If you blog, post or share stories online, chances are you have seen a steady decline in traffic over the past few years. Likes and shares are harder to come by and there are fewer comments. This can be very frustrating especially when you are posting important and valuable material. The reason is pretty simple, however. Competition has been growing rapidly.
Sadly, excellent content will not be enough on its own, not anymore. With more than 90 million blogs posted in a month your content will need a helping hand if you want to get some quality traffic. There is simply too much other content competing for attention.
The answer to this is content amplification. It is a pretty simple concept of using various platforms and strategies to increase the odds of your work getting attention. There are many tools and actions you can use and we will take you through the most effective options. Some are paid and many are free. Be sure to test and measure to see what works best for your environment.
Facebook paid ads
Sadly, if you don’t pay to promote your content on Facebook you will reach very users. Even if you have a large number of followers and fans there is just such a high volume of ads and posts that you need to pay to promote them.
The upside is that Google makes it very easy for you to target your ads in a number of ways that you get quality reach for a fair spend.
With more than 355 million active users, there is no way Twitter can be ignored. Again, to get a decent return, it pays to spend a bit to promote your tweet. That will get your content into the feeds of your followers as well as potential new followers. Twitter allows pretty good targeting options and delivers a good return on investment.
Another platform that will help with content amplification is LinkedIn. They offer a publishing platform which will allow you to get your content out there and build some native growth. While still large, it does not have anywhere the numbers of the previous two options.
LinkedIn works well for certain types of targeting and is particularly good for B2B content. The key is to deliver compelling useful content and establish yourself as a thought leader.
MailChimp
Do not assume that there is no value in email marketing. It is still very powerful and extremely cost-effective. The challenge is building up a good database of email addresses but it is a valuable asset and something you should definitely work on.
MailChimp makes it fast, easy and super effective. It also allows you to automate the process so it all happens without too time and effort.
Hootsuite
Speaking of automating processes, there are a number of apps that will help you automate your social media posts and manage the entire process. This will make your efforts more effective and save a huge amount of time.
Hootsuite is one of the better ones and it will also give you analytics on your posts and has a range of other advantages. There are free and premium options depending on your requirements.
BufferApp
Another similar tool that is also very useful is BufferApp. It also allows you to schedule posts across a number of social media platforms as well as assists with promoting posts including past post.
Nanigans
This tool will help to manage and automate your advertising across a number of social media platforms. It will you to plan better and consolidate your budget into one area.
Meet Edgar App
Using analytics to achieve optimal timing is one of the keys to success with social media content amplification. This app does all the hard work for you and calculates and automates the best time to post.
Storify
Doing research for your posts can also be time-consuming and this tool will help you gather relevant information quickly. It will gather up the data to advise you who is talking about what and where.
Not only will this help you make your content more relevant it also helps with targeting. You will still have to do the writing yourself but it will give you some great topical ideas and inspiration.
ContentAmp
One of the best ways to connect with key influencers in order to amplify your content is ContentAmp. It is a good amplification tool and will help you achieve native growth.
AddThis
To improve your engagement with followers and those looking at your content, tools like AddThis are useful. They make it easy for visitors to share your content which will generate more traffic and greater exposure for your content. It is a free tool and will provide you with useful analytics.
ShareThis works in a similar fashion and even allows visitors to share your content via text message or email. It also provides valuable analytics.
Gravity, Outbrain, and Taboola
These sites will help to amplify your content by pushing your content links onto a number of other sites. Many people will see the links as advertising and avoid them. They can work but do not offer much in the way of targeting.
Buzzstream
This is a popular platform that is particularly effective for B2B content amplification. It will speed up and enhance your link building, outreach, and social media efforts.
Contently
Contently gives you access to a vast number of experts in all aspects of content and content marketing. It is used by businesses of all sizes.
PR Newswire
If you have newsworthy content to share, PR Newswire is connected to a decent number of news and media sites as well as other quality sites. It is a fast and effective way to get press releases out without too much effort.
Listly
This tool is very useful to amplify your content by including it and publishing on lists to get access to their fan base. It is a fairly popular site and worth exploring.
Final thoughts
There are a few others but those are currently the most important and effective tools that can be used for content amplification.
Remember that there is no one size fits all approach so you will have to experiment and monitor the effectiveness of a number of tools and platforms. Try to get as much as possible from the free options and measure the success of the paid options.
Whatever you do, don’t rely on great content alone. Ensure you employ a content amplification strategy.
