Social content distribution used to be limited to Facebook, Twitter, and maybe some Instagram. But that was a really, really long time ago. Now, your content has to be better, you need more of it, and you need to be in more than a couple places.

How do you know where to spend your time? Where are you going to get some meaningful returns? Never fear. We’re going to help you see things a little differently.

1. Use more than a couple of social platforms for distribution

Don’t automatically limit your social distribution to one or two platforms. Facebook is still the largest, but Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, and Twitter are all mighty in their way. A successful distribution strategy should focus on the platforms where your relevant audience will most likely engage. Don’t just keep throwing stuff at the wall.

Do consider automation to free up time for your social media team. You need to be selective in today’s saturated social climate, which means testing, executing, and refining your strategies. If you automate some routine social posting, your team can innovate, experiment, and cover more territory on higher-touch platforms. TrueAnthem’s software can help you figure out where to start and allow you to do much more with less. Talk to us.

Bonus: This means you are freeing them up to engage with your audience!

2. Focus on the editorial mission

Don’t chase virility at the expense of quality. The primary goal of publishers and broadcasters is to make money through great content. We all need to get paid, right? But it’s more important to deliver on the publication’s promise than to create widely shared posts. Marketing strategist Joel Contartese told Forbes, “Brands often make failed attempts at capitalizing on trending topics by creating ‘viral’ content that is in no way relatable to their core messaging.” Not focusing on quality doesn’t help anyone.

Do keep your editorial vision consistent across channels while using data to inform content strategy. In short: Stay out of the “viral” trap! If you serve your audience and your mission well, you will be much more successful long term.

3. Make the most of prime engagement times

Don’t turn the lights out when the staff goes home for the evening. Almost across the board, social media usage ticks up on weekends and evenings. Keeping office hours on social media means missing the times when your audience is the most active!

Do identify the times when each social post is likely to perform best. You need to know when your audience is online, your posting capacity, and how to use evergreen well. Use AI posting or schedule appropriately. True Anthem’s optimization automatically identifies the best time to post each piece of social content.

4. Use data to determine paid distribution

Don’t rely on your gut when it comes to money. Relying on instinct regarding promotion and building content can lead to many errors and ROI matters. 

Do use clickthrough and engagement rates as the primary metrics for promoted content. In short, follow the data! Data combined with audience targeting can yield a lower cost per click and better results.

Taking your social distribution strategy to the next level doesn’t require a huge budget or an increase in headcount. Using these best practices while taking advantage of automation to increase the bandwidth of your social media team—like True Anthem’s AI-based content distribution platform—will help you increase audience affinity and engagement.

More Tips for Social Content Distribution

There’s no point in creating high-quality content if your audience doesn’t know it exists. Once you know where to put your efforts regarding social content, you can create a solid distribution strategy to ensure your audience sees the fruits of your effort.

Some factors to keep in mind when building a successful content distribution strategy include:

• Auditing your content: Auditing doesn’t mean removing content, but more so understanding how each post is helping/hurting your strategy. This process enables you to review your social media strategy goals to ensure you stay on target. Auditing involves three steps: 1) logging content, 2) assembling content, and 3) identifying gaps in content.
• Content types: What sort of content does your audience like? What resources do you have to create content? These questions are vital to deciding what content types you should use and can distribute successfully. You can try ebooks, videos, podcasts, blogs, infographics, case studies, and webinars. Again, ensure you have the resources to create high-quality content in these realms before adding them to your strategy.
• Identify KPIs and goals: You’ll want to set goals for content distribution to assess whether your strategy is successful. Start by identifying your KPIs (key performance indicators). KPIs include factors like traffic, engagement, impact, top content, and sentiment. Set a baseline goal for each KPI, keeping in mind that they may vary between platforms. Assess these goals over the next few months to determine if you’re meeting them or need to change your approach.
• Create an editorial content calendar: There’s so much planning that goes into creating and distributing content. It’s easy to lose track! Creating an editorial content calendar, even a simple one, can significantly help you stay on top of your content and goals. You can create free ones using Google, Excel, Asana, CoSchedule, and Trello. Customize your calendar to keep track of keywords, content types, publishing destinations, and repurposing plans for future evergreen content.
• Update your profile pages: Updating profile pages is a great way to make a positive first impression on potential followers. Upload a professional profile picture and cover photo matching your brand’s aesthetic to start. Then, make sure each remaining section is complete and accurate. Some key areas to focus on include the bio and contact information. You can also have a link to the website to make it easy for fans to learn more about what you offer.
• Identify your brand voice: Determining how formal or casual you want the brand’s online voice to be can help you write engaging copy. Take the time to identify your target audience so you better understand who you’re talking to and the type of language they may expect. 
• Provide value: Consider what types of content your followers may find the most valuable. You might choose to create educational or informative content depending on your brand. For example, you could create simple how-to videos or share tips to help your followers. Another way to provide value is to create entertaining content that people enjoy. For example, you could create a series of comedic videos or share interesting blog posts with your audience. Focusing on what you can offer your followers can help you increase your post engagement rate and improve your return on investment (ROI).
• Format your content for each platform: If you plan to share content on multiple social media platforms, tailor your posts to look like they belong on each one. This may involve resizing images and videos, choosing hashtags, or editing your messaging to ensure you stay within the character limit. Paying attention to these small details can make the brand look more professional and help you improve its potential reach.
• Include visuals: Make your posts engaging by including visuals with your text. Experiment with a variety of posts, such as graphics, photos, and videos in different sizes to keep your content looking unique. Using these types of visuals allows your posts to take up more screen space, which can help you capture your audience’s attention. It also gives you more creative opportunities to promote your products, services, and brand.

True Anthem has more!

If you would like to know more about getting set up, contact True Anthem. We’ll give you a personalized demo and help you get started. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to get the most up-to-date news and tips on social media.