At Paper.li, we highly value the power of content in all forms and the importance of building an outstanding personal brand. That’s why we launched The Personal Branding Playbook, where we share a proven method and routine for sourcing, creating, and sharing content in various formats and platforms.
In this post, we are grabbing an excerpt from The Personal Branding Playbook that talks about an overlooked but crucial aspect to consider when using content — distribution.
So, you’ve got your content ready and you want to deliver it to your audience – here’s where the magic happens. It’s time to distribute your content through all the platforms you can.
Although it is probably the most obvious step in getting your brand out there, creators don’t do enough of it. Multi-channel distribution should be part of your daily routine and should include a number of channels to reach your audience, beyond social.
The shift from professional to informal
Years ago, the rule of thumb was that only top notch professional content should be shared.
People and brands spent tons of budget on hiring top videographers, script writers and editors, and subsequently spent weeks to publish one piece of content. Only to realize that in many cases viewers perform raw, candid and real video footage. As long as you have something interesting to say, the finest doesn’t matter. Being consistent does.
And a good portion of that consistency is making sure you’re planning where you will share that content.
The channels – owned, earned and paid
To maximize your reach you should include a mix of channels that belong to you and to your partners. Consistency and relationships are key to both.
Owned
Website
This is your online home base, bringing together all the elements of your digital presence: who you are, what you’re reading, thinking, sharing. Whether it’s a personal site or one for your business or topic, a website is a must-have to stand out from the rest.
And unlike social channels, it’s a destination that you own. Get your own URL and add it to your email signatures, social bios, CVs, and so on.
If you’re a Paper.li user, you can claim your URL.
Newsletter
As social algorithms change and reach decreases, the reach of your posts will continue to decline. A newsletter and email database ensures you have a 1:1 relationship with your audience, and serves as a super-valuable distribution channel for all your content, including the things you share on social. A database takes time to build, so get started as soon as possible.
For Paper.li users, newsletter creation is fully automated and so easy to create. If you pick just one article each day and pair with a comment, by the end of the week you’ll have a rich, personalized newsletter to send to your audience. If you aren’t making use of this feature yet, you should!
Social
Social is where most of your daily activity should take place. This is where over half the world’s population are active every day. Social will help you achieve all your goals: from distribution to engagement to networking.
Aim for as much social activity as possible, and every day. Just make sure you use it to listen first to understand what your audience is looking for.
For Paper.li users, social sharing is made easy. You can completely automate social sharing to Linked< Facebook and Twitter, so that your channels are fresh with little effort. If you choose manual sharing, you can review your content, add commentary and perspective, and choose which channels to share to and when.
Earned
Distribution is about where your audience exists, and that is definitely in more places than your own channels. Earned media represents a massive opportunity to increase your reach and build your digital presence. Here are a few examples to think about:
- Groups and micro-communities e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook, Reddit, Clubhouse, Twitter chats, podcasts, and so on.
- Guest blogging – connect with bloggers on relevant topics and see if they are interested in featuring your editorial. They are often looking for blog content for their audience. Further reading: Guide for guest blogging
- Influencer collaborations – find people who have a similar follower base as you and build mutually-beneficial relationships to create content and cross promote each other. This is very popular and effective on channels like Instagram, and backlinking for SEO.
- Media mentions – Sign up for free journalist services, like HARO – Help a Reporter Out. Or reach out to contributors and columnists directly (e.g., Forbes)
Paid
If you want to accelerate your growth to a relevant audience, paid/sponsored content on social channels could be an effective tactic, and done with a budget. Even for $10/day you can add reach to your content and build relevant followers. Most major social platforms offer a self-service paid platform, like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Connections and followers
Last and absolutely not least, connect. You’ll want to think about connections in a few buckets:
- People to collaborate with – other creators, bloggers, journalists
- People to follow for inspiration – influencers, creators, thought-leaders
- People who can be potential customers or your audience – lots of options here.
- People who can help you distribute – creators with similar follower counts, journalists, bloggers, affiliates/partners
- People who can be great to add to your network – lots of options!
Pro tip: Connect with your target on the channels that aren’t using them as their main channel. For example, if trying to connect with an Instagram creator, try them on LinkedIn. It will help you cut through the noise. Likewise, if you’re looking to connect with an investor, their LinkedIn is flooded. Send them an @metion on Twitter.
For Paper.li users, check out the Shared By link in your daily digest, and identify and connect with the authors of your favorite articles.
Want to get more insights on growing your brand? Download The Personal Branding Playbook now!