Non-Spammy B2B Content Promotion: 8 Proven Tactics for 2023
No one wants to read spammy B2B content.
You know the ones: emails that say, "I love your blog (even though I never read it)...[insert devil voice] LINK TO ME!"
So, that got me to thinking about my own business:
Even though AutoGrow has had 1,000,000s of clicks in organic traffic, we haven't done much to promote our content besides email and the occasional social media post.
Therefore, I put together a B2B content promotion guide with eight credible case studies and techniques that have actually worked.
Check it out below, and see how you can get more links, traffic, leads, and sales without seeming spammy.
Here’s how I laid it out:
Each example in this easy-to-read guide shows you clearly
- What the tactic is
- The results it earned
- Proof that it worked (call me crazy, but I like to back up my advice with facts)
- Why it worked (the meat of the idea. or the stalk of the idea for vegans)
- And how you can apply it easily
Here’s a quick overview of each tactic that you can click on so you can quickly navigate to the ones you want to check out:
- B2B Content Promotion Tactic 1: LinkedIn Sponsored Content Campaigns
- B2B Content Promotion Tactic 2: Content Promotion on Niche Online Communities and Forums
- B2B Content Promotion Tactic 3: Use Personalization in Content Promotion
- B2B Content Promotion Tactic 4: Develop Infographics for Social Media Platforms
- B2B Content Promotion Tactic 5: Repurpose Your Content
- B2B Content Promotion Tactic 6: Create Quality Content So Influencers Want To Repost It
- B2B Content Promotion Tactic 7: Leverage AI for More Efficient and Higher Quality Content Promotion
- B2B Content Promotion Tactic 8: Harnessing User-Generated Content (UGC)
As Jonathan Perelman of Buzzfeed said, “Content is king, but distribution is queen. And she wears the pants.”
Let’s dive into some proven (non-spammy) tactics to get your content out there, noticed, and get customers to engage.
B2B Content Promotion Tactic #1: Use LinkedIn Sponsored Content Campaigns and Provide Real Value
Results: An SaaS company increased its post-engagement rate to 2.77% (anything above 2% is considered great).
Proof It Works: An Australian SaaS vendor in a highly competitive market space targeted their advertising at a large but specific group of Australian companies and agencies. By leveraging solid introductory copy and a relevant downloadable asset, they achieved a post-engagement rate of 2.77%, a cost per lead of $16.76, and a click-through rate of 0.99%. Good deal.
Why it works: LinkedIn is a B2B goldmine. Running sponsored content campaigns can help your content reach a bigger target audience (see above). This tactic is particularly effective with a tightly defined buyer persona and company firmographics.
How To Apply It: Include the following in your content/posts (see title image):
- Strong introductory copy
- Relevant downloadable assets (value)
- Targeting specific job titles, industries, and company sizes
- Regularly updating creative assets to maintain an optimum cost per lead
Bottom Line: Turn LinkedIn into a B2B content production engine just by using some killer copy and downloadable goodies (value). Then sit back and watch people use and promote your content.
B2B Content Promotion Tactic #2: Get Backlinks on Niche Online Communities and Forums
Results: Backlinks (5500 of them for Animalz!) significantly increased overall website traffic and search engine visibility.
Proof It Works: Animalz, a US-based content marketing agency, used its content benchmark report and turned it into a hefty 6,000-word article that they promoted in niche forums about SaaS analytics that helped them garner over 5,500 inbound backlinks (Pareto’s Principle applies here: 80% of your results come from 20% of your work).
Consequently, when potential customers search for keywords related to SaaS content marketing, the Animalz website often appears high on the first page of Google.
Why it Works: People want to source good, high-quality information for their blogs. Many niche online communities, forums, and platforms are filled with businesses who are looking for high-quality content from a reputable source (that’s you) to link to or get ideas from.
How You Can Apply It: Start a page on Facebook or a subreddit on Reddit specific to your niche, and regularly contribute valuable, data-driven, in-depth content on these platform, and don’t ask for anything in return. Other businesses will link to your content (more backlinks = more clicks), check out your website (have CTAs on all of your pages — a good rule of thumb), or share it (free content promotion).
