Content Syndication
What is content syndication?
Content syndication is the process of publishing and distributing your content, such as blog posts, articles, or videos, across multiple third-party platforms to reach a larger audience and increase brand visibility as part of your content marketing efforts.
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History and evolution of content syndication
The concept of content syndication dates back to the early days of print media, where newspapers and magazines would share articles and stories with other publications. With the rise of the internet, content syndication has evolved to include digital channels such as social media, blogs, and podcasts. Today, content syndication is a key component of many marketing strategies, as businesses look for ways to leverage third-party platforms to reach new audiences.
How to get started with content syndication
Content syndication can be a tricky beast to master, so we've put together some basic steps to get your efforts off the ground.
01. Create high-quality, engaging content that will resonate with your target audience. This should always be priority number one with any content strategy.
02. Plan your distribution strategy by identifying the best marketing channels and platforms for syndicating your content.
03. Improve your measurement and analysis processes as you track the performance of your syndicated content and make data-driven decisions to optimize your strategy.
Benefits of content syndication
Content syndication can mean many benefits for your marketing efforts. Some of the main ones include:
Increased reach and visibility: syndicating your content on third-party platforms can help you reach new audiences and increase brand awareness. It can wider your audience, both in terms of reach and numbers, and variety.
Lead generation: by creating valuable content that resonates with your target audience, you can generate leads and drive traffic back to your website.
Search engine optimization (SEO): by syndicating your content on high-authority websites, you can improve your search engine rankings and drive more organic traffic to your website.
Cost-effective: content syndication can be a cost-effective way to expand your reach and generate leads, especially when compared to other marketing tactics like paid advertising.
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Examples of content syndication
One example of content syndication is when a business creates an article or blog post, repurposes it and then shares it on social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Another example is when a business partners with a third-party website or publication to share their content with their audience. If you're are a software company that creates content related to cybersecurity, you might partner with a cybersecurity publication to syndicate your content to their audience. This helps you get your expertise in front of the right audiences, without too much research and work.
Challenges of content syndication
One potentially large drawback associated with using content syndication as a distribution method is the risk of duplicate content penalties from search engines. To avoid this, businesses should use canonical tags and a no-index label to indicate the original source of the content and ensure that their syndicated content is properly attributed. Another challenge is ensuring that your syndicated content is being presented in a way that aligns with your brand and messaging, which can be addressed by establishing clear guidelines and expectations with your third-party partners.
Content syndication vs paid media
Content syndication and paid media are two distinct strategies for distributing and promoting content. Here's how they differ:
Content syndication involves republishing or sharing existing content, such as articles, blog posts, or videos, on third-party platforms, often with permission. Paid media involves advertising your content or messages on various platforms, including search engines (SEM), social media ads, display ads, and sponsored content. You pay for placement.
Content syndication is typically a non-paid strategy. Content is shared with partners or platforms and they republish it as part of a mutually beneficial arrangement. Paid media is a paid strategy where you allocate a budget for ads or sponsored content. Costs vary depending on the platform, ad type, and targeting options.
Content syndication extends the reach of your content by tapping into the existing audiences of partner websites. It can introduce your content to new audiences without direct costs. Paid media provides control over who sees your content by specifying the target audience based on demographics, interests, and behavior. It ensures a wide reach.
Syndicated content may have duplicate content issues in search engine rankings, potentially affecting SEO. However, rel=canonical tags can help mitigate this. Paid media doesn't directly impact SEO because the content is labeled as an ad. However, it can indirectly drive traffic, which might positively affect SEO.
With content syndication you have limited control over where your content is republished, how it appears, or how it's presented. The partner site often has editorial control. With paid ad you have more if not complete control over this.
To sum up, content syndication leverages partnerships to republish content on third-party sites without direct costs, while paid media involves paying for ads or sponsored content to reach a specific audience on various online platforms. Both strategies have their merits and can be used together to maximize content exposure and achieve specific marketing goals.