If content is king, then social media is queen. And let’s just say the king doesn’t get much done without the queen’s nod of approval. The same principle applies to your business blog. You need great content to capture attention and interest, but you need great promotion to get people to consume your content in the first place. This blog post offers some quick tips for sharing your blog posts on social networks to get more traffic, more leads, and more customers via your website.
1. Create custom headlines and copy for your social media shares.
The copywriting doesn’t end after you publish your blog posts. You should craft custom announcements and headlines for each social network and each share. For example, if you’re sharing your new blog post on Twitter, don’t use the same copy/text when you share on Google Plus. Take time thinking about your audience on each network and your format. Again, Twitter and Google Plus are very different types of social networks with different text restrictions and different “sharing norms” at play. Be strategic with every share but more importantly, put thought into each social post.
2. Share each post multiple times.
Simply announcing your new blog posts on Twitter and Facebook is very very old school. Yes, you should be announcing new posts but don’t stop there. Use a scheduling tool like HootSuite or Buffer to schedule out multiple announcements. Remember: much of social media is about what’s happening right NOW. Only a small percentage of your followers are going to see your social posts each time you add something new. For that reason, you need to share each of your blog posts several different times before you stop sharing completely.
3. Engage with your sharing followers and fans.
When someone retweets or repins or “reshares” your content in some way, be sure to give them a shootout. Thank them but also take time to engage with them. Ask them if there’s anything particular they liked about the content or if there’s anything similar they would also recommend, etc. There are lots of ways to do this. Just be careful you don’t lose these great opportunities to engage and build a relationship. This is very important to remember: social media is about being social.
4. Add social media widgets to your blog.
It needs to be easy for your blog readers to share your content on their own, too. This is one of the most important reasons to be using a CMS like WordPress for your blogging. It’s super easy to add social media widgets and icons to every blog post automatically so your readers and even first-time visitors can share your content. If it’s not easy to share your content, people are far less likely to do it. We recommend having at least Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Buffer sharing icons on every blog post.
5. Create more shareable content.
One of the great things about being social with your content is it presents you with very usable data about what your most popular posts really are. Then, you can continue to craft new blog posts around these same topic areas. Social media networks can be a tremendous source of traffic for your website and thus a tremendous source of new leads for your business, so it’s important to pay attention to these metrics every step of the way.
Start following these 5 simple tips for your own “Social Blogging” practices today and watch your traffic and leads grow!
