Amplification – or the practise of increasing a piece of content’s reach - has always, and continues to be, an intrinsic part of the online marketing mix, but it is often an overlooked part of content strategy.

Amplification can drive those all-important user & social signals that are becoming increasingly important to natural search visibility, leading to an increase in traffic, conversions and, importantly, revenue.

While typically, the actual implementation of amplifying tactics should come after the release of a piece of content or the launch of a campaign, it is important that amplification is part of the initial activity planning. The fact is, while your content may be seriously engaging, this does not necessarily guarantee it will be shared far and wide, or even be seen, in the first place. Plan your amplification as part of the activity as a whole; not as an afterthought.

Of course we’d all love for every piece of content we produce to go viral but sadly this is rarely the way it works. Some pieces just need a bit of a helping hand. When it comes to pushing out content, it can be easy to forget the simple steps that will help it work as hard as possible for you. So here are four quick fire ways to make sure you really will get the most out of your content.

A good place to start is by ensuring your content is optimised for amplification. This can be done by including social sharing buttons or encouraging interaction across social spaces in the post itself. Moreover, with 2015 set to be the year that mobile search takes over desktop for the majority of websites, this is going to have a knock-on effect on the way people share – and simply ensuring your content is optimised for mobile could have a massive effect on its ability to be shared.

Paid social creates (and guarantees) visibility of your content across socials spaces. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and many other social networks have filters and tools to target relevant users with sponsored/promoted posts, ensuring your content reaches its target niche, where it is likely to be engaged with. This being said, while the post may appear to users, it does not guarantee interaction – that depends on the content itself

Natural social can be a fantastic way to generate user signals on a budget. Admittedly, it can be a much harder tactic as it relies on users interacting with content to gain visibility, something which paid social automatically generates.