Whitepapers: Publish AND Promote, or Perish

For small companies, technology whitepapers can be time-consuming and expensive to produce. Depending on the topic, they can also be highly perishable, with a relatively short shelf life. So it makes sense to get the most out of them as soon as they are published. In Michael Stelzner's Writing White Papers blog, he has some clever ideas on how to promote your whitepapers, beyond the conventional options of including them in website landing pages and email marketing campaigns.

Email signature: Include the title and a link to your newly published whitepaper in your email signature, ensuring that your whitepaper is noticeably displayed in all of your email communications. "Be sure to include it in auto-responder emails, such as newsletter registration confirmations," Stelzner adds.

Facebook and LinkedIn: Place a link to your whitepaper in your Facebook personal profile or fan page. "In addition," says Stelzner, "you can use the Notes feature in Facebook to paste in HTML-formatted content, such as your white paper landing pages." At LinkedIn, you can add a description of your whitepaper and a link to it in your summary section.

Twitter: "Create a custom background on Twitter with a thumbnail of the cover of your white paper," says Stelzner. "Include a very prominent visual URL. Remember that Twitter backgrounds are graphics, so you won't be able to hotlink the white paper. However, when folks want to learn more about you, they'll see your white paper."

Your Blog: Use the sidebar of your corporate blog to promote your whitepaper by including a thumbnail image and link.

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