Nowadays over 80% of companies use content marketing, but only 30% of marketers think their organization is effective at it.
Sometimes the toughest part of content marketing is figuring out how to effectively promote content.
That’s why we wanted to share our simple five step strategy to promoting content. We’ve also included nine free tools which make promoting your content easier than ever before.
1. Social Media
You’re probably already using social media to promote your content — and with over 70% of the U.S. population on social media, that’s a good idea. But are you getting the most out of social media as a content promotion tool? Here are our best tips for promoting your content on social media:
Tweet & Repeat: The first time you tweet, only about 3–5% percent of your audience will see it. This means it could take up to 20 tweets for everyone in your audience to see your content! Don’t be afraid to tweet the same content many times, but try to add some variety to your tweets. CoSchedule has a great post which suggests 5 different ways to tweet about the same piece of content. You can preschedule tweets with a handy social media management tool like Buffer . 
Pin It: Did you know you can pin a tweet to the top of your Twitter feed? If you create a really great piece of content, tweet it and pin it. Your pinned tweet will be the first thing your profile visitors see. Hashtags: Tweets with hashtags get 2x more engagement than those without. Hashtags are a useful way to categorize information, and they make it easier for interested people to find your content. You can use Hashtagify to research and pick popular hashtags related to your content. Media: Visual content is 40x more likely to be shared on social media. Try using photos, graphics, videos, and even gifs when promoting your content on social media to increase engagement. If you need help creating graphics, checkout Canva . Groups: LinkedIn groups are an underused content promotion channel. Groups are small collections of niche-professionals looking to share and discuss content. Join a few groups related to your industry or target market and share your content there. Don’t forget to start a conversation by asking group members what they think about the post or if they have anything to add.
2. Repurpose Content
Instead of creating new content, why not find different ways to use the content you’ve already created? Almost 60% of marketers reuse content two to five times. Here’s how you can too:
Reddit: Reddit is an online discussion forum with over 234 million unique users. Reddit has over 800,000 “Subreddits,” which are smaller forums focused on niche topics. Follow relevant Subreddits and keep an eye out for any posts related to your content. Rather than copy and pasting your content into a related post, you should take the time to write a unique, thoughtful answer and include a link to your original content at the end. Quora: Quora lets users ask and answer questions. Follow a few relevant question categories and search for questions related to your content’s topic. When you find a question, write a thoughtful answer and provide a link to your complete post. LinkedIn Publisher: LinkedIn Publisher is a personal blogging platform built right into your LinkedIn profile. Reformat your content, add a header image, and post on LinkedIn Publisher. You can share published content with your followers and it will appear at the top of your LinkedIn profile. Medium: Medium is another free, easy-to-use blogging platform. All you have to do is create an account, then reformat and post your content. Medium lets you add up to five topic tags to each post, so your target audience can easily find it.
3. Reformat Content
Reformatting your content into a slideshow, video, infographic, or podcast can help boost engagement. Try one (or all) of these options:
Slideshare: With 60 million unique visitors a month, Slideshare is a great, free promotion platform for your content. Simply use Google Slides to turn your content into a presentation and upload it to Slideshare — that’s it! When you upload to Slideshare don’t forget to tag your presentation with a few relevant keywords so your target audience can easily find it. Video: Videos may take a lot of time to create, but the payoff is huge. On average, videos generate 1200% more shares than text and image-based content combined. Powtoon can help turn your content into a short, animated video. Infographic: Infographics are liked and shared 3x as much as other content on social media. Piktochart can help you turn your content into eye-catching infographics. Podcast: Often overlooked, podcasts are a great way to get your content out to a larger audience. In fact, the number of active podcast listeners has increased 23% since 2015 alone. Not sure where to get started? Audacity is a neat audio recording tool you can use to turn your content into a podcast.
4. Email
Sending your subscribers new content is a great way to engage with and grow your audience base. If you don’t have an email subscriber list yet, you can get started with MailChimp .
Email subscribers: When you have new content, send it to your subscribers. Including a catchy headline will entice subscribers to checkout your email. CoSchedule’s headline analyzer can help. Follow-up email: Chances are, only about 23% of your subscribers will open your first email. A follow-up email can increase your content’s audience. You can try an “in case you missed it” email. A monthly round-up of your most popular posts works well too. 
5. Evaluate
The most important step to successful content promotion it to evaluate the performance of your content and promotion strategies. 38% of marketers cite evaluating the effectiveness of content as their biggest challenge. Here’s how you can make it a little easier:
Monitor: Keep an eye on how many views, shares, and other types of engagement your content gets. Twitter, LinkedIn, Medium, MailChimp, and most of the other tools listed in this post have built-in metrics. Evaluate: Determine which promotion tactics are helping your post gain traction, and which are falling flat. Adjust: Once you’ve gathered and evaluated the numbers, make changes to fine-tune your promotion strategy.
Key Take-Aways
The next time you’re planning the promotion strategy for your content keep these points in mind:
Don’t be afraid to Tweet the same piece of content many times Use media like images, videos, and graphics to promote your content Try reformatting your existing content rather than creating new content Send a follow-up email in case your subscribers missed your content the first time Evaluate the performance of your promotion tactics and adjust your strategy as needed
Technology Featured in This Post:
Social media management: Buffer Hashtag research: Hashtagify Graphic creator: Canva Presentation creator: Google Slides Video creation software: Powtoon Infographic maker: Piktochart Podcast recorder: Audacity Email newsletter: MailChimp Headline analyzer: CoSchedule
