As a strategist at an online content marketing agency, I’m constantly asked to recommend the most effective online distribution channels. Unfortunately, there’s been no easy way to answer this question. However, over the next couple of posts, I hope to help you determine what the most successful distribution vehicles for your content might be.

To get started, let’s look at the way most companies are distributing their content online:

In the graphic below, let’s assume that Company A has a series of images and video clips that they’ve incorporated into their website. Company A has also taken the same photography and uploaded it to Flickr. They’ve taken the same video assets and uploaded those onto YouTube.

Todays Content Distribution Model

Today's Content Distribution Model

The strategy is sound: put your content where the audience is. However, the duplicated effort and energy required to maintain Company A’s website, and their YouTube account, their Vimeo account, their Flickr account, their Scribd account, their SlideShare account, their…. You get the point.

Company A must now try and reconcile their analytic data across distribution channels, which can be challenging to say the least.

The Distributed Content Model

At Tippingpoint Labs, we’ve started to recommend, and implement, a distributed content model for our clients. The distributed model is designed to make analyzing the effectiveness of your content much more streamlined, while you maximize your reach.

For example:

The Distributed Content Model provides you with context for your content.

The Distributed Content Model provides you with context for your content.

On this diagram, Company B also has assets on YouTube and Flickr. However, instead of duplicating that content on their Corporate .Com, Company B is simply integrating their distributed content in a context Company B prescribes.

We believe that in the next year, you’ll see more and more companies migrate to this content distribution model. It allows for the most nimble content distribution and creation while consolidating your metrics on a platform designed to track that specific type of content consumption.

In addition, the distributed content model allows other content creators to take your content and package it in their own context, adding even more value, and of course wider distribution.

So as you’re-evaluating your current content distribution channels, be sure to look at how you consume your content and define a more distributed approach. You’ll find it to be much more effective and efficient than it sounds.