It’s surprisingly easy for awesome content to generate few or no returns.
For a blog article, social media post, podcast, or any other type of content to perform well, it must reach the right people. Only then can it drive high-value traffic, boost conversion rates, and help you grow.
In this article, you’ll learn about content amplification: what it is, how it gets the right eyes on your site, and how to get started.
What Is Content Amplification?
Content amplification is the process of using online platforms and other channels to reach a larger or more targeted audience with your content.
The process involves multiple strategies and techniques, all with the goal of generating web traffic. Typical amplification tactics include online advertising, influencer partnerships, email marketing, and guest posting.
For example, in this ActiveCampaign marketing email, the brand promotes a selection of recent blog, event, and case study content:
After creating helpful content, the brand uses email to share it with people who might have missed it on their website.
By segmenting its audience, ActiveCampaign can ensure subscribers only see content that’s relevant to them. That way, it’s more likely to engage readers and generate traffic to the ActiveCampaign website.
Why You Should Use Content Amplification
There’s more to content amplification than showing off your hard work.
When you amplify high-quality work effectively, you can build brand awareness, solidify relationships, and squeeze more from your content budget.
Grow Your Audience
The more eyes on your content, the more brand awareness and familiarity you’ll build.
Promote with channels like paid ads and search engine optimization (SEO) for the best chance of finding potential customers.
For example, content management system (CMS) provider Contensis uses promoted posts to amplify its content strategy guide:
Paid ads are ideal for precise targeting and fast results, while SEO can be super cost-effective over longer periods.
Stay Familiar with Existing Customers
Regular content promotion keeps you in view of existing customers and followers. It reminds them you’re active, knowledgeable, and keen to deliver value beyond paid products and services.
Organic social media activity and email newsletters will help you maintain these relationships. Use them to reach people who know your brand but rarely visit your website.
Extend Content Lifespans
You can use all amplification techniques to make your content work harder for longer. They’ll help you get bigger returns on your content marketing investments.
Say you build a library of case study content. You could amplify each success story around relevant industry events to generate new interest. You’ll have spent the same time and budget on the content creation process. But now you’re getting more views over a longer period.
How to Create a Content Amplification Strategy
Every content marketing strategy should include a promotion campaign. It’s how you’ll make sure people see your content after you worked so hard to create it.
Choosing your amplification tactics before the content creation process helps you use your time effectively. With the right preparation, you won’t need to pause after signoff and lose momentum.
For example, if you’ll use influencer marketing to extend your content’s reach, form the necessary relationships in advance. You might create a **** of relevant influencers within niche communities, ready to call on when a new piece is live.
Even better, try getting influencer contacts involved at the content creation stage. If they agree to provide an idea or commentary for a blog post, they’ll be more enthusiastic about promoting the work once it’s live.
Entertainment website IGN enriched an article using comments from art director Ovidio Cartagena, who then shared the piece on Twitter:
While every content amplification strategy is unique in detail, having a general roadmap will help you remember the most important actions. You can break the process down into six main steps.
Step 1: Talk to Your Customers
Customer interviews will help you select the most effective amplification channels.
You can also gain helpful feedback by sending surveys to people on your email list.
Whichever approach you choose, aim to speak with a cross-section of buyers. Use the answers to refine your amplification and broader lead-generation tactics.
Say you learn that your most valuable customers (i.e., those with outstanding customer lifetime values, or CLVs) prefer LinkedIn to Twitter. You’d then know to promote content around high-ticket items in LinkedIn posts rather than tweets.
Questions you could ask in a survey or interview include:
- Which social media platforms do you use most?
- Do you read emails from brands?
- At what times are you most active online?
- Do you trust influencer recommendations?
- How often do you pay attention to search engine advertisements?
Customer behaviors evolve, so make a point of collecting data periodically. You might find that social media channel preferences change, for example.
Step 2: Prioritize Your Content Inventory
Content audits help you quickly identify the best content for amplification.
They show you which pieces perform well and which don’t. So you know what’s most likely to resonate with your audience.
