4 Content Sharing Platforms That Aren't Oversaturated But Still Earn Massive Amounts of Attention

If you’re like me, when you see influencers like Goldie Chan and Neil Patel posting videos and writing articles on LinkedIn and getting a ton of engagement from it, you can’t help but wonder:

Should I be posting content on LinkedIn, too?

Will LinkedIn help me drive more traffic back to our site?

Am I missing out on an opportunity to attract better, more high-quality leads?

The answer to all of those questions? Maybe. As long as you're committed to engaging on LinkedIn and have realistic expectations, you can certainly reach new potential customers and drive a lot of engagement.

Why Should You Invest In Creating Assets For Content Sharing Platforms

Influencers like Neil Patel, Gary Vee, and Goldie Chan get a ton of engagement on separate channels for a few reasons.

First, they’ve built up a loyal audience. Regardless of if it’s LinkedIn or YouTube, people look for their content. You can't do this overnight thing, of course, and takes time to build.

Second, they’re consistent. They are always publishing material. Goldie, for instance, doesn’t get a ton of comments or likes on every LinkedIn post. But she publishes every day, so there’s always something new and fun to watch on her page.

Third, since they’ve put so much work into these channels, they know what works and what doesn’t. Again, there’s no easy way to replicate that. You need to commit yourself to the platform and start publishing content.

But perhaps, the most important thing that these influencers know is what their ideal customer wants to see on that specific channel. They tailor material to every channel. In my experience, here are the top platforms and what you should know before incorporating one into your content strategy and distribution.

1. LinkedIn Publisher

LinkedIn Publisher is a place to write and publish articles on LinkedIn. But is it worth publishing even more content to another platform, especially one that isn’t going to drive traffic back to your website immediately?

Here’s how the pros and cons break down.

Pros:

• LinkedIn Publisher Posts are indexed on Google
• It’s a great place for content with positive and neutral sentiment
• LinkedIn is 277% more effective for B2B lead generation
• Don’t need to post content more than once a week, as long as it’s great

Cons:

• Requires mostly original content. You can post snippets and a link, but find a way to make it new
• It’s another thing to add to your content calendar
• If you’re not active on LinkedIn, you will need to invest more time in building up your profile and network
• Your customer won't find SEO content there

Let’s focus on those last two cons.

1. Your customer won't find SEO content there.

If you’re a B2B or small business using a keyword-driven strategy, keep those posts off LinkedIn. You want to post that content on your domain. However, LinkedIn is great for thought-leadership content.

2. If you’re not active on LinkedIn, you will need to invest more time in building up your profile and network.

Do you already have an active LinkedIn profile? Does your company have an active page? If you don’t, you will need to invest more time and strategy into developing those profiles before you start posting content.

2. LinkedIn Video

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve heard about the potential ROI of video assets for B2B. And the video best practices you’ve already heard about are the same for LinkedIn. You need to know your audience. You need to tailor the content for the platform. And so forth.

But what you may not think about or realize is how much work creating a video for LinkedIn can be. Goldie Chan makes it look easy, but behind-the-scenes, she’s creating a brand new video every single day.

In my experience, this type of commitment requires a minimum amount of time and resources.

An in-house video studio or space.

If you’re creating videos for LinkedIn, you need to have one designated space to shoot.

Exceptional lighting and sound.

I’ve done LinkedIn video without much consideration for the lighting for the sound quality, and they turned out pretty mediocre. If you want to create high-quality videos consistently, you need to invest in the right light and mics.

Poor lighting

Great lighting

A transcription and titles.

The only thing I don’t like about Goldie’s videos (sorry Goldie!) is that a majority of them do not have transcriptions or subtitles. In 2019, every video you post on LinkedIn should have subtitles.

An objective.

You can’t make videos for the heck of it. There needs to be a point. How is this helping your customer grow? What makes the video great?

If you can’t deliver those items weekly, you may want to consider outsourcing your video creation or hiring an agency partner.

3. Medium

Medium is another platform that’s popular for publishing content. Some brands even use Medium in place of having an actual blog on their website. Why? Because Medium has over 60 million monthly readers. It’s a slick platform, and it’s easy to use. But here’s the other thing about Medium.

There’s a lot of bad content on there.

Personally, I have a lot of trouble sorting through Medium’s categories and finding good material. The writers tag and categorize their own work, so you’re likely to see a lot of articles that don’t relate to what you’re looking for. And since there’s so much content on Medium, it can be a headache to sort through.

Thankfully, Medium makes up for this with a lot of neat features:

• A section called “Based On Your Reading History,” that pulls articles based on the content you’ve engaged with before.
• An estimate of how long it will take to read an article.
• The ability to “follow” your favorite authors and publications
• A comments section that people actually use

In short, I’d say the advantages of Medium outweigh the cons. But before you decide whether or not to publish content here, I’d ask two questions:

1. How will the content I post on Medium be different from what I’m posting on my blog?

2. Am I prepared to help this content grow by engaging with other authors, reading other Medium content, and distributing this material regularly?

Similar to any content management system, you can’t only stick content on Medium and expect results. You need to put in the effort to distribute and share your assets.

4. Quora

Quora is another popular spot for marketers. Customers are asking questions, and people are eager to answer. However, similar to Medium, a lot of these answers aren’t very good. Often, answers become mini-blog posts where people push their own solutions and products, without much consideration for the person who asked the question.

Thankfully, unlike Medium, since you’re answering questions and Quora users can see all of the responses, you can really stand out when you put enough work in.

I’ve been engaging on Quora a few months now, usually only one of two answers a day. The results have shocked me, personally. In the first half of April 2019 alone, I’ve gotten 1.2k views. While I don’t have that many followers or upvotes, I get a ton of views on most of my content.

While I don’t have any “upvotes” on this answer to “Where are the best places to visit in Budapest?”, I have 334 views.

And I posted this answer two weeks ago.

If you want to get the most of Quora, I’d recommend:

• Keeping your answers conversational
• Avoiding any aggressive sales language and links to your free trial or product (unless requested.)
• Posting no more than one photo per answer
• Avoiding walls of text
• Answering the actual question

That last point is the most important one. If you cannot answer the question, do not put a response. I see a lot of people answering questions that have anything to do with their expertise and going nuts with a lengthy reply that doesn’t say much. If you focus on providing value, you will do well on Quora.

And yes, there is a way to provide value and promote your blog content. Here’s an example of a question I recently answered. I add two links to blog content in there but still answer the question.

However, if you post to plug yourself, you’ll likely put people off, which is the opposite of what you want.

Getting The Most From Content Sharing Platforms

The key to using content sharing platform is tailoring your content to that channel. It’s an excellent opportunity to spread brand awareness and reach new audiences. However, if you’re not sold on creating brand new content for every channel, consider repurposing some of your existing assets.

A single ebook can turn into a few blog posts, a video explainer, a podcast, and a LinkedIn video. To learn how you can transform a single asset into a unique piece of content for each of your primary channels, check out our Repurposing Guide.