Ask any marketer and they’ll tell you: content production takes time. And you expect to see a return on that investment. But to be successful marketing your content, you can’t just set it and forget it. Content Marketing Institute analyzed the traffic of its clients for a six-month period and found that 50% came from sources other than organic search. The key takeaway here is that you can’t rely on SEO alone. You need to amplify.

How to Create a Content Amplification Strategy

Developing a content amplification strategy is easier than you think, and it starts with outlining your goals. Determine the purpose of the content and how will you qualify its success. Are you trying to increase brand awareness? Drive more traffic? Retain current customers? Once that is established, you can focus on the channels you want to use to promote it.  

Social Media

According to HubSpot there are over 2 billion active users on social networks – that’s 70% of the world’s internet population! If you’re not sharing your content on social, you’re missing out on valuable page views. Social media should be a central element of your content amplification strategy. Think of your social media followers as the cheerleaders of your brand: an audience that is engaged and likely to reshare your content with their friends – especially if it resonates or is particularly entertaining. Amplifying content on social also better connects you with your followers as it shows you are just as invested in building a relationship with your customers as you are in selling to them.  

In addition to relationship building, social is also great for driving backlinks to your original content. In combination with solid on-website SEO, link building signals to search engines that the content you produced is a valuable resource for readers. The best way to get backlinks? Ask. Whenever someone shares or comments on your content on social, request that they link back to the original piece.

Email

Email marketing is one of the most effective methods for amplifying blog posts. You already use it to retain customers and nurture leads, so why not layer in new or repurposed content for an additional element of brand building? Providing subscribers with value-add content can help you establish authority and stand out from competitors. Before you send out that monthly newsletter, make sure to include links to your most recent content.     

Paid Amplification

When owned media isn’t enough to promote your content, paid media is here to provide a solution. You already know the value of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising for generating leads, but have you considered the impact it can have on your content amplification strategy? Boosting a post on Facebook or creating a Facebook Ad increases the likelihood that it will be seen by your target audience and extends your reach to those not already connected to your brand.

Another option is native advertising. Even if you’ve never heard of it before, you’ve probably seen it online. These aren’t your traditional paid advertisements – forget banners and buttons, this is content designed to mimic the look, feel, and function of a specific medium without disrupting the flow of content. Buzzfeed, Yahoo, and even CNN’s website are popular purveyors of native ads.

Influencers

Influencer marketing is a hot topic in content amplification, and for good reason – it works. When you align yourself with an influencer that is popular with your target audience, you gain credibility. Just ask StorQuest Self Storage. Their partnership with Instagram-famous outdoor enthusiast Jordan Kahana (@jordankahana) has enhanced the brand’s visibility among Kahana’s 156,000 followers. When he posts a video or blog promoting his relationship with the self storage provider, his followers take note, and are more likely to choose StorQuest when they’re ready to Make Room For Awesome.

KPIs for Content Amplification

Now that you know how to amplify your content, you need to understand the three major key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help you measure success:

  1. Reach – How far your content has traveled. This can be measured by social media impressions, referral sources, and the geo concentration of visitors viewing your content.
  2. Engagement – How others interact with your content. Time spent on page, bounce rate, and pages per session are all metrics you can use to evaluate engagement with your content.   
  3. Sentiment – How readers feel about your content. You can monitor sentiment by tracking comments and social shares.

One of the simplest ways to track the performance of your content amplification strategy is to invest in a brand management platform. We recommend G5 Reputation and Social Management for real estate marketers. This tool provides social media analytics and monitoring, review management, and competitive benchmarking – so you can see how you stack up to the competition.