There’s a fallacy about content marketing that great content will rise to the top. It’s been my experience a lot of mediocre content is easily available and lots of great content never gets the attention it deserves. Why? Because a lot of awesome content never gets marketed.

Tactics to Maximise Content Amplification

A recent interview with Andy Crestodina in Chief Content Officer magazine addressed the issue of content amplification. Crestodina is the co-founder of Orbit Media Studios, a web design and development company. He writes prolifically about search analytics and the power of social media and email and how important they are to an overall content marketing strategy.

“The gap between good and great (content) isn’t a quality gap; it’s a promotion gap,” says Crestodina.

He names four broad areas where modern marketers should focus to become masters at content amplification. In each category, he lists main tactics for the discipline. This is particularly useful in deciding where to invest your budget and efforts and where it makes sense to outsource. Use this as a checklist to close the gaps in your content marketing strategy.

Search

  • Keyword research
  • Keyword usage
  • Guest posting
  • Search-savvy PR
  • Related marketing activities

Social

  • Influencer marketing 
  • Pitching content via social (PR)
  • Social sharing and conversation

Email

  • Design
  • List growth
  • Subject line expertise
  • Timing and frequency
  • Landing pages
  • Testing
  • Optimisation

Analytics

  • Traffic
  • Traffic sources
  • Content performance
  • Conversion rate optimisation

If it seems overwhelming, consider you’re probably doing some of these things already. To zero in on where your efforts will have the most impact, Crestodina says the most successful marketers are good at three things:

  1. Influencer marketing
  2. Email list growth
  3. Keyword research/usage

The good news is you can use free tools to help you master these tactics.

Find your influencers

  • Topsy - Free tool giving you information on search, analytics, and trends in social media. It’s a great way to pick up on the vibe of what’s happening around any given keyword or phrase.
  • Followerwonk - Another free tool providing all sorts of Twitter analytics. The Twitter bio search is particularly powerful to find subject matter experts on Twitter.
  • BuzzSumo - Great tool to find influencers across a variety of different social channels. The tool no longer provides much for free but it does provide a free trial that might just get you hooked.
  • Keyhole - More stats and information than you know what to do with, Keyhole is particularly helpful when researching keywords and hashtags for your strategy documents.
  • Klout - Designed to give information about influencers across different keywords, its best use might be checking up on your own influence stats.

Grow your email list

  • Pippity – Super-easy tool to create pop-ups to drive more subscriptions. It’s a snap to install (especially if you’re using a WordPress plug-in) and it hooks into your email database.
  • SumoMe – The SumoMe Listbuilder has a free option and also works well on mobile devices. Like Pippity, it’s easy to use and integrates with a lot of different EDM packages.
  • OptinMonster – Everything you want in pop-up software – easy, integrated and affordable.

Check out keyword and search habits

  • Soovle – Nifty gadget showing real-time searches across different search engines.
  • SerpStat – Free keyword suggestion tool allowing you to focus on a specific country.
  • SerpStat – Supersize version of sg.SerpStat and very good for competitor analysis. Check out 7 Ways to Become a SerpStat Power User for great tips on how to make the most of the tool.
  • Ubersuggest – Great way to develop ideas for titles of blog posts. It also allows you to build a list you can copy and paste into your editorial calendar.
  • Google Trends allows you to see search behaviour over time and in comparison to other keywords. It also gives useful information on what terms people are searching for and what terms are beginning to rise in importance.

If you’ve been worried you weren’t on top of the amplification phase of your content marketing strategy, don’t worry. It’s an area most modern marketers could improve upon. It’s relatively easy to find all you need to know about a topic, the people who are influential, and the kind of social activity taking place in relation to your keywords. The difficulty is sifting through the plethora of data points and focusing on what you need to do to get your own content amplified.

What next?

Once you have a good idea on how people are searching and who is active in your area of expertise, you can begin to develop the right content to drive subscriptions. With a pop-up tool in place, expect to see a sharp increase in the number of new subscribers. That icky feeling you might have about forcing a sign-up form in front of your viewers is quickly replaced when you see your subscriber list grow. A healthy subscriber list is the first step to ensuring your content gets in front of its intended audience.

Want help?

If you’d like help coming up with an amplification plan for your content, get in touch with us. There’s no end to the ways you can market your content to reach a wider audience.

by Sarah Mitchell