Updated September 7, 2023, at 3:05 PM
Strategic press and company content designed to build mutually beneficial relationships speaks volumes for your brand.
But if no one knows about it, it’s just words on a page (or a screen). For ages, it’s been the responsibility of the content to tell compelling stories about your brand. And just giving it to someone was enough to persuade the masses.
Fast forward 50 years and audiences are inundated with so much content they now need to be dazzled before they talk about you.
To be convinced they’re better off for having read your materials, readers need to feel as if they discovered the information independently. So, now you’re required to do some promotion.
So, once you get press coverage, have a press release to send, or just received the latest edition of your Social Security client guide, the real work of getting noticed starts. In this article, we’re exploring actionable tips to keep in mind so your promotional strategies can build your brand more effectively.
Social Media Content Promotion Tips
Your social media promotions need to light up the web on the day of or the day after your content’s go-live date. Gone are the days of only the written word – successful content marketing now requires short videos and engaging images for promotion. Additionally, be bold and ask for engagement on your social posts: When a social post receives likes, comments, and shares, then that post and your page have a higher chance of showing up in more feeds.
The end goal is to use the content (whether news- or education-related) to promote your business. Effective practices tell us to use images and video to promote the content, which will elevate engagement and push your content out for greater reach.
But you can’t just toss up a link and be done with it. No, a successful content piece that’s going on social media needs to have some essential ingredients:
1. A headline that won’t get ignored.
By highlighting benefits, using data, asking questions, or triggering curiosity in your headline, you maximize your click-through rates. The goal of your headline is to get your reader to click on it, and there are several different headline types you can use:
- Question posts leave your reader wondering. For example, if your PR piece is about the new Social Security services you offer, your question might be “Are your Social Security distributions landing you in a higher tax bracket?”
- Benefit posts give a snippet of what they’ll read. If you have a new guide talking about the benefits of using a professional like yourself for taxes, a headline to consider might be “5 Tactics for Keeping More of Your Hard-Earned Dollars When You File Your Taxes.”
- How-to posts give readers actionable steps to do something better: If your content is about your upcoming estate planning seminar, you might create a blog post titled, “How to Create Your Family’s Estate and Legacy Plan with these 8 Tactics” and end it with the promotion of your event.
- List posts corral the content around a given topic and provide an easy list for readers to digest: If your PR piece highlights you as a local financial expert, you might write an article like “Top 10 Reasons Why Enlisting the Help of a Financial Expert is Better than Planning Alone” and again end the piece by promoting your services.
2. Make sure you write, analyze, and rewrite.
Your headlines for various content pieces or press releases are the main reason why someone would click and read your content, or simply move on with their day. A solid headline is worth a few extra minutes to develop.
If you’re looking for some free advice, CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer can be a good starting point that can help you drive traffic, increase shares, and help your content hit home with your target audience.
3. Use trending hashtags when applicable.
You can use relevant hashtags on social media (though we don’t personally recommend it on Facebook since few people search hashtags there). For example, if you’re an expert on annuities and your new client guide is about how they provide guaranteed income for life, you might tag your post with the link to your article, add hashtags like #FinancialPlanning or #InvestInYourself.
The intent here is that if someone clicks on that hashtag elsewhere, your content will populate in the results.
The caution is that readers could click the hashtag from your post for more articles on the topic rather than clicking your content link. So what’s the lesson? Make sure your content is more click-worthy than the hashtag.
4. Include a video or image that evokes emotion.
Posts with images or videos are likely to get more shares and engagement than posts with just words. Use these tools to tell your story. Images and videos are powerful attention grabbers, so pull images from the article or diagrams.
5. Don’t forget to give credit!
Mentioning people or their social media pages brings in collaborators to your content. If you quoted someone in your article or talked about someone in a positive light, add a mention. You’re extending your reach to a different set of followers who might very well appreciate your information and share it with their followers.
