What makes the distribution of a piece of content successful?
Once you have created a piece of content, and decided on the preferred format and distribution channels, how do you judge individual success, in terms of distribution and reach? It’s one thing deciding on the primary channel you will use to deliver your content, and it’s another to drive traffic to that content. For example, when it comes to traditional print – which, as highlighted above, the C-suite are still in favour of – are you maximising your opportunities for influencers to share your content? The power of influencer marketing and word of mouth plays a huge part in this, particularly as content that is shared by someone you know, or someone who is a known influencer in their space, carries more influence than something you have come across by ‘push’ marketing, or by chance. When thinking about the impact of your content and subsequent action, you need to work backwards and consider who, and in what context, is more likely to motivate someone to absorb the content in full, to comment on it and to share it. Whatever paid-for distribution you invest in for your content should stimulate the organic reach and natural sharing. As part of this, marketers should be thinking about primary, secondary and tertiary audiences.
Another factor affecting your content’s visibility is accessibility. For example, having content that is freely available to view online, versus having downloadable content sitting behind a paywall. With content that is freely available for anyone to view, measuring ROI may be more difficult than paid for content, particularly when readers submit their data to view or download content. On the other hand, while the paywall option might allow you to monitor who is downloading and viewing your content, and gain leads through data capture, it may be limiting the visibility of your thought leadership. Having to pay for content does not necessarily dissuade audiences though. On the contrary, it can imply that the content is of sufficient value that it worth paying for, if the content is delivered via a trusted and well-known source to justify the investment. This is an advantage that comes with media brand-created content and endorsement, compared to content that comes from a brand directly. This thinking is supported by the recent study showing that The New York Times’ readership has been increasing since the point at which it introduced a metered paywall. What does this mean for marketers? If your audience finds the content is of value to them, they will read it.