Today it’s more important than ever to create content that is valuable and educational to market your business online. Most people are web savvy and won’t waste time on bad content. It is just as important to get that content to the people who are most likely to read and be interested in the information you are sharing. The first steps most people take are to write a blog, add content to their website, and use social media sites. You can amplify your success by taking the next step and find the partners who will share your content and turn it into referrals.
Guest Poster
One way to do this is to become a guest poster. This means being a guest author on sites and blogs read by those in your prospective market. You’ll reach a built in audience since most sites and blogs have regular readers. Find the blogs and sites that are in touch with your market and offer valuable content as a guest poster. There are search engines that can help you find blogs, like Bloglines or Placeblogger. You may want to go for the smaller blogs that have the most relevance to your topic.
Host a Group
A second way to share content is to host a group. The various social networking sites allow their members to create groups. A group can be focused around a specific topic, content, or information. The idea is to create a place where people will want to gather and share content. The group doesn’t have to be about something specific about your business, but in many cases you’ll attract at least some members who will have an interest in your main business.
Bring a Friend
People are always interested in getting free content, and many like to attend free webinars or forums that pertain to their interests. One way to boost your referrals is to make these “Bring a Friend” event, so that attendees can come for free, as long as they bring a friend.
Offer Content Co-Branding
Content co-branding is a great way to gain new referrals. Look for other non-competing businesses that share the same potential customers and make them strategic partners. You do this by offering them the use of your content. Many businesses know they should be creating quality content but don’t have the time. You make their job easier by offering the content, and they share their large audience with you, leading to new referrals.
Create an Event
The final way to share content to create referrals is to create your own event. Set up your own workshop, webinar, or class and bring in strategic partners who share the same audience or market. This is similar to co-branding, because you are each bringing in a part of the same large market and sharing with your partners. To really go all out, round up about five to six partners and make it a whole day or half-day event. Each partner will being in their segment, you can even make it a Bring a Friend to bump up the numbers. In the end each partner will have reached a much larger group than they could have attracted on their own. This can be the ultimate way to share content to create referrals.