Semrush’s ImpactHero tool uses real-time data from your website to help you do just that.
Use its reports to build an amplification priority list:
- The lowest-performing content. Revisit the content itself before trying to get more attention. Your messaging or format may have missed the mark.
- Mid-performing pages. It’s had some engagement but needs a boost. Ensure the content’s still relevant before promoting it through appropriate channels.
- Top-performing content. Keep the momentum going. Ensure your most successful content keeps reaching new audiences by promoting it regularly.
How to Use ImpactHero:
Enter your domain into the tool.
Then, add the tag to Google Tag Manager or add the HTML code to every page you’d like to track through the tool.
Data takes about a day to show within the tool.
Now, you can set your content scope (or URLs to be analyzed).
In the “Overview” report, you’ll see “Content Performance Insights” based on the impact of your content (e.g., monetary value or number of leads).
And in the “Analytics” report, you can break down your content by traffic, impact, engagement, conversions, etc. So you can analyze which content is performing best for your business.
And in the “Explorer” report, you can see useful data on each analyzed URL.
Step 3: Get Creative with Your Messaging
Match your message to your channels when repurposing content, as different formats suit different audiences and environments.
For example, snappy, insightful threads (with a content link in the final post) work well on Twitter. They’re much less effective on Instagram.
But the general goal is consistent: you need to entice clicks by grabbing attention and building intrigue.
In this recent tweet, we attracted followers by highlighting some of our content’s key takeaways before sharing a link:
We covered the same topic on Instagram but went with a lighter tone and used the carousel feature to appeal to the platform’s more visual audience:
Another way to turn heads is with a hook. In this Facebook ad, Nom Nom leads with a relatable customer quote over an intriguing product image:
The post takes people back to landing page content to learn more about Nom Nom’s product. It generated more than 149 shares, helping the brand grow its audience.
Step 4: Decide on a Budget
Set a budget to keep paid promotion cost-effective.
Only you will know what’s affordable or justifiable for your business. But it’s always sensible to start small.
Test the waters with a few low-cost promotions on the channel most relevant to the biggest section of your audience. You’ll get a feel for what works and doesn’t so you can refine your approach before spending more.
Choose the content you promote carefully. Paid methods like social media and search engine ads provide fast results, making them ideal for amplifying time-sensitive content, like year-based lists or topical news articles.
They also work well for short-term product offers (think flash sales) and event-based content, as these come with definitive deadlines.
The exact costs of paid promotion depend on:
- The platform. Facebook ads are often cheaper than Instagram ads, for example.
- What you’re promoting. Targeting broad keywords (e.g., “bakery”) almost always costs more than targeting specific ones (e.g., “vegan bakery in Flagstaff”).
- Amplification intensity. How often do you want your ads to show? And how many people are you aiming to reach?
With those factors in mind, develop a budget that aligns with organizational goals and restrictions (e.g., is there money left in the existing marketing pot, or will you need approval to access more?). Then make a plan for allocating those resources.
CPC is an ad revenue model by which a publisher charges an advertiser every time a user clicks their ad. Look at the average CPCs for search and social to understand how much it costs to amplify content on these channels.
This WordStream chart shows what you can expect to pay (per click) for search engine ads in different industries:
And here are average CPCs for the main social media platforms:
These figures (from 2022 data) will inevitably fluctuate, but the hierarchy still shows which platforms are the cheapest and most expensive.
Just remember it’s all relative. For example, you may justify paying extra for LinkedIn if the B2B buyers you’ll reach typically spend more.
Step 5: Map Your Influencer Network
Carefully curate your network of contacts before you need it—influencer marketing only works if you collaborate with the right people.
According to one Matter survey, more consumers trust recommendations from friends, family and influencers (61%) than branded social content (38%).
The Matter study reported that consumers were more likely to trust influencers with “relatable” and “expert” personalities than celebrity figures. So prioritize authenticity, relevance, and knowledge over follower count when considering partners.
Balance is important, though. Anyone you work with should have enough of a following to boost your organic reach.
