Is RSS really simple for Syndicating Content? - Part 1

RSS is a buzz-word that has become synonymous with content platforms. Yet, there is a huge gap of knowledge about what RSS really is, and why (if at all) it benefits people who use it. If you’ve ever found yourself wondering why some content “goes viral” or get millions of Click Throughs / views- those successes are almost always rooted in great RSS initiatives.

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication”. RSS can be thought of as a bullhorn for your digital content. It’s essentially a software toolkit to help you distribute content easily (and automatically) across platforms.

Consider the following example: You have written content (or created a video/ podcast) that describes the impact of the China tariffs on long term bonds from internet companies such as Alibaba. You know that it is an impactful piece of content that will shed light on your winning investing thesis.

At this point you have three ways of getting to the audience you want:

Publish the content on your blog (and hope that the right people read it). T o quote Academy award winning director James Cameron “Hope is not a strategy”.
Publish content on your blog and “promote” content via digital advertising. Assuming that you know “exactly” who your target audience is- Google / Facebook/ Linkedin all have robust pay-per-click models that drive interested people to your content. With google advertising bid’s increasing in value, it’s very price intensive to get your target audience. On average- it’ll cost you between $1.5 and $3 to get one person click once on your advertisement. To actually get any reasonable traffic once, you’ll end up spending thousands of dollars. You’ll end up hoping (refer #1) that a portion of this traffic comes back to your post again.
The method we at Harvest prefer (and offer our premium page subscribers) - Really Simple Syndication (RSS). Harvest Deploys RSS on your Harvest premium page- a kit that “pulls” content automatically from your website/ blog/ any other location - and publishes it on your Harvest Premium Page. Immediately, forever!

In Part 2 we discuss how RSS can really help you turbocharge your marketing initiatives- Stay tuned!