Content Distribution Checklist

Most content teams spend 80% of their time creating and 20% distributing. It should be the opposite. The cold truth is that publishing a blog post without a distribution plan is like filming a movie and never showing it to anyone — the work exists, but it does nothing.

Distribution is where content ROI is made or lost. A mediocre piece with great distribution will outperform a brilliant piece that only gets organic search traction over 9 months.

This checklist covers every distribution lever available, organized by channel and timing, so you never leave reach on the table.

The Distribution Planning Rule

Every piece of content should have a distribution plan before it's written — not after. Ask: "How will this reach 1,000 relevant people in the first 30 days?" If you can't answer that, either revise the plan or reconsider whether to publish it.

Distribution is not "sharing the link." Distribution is deliberately putting your content in front of specific people in channels they're already using.

Pre-Publication Checklist

Do these before the piece goes live:

Technical Setup:

• Featured image sized correctly for social sharing (1200×630px for Open Graph)
• Open Graph title and description set
• Twitter/X card metadata set
• Canonical URL confirmed
• Scheduled for optimal publish time (Tuesday–Thursday, 9-11 AM typically works best)
• Email notification draft written and ready to send

Content Setup:

• Internal links added from 3+ existing relevant posts to this new post
• CTA placed in appropriate locations
• Email opt-in or lead magnet linked if applicable
• URL slug finalized (no dates in slug unless time-sensitive)

Social Preview Check:

• Test Open Graph in the Facebook Sharing Debugger
• Test Twitter card at cards-dev.twitter.com/validator
• LinkedIn post image preview tested

Day 1: Publication Day

Email Distribution

• Send to full subscriber list (if content is broadly relevant)
• Send to segmented list (if content is relevant to a specific segment)
• Include in any active drip sequences where it fits
• Add to your weekly/monthly newsletter queue

Social Media Distribution

LinkedIn (highest priority for B2B):

• Write a native LinkedIn post — NOT just a link share. Tell the story behind the piece. Share the key insight. End with a hook or question. Include the link in first comment or directly.
• Post as company page
• Share as founder/executive personal post (performs 3-5x better than company pages)
• Tag any companies or people mentioned in the piece
• Use 3-5 relevant hashtags

Twitter/X:

• Write a tweet thread version of the post's key points (threads get 5-10x more reach than link tweets)
• Post as standalone tweet with link
• Tag any tools, companies, or people referenced

Other Relevant Platforms:

• Instagram (if B2C or strong visual angle — repurpose as carousel)
• Facebook (company page, relevant groups)
• YouTube Community tab (if you have a YouTube audience)
• Pinterest (evergreen how-to content, recipes, design — high ROI for right verticals)

Internal Distribution

• Slack/Teams: Share in relevant internal channels
• Notify any team members mentioned or whose expertise was used
• Share with sales team with talking points for how to use it
• Add to onboarding sequence if relevant to customer education

Days 2–7: First Week Amplification

Community Distribution

Post in relevant online communities where your audience hangs out. The key is to add value, not just drop a link.

Reddit:

• Identify 2-3 relevant subreddits
• Check each subreddit's rules for self-promotion
• Write a post that contributes to the community — share insights, then optionally mention the full article
• Join the comments and engage

Slack Communities / Discord Servers:

• Post in relevant channel with context ("wrote this up because [specific pain point]")
• Engage with any responses

Facebook Groups:

• Relevant niche or industry groups
• Post as a genuine contribution, not an announcement

Hacker News:

• Appropriate for technical, startup, or product content
• "Show HN" or "Ask HN" framing works better than link shares
• Engage thoroughly in comments if it gets traction

Indie Hackers / Product Hunt:

• Product Hunt for tool launches or research reports
• Indie Hackers for startup-focused content

Quora:

• Search for existing questions your content answers
• Write a substantive answer, then reference the full article for those who want to go deeper

LinkedIn Groups:

• Identify 3-5 active groups relevant to your target audience
• Post as a conversation starter

Outreach to Mentioned Sources

• Email or DM everyone you cited, quoted, or linked to in the piece
• Keep it short: "Hey [name], I quoted your [research/article/tweet] in a piece we just published. Thought you'd like to see it." Include link.
• Many will share it without being asked

Syndication Partners

• Medium (syndicate with canonical tag pointing to your site)
• Substack Notes
• Dev.to (technical content)
• Hashnode (developer content)
• Business2Community, Social Media Today, etc. (check their submission guidelines)
• Industry newsletters that accept contributed content

Week 2: Earned and Paid Amplification

Influencer and Creator Outreach

• Identify 5-10 creators in your space whose audience would value this content
• Personalized DM or email: explain why their audience would find it useful
• Offer to reciprocate (share their content, contribute to their newsletter, etc.)
• Don't be transactional — build the relationship first