Start by listing high-profile contacts from your industry. It could be the leader of a more established company from your field or a partner who’s active (and popular) on a relevant social platform.
Online communities help, too. You can use social media or dedicated networks.
Start by joining or creating relevant groups and pages on LinkedIn, YouTube, and other social platforms. Post your content, then track who shares it and drives the most engagement. Next time you want help amplifying content, target these users directly.
For a more direct approach, check out Influencer Marketing Hub. Its influencer marketing agency directory is filled with potentially useful contacts. There’s also plenty of guidance around finding and working with influencers online.
Once you’ve identified some influencers who could amplify your content, hook them up in the social media toolkit (you can add them as “competitors”) to quickly and easily view their top-performing content.
Step 6: Metrics and Measurement
Plan how you’ll measure success. You can use what you learn to optimize future marketing campaigns for bigger results.
Because your goal is to boost the performance of existing content, you can use some of the same key performance indicators (KPI) you’d track for a new campaign.
The main metric groups to focus on are:
- User behavior. Page views, new users, average time on page, and traffic sources all help you gauge the short-term impact of your amplification efforts.
- Engagement. You want people to engage with your content, not just see it. Track upvotes, likes, shares, comments, and mentions to check that your content is relevant and valuable.
- Company revenue. What long-term impact does your strategy have? Measure this using conversions, new leads generated, cost per acquisition (CPA) and general content marketing return on investment (ROI).
Learn about these metrics and where to find them (Semrush and Google Analytics are great starting points) in our guide to measuring content performance.
5 Content Amplification Channels to Drive Traffic
A solid amplification strategy comprises multiple channels. Here are a few to get you started, with examples for inspiration:
1. Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads allows you to target incredibly specific groups among its nearly 3 billion users. That’s useful given how broad the channel’s reach is–it attracts a healthy mix of businesses and consumers of all ages.
Here’s what the targeting process looks like on Facebook Ads:
UK eco-cleaning brand Smol uses Facebook Ads to share user-generated content (UGC). This video-based post got plenty of engagement (comments, shares, and likes) and likely led to some trial conversions:
Facebook is a prime meeting place for people and businesses. Meta reports that 1.6 billion users “like” brands on the platform.
In addition to driving traffic, your sponsored amplification posts could be enough to gain some valuable new followers.
2. LinkedIn Ads
If you’re marketing for a B2B brand, LinkedIn is a more suitable content promotion channel.
Its advertising platform, Campaign Manager, allows you to segment 850 million professionals, including 190 million senior executives (i.e., the big decision-makers you’ll want to impress most).
Take this cleverly targeted promotion from Ocean.io. It uses a LinkedIn Ad to amplify “how-to” content on advertising techniques:
The download link takes users to Ocean.io’s content via an automatically populated web form. In addition to driving more traffic to the advertiser’s site, it helps them collect insightful customer data.
3. Influencer Partnerships
Influencer marketing helps you reach ad-wary buyers. It’s most useful for engaging consumers on visual channels like Instagram and TikTok.
It works because people generally trust third-party recommendations more than branded promotion.
But be careful. Partner with the wrong people to promote your content and you risk wasting budget, alienating potential customers, and damaging your reputation.
Good Foods got it right by partnering with the blogger Target Gems to amplify giveaway content on Instagram:
The brand’s previous Instagram post received 70 likes after two days, while the collaborative one reached 500 within two hours. This is because it chose an influencer with a large, relevant following.
4. User-Generated Content (UGC)
UGC is the organic equivalent of influencer marketing. It refers to social posts endorsing brands or products that individuals create without being paid.
The lack of payment can make UGC appear more authentic than influencer marketing content. It carries extra weight as a word-of-mouth promotion because there’s less reason for bias.
For example, accessories brand Cocopup is super active on TikTok. A quick search of the “#cocopup” hashtag brings up plenty of UGC, like this video review:
Cocopup could have plugged product reviews and demonstrations from its account but likes to let real customers do the talking. This organic trust-building tactic has helped the brand grow fast.
