The articles on the site are part company-produced content, mixed in with stories from HuffPo and Everyday Health.

The LiveBetterAmerica site, which launched Aug. 1, is HuffPo’s “first major step into the realm of branded content — an emerging category of online advertising in which publishers help advertisers create content around a theme relevant to their brand, in hopes that readers will find it authentic enough to pass around on social media,” The Wall Street Journal’s Keach Hagey writes.

The initiative was set forth by HuffPo’s new publisher, Janet Balis, who says that the content won’t be written at the command of General Mills. The stories on the site will be repurposed to fit with General Mills’ plan to integrate lifestyle content into its advertising strategies, writes Hagey.

Branded content works differently from traditional marketing because all its participants — brands,  publishers, and readers — can potentially gain from it. Brands are increasingly starting to create content in the hopes of enticing readers to learn more about the industry in which the company operates or issues it hopes to highlight.

General Mills earns exposure by associating its name with HuffPo — which this past December reported a monthly visitors average of 36.2 million. And by reposting reported articles rather than ad copy, the company hopes to show customers that it has a commitment to publishing valuable information, which is key at a time when inbound marketing is on the rise.

When The Huffington Post announced in May that it would begin publishing branded content, Balis said that companies could “acquire licenses to HuffPo’s content management system and access to AOL’s Devil ads, although neither are required,” says Charlie Minato of Business Insider.

The media group believes that its platform is ideal for brands because of the amount of content it creates, as well as the way it implements search engine optimization.

But with the right tools and know how, it’s easier to discover what works and what doesn’t.

If a marketer is stuck, there are ways to find content, as highlighted in CopyBlogger’s infographic, “22 Ways to Create Compelling Content.”

The infographic suggests asking people to write guest posts on the blog, which will increase their exposure and lead to a mutually beneficial relationship. Cross-promotion is always helpful.

It also recommends to “share your success” and “share your failures,” which means storytelling and relating to the audience. The tip “Relive the Memories” is along the same lines. When it comes to content marketing, storytelling and company transparency are of the highest importance.

As the infographic points out, an interview is a good idea and will readers an insight onto a topic. An interview of a company representative or an employee who doesn’t normally write content can produce a good piece. Content can always be found within the company itself.

As more companies invest in content, they have to realize content is merely a means to an end, says Ben Elowitz of Paid Content. That end, and a company’s biggest asset, is its audience.

The first step is to stop thinking of the Internet as “the Internet” and instead as multiple channels to reach your audience.

“Digital distribution, when done right, can have a multiplicative effect: a great piece of content delivered to the right person at the right time in the right package is worth 10x that same content paired with the wrong (or non-existent) distribution strategy,” writes Elbowitz.

It’s not just about understanding the need to distribute across multiple channels, but also how you package each piece of content.

Effective content marketing means thinking about how users engage with each platform and which medium would work best.

For instance, images can enhance content distributed through social channels. When publishing reports and large quantities of data, bring it to life with data visualization. For an audience with short attention spans, use video content to share a message or build online buzz.

Above all else, know your audience and share content they would be interested in. Lifestyle brands Thrillist and DailyCandy have been successful by focusing on the same target for years.

As content marketers rush to begin creating content that highlights a company’s best attributes, the critical first step is to examine the current audience, determine the best method to reach them, and create content that suits their needs.

Image courtesy of left hand/flickr

The following steps provide an outline to help plan and implement a content promotion strategy.

1. Define Objectives

Even the most well-written blog posts and social campaigns need a goal. At a high-level, content should add value to your company’s business model. Examples of concrete objectives include product promotion, visitor recruitment and audience development. The goals might be something else entirely: for example, leveraging a blog as a platform for educating existing clients and prospective customers.

If pursuing more than one goal, the trick is to stay as focused as possible. Chaos is best avoided when plans are manageable, so companies should keep objectives as straightforward and compartmentalized as possible.

The Content Marketing Institute recommends thinking about content strategy and social strategy as two separate pieces. Marketers should know what type of conversation they want to have before they have it. Then, they can generate the relevant social buzz.