Guest Post Cross-Promotion

• If you have guest post relationships, ask if a link to this piece fits a current article they're writing
• Offer to write a condensed version for their newsletter in exchange for a mention

Link Building Outreach

• Search for articles ranking for related keywords that could link to your piece
• Identify broken links on those pages that your content could replace
• Send resource page outreach to relevant industry sites

Paid Amplification (Optional)

• LinkedIn Sponsored Content (high targeting precision for B2B)
• Twitter/X Ads (content amplification or lead gen format)
• Facebook/Meta Ads (retargeting warm audiences with content)
• Quora Ads (highly targeted for specific topics)
• Content Discover (Taboola/Outbrain for high-volume TOFU)

Budget recommendation: For a high-value piece targeting a strategic keyword, allocate $100-500 in paid amplification to seed initial engagement and backlinks.

Ongoing Distribution (Week 3+)

Email Nurture Integration

• Add the piece to your welcome email sequence (if evergreen and relevant to new subscribers)
• Include in monthly "best of" newsletter roundup
• Add to relevant sales email sequences as a resource link

Sales Enablement

• Brief your sales team on the piece and when to use it
• Create a one-liner they can drop in conversations: "I just published a guide on [topic] — would be useful for [their specific challenge]"
• Add to your sales collateral library or CRM email templates

Content Repurposing (Extends Distribution Life)

• Turn into a LinkedIn carousel (5-10 slides with key points)
• Create a Twitter/X thread version
• Record a short video explanation (2-5 minutes) for YouTube or LinkedIn
• Create a short-form video for TikTok or Reels if relevant to your audience
• Turn into a slide deck for SlideShare
• Use as the basis for a podcast episode
• Pitch as a conference talk or webinar topic

Monthly and Quarterly Distribution Tasks

Monthly:

• Review your top 10 performing pieces and redistribute them (reshare on social with fresh angles)
• Update your newsletter "resources" section
• Check if any pieces can be pitched to industry newsletter curators

Quarterly:

• Update any evergreen content and republish with a "Last Updated" date (triggers re-indexing)
• Run a paid amplification campaign on your top 3 performers
• Submit updated pieces to content syndication partners
• Build a "best of" resource page or compilation post

Distribution Tracking

Track distribution activity so you can see what's driving the most traffic and conversions.

Channel	Link Clicks	Referral Sessions	Conversions	Cost	Notes
Email newsletter				$0
LinkedIn organic				$0
Twitter thread				$0
Reddit				$0
LinkedIn Ads				$___
Influencer share				$0

UTM tagging: Use UTM parameters on every distribution link to accurately attribute traffic in Google Analytics.

Format: ?utm_source=[channel]&utm_medium=[medium]&utm_campaign=[campaign]

Example: ?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=content-distribution-guide

How Averi Streamlines Distribution

After you publish from Averi's content queue to your CMS, the platform gives you a distribution workflow for each piece: which channels to share to, what to say, and tracking built-in. Instead of going back to your calendar to check what's due for distribution, your publishing workflow triggers the distribution checklist automatically.

Start distributing content smarter with Averi →

Further Reading

• 10 marketing workflow hacks that actually work
• boost your social engagement playbook
• AI content repurposing techniques to turn one asset into 20 touchpoints
• Averi's Strategy Map to build distribution into your content strategy from day one

Frequently Asked Questions

How many distribution channels should I focus on?

Start with 3-4 channels you can execute consistently. Spreading across 10 channels with minimal effort is less effective than owning 3 channels deeply. For most B2B startups, that means: email, LinkedIn, and 1-2 communities.

How do I get my content shared without asking people to share it?

Make sharing easy (social share buttons, pre-written tweets) and make sharing personally valuable (people share content that makes them look smart or helpful to their audience). The best way to earn shares without asking: tag people you mention, create genuinely useful content, and build real relationships in the communities you're in.

Is content syndication bad for SEO?

Only if done incorrectly. Always use a canonical tag pointing to your original URL when syndicating. Medium, Dev.to, and LinkedIn Articles all support canonical tags. This way you get the distribution benefit without the duplicate content penalty.

When should I use paid amplification for content?

For high-value conversion pieces (comparison pages, ROI guides, case studies) targeting specific audiences, paid amplification often pays off. Don't boost content randomly — boost content that converts and target it precisely to your ICP.

How long should I distribute a single piece of content?

Evergreen content should be redistributed indefinitely — reshare top performers every 6-12 months with fresh angles. Time-sensitive content has a shorter window, but most content lives longer than you think. The internet has a short memory; resharing 6-month-old content will feel new to 80%+ of your audience.