Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get a ready-made audience for your content?
I mean you’ve got a great bit of content, you’ve poured hours of blood, sweat, and tears into it.
…… and you’ve edited it over and over again.
Your article is awesome and this is your best work to date, for sure. It’s actionable content and it should get the most readership and as a result a ton of shares.
You hit the publish button. And “BANG”.
The clock goes tick-tock and the number of readers creeps up into double figures. Woo hoo!! More than 9 readers, time to p-a-r-t-y.
Did you forget to promote it? Doh!!
You say to yourself, “I’ve got this”. I can use social media to promote my post and as a result, reach almost all my friends.
So, off you go and drop it into Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and maybe even Google+. Or you schedule it out with Buffer or HootSuite
You might find that you get a few shares and a few hundred clicks if you are lucky. This is a similar issue for many new bloggers (and some long-term bloggers).
If only you could get your content in front of the right audience. The kind of people who would appreciate your excellent work and either share it or like it.
Instant Audience – Just Add Water
The 1970’s was an interesting time for many great reasons and many bad reasons.
….. and most of all for this one bad reason.
In the UK a food product emerged which was set to revolutionize food production.
Cadbury’s, a UK-based chocolate company started in 1824 released a product called Smash.
It was instant mash potatoes! Just add hot water to the powder and mix.
“YUCK” It was like eating wallpaper paste! It would seem like a lot of people enjoyed the food but it was certainly the food less liked in my household.
While the concept of freeze-dried and powdered food should stay in the 70’s. There is something we can learn from this bizarre creation.
It’s that you can get other people to do the hard work, and this is especially relevant. Then you float in with your “hot water” and straight away you’ve got a product.
Think of it this way. If you had an audience that was willing to read your content and looked for it on a daily basis, you would probably be happy.
If you had an audience that was willing to read your content and looked for it on a daily basis, you would be happy. And therefore you would write more content.
Because content writers and bloggers have a common goal.
…… and that goal is to get their content read by tons of people and therefore shared by a ton of people as a result.
3rd Party Blogging Platforms
The fastest way to get your content in front of thousands of people is to use a 3rd party system.
By 3rd party, I mean something other than your own blog. I’m talking about a tool like Medium or LinkedIn’s Pulse.
These platforms have a concept similar to instant mash potatoes. You drop your content into their system and you get an engaged audience reading it. As a result, you save a lot of time and effort.
There are many different types of blogging platforms or publishing platforms.
Medium and LinkedIn’s Pulse are two of the well-known ones that are open to the public.
….. and both are “TOTALLY FREE”
“Entrepreneur” is another publishing platform, but not everyone gets a chance to see their article on the Entrepreneur website.
It’s quite a privilege to be able to publish content on Entrepreneur because it’s so well-known platform.
Many people don’t think of Facebook or other social media channels as publishing platforms.
…… but they are!! Because it’s an environment where people can put out their best content or the opposite!
All Roads Lead To Readers
Medium and LinkedIn’s Pulse are great for one prime reason.
You’ve got a ready-made audience.
How much effort do you put into writing content? If you are creating great actionable content it’s going to be a lot of effort.
Because great content isn’t produced in a matter of minutes. It takes time.
But building an audience for a brand new blog takes even longer. Because people have to trust you and get to know you. This trust builds over time, and we call this authority.
How much authority do you have in your niche?
If you don’t have many regular readers, you aren’t going to have a lot of authority. But, you can change that.
By using Medium or LinkedIn’s Pulse you can get your content in front of people who want to read it. And it doesn’t cost you anything to do it.
They’ve done the hard work creating the system, all you’ve got to do is produce great content.
Medium – Levelling The Playing Field
This is a great platform with a clear intent.
Medium arrived in 2012 and gave individuals the opportunity to tell their stories.
While brands use this in today’s information-rich world, the concept is still the same.
People use Medium to tell stories and get exposure.
Medium levels the playing field by rewarding great content. You don’t need thousands of Twitter followers or friends on Facebook. And it’s not necessary to be a well-known author.
The system allows anybody to write anything they want. But it also works to show the best content to the widest audience.
LinkedIn’s Pulse – Laser Targeting
If you use LinkedIn’s Pulse you will find that you get a prime audience. But the audience quality depends on one main factor.
LinkedIn users fall into two categories.
(1) Connect with anyone and everyone.
