Top 10 Content Syndication Networks & Platforms

Top-10-Content-Syndication-Networks-Platforms

In this guide, we’re looking into the top 10 content syndication networks to make your content reach as far and wide as possible and ultimately grow your business by bringing more leads. If you aren’t making use of content syndication, but your business is consistently putting out new content, then you are probably missing out on new customers and visibility within your brand.

What is Content Syndication (and What Are Content Syndication Networks?)

Once you have created a piece of content, it makes sense to “syndicate” it. What does this mean? Well, there are a lot of other places online (content syndication networks) where you can promote and share this content. Third-party websites allow you to publish articles, videos, graphics, and other content after you have put it on your own website. In doing so, you expand the reach via these content syndication platforms.

The idea is that this brings far more potential reach for your content. People signed up to these networks have more chance of seeing the content you are putting out. The call to action can still promote your business and lead distribution software can collect and allocate any new leads that come through these networks.

Content Syndication Networks in SEO

A lot of people choose to use content syndication networks as a way to boost their SEO also. Search Engine Optimization takes onboard the number of links that point to a website or piece of content. By creating more links, it is likely that search engines will give more visibility to your writing or other content.

However, the danger is the way search engines might process this content. It is important that on your website, you publish the article first, with a “Canonical” tag to tell the search engines this is the original piece of content, and those other syndications should not overtake it in the search engines.

Even if Google does rank a Medium article by you instead of your own website then it isn’t the end of the world.

Syndication is a commonly-used marketing strategy and the majority of search engines are very good at adapting and understanding what is going on. The SEO benefits of syndicating your content are clear to see.

Which Are the Content Syndication Networks and Platforms?

Below, we’ve picked out the 10 best content syndication networks, providing a brief overview of each to allow you to pick out the right platforms for you.

1 Medium

Medium might be the best known of all of the syndication networks. It allows businesses or individuals to publish their articles, and it is totally free. It’s great for building an audience, and Medium has a lot of different ways to promote your articles, as people search subcategories on the website

If you’ve written content already on a company website, and you want to share this on Medium then it is super simple to do so. If you just use the URL then Medium can import the content including the images, and it even adds tags to tell the search engines it is syndicated content rather than original. This helps your own site to keep its Google rankings.

2 Slideshare

Slideshare is amazing for more visual media such as…well, things that are slide based. It’s a space for presentations, but also videos and other graphic design such as infographics. The website is actually now owned by LinkedIn and has huge levels of traffic. It’s super easy to share from Slideshare to LinkedIn, too.

If your business creates a lot of slide-based media and you want somewhere to distribute it then Slideshare could be your answer, and it’s a great way to show your industry expertise.

3 Quora

If you regularly search for the answer to questions on Google then there is every chance that you have seen and used Quora. It can actually be a powerful marketing tool if you have the answers to other peoples’ questions.

This content syndication network might take a little bit more work as you may have to make your content more unique for the Quora platform, answering the question in the process, but you can leave links to your work, and posts you have written that answer peoples’ questions.

4 Reddit

Reddit is one of the most popular websites on the internet, especially when it comes to the time spent browsing. Reddit is basically a place for links and content to be shared, and it can be hard to syndicate because most posts are not feature-rich.

You have to give a lot in the world of Reddit to get success, but if you get it right you can share your links and content with huge success. Instead of fully syndicating, it is one of the best places to share a link and then open it up for debate.

Reddit is split into thousands of “Subreddits” to ensure that people are discussing content they’re interested in. So, if your website is about digital marketing, make sure you’re not posting in a pets Subreddit.

5 LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a great platform for blogging, especially if you want to make yourself known as an industry expert. While it is a good idea to publish new and unique content there, it works as a content syndication network, too.

By using LinkedIn, you can ensure that your network continues to grow, and people are more likely to see you as a leader in your specific field. You can syndicate or write content for either a business or a personal account.

6 YouTube

You may or may not already have video content, but it could be time to get smart about sharing video. YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world, so it is a good idea to syndicate content.

You can get creative about this if your content doesn’t start life as video. Why not turn it into a podcast, or get a voiceover artist to record your content and upload this to YouTube?

This requires a little more skill and effort than some of the other syndication methods, but that’s not the end of the world, especially if you have a team of people you can delegate tasks to.

On top of this, your content might be video anyway, in which case, why wouldn’t you put it on YouTube for more people to find?

7 Facebook Business

The best marketers know how to use Facebook to their advantage. There aren’t many platforms out there with billions of accounts you can access, but Facebook business is one of them.

You can use Facebook as a content syndication network and even pay for more publicity on your posts, or you can just utilize pages and groups to get free publicity and share the posts from your website.

Most of the syndication methods we’ve mentioned are free, but Facebook can whittle people down incredibly precisely and allow you to target your advertising, so it might be worth spending on the ads.

8 Soundcloud

If you are creating any sort of audio content, Soundcloud is a way to reach even more people. For instance, if your business is jumping on the current wave of podcasting, people might be searching for industry experts on Soundcloud to listen to. Audio and video files are some of the easiest to syndicate.

9 Mix

You might have used the cult discovery site “StumbleUpon” which closed a few years ago. It now operates under “Mix” which curates content for people to discover. It’s a way to get your content in front of more eyeballs based on what they are interested in. “Article cards” are shown to users with relevant articles.

You can customize the feature and make it look great, with images and more rich media. Then leave Mix to find the right people to see your content. The better the original information you post, the more viewers you’re likely to get.

10 Pinterest

This may be seen as more of a content discovery network than a syndication network but it still deserves a place on our list for the shear weight of numbers it can potentially bring to your website. Your articles can be “pinned” to “boards” in certain niches and this means that people who follow those boards can find your content much more easily.

This is really effective if your business has a largely female following, as most Pinterest users are women. Certain niches like crafts and other hobbies are followed closely on Pinterest. For business to business, it might not be anywhere near as effective just because of a different audience type. For example, you might head to LinkedIn instead for B2B content.

Final Thoughts

Syndication is one thing that your business can implement pretty quickly, and it can be extremely effective if done right, using the right content syndication networks. If you are already making audio and video content, you can even get it transcribed to share elsewhere. Being creative and getting your business into platforms where people are already looking is key to building a successful online presence, and may increase your profits as a result.

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