Related: 6 Tips to Help Financial Advisors Connect With Millennials
Email Marketing Tips for Content Promotion
The tried-and-true efforts of email marketing should never be regarded as old school. Your database list includes readers who have opted to receive content from you, so they’ll typically be the first to share it as well. Email marketing is an easy way to reach your existing clientele and your prospect database all at once. Here are some tips to keep in mind when promoting content through email:
- Use your strongest and most successful social post headline to give your email the best chance at high open rates.
- Note that since headlines can get truncated, you may need to rephrase, so your message’s most important point is at the beginning.
- Remember that your email needs a compelling call to action with a way to track that activity, like directing to a landing page or your “News” section of your company website.
- Include images, videos, and data to complement an engaging message. If you use a service like Constant Contact or Mailchimp, embedding this into your email takes only a few simple clicks.
Don’t forget those centers of influence and industry leaders in your distribution list. Toot your horn and share your content, people want to know what you have going on!
One crucial step to consider here is adding a personal message to each email you send. Personalization reassures your high-level recipients that they’re important to you and that you didn’t just spam their inbox.
Try Public Relations & Press Outreach
For further reach, consider emailing writers, industry outlets, contributors, and anyone you mentioned in the piece. This is a chance to start a conversation with people you rarely encounter but need in your circle.
Journalists are always looking to uncover and report on the next big story. You want to be the next big headline. Content that’s timely and impactful is worth talking about, so create a press release and let the local news networks fight for the scoop!
Here are some tips if you’re wanting to use public relations as a promotional avenue:
- Don’t discount the value of having a public relations professional write your press release.
- Send your piece to a distribution service. There are hundreds of services, so do some research and select the company that you feel can best get your materials in front of your target audience.
- Use a distribution service that can provide analytics. It’ll help you understand if you reached your intended audience and how search engines may have reacted to the content, giving insight into ways to turn your leads into buyers.
- Know the best time to send your press release to journalists. According to studies, the best day is Thursday, which gets a 26% open rate, and editors report opening emails received between 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM at a rate of 33%.
- Follow up and engage with journalists that pick up your press release. Journalists need quality content from reliable sources, and becoming a resource for them will put you in a win-win situation. Help a Report Out, or HARO, is a site that reporters use to ask questions and cultivate sources.
Related: Webinar Best Practices for Financial Advisors
Humble Brag About Your Notoriety
Visibility is essential, and this means you need to be seen everywhere you can. You got props, so let your audience know! Visibility is your opportunity, so shout your success from the rooftops. Here are some ideas to highlight your publicity:
1. Create a Wall of Fame.
Highlight your fame in your office and on your website. You worked hard for your accomplishments and showing them off will build credibility. Inside your office, find a prominent space where you can display professional posters of your press coverage and any awards your company has received.
Think big and make this a showstopper that clients and prospects want to stop and view. It could also start a conversation and stir questions that you may not have thought to discuss.
2. Put it in your email signature.
Add an image, embed your video, or provide links to your highlighted accomplishments! You send emails daily, and this is your chance to share your latest content or publicity.
3. Use it in printed and digital materials.
You most certainly have promotional materials such as brochures, client guides, and whitepapers. Take this opportunity to add a layer of credibility by incorporating an “As Featured In” display into these existing branding pieces. This ensures that your target audience is being reminded of your media accolades at every turn.
You also have a website where you can post your article and accompanying logos. Embedding content on your site generally requires assistance from your website manager but isn’t a step you want to skip.
Touting “As Featured In” builds the brand credibility and intrigue you want to keep your audience engaged. It might also be worth mentioning; this should be displayed on the homepage for maximum exposure.
4. Include a dedicated “Media” or “News” tab on your site.
In your website’s navigation, include a section where you can place all your press coverage and company news. When you’re driving traffic to your website, your audience will expect to find information about you. Make it easy for them to discover and engage with your content or press coverage.
Ongoing Promotional Tips
So launch day of your most recent client guide or news article has come and gone. That doesn’t mean it’s time to stop highlighting the content to your audience.
