Best 7 Ways to Promote Content Before Publishing

Creating content is great, but is anyone actually reading it? If your interactions and engagement aren’t what you want them to be, then it’s time you tried a little bit of pre-promotion.

What’s Pre Promotion All About?

When you post a blog and then try and drum up some interest it can be hard to make your content stand out from the crowd. Everyone is posting new stuff all the time, so if you want to be at the front of people’s minds you need to vary things up.

Pre-promotion is where you build anticipation by leaking out the occasional quote or tweeting the release date of your next article. The clever thing about this is that you can hook people early. Here’s why it works:

• It builds anticipation because people won’t want to wait too long to see what you have to offer
• It shows your readership that you have a continuous stream of new content, rather than being a sporadic poster
• It’s something that most content creators aren’t doing

Let’s talk through some hints and tips that will have you pre promoting like a pro in no time at all…

1. Decide What You Want To Do

It may be common sense, but you’d be amazed at how many people skip this step altogether. If you don’t know what you want to achieve then you may as well not bother trying.

Give yourself some time to think with nothing for distraction but a pen and paper and you’ll be able to gain plenty of clarity of thought.

Here are a few questions you can ask yourself:

• Which platforms do I want to pre-promote my content on?
• How far in advance do I want to start pre promoting? (More on that shortly)
• How many hours and how much money am I willing to invest in pre-promotion?

Once you know the answers to these 3 questions, you’ll be ready to work through the rest of this article. The great thing about the approach I’m going to show you is that it works whether you’re a blogger, fashion label, or anything else you can dream up.

2. When to Start: Understanding the Content Pipeline

As a content provider, the worst thing you can do is send out mixed signals. If you want to be taken seriously then you need to do precisely what you say you will.

It’s no use generating hype about some new video content if you find out later that you can’t shoot it. All that will do is damage your brand’s reputation and make you look rather foolish. Not only that but the next time you try to pre-promote you’ll be met with a mixture of indifference and derision.

What you need to start thinking about is your very own content pipeline. This is how long it takes you to generate new content, and what kinds of hurdles you typically have to overcome along the way. Here’s how you can start defining your pipeline:

• How long did your last piece of content take to create?
• What resources did you need? Are they typically always available to you?
• Do you plan on adding new types of content in the near future?
• If so how long do you think they will take to create, and what resources will be required?
• Do you foresee any issues in creating your next piece of content?
• Can you create content in batches to speed things up and create a portfolio that you can drip feed to your audience?

This will give you a much better idea of the timeframe for your pre-promotion. Now all you need to do is find the tools that allow you to do it.

3. Find An Influencer That’s As Passionate As You Are

If you want to find a find a social influencer then there are a few things that you’re going to need to consider:

• Do they charge for their service?
• How big is their following?
• Does their following include the core demographics that you’d like to reach?

Once you know these 3 things you’ll be able to find the perfect fit for your content. Just make sure that you get a feel for their passion and ask for stats on their following and engagement.

This will give you the peace of mind that you’re partnering with someone who knows the industry you’re trying to break into.

4. Decide Which Platforms You Want to Use

There are so many platforms out there that it can be hard to know which ones will help you with your pre-promotion efforts. Here are a few that are great options:

• Email lists that you’ve acquired through the course of running your business
• Twitter is especially good for linking to written content
• Instagram is great for linking to visual and video content

Let’s take a closer look at how you can start pre promoting using each of the above.

5. Email Pre Promotion Tips

The most important thing is that you have a targeted email list built up whilst growing your business. Emails only work if you’re sending them to the right people so this first piece of advice is vital.

Next, you want to create anticipation and urgency by running a series of emails, not just one. A countdown to content series of emails is a great way to build excitement amongst the recipients.

There is a whole load of specific points you’ll want to bear in mind regarding everything from subject line lengths to the time of day you send your emails. Just make sure you read these email marketing myths before proceeding.

6. Twitter Pre Promotion Tips

The great thing about Twitter is that anyone can use it to connect with a much larger audience than an email list. Here are 3 things you can try today:

• Pina tweet about your forthcoming content to the top of your profile feed
• Tweet an intriguing quote or extract that piques people’s interest but doesn’t give too much away
• Retweet key influencers in your field to increase the visibility of your pre-promotion

7. Instagram Pre Promotion Tips

Last but not least we have Instagram — the home of all things visual.

If you want to promote some video content then try posting a 5-second snippet that will catch the eye. Have it involve a quote or an action shot if that’s what your content entails. Take it from the middle portion of your video so that people get curious about where it’s from.

You can then start posting countdown memes for the 7 days leading up to publishing. And of course, don’t forget to network with your influencer(s). Coordinate their efforts with yours so that you can hit your audience from all directions and create some real buzz around your latest offering.

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