One of the most important aspects of content marketing is choosing the platforms you will publish your content on. The best content marketing platforms are those that work well for both the style of your content and meeting your audience’s needs.

For example, you wouldn’t really post a text article on a platform like TikTok, and you wouldn’t necessarily post a lot of video content on your Medium account. Makes sense, right?

I know it can be overwhelming to think that you have to be everywhere at once, but the truth is that’s not a great strategy for content marketing success. For most content creators, there are basically three platforms that you need to focus on when deciding to deliver your content.

The three content marketing platforms you should be using are:

• Your own website
• Your email autoresponder
• Your social media platforms.  

Platform #1 – Your own website

One of my biggest pet peeves is business owners who think they don’t need a website of their own. They’re quite happy to run their business through a Facebook Page or Etsy store without ever having a content marketing platform where they have total control over the content they publish.

As an online business owner, you need to have your own website or blog or combination of both. In fact, with WordPress being the platform of choice for most websites these days, it really is a combination of e-commerce site where you sell your products and services, and the blog aspect where you host the informational and educational content that draws your ideal customers in.

The content you put here will be designed to bring awareness to the problems and solutions that you are promoting for your ideal audience. It should be focused on informative, valuable, and educational content that helps the audience become aware of their problems and the solutions that you offer.

Platform #2 – Your email autoresponder

Content that you use in your email autoresponder, or even in one-time blasts to your list, is also an important part of effective content marketing. The platform you choose depends on your budget and the features that you need for the type of business you have. Always read the fine print because some platforms don’t allow you to do affiliate marketing, and some do.

My personal choice after trying several email marketing tools is Convert Kit.* They have excellent tagging and automation features for distributing content, and they are one of the few autoresponder companies that do allow affiliate marketing.

The content you publish to your newsletters and email sequences should be designed to inform and educate subscribers based on how and why they signed up to be on your list.

Platform #3 – Your social media platforms

Social media as a content marketing platform can be very confusing. Sites like YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, etc. are great for promoting your content. But you don’t need to be everywhere at once. What you want to do is find the top three platforms where you know your audience hangs out and establish a consistent presence there before testing more.

Keep in mind that with any social media platform, you are going to be at the mercy of that site’s algorithms. And if you end up on the wrong side of an algorithm change, it could wipe out your whole business. This is the main reason why we always stress putting content on your own site first.

The content you publish on social media is designed to promote the content on your site and landing pages so that you can drive traffic and convert buyers. You can also use content that is designed to help new buyers use their products or services more effectively and create delighted customers that become brand ambassadors.

Final Thoughts

Using these three content marketing platforms to publish and distribute should be a big part of your overall content marketing plan. But don’t make it harder than it has to be. Focusing on these three main platforms – your website, email marketing, and social media – will help you reach the your audience on the platforms they are most comfortable with. The overall goal of everything is to lead them back to your site so they can purchase your products and services.

*Note: This post includes affiliate links, for which I will receive a small commission should you make a purchase.