61%Did you know that 81% of the U.S. online consumers perceive blogs as trustworthy sources of information? Or how about the fact that 61% of online consumers have purchased something – at least once – following advice from a blog.
It is quite fascinating how a digital platform can influence the behavior of a consumer. The millennials’ generation of consumers has suddenly developed a new need: the need to be informed before the purchase.
With access to the Internet, consumers feel the urge to get involved and make productive and rational decisions. A successful blog inspires trust, value, and professionalism – traits which are very rare in today’s blog sphere.
The competition is big, and your blog is very small…I know. This shouldn’t preoccupy you at all, as there are millions of blogs out there. The thing is…only a very small number of blogs are actually pulling it through.
The #1 Problem?
There isn’t just one! Blogging is a complex activity, and it’s very dynamic too.
There are plenty of issues that a blogger can face, and most of them are solvable. The biggest challenge comes when no one visits your blog. You become desperate, you get mad, and you eventually give up.
Blog promotion is half as important as the blog’s content, and it’s one of the biggest causes for which blogs tend to fail so often.
Because if there’s no proper promotion, you can write amazing content, deliver value, and offer your support all day long. No one is reaching the destination, so you end up with nothing.
The solution is simple:
Find the proper promotion strategies, test them well, and optimize your strategies and actions as much as you can. Social media channels represent a great door towards wide audiences.
From a sea of people that use social networks, you can target just the ones you need and become “friends”.
Social Media is Just Enough to Make Your Blog Successful
Social media is a wonderful happening. I call it like that because it’s something that hit us really fast, and it became something that’s part of our lives. Every person which has a smartphone probably has a social profile too.
We tend to communicate much more frequently through digital channels because that gives us flexibility. Social media networks are the place where people spend a lot of time.
No matter what age, gender, nationality, you’ll find that millions of people are using Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and many others.
It brings dozens of benefits while using it for business purposes. In our case, we’re either doing it for passion, for money, or for both. Either way, social media is the place to be if you want to successfully promote your website and blog.
Perceive it as a link between you and consumers. You, the person who has something to sell or promote, are approaching someone who opens Facebook in order to chat, scroll, and upload pictures. If you’re relevant, you’ll gain their attention.
Let’s not waste more words on the benefits it brings and instead focus on the actual social media promotion strategies.
Here’s a comprehensive guide for leveraging social media in order to attract targeted traffic to your blog.
Pay attention, and apply as much as you can from what you’ll be reading – otherwise, you remain with a powerful knowledge that’s not being put into action. This will lead you to procrastination, mediocrity, and lastly failure.
Let’s begin now.
1. Choose Your Social Media Channels
Before attempting to promote your blog on social platforms, you must decide which social media channels are worth your time and attention. Think of your target audience first. Where do they hang out? What’s the network which they use the most?
Here are some demographics that should give you more clues.
Choose three social media networks.
From then on, you should focus only on those three.
You shall learn everything about them, and learn how to optimize your efforts through them.
2. Create Professional Profile Pages and Build an Audience
After you have chosen your preferred networks, you should set promotion goals.
For example, one of your goals would be to attract as many social media followers. Another goal would be to make people subscribe to your blog’s e-mail newsletter.
These profile pages are going to represent your brand, and they’ll contribute to your brand’s overall image and reputation.
Your social media profiles (be it Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and so on) are also giving you the opportunity to connect with other blog owners. Establish relationships along the way, and allow them to assist your efforts of building a brand awareness.
3. Share Valuable Content
If you happen to be an expert in the field, your blog’s going to be very relevant. If you write in-depth content which contains a lot of valuable information, you’ll be able to drive lots of traffic through social media shares, reposts, and all sorts of other “ways”.
When you distribute a piece of content on social media channels, your content has the chance to go viral and get seen by millions of users. Reputation is being created through consistent value delivery, and the traffic that comes to your blog is being impacted by the quality of your content.
4. Use Industry Influencer’s Help
Social media influencers are basically individuals that have a large number of followers. They’re either experts in a field, either famous. You can see these influencers everywhere.
Every now and then, you come across someone who has over 50k likes on his Facebook page – that’s an influencer.
What you have to do is approach users with large databases of readers and followers. Ask them to promote your blog on their social profiles in exchange for something.
They usually ask for money, so get ready to invest in your brand awareness.
5. Join a Few Niche Communities
When you’re building a blog around a niche, you should know everything about the subject. You should also let other people know that you’re the expert. You can be the one who helps them find the solutions that they’ve been looking for.
As an example, you can join a related Facebook group and start engaging. You can share your ideas and insights, and finish with a link towards an article. Of course, that article belongs to your blog, so you’ve earned a new visitor each time someone clicks.
6. Use Paid Advertising Options
If you want to skip a lot of hustle, you can use social media advertising. It’s pretty basic and simple. You’re targeting specific users with your advertising campaigns; in exchange, you pay the social network a certain fee which is usually established before the start of the campaign.
Paid advertising is the best way to build a targeted audience, as it allows you to go through a trial-n-error process. With lots of time, patience, and analytics, you’ll be able to figure out what people want most.
I haven’t even mentioned the direct traffic that you’re obtaining by paying a few cents a click. That traffic truly counts if it’s put through the right sales funnel!
7. Engage Directly with The Customer
Have you ever taken the time to speak to a reader of yours? Ask them a few questions, see what they like or dislike about your products? Most bloggers didn’t, and I happened to be a part of this category when I first started.
Networking through social media channels is very advantageous. You get to create a personal 1-to-1 relationship with someone who values your business. You can get insights, feedback, and more sales in time.
8. Use Automation Tools
Even though this article is about social media promotion, you should be aware that this is not the only way to promote your blog. In fact, there are so many other ways, and that will turn out to be a problem.
When you’re blogging, you’ll often realize that your time is slipping off and your day is over without you having accomplished a thing.
Time is essential to your blog’s success because it influences you – the one who develops the blog.
There’s an easy solution: take advantage of social media automation tools. Check out the list and see for yourself.
9. Implement Social Media Buttons on Your Blog
Want more shares and likes? Implement social buttons within your blog’s pages. Every time someone goes through your content, you’ll make it easy for them to share their experience with others. In case you’re creating awesome content with lots of value, they will want to share!
People seek social status, and distributing useful information is one way of attaining it. Make it easy for them, and put those share and like buttons in front of their eyes.
10. Be Consistent and Over-Deliver Frequently
If you’re serious about promoting your blog on social media channels, take into consideration one important rule:
Consistency is key to a successful social media promotion. So is value and over delivery. When you go over your prospects’ expectations, you’ll be perceived as a “goldmine”.
People will keep coming back because they realize that your blog’s bringing them value and resources. Keep in mind; if your social media channels aren’t consistently updated, they’ll give a feeling of abandon.
People will think that your blog’s a ghost now, and they won’t even bother taking a quick peek.
Blogging success will come to those who are truly connected to this goal. You can wish for something to happen, but it’s not the same as being connected to that future reality.
If you’re not constantly thinking about that goal, that means you’re not truly connected to it. When all of your days revolve around that goal, only then you’ll be able to understand what it means to be committed and connected.
If blogging success is what you want, no one will stop you from attaining it except yourself. Promote your blog through social media as we’ve explained, and start noticing the fast results.
The article is written by Robert Morris, digital marketing manager and a writer. Robert mainly focuses on marketing, business, and education-related topics. Now Robert works at custom writing reviews.
