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If you’re a B2B marketing professional you probably already know that online content syndication is one of the most effective strategies for increasing traffic and exposure to your business.
Content syndication can be time-consuming and a little tricky to get your head around, but if you’re keen to ensure the success of your lead generation efforts and grow your business, it’s a must. It has moved from being ‘just’ an effective marketing channel in the B2B industry to a much-needed pipeline for marketers and businesses.
Unfortunately, many businesses are doing content syndication the wrong way. Their approaches don’t deliver the results they are looking for.
This blog covers:
- Evolution of Content Syndication
- Wrong Content Syndication Practices
- 5 Expert Tips for Better Content Syndication
- Conclusion
Let’s dive in!
#1. Evolution of Content Syndication
Content syndication refers to the practice of sharing content across multiple sites, which can include blogs, social media, and search engines. Syndicated content can be in the form of articles, videos, images, or even podcasts and infographics. The goal of content syndication is to prospect, increase traffic, build brand awareness, generate leads, and improve SEO.
The concept of content syndication has been around for a while but it was only in the last few years that it became prominent as a tool for marketers and businesses. Its growth has been driven by several factors including the growth of social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn, the evolution of blogging platforms like WordPress, and the rise in popularity of microblogging services like Tumblr.
Intrinsically, the explosion in content sharing has led to a huge increase in demand for quality content from all corners of the web. This is where content syndication comes into play.
#2 Wrong Content syndication practices
With content syndication being one of the leading ways to stand out and be heard in the B2B industry, it’s also one of the easiest internet marketing tactics to get wrong. It’s easy to waste time without seeing any positive results if you don’t approach content syndication strategically.
Many businesses invest so much time, effort, and money into creating and distributing quality content. But because they don’t have the right goals and don’t know their audience well enough, their investment goes to waste.
That said, here are some common mistakes B2B companies make while building their content syndication strategy:
#a. Not having a content marketing strategy in place
Many B2B companies do not have a content marketing strategy in place. You can’t expect to be successful with your content syndication efforts if you don’t have a clear idea of what kind of content you want to create, how and where you will promote it, and who your target audience is.
#b. A lack of consistency
Many B2B companies’ content syndication plans fail due to inconsistency. If you are expecting people to share your content, then make sure they have something worth sharing. Build a reputation as an authority in your industry by consistently creating high-quality content.
#c. Being too pushy about getting shares:
Anybody can ask for shares, but not many people will do it unless they find something valuable in the first place. B2B companies should stop asking for only shares and give people reasons to share their content by providing valuable content or insight about their industry.
#d. Not using a single source of truth
Some B2B companies don’t use a single source of truth for all their content pieces. This leads to confusion among their audience and hurts their SEO game. Ultimately, this kills their content syndication goals.
#e. Not providing a link to the company website
Some B2B companies make the mistake of not having their website listed on the page where their content is being syndicated. Most times, they do not use a backlink that leads to their website. This is bad for their content syndication goals.
There are several other mistakes B2B companies make such as confusing marketing with sales, not knowing what type of content will perform best for each channel, not having a dedicated team for content syndication, not having a strategy for how to update content, not leveraging data analytics, and many others. In addition to the money, time, and other resources they lose, these mistakes cost them reputational damage.
#3. 5 Expert Tips for Better Content Syndication
To increase your reach and lead generation potential exponentially, some vital elements need to be considered. With these elements, you can effectively distribute your existing quality content across various online channels and networks without burning your time and money. Here are 5 expert tips to consider for syndicating your content as efficiently as possible, in the B2B industry.
#a. Establish clear goals for your content syndication
What do you want to accomplish by syndicating your content? Do you want to get prospects? Do you want to generate leads? Create a plan that outlines these goals, such as increasing traffic, building links, and establishing thought leadership. Having clear answers to these questions will make it easy to measure your success or know when your strategy is working or not working.
#b. Determine the right syndication platform for your business
Create a list of potential syndication platforms. Research the sites on your list and understand the audiences of each platform. Determine which of these content syndication platforms is a good fit for your business. Having the right platform with the right audience will make your content syndication goals easier to achieve.
#c. Optimize your content for the selected syndication platform
It is one thing to publish valuable content, it is another thing to republish content that helps to achieve your syndication goals. Make a content audit and ensure you create a content asset that aligns with your goals. Optimizing your content for the syndication platforms will help you reach new audiences, generate traffic, and boost brand visibility and authority faster.
#d. Conduct a timely follow-up to track and analyze metrics
Conduct a timely follow-up. You can use an analytics tool like Google Analytics to see how many people viewed the syndicated article and how many of those readers clicked through back to your site. You can also see whether it leads to conversions. Use this data to determine which types of content are most effective at achieving your goals.
#e. Review Your Syndication Goals Regularly
You must review your goals regularly to ensure they’re still aligned with your initial goals. If this isn’t an ongoing process, you could end up with stale or irrelevant syndicated content on the chosen platforms that doesn’t serve a purpose anymore or doesn’t speak to your audience’s needs at all.
#4. Conclusion
With the rise of B2B content syndication, it’s an exciting time for content marketers in the business world. The ability to push targeted and relevant content to a wide array of audiences is now easier than ever.
However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any obstacles involved. Far from it!
To successfully syndicate your B2B content, you need to be aware of what pitfalls to avoid – and which strategies can help you get your message across while increasing your RoI.
