How I think about content distribution

Integrated content and distribution strategy

It starts with your audience. An effective distribution strategy would leverage the decentralised way in which people share and consume information. Traditionally, journalists and the media had been the gatekeepers of information. The internet has devolved that access to many other nodes in the network. Policymakers, corporate leaders, think tank researchers and multilateral organisations all have their own audiences, including journalists.

To reach and engage the media, we must concurrently engage all players in the network. A content and distribution strategy that integrates across the various stakeholders will help maximise reach.

Engage the information supernodes

The media remains a trusted source of information for most in Asia. They are ‘supernodes’ - gateways to much larger, captive audiences. However, there are other supernodes too in the ecosystem: for example, a policymaker with an engaged social media following (aka influencers), or a platform company with a large mailing list.

To grow our reach, we must maximise the chances that these supernodes will share about us with their audiences. There are two things we can do to ensure that: (1) make the relevance and value of our research obvious to them, and (2) make it cognitively really easy for them to share it with others.

Tap on partners’ networks

Within TBI’s community, we have supporters we can tap on to amplify our reach. These are the organisations who have been engaged and involved in the making of the gig economy research project. The participatory nature of the project means that we have a group of individuals who are as invested in its success as we are.

Just as with the supernodes in the broader ecosystem, we must make it really easy for our partners to promote the research insights on our behalf.

Grow the community

TBI’s community is a subset of a larger ecosystem. People within the community continuously share information with others outside of it, and vice versa. We can maximise the chances that they will share our research too.

With repeated regular success, more of those outside of the community will engage directly with TBI. Over time, sustained positive engagements will grow TBI’s community, and create greater brand equity, relevance and awareness of TBI in the minds of stakeholders.