You’ve carefully crafted your content strategy for the year. You’ve established your primary themes—topics your audience is craving for, and areas in which you can provide meaningful perspective and insight. And now you’re wondering how you should promote this great content. In the past, you’ve used social media posts, newsletters, paid placements, carrier pigeons. You’ve done it all, right? Wrong! Below are seven often-overlooked—yet easy to execute—ways to promote your content.
1. Pull key points into a short video or sound bite
If your content is long-form or covers many perspectives on or facets of a topic, consider sharing the key points in short sound bites or videos to promote the full piece. Allowing people to hear or see the main takeaways can act as a teaser for your content and leave your audience wanting more.
2. Add it to your email signature
This may be the lowest-effort opportunity on the list, but considering how many people regularly see your email signature, it’s not an insignificant one. Linking to your new content and providing a short description or title in your email signature is a quick way to expand the reach of new content.
3. Promote it in cover or profile photos, or add it as a story highlight
The first things people see when visiting your social media account are the profile or cover photos. Consider adding an image that mentions your new content as a temporary profile or cover image or as a story highlight. Many social media platforms also allow for videos in lieu of photos, which, similar to the way many people are exposed to an email signature, would increase awareness of new content. Sharing a profile video instead of a profile picture is also useful when your content has visual aspects or interactivity you want to showcase.
4. Build a case study around it
If you’re promoting a piece of content that has an interesting developmental story, give your readers a behind-the-scenes glimpse by building a case study or analysis around the work. Showcasing how the content was created—such as highlighting the creative process behind a clever interactive or the research process behind a report—can build anticipation, set the tone for readers, and better position the topic within a larger conversation.
5. Engage your audience with a game, poll, or quiz
Provide interaction and tease your content with a poll or short quiz. This interaction pulls readers in and makes them feel that they’re part of the conversation even before they jump in. This kind of promotion is also great for reminding your audience about your content if it is part of a campaign or recurring theme.
6. Create a Q&A or guest commentary around it
Does your content reflect obscure or even controversial opinions? For instance, are you forecasting developing trends in ESG? Or making a case against a popular diet? If so, consider asking an expert on the subject for commentary or a brief interview. Doing so can increase your credibility and provide another avenue into the content for your audience. Also, encourage the expert to share the resulting interview or commentary with their own audience, thus extending your reach.
7. Share it directly with other publications or on other social media accounts
Go beyond your usual audience by pitching your content to related accounts or individuals whose networks would appreciate it. Increase the likelihood of them sharing it by excerpting information their audience will find most interesting. They can then easily weave this into a caption and promote your content within their own networks. Relatedly, Instagram now allows collaborations that feature two creators on a post, providing a great way to tap two distinct audiences that the content could appeal to.
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