Everything you need to know about content seeding
When your content is only as good as your distribution strategy, the wrong approach can bury your best work. All the creative work you did, all that carefully calibrated messaging, will be ignored before it even has the chance to connect with your target audience.
Content seeding is a planning strategy that identifies gaps in your game plan so the right people see your content at the right time. Below, we’ll look at how content seeding optimizes your reach, explore which channels work best for different brands, and show you how to implement a better seeding strategy.
Content seeding is a distribution strategy that maximizes the reach of your messaging
Content seeding is the distribution of a brand’s content across digital and offline channels, such as landing pages, social media platforms, pamphlets, press releases, and blogs.
Today, an omnichannel strategy is the most effective way to reach consumers, especially as targeted AI algorithms personalize content across digital channels. Content seeding optimizes your marketing efforts, whether you’re sending exclusive push notifications or general email newsletters.
Let’s say a brand runs a 20% promotion. It might post the promo on its social media accounts, build a time-sensitive landing page, and purchase PPC ads on popular sites.
It might also ask a relevant social media influencer to post on their channels to increase audience reach. This distribution strategy ensures that more people see and share the sale before it’s too late.
Content seeding and influencers: A match made in heaven
Influencer seeding, sometimes called influencer gifting or product seeding, occurs when a brand sends influencers free products to try, with no strings attached. But if they love the products, they often voluntarily share their thoughts and experiences with followers.
This is a popular content seeding strategy because marketers can tap into engaged audiences and reach individuals who wouldn’t otherwise see or notice branded channels.
But with so much paid influencer content out there, many social media users are skeptical of influencer claims. Today, people consider user-generated content (UGC) more trustworthy than branded content or sponsored influencer posts.
UGC creators share many similarities with influencers in that their posts expose followers to new brands, products, and experiences. But the difference is that UGC content isn’t paid for and controlled by the brand. The creator shares it simply because they love the brand’s offerings, so it’s more authentic and trustworthy.
Just as you’re more likely to trust a friend’s recommendation than a stranger’s, UGC relies on real customers sharing real opinions on what a brand offers. In fact, well-known brands like Olipop, Blue Apron, and Hello Fresh built their customer bases by seeding content with the right influencers and users across platforms.
3 reasons to invest in content seeding
Content seeding is usually a small investment with a potentially major payoff. Whether you choose bloggers or micro-influencer partnerships, it helps you squeeze more from every marketing dollar.
1. Connect with relevant audiences
With content seeding, you meet audiences where they are instead of asking them to come to you. So, if you’re targeting busy millennial mothers, you might find a busy millennial Instagrammer to demonstrate how your products save them time and money.
Content seeding is also particularly helpful for connecting with local audiences. When Waxing the City opened franchises in Omaha, they targeted local influencers to try their affordable, pain-free services.
Similarly, when the murder mystery board game Hunt a Killer debuted a live version, the creators partnered with murder makeup tutorialist Bailey Sarian to get the word out. Sarian already sponsored the brand, making her a natural fit to hype up an exciting launch.
2. Boost your SEO
When the number one result on Google receives around 28% of all clicks, it’s important to boost your SERP rankings as much as possible. While SEO algorithms constantly change, search engines favor consistent, valuable content.
With content seeding, you can focus on the types of content that audiences want to see most. You can also generate new traffic and backlink opportunities with a successful content-seeding strategy.
You’ve likely seen YouTube personalities or TikTok stars promote sponsors in their video descriptions or content captions. Duos like Rhett and Link from Good Mythical Morning are infamous for naturally integrating a brand’s content into their work.
Marketers can also boost SEO for new initiatives. For example, Tin Pan Cinnamon Rolls in Kansas City promoted its local delivery service by sending cinnamon buns to local influencers’ front doors. These influencers posted the custom-order link in their social media captions so followers could order their own.
3. Inspire audiences to act
Authentic content is an invaluable commodity these days. With all the empty promises floating around, it’s getting hard to truly engage audiences and convert them into customers. In fact, the industry standard for influencer engagement rates is only around .75%, but there are ways to buck the odds.
Real user insights, valuable promo codes, and truthful reviews can inspire potential customers to take action, whether ordering, subscribing, or filling out a lead form.
When MidAmerican Energy ran an energy conservation campaign, they recruited local influencers to share easy tips to save money on energy bills during the hot summer months.
And when Destination Madison hoped to draw new tourists to Madison, they saw a 12% engagement rate when they worked with local influencers located just a few hours outside the city.
The best platforms for content seeding
The best platforms for high-quality content seeding ultimately depend on your brand’s value, audience, and goals. Below, we’ll break down each one so you can get a better sense of which channels to target.
Today’s Instagram is more than just filtered photos. From Stories to reels, brands can make their own content and solicit influencer content for private and public audiences.
While Meta doesn’t release official data on their user base, experts estimate that more than 60% of Instagrammers are between 18 and 34. In addition, around 45% of Instagrammers shop weekly from the millions of businesses on the platform, making it a great place to meet and engage your audience where they are.
High-quality brands use Instagram to make their products or services look more appealing and increase general brand awareness. For example, a home decor company might ask a loyal customer to post an accessory that they seamlessly incorporated into their tasteful home.
TikTok
Fast and fun, short TikTok videos are excellent for introducing new products to riveted audiences. Brands can post their own videos, lean on influencers, or collaborate with thought leaders in their industry.
