Are You Distributing Content the Right Way or the Boring Way?

Content distribution is not the same as link distribution. To bring the audience to your amazing content, share the value of that content in small slices that leave them wanting more.

Imagine hosting a party. The centerpiece of the celebration: a cake. Not just any cake - an amazing cake. You poured your time, effort, and love into that cake. Or maybe you poured money into paying a baker to do it for you. Either way, the cake is magnificent and you are so proud. You can't wait to share this incredible creation with your guests.

Do you:

A) Slice the cake and carry slices to your guests, making it easy for them to see the delectable filling, smell the mouthwatering aroma, and take a bite,

or

B) Get on the loudspeaker and announce, "There's cake over here if anybody wants some."

Choose Option A, the cake quickly disappears, and guests clamor for the recipe. Choose Option B, at the end of the party there's still half a cake left.

What happened?

Distributing links vs. Distributing content

When you hollered, "There's cake over here," you made finding the cake your guests' responsibility. And for most of them, it wasn't worth the effort.

They don't know if they like the flavor, whether it's box mix or from scratch, or if it's worth abandoning their diet for. And they don't care enough to walk all the way across the room to find out.

When you carried the cake to your guests, they could see the value. They knew the flavor. They smelled the aroma. Their mouths watered as they took their slice. And when they were finished, many walked to the cake table for more.

Your guests are your audience. Your content is the cake. How will you distribute it?

Too many businesses pour time, effort, or budget into a piece of content, then blast a link to their email list and social channels and consider it "distributed."

"Check out our new content! [link]" is shouting "There's cake over here." It alerts your audience to the content's existence and then makes it their responsibility to seek that content out.

Link sharing is not content distribution

Distribute the content value, not the link. Cut small pieces from that long-form piece:

• A video snippet
• A few intriguing sentences
• A bullet list
• A quote graphic
• An executive summary

Share those slices on your channels. Be intentional: maybe an executive summary to your email list, a video snippet to your LinkedIn, a list of bullets in a Twitter thread.

When you distribute the slices, you can tell people where to find more. Once they've had a taste, they're more likely to seek another piece. Maybe they'll ask for the recipe. Maybe they'll even ask you to bake for their party.

And if they don't? That's OK. Your primary goal should be engaging your audience, not just driving one-off traffic. Your audience doesn't need to know you're good at sending out links. They need to know you're good at the thing you create content around.

Bonus: Slicing up content this way means it goes farther. Would you rather have one bland LinkedIn post saying, "Read my post about 5 Ways to X" or have five engaging posts, each digging into one of the five ways? 🤔

Need some help with your content distribution plan? Check out my blog audit service - I'll audit a selection of your long-form content and offer ways to strengthen and distribute it, so you can get more impact with less effort.