Content syndication is quietly turned into one of the most potent tools in a marketer's arsenal, offering unprecedented reach, growth, and targeting capabilities that traditional organic methods can never match. However, syndication comes with its own share of challenges and complexities, often requiring seamless planning, and flawless execution to yield the desired results.
The most critical aspect in this regard is selecting the right syndication service to put your content in action. Content syndication and distribution services are dime a dozen these days, which makes it all the more harder to choose the one that best suits your requirements.
In this article, we lay out certain key traits and characteristics to look for when finding the right content syndication service.
1. Define Your Goals
As with all things pertaining to marketing, it's good to start with a thorough understanding of your goals and objectives. So, in the case of content syndication, is it merely to drive referral traffic? Or is it to build authority and brand awareness? Just backlinks for SEO, or merely a way to get the word out there?
All of this needs to be clarified before you start hunting for a service provider. Given that services in this niche come in various shapes and sizes, identifying one that best aligns with your requirements depends on your ability to clearly articulate the said requirements.
2. Find and Evaluate Services
Once you have a good understanding of the goals, objectives, and broader requirements, you can then start looking up relevant services that align with the same. As mentioned earlier, there are quite a few of them, and it is recommended to give each of them a thorough vetting.
Beyond the simple Google search, other avenues include marketplaces such as UpWork, Fiverr, and Freelancer, which are more transparent, and offer a fairly seamless experience. A word of advice on such platforms: Beware of low-balling, and avoid going for the cheapest service provider.
3. Check Reviews, Performance & Case Studies
Ideally, any content syndication service that hasn't sprung up overnight will have a slew of reviews, testimonials, and case studies of their past campaigns. These are great to get a feel for the service provider, and to understand how well they align with your objectives, before you decide to go ahead.
Keep in mind, however, that most services will only display the crème de la crème of their past performance, in this regard. This isn't a bad thing, as it still allows potential customers to get a feel of what to look for and expect when working with the service provider.
4. Evaluate Distribution Network
A critical aspect to consider when selecting a B2B content syndication service is their current distribution network of popular media outlets, sector-specific publications, social media channels, and more. Most services specialize in a particular niche or industry, and while they might market to a wide spectrum of clients, their expertise remains limited.
Many service providers take the approach of guest posting when it comes to content syndication, which is largely flawed. Ideally, syndication services should maintain ties and relationships with leading publications within a particular niche, and use that wisely to promote their client's content.
Final Words
Even though it has been around for decades, content syndication has only recently managed to capture the imagination of marketers, growth hackers, and entrepreneurs, alike. As such, it still remains a concept that is very much in its nascent stages, with plenty of innovations, and new creative approaches rising to the forefront every other day.
This is an exciting time to pursue content syndication, and is almost akin to social media marketing in the early-2010s. With the right strategy, planning, and execution, businesses have only to gain by syndicating their content across leading blogs and publications.