Compelling content, awards, and media outlets provide credibility and convey a sense of quality that can tip the scales in your audience’s decision-making. Most come with specific badges for you to use across your website, brochures, social sites, and email. When people know you have third-party validation from the press or industry outlets, it ensures the work you put in continues to generate ongoing dividends.
The post-launch suggestions should be addressed in the days and weeks after your go-live date. With so much information available, staying top of mind requires ongoing strategic efforts.
While nothing truly disappears from the Internet, it can quickly be forgotten or buried, so your job is never done—it just requires some different tactics with longevity.
Keep these tips in mind when you’re deciphering how you can strategize your content to get the most out of it:
- In your client guides, whitepapers, and other pieces of content, include a snippet about your accolades, bio, or latest press release. This section can be updated as new company updates become available so it’s always relevant.
- If you’re hosting content online like on your website or YouTube page, offer additional hyperlinks to other content or news that you think visitors might be interested in reading. Why stop their attention at just one piece of content when they might want four or five?
- Webinars, seminars, and PowerPoint presentations all offer you a platform to highlight your firm’s accolades and media highlights. Add logos from featured publications in your introductory slides to add awareness to your credibility.
Go Old School With Direct Mail
Direct mail has a place in select marketing strategies. While your online efforts are making strides at building you up, print the article, write a personal cover letter, put it in an envelope, and mail it to the most valuable people in your database.
Direct mail has been called “the forgotten inbox.” It’s a counter-competitive channel. It’s a way to reach audiences that aren’t active online—it’s hard to believe, but many people still prefer paper to screen. Certain direct mail marketing strategies can be looked at as a break-through-the-noise approach.
Related: How to Promote a Podcast Appearance in 10 Easy Steps
If you’re using direct mail marketing to promote an upcoming event, consider including “As Featured In” with applicable news outlet logos. This brings immediate credibility to the mailer and sets you apart from the competition that’s not showcasing any accolades.
Simply contact your mail house and ask that they add this “As Featured In” section near your bio or host section.
Consider Repurposing Content Into Infographics
One do-it-yourself way to create unique, attention-grabbing content is with Canva. But rather than consume your free time trying to learn masterful design skills, consider hiring out your design work to an expert.
If you have a client guide, whitepaper, or another piece of written content that can be parsed down into a well-made infographic that accurately compliments your main message, it can be worth the investment.
Remember that today’s readers appreciate eye-catching and snackable content, and infographics are an easy way to package your content and use it across multiple platforms.
A strong infographic provides simple-to-comprehend information, uses recognizable icons and images, and keeps an original aesthetic. Lastly, if your readers like and share the infographic, be sure they’re redirected to your full content for deeper engagement.
Paid Social Promotions
Sometimes organic growth isn’t enough, and you need a more robust presence to get your messages heard and consumed; this is when paid social media advertising can come into play.
If you don’t have an agency to help with your strategy, start by focusing on one social site at a time. Focus on your message and your budget. When you’re spending cold-hard cash on promoting your content, being able to measure and evaluate your success suddenly becomes critically important.
Parting Words
There are countless opportunities and strategies to get your stories heard, read, and shared. If your story speaks to your target audience, then your content is king.
Syed Balkhi is recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by the United Nations, and he accomplished this through his philosophy noted in Entrepreneur:
“The best approach to take is to humanize your brand and company…step into your customers’ shoes, and understand their daily struggles, and the pain points of their lives. Then you can incorporate those pain points into your brand story to show why you’re different and to connect with your audience on a much deeper level.”
Whether it’s content you create or your firm’s accolades, It’s important that they’re promoted properly. These content promotion tips will help you build credibility, engage your audience, and can allow you to simultaneously network and build your business for steady growth.
Keep Reading: Turn Survey Data into Effective Marketing Tactics for Your Business
These are the views of Financial Independence Group, and not necessarily those of the named representative, Broker dealer or Investment Advisor, and should not be construed as legal, tax or investment advice. Neither the named representative nor the named Broker dealer or Investment Advisor gives tax or legal advice. All information is believed to be from reliable sources; however, we make no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. Please consult your financial advisor for further information.