5. Content Syndication Platforms
Content syndication refers to republishing content via a third-party outlet, like another brand’s website, social profile, or email.
It can help you get a new marketing strategy off the ground by:
- Extending your reach. You’re effectively borrowing a more established platform’s audience to introduce your brand.
- Increasing backlinks. Content published on other platforms often contains links back to your website (backlinks). These can contribute to search performance. So, in addition to referral traffic (people visiting through the links), you could see organic traffic grow.
There are two types of content syndication platforms: free and paid.
The audience you’ll reach depends entirely on the outlet. For example, you could pay to reach young consumers on a platform like Buzzfeed or target corporate decision-makers by posting in a niche community on LinkedIn.
Other popular free channels include Quora, Medium, and SlideShare.
Here’s an example of a repurposed post about user interface (UI) design on Medium:
At the end of the post, the writer clarifies that the content is a taste of what’s available elsewhere and links back to their book.
Alternatively, paid platforms can get your content onto big-name partner sites to boost your online presence.
For example, Taboola has ties with media outlets like USA Today, Insider, and CBS News.
Here’s what Taboola’s sponsored content looks like on Insider:
The downside of paid syndication platforms is that sponsored content can look spammy. Stand out by providing genuine value to your audience and avoiding click-bait headlines.
UK news outlet The Guardian publishes some genuinely insightful paid-for content, like this article from HR consultancy Seek:
It’s clear that the post is sponsored. But that doesn’t detract from its journalistic quality or audience value.
3 Content Amplification Tools to Get Started
As with most digital marketing areas, there’s plenty of tech out there to help with content amplification.
You won’t need it all. But the right tool or two will streamline your processes to boost your ROI.
Three of the best to start with are Semrush, Google Analytics and GaggleAMP.
Semrush
Semrush has various tools to help you plan, execute, and measure content, social media, and ad campaigns—three key elements of content amplification.
The Content Marketing Toolkit makes it easy to build effective content plans, improve existing ones, find strategy gaps, and write and audit content.
It’ll support you through the content creation phase and again during amplification, helping you understand what works and what doesn’t so you know what to promote.
The Social Media Toolkit gives you numerous tools to build your strategy and make social media marketing easier.
It allows you to create and schedule posts, monitor performance, benchmark your progress against competitors, and interact with followers efficiently–ideal for driving website traffic from social followers.
Lastly, the Advertising Toolkit can be your go-to for planning amplification campaigns on Google Ads. It’ll help you research key topics, study competitors’ campaigns, and build your data-informed strategy.
Google Analytics
While Google Analytics’ feature set is vast, a couple of its reports are particularly valuable for running content amplification campaigns.
The Traffic Acquisition report tells you which social media channels drive traffic to your website. That information will help you:
- Identify the best places to promote content
- Understand how well your strategies work
The Multi-Channel Funnels report visualizes the impact your social activity has on revenue and traffic. It’ll help you gauge the big-picture effects of your amplification efforts.
Google Analytics is free to use with a Gmail address. You’ll find the Traffic Acquisition report under “Reports” > “Acquisition” and the Multi-Channel Funnels report under “Reports” > “Conversions.”
GaggleAMP
GaggleAMP is an amplification tool that allows you to distribute company content through consenting employees’ social network accounts.
It’ll help you to:
- Widen your audience. By putting branded content in front of employees’ followers, not just the company’s own, you’ll be more visible and build brand awareness.
- Build trust. People trust other people more than they trust brands. Posting through employee accounts can humanize your message.
As well as reposting, users can request that employees perform more than 50 activities on various social channels. That includes posting comments, writing reviews, and subscribing to channels.
Make Your Content Work Harder
Successful content marketing never stops at the first publication.
For the best campaign ROI, ensure your work is always visible to the right people—those who fit your ideal customer profile.
A carefully crafted multichannel content amplification strategy will help make that happen.
Research your audience, run your first campaign, and measure the results. Then use what you learn to refine your approach and repeat. You’ll soon see the full long-term impact of great content marketing.
Source link : Semrush.com
