Your blog and social media: Connecting the two

Others might be curious, and have certain opinions or advice for topics. They would then create a blog from scratch. If they feel as if their website isn’t generating enough hits through search engines or word of mouth, or if they want to connect more with their audience, they then create social media accounts. It is important to pick the correct social media platform for your target audience. For some, it may be Facebook, others Twitter, Instagram, or all of the above. 

To attract people to your blog, what do you need to do? As a blogger you need to keep in mind your area of blogging expertise. If you are a health and lifestyle blogger, that is what your audience is interested in and expects. There is no point creating content based around cars.

Aside from creating the content itself, there are other ways you can increase readership to your blog:

·       Have a relevant and appropriate blog name 

·       When uploading content, ensure that you use relevant key words in your headings

·       If you are using photographs to accompany a blog post, make sure that they are of high quality, and are relevant to the post you are creating

·       SPELL CHECK. Sounds silly, but it is especially important. If you have misspelt a word in your heading, it may detract people from clicking through to your blog in the first place. 

Additionally, once you have attracted people to read your blog, you should finish your entries with a question that prompts your audience. This not only increases the number of comments on your page, but also creates opportunities to speak with your audience and find out what they would love to see you post about.

Specifically, how can social media help to make your blog popular? You’ve created a blog and social media accounts – but what now? The key is coordination.

Making your new posts known to your audience
Remind your audience of the regularity of your posts, for instance that you have a new blog up every Sunday at 6pm. Let your readers know when your post goes live and announce it via your social media platforms, accompanied by a relevant photo and a direct link to your content.

With Twitter and Facebook, your audience is easily able to click the link and begin reading. However, if Instagram is where your audience is or where you announce new content, the click through can be more difficult. Instagram does not allow you to post a direct link to other content; therefore it is essential that you add the direct link to your Instagram profile description – allowing easy access to your blog.

Connecting with your audience

Your social media accounts aren’t only there for you to bombard your audience with “Look at my new blog post” content. It is also there to connect with those that read your blog. Ask them questions or for blog post requests and reply to their comments.

#hashtags to increase traffic to your social media accounts and eventually, your blog

It can be hard to get your head around the idea of hashtags. But as a blogger on social media, they are especially important.

Going back to the lifestyle example, you should continuously post lifestyle relevant content accompanied by lifestyle relevant hashtags such as #lifestyle or #lifestyleproductsaustralia etc.

People on social media can spend a long time looking through hashtags and trying to find new accounts to follow. Once they find your social media account, chances are higher that it will drive more traffic to your blog!

Businesses will only approach certain blogs that:

·       Post high quality content relevant to them and their business

·       Are updated regularly

·       Have a large audience base or one that is highly targeted to their needs and wants

So now you know the basics, it’s time to get to it. Social media is your friend and can really bring your blog to life.