This platform is great for driving sales, with #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt as one of its more popular hashtags. But more than that, it’s an authentic way to present the brand’s larger value.
For instance, Hilton made a 10-minute video that poked fun at influencer culture and successfully showed how fun staying at one of their hotels was. As a result, they came off as relatable and authentic and connected with a fresh, younger audience.
While TikTok’s users do skew toward teenagers, more adults join the platform every year. Moreover, TikTok has a comparatively larger reach than Instagram, with 3 million more adults seeing ads on the popular platform.
So it’s a great place to target a younger audience and build brand loyalty that will last long after users have moved on to a new platform.
YouTube
YouTube is excellent for sharing more information about your company and products. A video game maker might give people a short tutorial on how to beat a tricky boss or release a 20-minute play-through of an upcoming game.
Plus you can connect with a huge audience — 95% of adults aged 18–29 and 91% aged 30–49 use YouTube, largely for music, entertainment, and product reviews. Many Gen Zers particularly appreciate unboxing content to help them stay on top of trends.
YouTube content seeding can drive a brand’s customer loyalty and sales, especially when partnering with a YouTube influencer in your sector. So, if you were marketing a new moisturizer, you might sponsor the videos of select skincare experts.
Podcasts
Podcasts are universal entertainment for nearly every demographic, and they cover genres and topics across the spectrum. Nearly 67% of people aged 18–29 reported listening to a podcast over the past 12 months.
Podcasts can spark awareness of sponsors’ services and products. Brands like Squarespace have had success sponsoring podcasts for different age groups and customers.
As you map out your content seeding strategy, consider the subject matter (e.g., true crime, celebrity gossip, etc.), the hosts’ personas, and the larger audience.
You can also consider debuting a branded podcast, particularly if your brand works with high-profile clients who would appreciate the exposure. This way, you can control all aspects of content creation and messaging.
How to create a seeding strategy
Creating a content seeding strategy is a massive undertaking. Below, we explain each step for manageable campaigns that align with your larger marketing strategies.
Define your content goals
Your content marketing goals should be specific and measurable. These goals will guide you through nearly every content-seeding decision.
The most effective type of content establishes a clear connection between your messaging and the larger mission, whether that’s generating leads, driving sales, building awareness, or establishing brand authority.
Let’s say you want to appeal to new customers. You might choose several influencers from different demographics across platforms to demonstrate how they use your products. You can further support this message with informative landing pages, targeted sale offers, or paid search ads.
Identify platforms for distribution
As we’ve seen above, the right distribution platforms depend on the brand, audience demographics, products, and overall goals. You’ll need to consider your ideal customer, as well as ancillary audiences that may fit your brand persona and image.
Use our tips to determine which platforms fit your brand and specify how you’ll allocate resources. You might invest most of your seeding budget on Instagram, with nominal percentages on YouTube, LinkedIn, and TikTok.
If you’re planning on product seeding as a part of a larger content seeding strategy, you can partner with relevant influencers or users for a more positive impact on your target audiences.
Create seeding kits for partners
Seeding kits refer to the packages a brand sends to campaign collaborators. The ideal products, packaging materials, and brand messaging depend on your content goals.
For example, a tech company might send a tablet to a tech influencer, along with a brand style guide so the influencer can correctly position the product for their audience. Or you might send a glossy, branded box full of makeup products to intrigue a young beauty influencer.
Seed kits serve as the starting point for good content creation and are an important part of a brand’s first impression. Whether you send a mystery box with a single product or a detailed list of instructions for multiple products, well-planned seed kits set entire campaigns off on the right foot.
Establish working relationships with seed partners
Finding seed partners can sometimes feel like looking for needles in a haystack. Keywords, hashtags, collaborator templates, and fair compensation can streamline the process, but it usually takes far more work than a quick search and a few DMs.
Most brands use influencer platforms to weed out the wrong influencers so their marketers can spend more time with the right people. Or you can explore influencer marketing agencies that cherry-pick available influencers, design product seeding campaigns, and support the results from start to finish.
The right choice for your brand depends on your budget, timeline, and marketing team.
Monitor posts and stay engaged
When you monitor and engage with your content seeding, you’ll learn how audiences react to different types of content and connect with your products or services.
We recommend engaging with customers using your branded accounts. If an influencer’s follower comments about how delicious your product looks, it’s a great time to engage them right there in the comments section.
When a brand is open to and engages with product feedback, online communities take notice. Consistent monitoring helps reinforce your brand values, whether that’s reliability, innovation, or attention to detail. As you work through each piece of content, you can evaluate the overall success of your larger content strategy.
Make the most of your content by seeding with smaller creators
The right creative partner outreach can strengthen your content seeding with clever takeaways and valuable recommendations. But as with all collaborations, not all content creators will be the right fit.
While larger influencers may initially seem like the best choice, they typically don’t make genuine connections with their audiences and build real relationships. In contrast, local and micro-influencers typically only post about their true passions and have devoted, engaged audiences.
A local influencer’s followers are usually family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors. If they post misleading or irrelevant content, they can alienate the most important people in their lives.
Because local influencers build their audiences based on authenticity and trust, they usually promote partners with the same values. This symbiotic relationship can lead to more successful collaborations for many years to come.
If you’re ready to boost your content seeding strategy, learn how to find the best local influencers with Hummingbirds.