Bottom Line: The internet is a big place. Quit shouting into the void and find your crowd. Create a “hub” post of all the valuable information in your niche so people and companies can link to and promote your content.
B2B Content Promotion Tactic #3: Use Personalization in B2B Content Promotion
Results: Seismic increased their conversion rates by 80%.
Proof It Works: The Seismic/Demand Metric report reveals that personalized content is essential for achieving B2B content marketing objectives. 80% of respondents believe customized content is more effective and crucial for lead generation and sales team support.
Why It Works: Personalization is powerful because it makes your audience feel seen and valued, which can significantly boost their user experience. When people think a message is made just for them, they're more likely to take action, convert, and spread the word (see B2B Content Promotion Tactic 8 on UGC).
How You Can Apply It: The top ways to personalize B2B content promotion:
- Email marketing: Use your recipient's name in the email (makes a big difference in open rates and engagement).
- Content recommendations: Use your customer data to recommend content they might be interested in (if they've read articles about a topic on your website, email them more articles on that topic — in a personal, non-spammy way).
- Website personalization: Personalize the content users see when visiting your site based on their location, browsing history, or anything else.
Bottom Line: Stop blasting one-size-fits-all content. Get personal, folks. Meet your (new) customers where they’re at. The less work they do to find you, the more likely they’ll engage.
B2B Content Promotion Tactic #4: Use Infographics on Social Media Platforms
Results: Boosted social media SocialMediaToday’s engagement by over 5,900 shares.
Proof It Works: SocialMediaToday.com effectively used infographics to boost social media engagement, with their infographic "What is the Ideal Length of Everything Online?" (seen above) generating over 5,000 shares. This information was shared extensively due to its easy-to-read valuable content (imagine if all of that was in blog form).
Why It Works: Infographics are a compelling blend of visuals and information that are easily shared, appealing to the eye, and simple to comprehend.
How You Can Apply It: You can significantly enhance your engagement by designing infographics that converts complex data into an engaging, digestible format. Then just post the infographic on social media (visual wins on social media every time) for easy content promotion.
Bottom Line: Turn your data into a visual feast and watch your social media shares skyrocket! Infographics are your secret sauce for making complex info snackable, shareable, and irresistible.
B2B Content Promotion Tactic #5: Repurpose Your Content
Repurposed Into an Ebook:
Results: It varies on the quality of the content and how effectively it's repurposed, but Google generally likes updates to old content. Repurposing leads to increased web traffic, higher engagement rates, improved SEO, and the ability to reach new audiences.
Proof It Works: Upwardli (a finance company) expanded a well-received blog post into a 20-page eBook, meeting the demand for in-depth information and effectively engaging their audience. This shows how repurposing can be a successful strategy in maximizing content value and audience engagement.
Bonus Proof: Autogrow — Last week, we published an in-depth article on Funnel Drift (check it out here). Our design team then repurposed the info to create a YouTube video to capture a new market. Here’s the YouTube video in all its glory.
Why It Works: Repurposing content will enable you to present the same information differently so new people see it (there are more people online now than when you first published it). For example, some people prefer to watch a video, while others prefer to read a blog post. Also, repurposing reinforces your message, as consumers sometimes need to hear or see something several times before it sinks in.
How You Can Apply It:
- Identify your best-performing content: This could be a blog post that has received a lot of traffic or a highly-attended webinar.
- Decide on the best repurposing format: This could be a blog post, infographic, video, podcast, social media post, etc.
- Convert the original into new: For instance, a webinar can be transcribed into a blog post or broken down into smaller video clips.
- Share the new content: Get it on the appropriate platforms and link back to the original content when possible.
Bottom Line: Maximize your content's mileage by serving it in multiple flavors! Repurpose your top-notch blog into a podcast, an infographic, or a video. Many people stick to one or a few mediums. Repurpose your killer content to capture a bigger audience.
B2B Content Promotion Tactic #6: Create High-Quality Content So Influencers Want To Repost It
Results: Create high-quality content that promotes credible sources (influencers, big names in your niche — like Neil Patel for SEO, etc.), then DM these sources about your content to inspire reciprocal promotion. The results: They promote your content to their (much bigger) audience, and you get increased content promotion.
