Imagine this. You’re sitting in front of your computer typing away. This in itself is a big step because all you hear these days is, “You have to blog.” You add a picture to your post and hit publish. Alas, your blog is live! Now what?
First off, congratulations! Go ahead and pat yourself on the back. Blogging is a key component to a successful and healthy content marketing strategy. Blogging and creating unique content can no longer be ignored. A recent survey conducted by Hubspot revealed that 57% of marketers acquired customers from blogging. Furthermore, if you want to survive Google’s Panda updates blogging is crucial. Blogging is great for SEO.
While blogging is a great start, unfortunately it isn’t enough. The success of each individual blog post and your blog itself relies on the promotion you put behind it.
Where To Promote Your Blog Posts?
1. Social Plugins
Before I get into the nitty gritty details of where and how, I want to make sure you have the proper tools in place. Make sure your blog is ready for others to share. The easier this is, the more likely you are to get others sharing your posts. That’s free promotion for you. On WordPress I recommend WP Socializer. You can use something that suits your needs but make sure it allows you to share each individual post.You also want a plugin that allows you to share to LinkedIn, Pinterest, G+, Twitter, and Facebook. Those are the key networks you want to be able to share on
.2. Facebook
On each post make sure you “like” your own post by clicking the post. You should recognize that when you “like” a post it will show up on your newsfeed. When the popup box appears make sure you write a little comment. This will increase the odds of it getting seen.
Now that you have posted to your personal account, make sure you post it to your fan page as well. Write a catchy headliner or give a little snippet of the article to get more people engaged in the content. Ask a question to encourage people to comment. If you feel really strongly about the post you can throw some money behind it to get extra views via Facebook’s promoted posts. I have found that promoted posts also bring new likes to your page if you promote it to “fans & friends of fans.”
Don’t forget to add a picture with the post. Pictures get more views, likes and comments, than plain text links.
Note about Facebook: The more people like and comment on the post, the more viral the post will become as it will show up on more news feeds. WIN!
3. Twitter
Twitter is an interesting site because it is all about real-time. Since the average time a tweet is seen is very small due to the high turnover rate, there is nothing wrong with tweeting a few different times in the day to encourage more views. You should tweet from your personal account and your business account.
Create 4-5 different tweets that all link to the same article and share throughout the day.You can use a scheduling tool like Hootsuite or you can use the tweet this button on your post. Whichever works best for you.
Use hashtags to allow your content to be found. Make sure they are relevant and don’t use more than 2 hashtags per tweet.
Another tactic is to respond to people who are talking about the same topic and share your viewpoint with them and a link to the article you have just published.
4. G+
Google Plus is a beast of a social media. As it is still so new, it is always evolving. There have been many prediction that G+ will be an important part of your search engine rankings. So beyond the value it has in leading people to read your blog, it is also important to use from an SEO standpoint. Make sure you +1 your post and add a little comment. You will want to do this on your personal page as well as your business page.
Make sure you use hashtags. Hashtags have proved to be very valuable on G+ as it is very content heavy. If you write about a certain company or person make sure you give them a shootout by using the + sign and then their name. Some argue to + different circles so they get the content as well. I am not a fan of this tactic, but you can try it out.
5. Pinterest
If you want to get the most out of Pinterest, you really need to consider the quality of the image. As this is a highly visual site, the better the photo the more repins you will get. Another thing to keep in mind is that taller images get more pins & repins. You can make the images on your site tall by combining them or using an infographic as they are usually tall to begin with.
Pinterest also allows you to upload your own picture. You can go this route as well make sure you complete all the steps to make that photo link back to your site. Once you update your photo click on the edit button and add all the details. Your blog post URL is the most important to make sure it links back to your site.
PRO TIP: Make sure you name your photos for keywords. This is important because when someone pins your content, the name of your photo will come up as the title of your pin.
Check out my other articles to learn the basics of Pinterest and to learn about Pinterest analytics.
How do you promote your blog posts? Leave your specific tips in the comment box below.
Part 2 of how to promote your blog.
