Native articles and other forms of branded content are excellent marketing tactics for those seeking to inform and educate their audience, grow brand awareness and engage customers.
This method of marketing focuses on branding, not selling. Traditional advertising is often pitch or product-driven, branded content is not. Products and services can appear within branded content, but should not be the main focus.
Branded content aims to bring the brand’s mission, values, voice, and personality to life which helps to deliver a positive brand perception and builds trust. It is an opportunity to truly tell a brand’s story, add value to the user experience and connect with customers beyond products and services. Native content can also help establish a brand as an authority within their industry or field of expertise.
However, producing native content is only the beginning. A solid distribution strategy is as important as the content itself.
Native articles have a long shelf life therefore it’s important to implement a post-publication plan in order to elevate the content and garner pageviews long after the initial date of publication.
When a native article first appears on TribLIVE.com, the region’s most visited local media site, the article is heavily promoted for a 24-hour period:
-Anchored in the third story position on the Westmoreland, Allegheny, Valley News Dispatch or Sports homepages
-Allotment of banner impressions
-Featured positioning in TribLIVE daily/weekly e-newsletters
-Post on TribLIVE’s Facebook page
In addition, because native stories are evergreen, meaning they will live on TribLIVE.com’s Partner News section forever, they will provide a valuable backlink for the purposes of search engine optimization (SEO). When a brand is “Googled” native stories along with any associated photos will rank more favorably by virtue of being attached to a site with impressive domain authority, such as TribLIVE. This means that a native article will have a very high likelihood of being found through Google searches for the foreseeable future.
These efforts will certainly generate clicks, pageviews, and leads but don’t stop there.
Promoting branded content to a brand’s own audience will further the potential of it being seen. Remember the rule of frequency. Using multiple channels to call attention to an article at different times drastically increases the number of readers. Consider the following strategies when pushing out any native or branded content:
-Write a synopsis of the article on owned and operated website(s) with a link to the story on TribLIVE.com
-Include a link to the story in email newsletters to customers and prospects
-Post a link to the native article on owned social media pages
To get the greatest benefit out of branded content, don’t implement all of these distribution efforts on day one. Readers consume content voluntarily when it is convenient for or relevant to them, so keep content top of mind by pushing it out through different methods over a few weeks or even months. Even focus on a new element seasonally or annually based on the nature of the story.
For more information on TribLIVE.com native articles or branded content, please complete the form below or email marketing@triblive.com.
