Volume Nine welcomes Angela Tague as a guest contributor to our blog. Learn more about Angela’s writing expertise following this post.
Writing well isn’t always enough to gain readers. Spreading the word about your latest blog post or online article generally takes a little leg work both before and after you publish the content. Not sure where to begin? Here are a few content amplification techniques I use to engage my readers, boosts page views and gets people chatting on social.
Promote Posts Before You Publish
To drum up excitement for a blog post publishing tomorrow, I share social media messages today to entice them to stay tuned. I find that behind-the-scenes photos of a project or a simple text status about me working on an upcoming post generates interest.
The key is using colorful, captivating images or sharing insider tips that make people stop and look at your post. Later, you can share a link to the content in the comments section of your post to lure readers into a post they’re already interested in knowing more about — and when you do this on Facebook or Google+, they get a notification of a new comment so they’re sure not to miss your content!
Amplify Posts on High-Traffic Sites
If you’re trying to grow your audience, why not pay to have your blog post promoted on a website with a huge audience? Content discovery platforms like Outbrain, Cision and Taboola will position your post on well known news and media websites in the “Recommended Articles” or “Related Posts” sections to funnel some of their readers over to your site.
Cross-Promote Niche Content
Another way to tap into an existing audience is to partner with an influential blog that mirrors your ideals and initiatives as a brand. For example, if your company sells fitness clothing, teaming up with a yoga blog or runner’s blog means you’re reaching the right audience that has interest in what you sell.
Ask the blogger if they’ll host your content or write a fresh, new blog post that reviews your product or gives readers a creative way to use it. For example, that fitness clothing company could amplify a post about “5 Reasons to Wear Yoga Pants Beyond the Mat” to give the blog’s readers some new, insightful ways to get more use out of their fitness clothing. In turn, the brand gets more exposure for their post, products and company.
Reach More Time Zones
I used to schedule my social media posts to promote the articles I’d written based on my workday. This naive thinking made me miss readers in other time zones. Now, I schedule around the clock and reply to comments both during the work day and in the evenings or early mornings — sometimes even from the gym!
Since the lifespan of a Tweet is generally less than 20 minutes, and Facebook posts are said to be outdated after three hours, don’t be shy about sharing the same content multiple times on the same platform. The key is pushing out posts at various times of day so you can catch readers across the globe.
How do you like to amplify blog posts, infographics, white paper downloads and videos? Let’s chat in the comments below.
Angela is a guest contributor to the Volume Nine blog. She spends her days creating marketing content and journalistic pieces for brands, magazines and newspapers. She also writes about content marketing and working online at Web Writing Advice. Visit with her on Twitter @AngelaTague.