You just spent hours writing and editing a great piece of content. You’ve uploaded it to your content management system, dropped in a high res photo, SEO’d the bejeebers out of it, and scheduled it for next Monday morning at 9:30 am EST. As you wipe your hands clean of this task, something pulls you back into the content vortex.

You’ve only completed 20% of the work! So what else do you have to do?

80% of your time should be spent promoting your work, not creating it.

Great content requires great promotion. And if you aren’t happy with the results of your content, perhaps you can start with these five secrets to content promotion. My guess? You’ll be pleasantly surprised with the results.

1. Prime the Pump

Before you send out the email to your blog subscriber list, give a little love to your post by sharing on social media first. A post that already has a few tweets and likes is far more reputable than a blank slate.

Send a quick tweet or message to your close friends and family, (and team), to ask them to consider sharing the post on their networks.

2. Mention Influencers

This is a no brainer, but it often gets overlooked! In your piece make sure to quote, mention or link to any notable people relevant to the content. Then, when you go to prime your pump, email those people to let them know they have been mentioned or linked to. They will most likely share or retweet the content.

Don’t have their email address? Use extensions like Rapportive to figure out combinations that work (usually first name (at) company (dot) com.) And if that doesn’t work, tweet at them once the post goes live.

And speaking of tweeting, make sure to mention that piece 3-4 times the first day, spaced out ever couple of hours. Since you only have a few minutes, (if not seconds) to get someones attention on twitter, you need to re-share the content as much as tastefully possible.

3. Hijack Hashtags

If today is THE day to publish this apparently outstanding piece of content of yours, make sure that there are complimentary hashtags trending as well. Check out #hashtags.org to see what’s happening, and trending every hour. You may be surprised.

But remember to be relevant and moral. Don’t go using hashtags that relate to tragic events or #justinbiebersbirthday just because it has the eyeballs now. It’s insulting and disrespectful AND you’ll get the wrong eyeballs. See, relevancy is important.

4. Get Your Headline Right

Your headline is the magic. It’s the thing that gets people clicking and reading. So take the time to figure out the magic formula. Here’s a quick tip: Use a number/trigger + keyword + adjective + promise = your headline. Use different types: how-to’s, a solution, a secret way, a question, news, or a command.

Tweetable length is also a factor. Make sure to ‘try’ to keep headlines between 60-100 characters. This is where it can get tricky. Start by writing 25 headlines around three different subjects. Trim them down. Cut out the fluff. Insert the keywords and your trigger, adjective, and promise.

5. Timing

I once heard a story about a brand that worked really hard around some sort of Facebook promotion (an app) during the Superbowl and published their update at… wait for it… 3 a.m. local time. Um? Ok.

No one saw it.

No wonder! With things like time decay, the update quickly vanished into the Facebook archives. This is only one horrible example of timing gone wrong. So lets consider the alternative, social timing: great content at the right time in front of the right people. Jackpot! And it IS that easy.

So there you have it, 5 of our top content promotion secrets. That said - we’ve only scratched the surface. Give our recommendations a try, but don’t get overwhelmed. Start by creating really great, valuable content and work on your promotion plans from there. Good luck!

About the author:

Renee Warren is the Co-founder of Onboardly, a company that helps entrepreneurial minded lifestyle companies (Saas, E-Commerce, and retail) grow by doing three things: Acquire customers, increase conversions through key revenue-generating channels and turn those customers into brand ambassadors. You can reach her at renee@onboardly.com.

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