(2) Be selective about connections and only connect to relevant people.
When it comes time to using Pulse there is a big difference.
For what it’s worth, my opinion on the LinkedIn connections is to connect to everyone. Because even if they aren’t in your target market to buy from you, THEIR connections might be.
Anyway with LinkedIn you’ve got a targeted audience. Plus, they have accepted your connection request, or you accepted them. There is a bit of affinity here.
Medium Versus Pulse
[Spoiler Alert]
I prefer Medium as a 3rd party publishing because of the audience. But most of all because the platform is easy to use.
Medium is good if you don’t have your own blog, but it’s also useful if you do have a blog.
Some of those reasons are:
- Your ability to reach a large, and new audience is amazing.
- You don’t have to be great at designing a nice looking blog.
- You don’t have to be popular on Social Media to get your great content in front of people.
- Medium will automate a big task for you. If you sign up for Medium via your Twitter login they will follow all your Twitter followers. This saves a ton of time.
Looking at LinkedIn’s Pulse you will see a common theme amongst the articles. You find a lot of personal development and career development articles. There are also a lot of finance and technology articles.
The benefits of using Pulse are:
- Your connections will see you post because they get an alert when you publish it.
- You can grow your network of connections. When one of your connections likes or shares your post, their connections see it.
- If you write about personal or career development or finance or tech you get great share numbers.
The Dangers of Ownership
There is an inherent danger to creating content on a platform that you don’t own.
It’s like renting a house.
At the end of the day, you don’t own the property. The landlord can decide to sell the house and can decide when the carpets need replacing.
You have as much power as the landlord is willing to give you. Some allow you to smoke and others not. Some allow you to have pets and others do not.
There is a set of rules to observe when renting a house. And there are a set of rules when publishing on a 3rd party platform.
The other downside to 3rd party publishing is branding. While people are reading your content on a 3rd party site they aren’t exposed to your branding. And of course, they aren’t exposed to your nifty call-to-actions and offers.
Having Your Cake & Eating It Too!!
My parents used to say to me, “Tim, you can’t have your cake and eat it too”.
I didn’t understand it at the time because I was only 5 years old. Then years later at high school, I had a “eureka” moment. Finally, I understood what my cryptic parents meant!
My parents were trying to impart the idea you can’t have the best of both worlds at the same time. But I disagreed then, and I disagree now.
Look at it this way.
You can have a blog on your website, and publish great content on it. Your website has all your branding and offers. And it’s part of your marketing and sales funnel.
But blogging on a 3rd party system like Medium, Pulse or others you get to reach big audiences. The content you put in 3rd party platforms should have links in the body to other articles on your site. This way people can click through to see more articles with your branding. Plus, they see your offers and services.
So you can have your cake and eat it. Because you get the best of both worlds or at least it seems like it does.
Writing Your Way to Success
It doesn’t matter whether you write on your own blog or someone else’s. There is one thing that stands true.
And that one thing is this – you have to write great content. Because it’s what people want and as a result, you will probably get more shares.
The content you write has to be actionable and solve a problem. Can someone read your article and get an understanding of something and then achieve a result?
When I write for myself or for my clients I follow this rough guide. I learned these techniques from other writers in the same field and some from distant writing fields. It’s based on the same systems that the likes of Stephen King, Brain Clark, or Neil Patel use every day.
- Have an idea or pick up your next best idea from your editorial calendar.
- Research. Get a ton of information, finding out what’s current, what is working now or what isn’t.
- Find similar “high shared” articles by using Buzzsumo that get the most shares in your niche. Read them and digest the information, because you will get the most useful ideas from these articles.
- Write your first draft, concentrating on getting the ideas and facts down first. Witty statements and anecdotal additions can come later.
- Wait 24 or 48 hours, and then read it again. Most of all because you’ll come back to it with a clear head and have new ideas of saying the same thing.
- Edit the article and expand where necessary. Backup facts and figures with outbound links.
- Source images or create them yourself.
- Get someone to proofread it. Then make any needed changes or do a bit of fine tuning.
- Publish it.
- Promote it using social media and other outreach techniques. Because this is where the magic happens.
Your Experience
Whichever platform you use, create quality content and focus only on delivering solid value. That is the key to success.
If you want to focus on generating leads and content you will need a solid marketing strategy to help you get there. Speak to us today and we can help you take the next steps to achieving your success
