Creating content is no simple task, and whitepapers usually require the most commitment. Whether you’ve written your whitepaper yourself or relied on the help of a writer, you want to ensure you get the most value out of it – quality leads and engagement from prospects and clients. Once you’ve created your whitepaper, it’s time to promote it. As we’ve said before, when it comes to marketing, if you build it, there’s no guarantee anyone will come unless you share it with your network.

To start seeing amazing results from your whitepapers, try out these five tried-and-true strategies.

1. Create a Landing Page

The absolute first thing you should do is give your whitepaper its very own landing page. As you can see in our Resources, we create landing pages for all of our whitepapers, which feature a summary of the content and a form to download the file. Ideally, you should gate all of your whitepapers and require information from the person interested in your content. Through a form, you can require any number of fields. Research shows you should keep your form fields to a minimum, so you may just ask for a name and email address.

At FMG Suite, we now offer gated content, including whitepapers. In just a few easy steps, you can choose a whitepaper (that’s already created and FINRA-reviewed) and automatically add a form to your website to encourage people to download it.

2. Promote Your Whitepaper on Social Media

Social media is one of the best platforms for sharing content and driving people back to your website. If you’re using a landing page, grab the link and share it on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Be sure to include a quick summary of the whitepaper, including why someone should download it.

Don’t make the mistake of only sharing once on social media. If you use a scheduling tool, like FMG Suite’s new social scheduler, create multiple posts with different descriptions and schedule them to go out five or so times over the next few weeks. This helps your post reach a larger audience.

3. Add a Section of Your Whitepaper as a LinkedIn Publication

The LinkedIn publishing platform is a great way to notify your network that you have shared new content. Rather than give all of your content away, share the introduction or a section of your whitepaper as a post on LinkedIn. At the end of the content, mention that this is part of a whitepaper and is available to download. Then include the link and a quick summary of what else will be shared in the whitepaper.

If you blog on your website or use Medium, you can do the same here, as well.

4. Announce in an Email

Like social media, email is a great platform for sharing your content with prospects and clients. Depending on your contacts list, you may want to segment and send different versions of your announcement. For example, you may not want to gate your content for your current clients, especially if you work with a smaller group of people. For these individuals, consider sending the whitepaper as an attachment within the email, and then share some details about the whitepaper and the benefits of reading it. This helps you remind your clients that you’re up-to-date in your industry and regularly sharing education.

For prospects or referrals, you may drive them to your site to download it and encourage them to peruse some of the other content and resources you have on your website. And for strategic partners or centers of influence, consider asking if they wouldn’t mind sharing the link to your whitepaper download with their contacts.

5. Run a Social Media Ad

Social media ads are inexpensive and offer you the chance to reach thousands more people than you normally would. For the image, you can use a shot of the whitepaper cover. Then include the link to the landing page and a description of the content. If your whitepaper is on a niche topic, such as retirement planning for physicians, use the audience features to target individuals within certain age ranges who work at hospitals in your area.

As a forewarning, LinkedIn ads are much more expensive to run than Facebook or Twitter ads. If you’re on a tight budget or new to advertising, start with Facebook, where you can spend less than $1 per click. As a comparison, LinkedIn can cost upwards of $10 to $15 per click (and everyone who clicks may not necessarily download your whitepaper).

Dedicating time to promote your whitepaper with your audience is the best way to ensure you get maximum exposure and an increase in leads. After trying out these strategies, see which works best for you and focus more of your energy on that strategy.