Content Seeding – Marketing and SEO

October 3, 2022

Content seeding as a form of marketing and as a multiplier – what is the right way of distribution?

In content marketing, content seeding has created an exposed position for itself. But what is meant by this? If one speaks of CS as a multiplier, it is about the distribution of one’s own content and one’s own brand via social media, via websites and many, many other online media. In this form of marketing, this “spreading out” reaches the multipliers – people or groups who have a good network themselves – who are responsible for the important build-up of backlinks. And not only backlinks, but above all backlinks of high and highest quality.

Content seeding explained step by step

If you want to carry out content seeding, you have to clearly visualize the really important and correct steps. Each campaign is divided into individual and clearly structured sub-segments. And as always, good planning is the first step on the road to success. Of course, random hits are also possible without planning, because nothing is really impossible in the vastness of the Internet. But if you don’t want to rely on your luck, you have to plan, plan, plan. And to anticipate the whole thing: after the planning comes the very important selection of possible multipliers and finally the actual seeding of the content.

What needs to be considered during the planning phase?

Like any marketing plan, the content seeding plan needs to have clear cornerstones of what numbers you want to achieve through content distribution. Success can only be measured and seen by those who have performance indicators available. One or the other set screw still needs to be turned, the campaign needs to be fine-tuned – or even completely redesigned – if there is to be success on the table that proves to be solid marketing can lead. The key figures include, for example, the number of visitors to the page, the leads generated and ultimately, of course, the sales that could be made based on the campaign and written into the order book. And the same applies to content seeding: Every marketing campaign is only as good as the numbers in the book tell you afterwards.
Once the numbers are set, it’s a matter of determining the platforms through which your own content should be distributed.

These are also called “prospects”. On the one hand, we understand the term below to mean the webpages that fit thematically and have a great popularity factor with the user. But also users, the so-called multipliers, who are good as opinion influencers based on their position in social media. These are users who have a large community of followers on platforms such as Facebook or Twitter and generate a large reach when they share, like, retweet or favorite something. But how do you find them? As is almost always the case, Google helps if you search for the relevant keywords that you want to allude to yourself. Of course, there are also tools that can be used to find channels for seeding. Once you have found the right multiplier – although you should always look out for several – you must of course contact them. And here it is important to “read” the multiplier.

How to address him? What promises success? With a blogger it’s quite simple, because when it comes to specialist topics, you can work wonderfully on comments that convince you of your expertise. It is important to find out where the Facebooker, the tweeter or the blogger is most likely to respond, to quote, to retweet or to like. And here again, planning is important on the road to success. That’s why it’s worth making sure in advance that you create your own databases in which the contact details of the multipliers are stored. What is the best way to get the multiplier? Mail, phone or just via social media and the website?

First attempts at distributing your own content

If the key data are in place, the multipliers have been found and initial contact has been successful, it is worth launching a so-called test balloon. The actual content seeding begins – at least in a test run, because that should be done before you make any intensive efforts. The channels that you have identified yourself as multipliers that promise success are now used for distribution. And here, too, it is important to consider what particularities the Facebooker, the blogger or the Twitter user reacts to, to which one has “looked” as an opportunity to distribute one’s own content. Quite a few multipliers insist that they are informed about which content should be distributed. This way, the multiplier can look over the content and get a good feeling when it comes to spreading the word.

But be careful: In addition to the multipliers, you should not lose sight of your own distribution. There are appropriate groups on Facebook or in the blogger scene, but tweeting via your own account – always with the right hashtags on Twitter – also promises success. When it comes to very subject-specific content, specialist forums, which have the best possible thematic niches, should not be ignored. It is also advisable to get in touch with bloggers, for example, in order to place your own content there as a so-called guest post. Of course, the link to your own primary platform is set and the return is already running. Or rather: It should run if you have found the right multiplier. Guest posts are also a wonderful way to build up an expert reputation, which is absolutely necessary in some topic areas when it comes to reputation!

Once the test balloon has started, you have to give it time to develop. After a predefined period of time has elapsed, it is then worth analyzing the key performance indicators yourself objectively and soberly. This creates a first value, which is then compared with a second test phase – in which other multipliers are chosen. At the end of the test phase, it must be broken down very precisely via which channels the content seeding was most successful and which channels can possibly be closed – or where do you have to fine-tune the way the topics are presented. It is important that you create diversification in the right place, because not every platform is automatically suitable for your own content. If you have your own target group typically on blogs or in specialist forums, it is not unlikely that marketing campaigns via Facebook will fizzle out quite empty. And if the preferred target group is based on Twitter, then there is little point in throwing yourself into the specialist forums or specialist communities. The fact is, not every channel is suitable for every industry and the following applies here: Learning by doing!

What is the actual goal behind content seeding?

If you set up your campaign correctly and do the marketing right, you will improve your own ranking in the long term and push the image of your brand. Backlinks are important when they are of high quality. And content seeding in particular is almost perfectly suited – if it is carried out correctly and professionally – to generate backlinks that are not possible with traditional and conventional link building (or are extremely difficult and take an enormous amount of time). Another and very nice side effect of the distribution strategy is that the public perception of your own brand experiences a huge push. How does this happen? The more platforms you are linked to or your own content can be found on, the higher the reference level increases. You can see that brand B can be found here and there and there, people are talking about it, so the product is good.

Let’s sum it up:
Content seeding is used to ensure that your own content or your own brand is disseminated – and that via channels that generate enormous reach. The aim is to reach the self-defined target group, to trigger the consumption of the target group and – what is best – to be distributed even more widely by the target group. A viral effect is desirable, unlike in the case of influenza. To do this, you need to answer a few questions for yourself:

Who is the target group?
Who should be addressed by the product and who do you want as a buyer?
Which target group is the seeding campaign aimed at?
What multipliers are there in this target group?
How are they already actively influencing their own target group?
On which platforms can the multipliers be found?
Where do I have to distribute my own content accordingly?

And it must never be forgotten: After the seeding is before the seeding, because the actions should not be unique. So it is important to hold debriefings with the multipliers. Do you have any wishes regarding the content? What does the influencer say that could or should be improved? How did he like the rewind himself? If you get in touch with the multipliers after your campaign and consistently implement suggestions for improvement, you will feel this positively in the mentions, likes or retweets. Ignoring or even negating criticism or suggestions from influencers can be fatal!

That’s why it’s important: Positive and negative experiences from content seeding need to be processed and analyzed. And that individually for each campaign! This is the only way to minimize or even completely eliminate the error rate in subsequent campaigns through learning. And all this under the premise: if you want to harvest successfully, you also have to sow properly! Or: without the right seed, you will never have a successful harvest. And those who really know which field to cultivate and where to sow can bring in a good quality harvest at harvest time.