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What is the value of creating quality content if you are lacking distribution? The answer – not much. As part of your content strategy, tapping your influencer’s community is an integral part of your distribution method, but it shouldn’t be the only one. The secret sauce is finding the right mix of content + influencer + distribution.

The number one rule of content marketing is that it must authentic –  both to the consumers of your brand and to the influencer’s audience.

Take Turtle Beach, the leading headset and sound card manufacturer, as an example. Last May, the company engaged in an eSports deal with OpTic Gaming, one of the leading team’s in the world. Touting 2.32 million+ followers on Twitter, the team deal included content creation, social media promotion and digital distribution. Using the team’s star, Seth Abner (Scump) (who has 1.41 million+ Twitter followers), as the hero of this spot…

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(a rEvXP client, spot produced by rEvolution), the video stacked up over 100K views on YouTube almost as soon as it went live. The spot generated authentic chatter within the eSports community and even earned THIS type of media coverage within eSports and other outlets.

Amplification via earned media is also a nice complimentary method of content distribution. In the last five years, we have clearly seen this strategy from brands around the Super Bowl with early releases, commentary, etc.

Red Bull (a rEvolution PR client) relies heavily on using earned media as a complimentary method of distribution for their content. The energy drink turned “media company,” grinds out more content than your typical brand. And nearly every content piece resonates with a different audience (i.e., Kris Bryant and baseball, top adventure bikers, skiers and skateboarders). As a matter of fact, over the last 365 days, Red Bull has uploaded 4,331 videos to 23 accounts (according to TubularInsights), and on average, these videos get 524,000 views in their first 30 days. And while Red Bull’s owned channels provide a tremendous starting point, supporting each piece through traditional and endemic media outlets (with PR) is a necessity.

In November, Red Bull released this…

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an extremely creative (and albeit odd) content piece featuring two of its top trials bikers. Red Bull relied heavily on earned media to speak with this niche bike audience as a form of distribution. The piece of content was shared and organically talked about, authentically, in the adventure community by platforms such as USA Today’s BNQT, Sports Illustrated’s Edge, HypeBeast and GrindTV.

So back to the question, “If content is posted in the woods does anyone see it?” The short answer is yes – if brands follow these key takeaways:

  • Create content that authentically speaks to your audience – like this Dan Patrick commercial for Continental Tire around their college basketball deal (produced by rEvolution)

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  • Partner with an influencer and develop a strategy to use their followers as a form of distribution – but be sure to speak in the hero’s voice
  • Develop both a supplemental paid and earned media strategy around each piece of content to drive distribution numbers and authentic chatter – like the coverage HERE from the Dan Patrick commercial we mentioned above
  • Measure your results, push the envelope and rinse/repeat to achieve your goals