2. Create a Timeline

In promoting a blog post, a company might set a goal to get 20 shares or 200 pageviews within a week as a means to quantify success. Setting this type of timeline is important because it will help streamline the company’s goals into results that can grow and be tracked over time.

A timeline can also help refine the overall strategy. Leyl Master Black recommends that content marketers brainstorm topics ahead of time. This type of idea generation is important for helping organizations remain on track and adapt to time-sensitive trends.

Depending on the project, a longterm timeline might be valuable. If a brand is launching a blog, for instance, it may want to establish time-driven milestones for traffic growth and social media shares.

3. Set Benchmarks for ROI

After a company knows what it wants to achieve, it needs to create a budget for it. For long-term content promotion projects, benchmarks will help gauge performance immediately and over time. By tracking strengths and weaknesses, companies can create an adaptive strategy that can evolve in a cost-effective way.

The 5 basic metrics to measure the ROI of a content promotion strategy include social media shares, time spent on site, unique visitors, return visitors, and eventually, blog related revenue. Content marketers should focus on the numbers that enhance content quality.

For instance, spending thousands of dollars on blog posts that have generated fewer than 10 pageviews in a year is likely a poor return on investment and should prompt a company to consider changing its strategy or spending less.

4. Leverage Key Networking Channels

Content promotion and networking go hand-in-hand, as even the most high-traffic blogs need to make an active effort to connect with an audience.

Before a company starts reaching out to people, it needs to take a step back to determine where it would like to create connections. If it is interested in reaching businesses, LinkedIn discussion groups, for example, provide a great starting point for reaching prospective readers.

It can also join real-time conversations by promoting content through relevant Twitter #hashtag channels. For media exposure and additional blog coverage, it’s worthwhile to connect with reporters and other bloggers.

Of course, the business can also connect with existing social media followers and encourage them to share content as well. Creating a solid networking strategy will help ensure that the message doesn’t flounder in the midst of a mismatched audience.

5. Track Results

The metrics that a company follows will depend on the needs of the business and the intended goals of its campaign.

A company should be creative when it looks at data to measure any unintended consequences of its campaign, and of course, keep its data in a place that its team members can access as a learning tool. It should think about data in human terms to better understand the relationship between its content, readership, and ROI.

6. Be Creative

A company should think of its content promotion strategy as a living, breathing, and evolving project. It should combine the best of its favorite examples, articles, and sources to find a strategy that is unique to its brand.

Images courtesy of shutterstock

Their position as a media company brings an interesting bias – the concern that branded content will have on traditional publishing companies (especially with SOPA and the like).

Here’s their take -

“So what does all this mean for the future of the traditional content producers? The newspapers, books, TV stations, radio stations, et al? It just means that we all need to make sure we’re providing some sort of value to our readers.

That value can be informative, entertaining or instructional. But whatever it is, it’s competing with ever-improving content created by companies with deep pockets. These brands and companies don’t need anyone else to get their message out to their customers anymore.

For the so-called content creators — writers, photographers and videographers — it actually means more opportunity, not less.”

Of course, the particular balance depends on your resources and your needs.

Original Content

This can be a strong draw for an audience, because it’s presumably something unavailable elsewhere. When you have the right original content, results are sticky because you give people something they can’t find elsewhere. You also have the opportunity to develop a unique voice and personality for the company.

However, there are some drawbacks. Someone has to create the custom content. To get something of quality can be either expensive (depending on how much you need created) or time consuming (if you decide to write it yourself). Even if you hire a writer, it can take more of your time to communicate the style and type of material you’re looking for. Put the necessary time into blogging and you may find yourself diverted from other aspects of your business.

Curated Content

This is in theory much easier to obtain. You find links whose content supports the message you’re trying to deliver through your blog. Another advantage is volume. It becomes easy to refresh your site with new material. Curated content is less expensive to assemble than creating custom content.

