Congrats; you've published an article or been quoted in an Expert Panel on Newsweek.com!
Now comes the real work: promoting the piece.
Your voice is one of many vying for the attention of every busy and increasingly-distracted reader. It's crucial to use every avenue available to you to get your article noticed by the right people. Here are the tactics we recommend.
First, you need a consistent plan that is easy to put into action for any article you write. Create a checklist, starting with the items in this post and customizing it for yourself, so that each time you publish, you can run down the checklist and spread the word quickly and efficiently.
Lay the Groundwork
- A long-term strategy that you should start working on immediately (if you haven't already) is engaging with other experts. As you support them by sharing their content and following them, you open the door to asking them to do the same for you.
- Find communities on sites like Quora and Reddit which are already discussing issues related to your topic. Respond thoughtfully to questions. Then, when you publish a relevant article, add a link to one of your comments as an offer of more information.
Subtle Mentions
- Your email signature is a great place to get some attention for your articles. Add a link to your Newsweek Expert Forum profile. Your profile includes your bio, company bio, social links, and every article you've published.
- Add a direct link to your latest article under your signature and contact info. Something simple like, "Read my latest article on Newsweek.com" is a strong attention-getter.
- Build credibility and awareness with clients and leads by including your article link and a short summary in your public newsletter.
Personal Notes
- Send a note of thanks to any sources or influences whose work or advice has contributed to your success or informed your article.
- Send a personal email to key people in your network. Clients, advisors, trusted colleagues in your industry — send them a note when you appear in Expert Panels or write an article on a topic that they care about. Tell them how they influenced your thinking; you can even ask them for their candid feedback in a comment.
- Reach through your network to find leaders and influencers who cover topics like yours, or submit quotes to answer journalist requests on a service like Just Reach Out. When someone with a large audience in your industry shares your piece, many more of the right people see it.
- Share your favorite articles with your peers (including your fellow members). No one understands and appreciates your business challenges and resulting insights as much as another member.
Social Engagement
- Create a series of social media “snippets” for sharing each mention over time. Tools like Buffer, Edgar, HootSuite and CoSchedule make sharing to multiple networks over time easy. The key is to reframe your update each time, based on target audience and network — and to keep sharing snippets weeks (or months) after your press mention is published.
- Feature the best quotes from your article by turning them into images for social posts. This is easy with simple image-creation software like Canva.
- Take advantage of tagging features to boost your organic social media reach. Let any companies and influencers referenced in your article know you've noticed them. They may share your article or repay the gesture later on.
Add your articles and Expert Panels to your "publications" section on LinkedIn. You can find this section under "accomplishments;" here's a quick walkthrough of how to use it.
Expand and Repurpose
- Write a personal or company blog post about a related topic, and include a link to your article. Or write another article on a topic related to the first; this can also link back to your original. With this method, you grow your audience as you grow your content bank.
- Reuse your content in a slide deck (Slideshare is a great place to post these) or a PDF on your website. Always add a link to the original.
- Create video content on and around your article topic, and post it on YouTube.
Although all articles must be original when submitted to Newsweek.com, once it has been published there exlusively for a certain amount of time, you can republish all or part of your post on LinkedIn, Medium, your website, or a content-sharing service, with a link back to the original to boost your views. - Add your articles to your website's media mentions page ...
- ... or even your job listings page, where potential hires can reference them to get a sense of your perspective on industry issues.
- Your team and colleagues can be instrumental in helping you spread the word if you share your publications internally, via a company message board or wiki, or even an announcement notice in Slack.
Cash Money
- Although every other recommendation in this article is free, paid promotion is a solid way to get your piece out there. Check out the opportunities for paid promotion on your social channels, like LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter, as well as third-party sites like Outbrain and Taboola.
Once you publish a piece, whether a bylined article or an Expert Panel, remember that your work is only half done. Take advantage of every option you have to get your expertise in front of the right people.
For more writing tips, click on the “Branding & Publishing” category in the blog menu at the top of this page.
This post is part of a series on how Newsweek Expert Forum members can best utilize their personal branding and publishing benefits. If you're not yet a member, see if you qualify.