Proof It Works: Influencer marketing is a powerful strategy (72.5% of U.S. marketers are using it this year), and research shows that 14% of 18-to-24-year-olds and 11% of millennials have purchased based on influencer recommendations in the last six months.
Why It Works: It's based on reciprocity — when you promote someone's work, they're inclined to return the favor. Influencers are also HUGE right now.
How You Can Apply It: Find the most respected content creator (or influencer) in your industry and create ultra-high quality content that references them, then reach out to them for potential reciprocal promotion.
Bottom Line: Make your content awesome, cite the big players, and watch your work go viral in their hands. It's all about the art of flattery — give them a shoutout, and they might return the favor to their massive audience — everyone loves a good compliment.
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B2B Content Promotion Tactic #7: Leverage AI for More Efficient and Higher Quality Content Promotion (Quality Content = Easier To Promote)
Results: Enhanced lead generation by up to 73% and significantly improved content quality and production efficiency.
Proof It Works: VMware supercharged its content operations with Acrolinx, an AI-enabled solution. The outcome? Better content faster and improved content quality for 73% of employees and 60% more efficient content creators.
Why It Works: AI optimizes content promotion by automating the analysis of user behavior, predicting trends, and customizing content per user. Maximising the quality of your content means it can be promoted much easier.
How You Can Apply It: Implement AI tools to support content promotion strategies. These tools can automate basic editing tasks, handle repetitive corrections, provide real-time analytics, write in the tone of voice that most resonate with your target audience, and help tailor content to individual users.
Bottom Line: Make your content work smarter, not harder. Automate the mundane, crunch the data, and tailor content to your audience's tastes. Say goodbye to manual labor and hello to next-level efficiency in content promotion.
B2B Content Promotion Tactic #8: Harnessing the Power of User-Generated Content (aka Free Content Promotion)
Results: Blendtec enhanced social proof, which promoted their content to other readers looking for recommendations and ratings, which boosted conversions by 58%, and doubled Instagram followers.
Proof It Works: Blendtec transformed its blender brand by harnessing the power of User-Generated Content (UGC) through an ambassador program. Customers were incentivized to share images of their blenders on Instagram (free content promotion) using #blendtecfam, earning them the exclusive Ambassador Recipe Book.
The result? A 58% increase in UGC impressions, doubled Instagram followers, and remarkable organic reach and engagement.
Why It Works: UGC bolsters trust among your target audience. It also encourages engagement and fosters a sense of community, leading to higher organic reach, engagement, and content promotion.
How You Can Apply It: Prompt customers to share their experiences with your product or service on social media. Encourage them to use a specific hashtag, and offer incentives, such as access to exclusive content, for shaing your content.
Bottom Line: Let your clients share their success stories with your product, reward their efforts, and watch your conversion rates rocket to new heights. Remember, nothing promotes your content better than a happy customer testimonial.
Conclusion
Now you have better ideas than sending spammy emails to other businesses. With a little creativity and effort, you can see increased clicks, clients, shares, and revenue in no time.
Let’s quickly recap what we talked about today.
- Crack the B2B code on LinkedIn with targeted ads. Create valuable content that begs to be shared and promoted.
- Find your crowd on niche forums with content other businesses want to link to.
- Personalize content to make your audience feel special. This makes it infinitely more shareable.
- Create infographics for your social media posts and watch your content promotion soar with likes, shares, and comments.
- Repurpose your best content into different formats like podcasts and videos; now, you’re promoting to a whole new audience with minimal effort.
- Create high-quality content that references major players and influencers – get a reciprocal promotion.
- Automate with AI to save time, analyze user behavior, and tailor content for better engagement and outside promotion.
- Leverage UGC – encourage your customers to share their experiences and watch your conversions, social proof, and organic content promotion soar.
Bottom Line: These 8 tactics will take your B2B content promotion to the next level, driving engagement, leads, and sales without resorting to spammy techniques (and they don’t cost that much either… just time and effort on your part).
If you found this article valuable, don’t hesitate to download a copy to keep these tricks at your fingertips. Share it with your team and get your content quality above the spam level.
Plus, I’d love to hear your thoughts: What are you doing to spice up your B2B content production? What new methods of increasing engagement are you using that you think we could all benefit from knowing?
Let me know in the comments below.
Keep AutoGrowin’, and stay focused.
