There is simply no point creating content for your business if that content isn’t going to reach your target audience.
Mailmunch (email lead capturing software) have surveyed 297 marketers to find out their top content distribution strategies for 2017, and this is what they have found (the results might surprise you):
Top content distribution strategies for 2017 (by market share):
Influencer marketing: 26%
Email marketing: 18%
Social media: 18%
Guest blogging: 16%
Paid distribution: 14%
Internal employees: 4%
Distribution platforms: 4%
(See the article for descriptions and examples for each of the above.)
Earned media dominates over paid distribution
Among marketers, 65% are focused on earned media content distribution channels, and only 35% use paid distribution as a way to reach their target audience.
Most companies on the side of the earned media use SEO as a primary way to drive traffic to their blogs and generate leads.
Content creation vs Content distribution time
The majority of the marketers still spend more time on content creation compared to content distribution. On average, this is 60% for content creation and 40% for content distribution.
My take on this: for best results, reverse the ratio, *at least*. You should be spending much more time on distribution than creation. This is the number 1 difference between “just another blog” and “traffic generating machine.” It’s hard, it’s time-consuming, it works.
In conclusion
By far, the best content distribution for 2017 is to build relationships with influencers.
That way they can share your content with your audience, build links to your site and help you get more organic search traffic.
Sharing your content with your email list and using social media marketing are also of key importance to be able to reach your audience.
Guest blogging is not going away; it is a great way to reach a new audience.
Paid distribution so far is small compared to other strategies, but it shows that it could grow dramatically in the near future, mainly because of its simplicity and the ability to reach your target audience directly.
Top Content Distribution Strategies for 2017