But, like original content, there are obstacles. Any number of other sites, including those that belong to your competitors, might choose similar links. You can’t guarantee that yours is the only site that mentions the links, so your search engine ranking takes a hit. And it’s not as though it’s effortless. You still need to add a unique take or angle that helps your audience see the relevance. Plus, maintenance can be a little difficult. A site might change its Web structure and suddenly break any link you’ve made to it.But there’s no reason to stand at one end or the other.

Stock and Flow

A mix of stock and flow content is the best way to approach your blog. Stock content is the original material, longer in form that expresses your views and personality. It will bring the audience in the first place because it’s your site’s unique selling proposition.

At the same time, you can use flow content — curated aggregation – to add more volume to your site. With proper curation, where you add something to the conversation, you also help build bridges with other sites and increase your SEO strength.

The good news is that you don’t have to nail  the “right” amount of each right away. Find a mix that seems to address your audience, your communication needs, and your resources by experimenting. For example, see what happens when you mix the two together or keep them in separate areas. Try different schedules of when you add curated and original content. Just be sure to watch the metrics for how your audience reacts.

Related articles

• A Marketer’s Guide to Content Curation (hubspot.com)
• How Google+ Fits Into a Content Strategy (contently.com)
• How To Write Traffic-Gobbling Headlines Like Huffington Post (contently.com)

Among a sea of Youtube webcam clips, TED videos are crystal clear. The ideas are clearly presented. The angles are shot with incredibly high quality cameras. And the speakers are brilliant, innovative, and passionate.

“TED Content is more about essence than mechanics. Instead of trying to figure out why it works, we just stay true to the TED principals and trust that our audience will be interested.”

TED content’s main differentiation is the non-profit’s high standards for quality. Therefore, brand consistency is their most important dashboard measurement. If a video is less than ideal for internet publishing, they don’t use it, even if it would bring additional traffic or SEO. This doesn’t mean don’t measure analytics – just remember to trust your gut if the content is sub-par. Your audience will appreciate.

“ Our audience is curious, and wants to participate in bigger thinking. TED’s culture is really pop culture that’s intelligent, which is rare – so it catches their eye.”

Your customers base their content consumption on different mind sets. In TED’s case, the’ve chosen to target them at their most inquisitive. This should not be everyone’s strategy – but pick something that fits a real emotion that your viewers might be feeling. Whether its financial insecurity or pre-party excitement, try to create content that adheres to this.

“Unlike in a more traditional conference talk, a speaker has only 18 minutes to make their entire point. This forces the speaker to just pack it in – to be precise, and to be riveting. And there’s something magical about the structure – speakers truly give the talk of their life.”

Internet culture is based on brevity – unlike a print audience, internet content creators need to capture instantly, or they will just continue to browse. Shorter is by no means easier – in fact, many would argue it’s a more challenging task. So by maintaining this necessary precision, TED forces experts to make their lives’ work comprehensible to the masses, and consequentially captures the attention of a much broader audience. It’s a win win that’s worth replicating.

“It’s funny, because these are lectures – and lectures have never been hits on the Internet, or really outside of academic settings. But in my opinion, TED talks are so different than a lecture. Each one is so personal, more like an interview.”

The lesson here is that there are no official rules to innovative content. Be bold – take an idea, and flip it on it’s head. Combine schools of though that have never been paired before. Pull on heartstrings that viewers didn’t know they had.. Lectures are in no way “sexy” – but TED doesn’t care. Neither should you, if you can create something worth checking out.

“We deeply believe in content that inspires, that makes us think about world around us. TED’s goal is to expose people to big ideas about humanity – and to let you walk away with a truly changed  perspective.”

Don’t settle. The idea behind TED is huge, but they manage to deliver on it consistently. If your brand is rooted in a big idea, your content should reflect that message unapologetically. And don’t stop. That way, your customers will believe it too.

Related articles

• How To Make Your Blog Posts As Shareable As Mashable’s (contently.com)
• TED Talks Celebrates Anniversary and Success (adweek.com)
• How Much Content is On The Web?  (contently.com)