Best Practices For Promoting Your Blog on Social Media

For the modern marketer, the question isn’t whether or not to blog, but rather how often.

The benefits of blogging are clearer than ever, from 67% more leads to businesses that blog to increased likelihood of building links. Content marketing remains one of the most cost effective means of building your audience; however, how can businesses hope to see their message break through in a sea of so many bloggers?

Enter the modern era of engagement. Between Facebook’s base of one billion daily active users to the 350,000 tweets sent per minute, users are sharing content via the social network like never before. As more and more content is driven via social sharing, it’s crucial that bloggers ensure that their own blog makes it way through the social channels

While promoting your blog on social media is easier said than done, there are a few quick ways to spice up any piece of content to increase your likelihood of shares and new, hungry readers.

 

Engaging Topics

“Engagement” is often a vague buzzword in the Internet marketing sphere; however, truly engaging content works to educate, entertain and persuade readers. For example, users on the social network are more likely to promote your content when you..

• Educate readers and build your brand by providing exclusive information, insight and research concerning your industry.

• Entertain readers with a distinct voice that gets the point and gives them a reason to keep scrolling.

• Persuade readers to take action, whether it’s sharing your article, leaving a comment or clicking through. Keep in mind that authenticity matters when engaging readers.

Truly engaging topics are controversial and provide a reason for users to start a conversation, or perhaps even a debate. We can also learn the popularity of sites such as Buzzfeed, which often offer topical content in the form of lists and “best-of” articles.

You can find engaging topics in just about any industry, from small business blogging to promoting a medical practice. In order to properly promote your blog, you need to give your readers what they want.

 

Eye-Popping Headlines

From the days to print journalism to the the modern tweet, headlines are crucial to grasping the attention of your readers. Regardless of how engaging your content may be, you can’t hope to promote your blog with dull, poorly-written headlines.

For example,  an article titled “7 Killer Content Marketing Hacks for Modern Marketers” is much more likely to be shared versus “New Small Business Content Tips.” Likewise, “The 12 Biggest Marketing Meltdowns of 2016” is more engaging than “Avoid These 12 Marketing Mistakes.”

If you’re looking for additional headline ideas, consider again using lists, “best of,” or titles that incite discussion. Likewise, consider using the marketing principles of urgency and scarcity to drive users to promote your articles immediately instead of sleeping on your content.

 

The Importance of Imagery

Although often overlooked, Images are a crucial piece to building your content strategy. Instagram users post over 70 million photos per day on average, stressing the importance of imagery to today’s audience. Although your blog’s content may be written versus visual, consider the fact that content containing images is exponentially more like to be shared and engaged with.

Therefore, make sure that each of your blog posts contains some sort of image. It doesn’t matter whether you use a high-resolution photo from your iPhone or a royalty free image. Although it may require you to get a bit creative, make sure you find something that’s both eye-catching and relevant to your content.

Sharing your content via social media is a crucial component of promoting your blog. Perhaps the  best means of promotion is crafting content that grabs your reader’s’ attention. From engaging topics to click-worthy headlines and eye-catching images, crafting creative content is key to more social shares.

 

Photo Credit

 

This is a contribution by Charles Dearing