How to Best Promote Your Blog via Social Media
You just wrote a great blog post. Perhaps your best ever. You posted it to your website and added the perfect photos and infographics. Now what? It’s time to learn how to promote your blog by building out a plan to share it on social media.
Promoting your content takes just as much time (if not more) than writing the actual content does. Fortunately, social media gives you an easy and creative outlet, and we’re here to help you with the strategy.
Include Link to Blog on All Social Media Profiles
The quickest and easiest way to promote your blog is by including the link in all of your social media profiles. You can either include the general URL, or update it each time you publish a new post.
Art of Sharing Blog Content on Social Media
Sharing your blog content on social media isn’t a matter of dropping every new link online. It’s an art form that requires creativity, time and strategic planning. We promise the extra effort makes a big difference. Here are a few tips to get you started:
1. Appeal to the Visual Sense.
It’s a proven fact that Tweets, Facebook posts and LinkedIn posts with photos get more engagement than those without. The newer social sites such as Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest are solely based on images, proof that people crave visual appeal. You’ve already taken the time to choose the perfect photos for your blog post, so be sure to use them in your social media posts as well. Also, consider creating a branded “feature” image (or several) for sharing purposes. Free tools such as Canva and PicMonkey can be helpful in doing this.
2. Use Engaging Language.
Social media was created for people, not businesses. Therefore, you should always be striving to humanize your brand and have real conversations with your followers. Don’t just drop links, but rather inspire your audience to actually engage with you online. Post questions, ask for feedback, respond to comments. The beauty of promoting your blog content on social media is that you’re simultaneously building your brand, enhancing your public relations and driving more people to your site.
3. Post Multiple Times on the Same Platform.
Sharing the same content multiple times on one platform is a challenging task, but one we totally recommend trying. The new Facebook and Instagram algorithms specifically make it even more difficult to get new content in front of your audience. If you do it strategically, chances are nobody will even notice what you’re up to. Use engaging language and never post the exact same message on social media twice. Mix up your headlines (see below) and customize your posts depending on which platform you’re using (again, see below).
4. Don’t Settle for one Headline.
Yes, we know headline writing is the hardest part of blog writing. And yes, we’re telling you to challenge yourself to write more than one headline for each new piece of content. This is especially important if you’re following the tip above and posting the same content multiples times on each platform. For the purpose of SEO, the title of your blog should be straight-forward and keyword based. But for the purpose of social media, the title of your blog should be creative and attention grabbing.
Customizing Your Social Media Posts
Each of your social media platforms have a life of their own, and should be treated as so. When you’re publishing new content online (especially if you’re sharing the same content multiple times on the same platform), it’s essential to customize your posts. Here are the nitty gritty details:
Remember when we told you to humanize your brand? Facebook is the perfect place to do just that. The Facebook algorithm favors storytelling, so steer clear of using promotional language. You have unlimited characters to share your story, so we recommend including the first few lines of your post, giving some background, or asking your readers a question. And don’t forget to include that visual appeal.
With a 140-character limit, Twitter is the perfect place to tease your audience with a snappy headline, interesting image and a link to your new blog content. These types of tweets will first serve as an RSS feed, informing new followers that you have a blog and existing followers that there’s new content to be read. Tweeting your own content also positions you as a thought leader with expertise in your specific field, as opposed to retweeting other thought leaders. Be sure to strategically include hashtags, @mentions and photos/videos to get your content noticed by those who are genuinely interested.
LinkedIn has its own publishing platform, so we don’t recommend copying and pasting your blog content on LinkedIn. After all, you want people to be visiting your site for new content! Instead, if you’re looking for how to promote your blog, find relevant LinkedIn groups and join their discussion. Be cautious of sounding too spammy by adding your links every time you post but instead contribute your knowledge in an authentic way. Answer questions, provide resources and position yourself as a thought leader. This tactic definitely takes more time, but you are guaranteed to get your brand in front of people who are genuinely interested in your product or service.
Although Pinterest mainly focuses on images, it’s one of the quickest and easiest ways to promote new blog content. When you add a new post, think of each Pin as a header image for your blog, teasing the written content behind the image. Pinterest is also great for organizing your content into themes with the use of personalized Pin Boards.
Instagram is the trickiest when promoting content because your profile is the only place you can include a direct link. We recommend trying it out by ‘gramming a relevant photo and posting about your new content in the caption. The key is to add the phrase “link in profile” at the end of your post, so your followers know where to find your blog. You can then edit your profile link to reflect your new blog posts. Instagram can be a good tool for letting your followers know you have a blog, and we recommend testing it out a few times and seeing how your audience responds.
