search through social channels for people who have shared content similar to yours, and connect with them. Once you’ve introduced yourself, ask them to read and share your content if they enjoyed it.
24. Link From Within
Review your analytics and find your most popular archived content that’s relevant to your new post. Add a link to the new content in the old post with a call-to-action to give it a read. Keep all that relevant traffic on your site as long as possible.
25. Submit to Content Communities
There are a number of sites that allow you to submit your content to their audience. While the competition for visibility is strong, exceptional content will rise to the top. Check out sites like Triberr and Blog Engage.
What blog promotion methods or tools have brought you the most success? Share in the comments below: