Great! You finally finished writing that blog that you’ve been working on for half the day. Now before you publish it on every social media site at your disposal, think about this: many basic methods for social media engagement won’t help your content get noticed (especially if you’re just starting out). Instead, try some of these advance tactics for promoting your blog content on social media. After all, the goal is to drive a massive amount of content back to your website, right?
Limit Your Platforms
Let’s be honest … there are too many social media sites in today’s market. It seems like there’s a new one debuting every few weeks. In order to get the most from your blog post, consider promoting your content through your channels that are more developed with a community that’s hungry for your content. It’s difficult to maintain a strong presence on every social media channel if you don’t have a team to help you maintain them. You should focus on your two top channels. The five top sites that send the most traffic are Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Pinterest and LinkedIn. Start researching which platform your targeted audiences are on and begin with those.
Optimization
Make sure your content is search engine ready. Research words that people are searching for and include them in your post. You should optimize the title, image and metadata description with those keywords and phrases as well. Hashtags are another way for people to find your content. Most social media sites have a list of trending hashtags; use that to help you decide which ones to add to your post (just make sure the hashtag really relates to your content). This way your content can be found via social search. While we’re on the subject, why not optimize your new post with links to your older articles and vice versa. Bring life back to your archive of great articles.
Scheduling
Make a schedule for your social media updates. Through experimentation, find which time of day will get your post the most awareness. One test shows that you should time your posts right before and right after the top of the hour. That’s because meetings typically last an hr (let’s say 12pm to 1pm) and people tend to check their updates before and after the meeting is done. Once you find the best time then you can automate your posts using tools like Hootsuite or IFTTT to schedule posts in advance. Speaking of Hootsuite, it is by far one of the best ways to manage all your social media updates in one place.
Request Influencers for Help
Don’t be embarrassed to ask for a little help now and then. Of course having a budget for social media influencer relations helps cure those inhibitions. Send a request to interview or get engagement help from someone who has an influential status in the area you’re promoting or writing about. Be professional and kindly ask them to review your content. Then ask them to consider sharing your content for more exposure. They’ll understand since they were probably once in your shoes. Don’t overdo this because you don’t wear out your welcome. Remember that the influencer could use your help one day, so be ready to reciprocate. Lastly, save this tactic for when you want to promote your best content!
Paid Advertisement
Paid promotion is the quickest way to get eyes on your content. Video ads are now becoming more popular to promote your content. According to Visual Teaching Alliance, 65% of people are visual learners, which means having a video to promote your content is a good idea. Most people are hesitant to pay for social media ads and I feel the same way. However, many people have tried it and it works! If you’re still unsure about social media advertisement then you can try investing in a platform called Outbrain. This platform will recommend your article to others who are reading similar content. It’s based on a per click distribution which means the more clicks your articles has the higher the number of sites Outbrain will recommend your content to.
Join Communities and Groups
It’s easy to post your content straight onto Facebook or Google Plus, however you’ll find it more rewarding if you post your content in the right areas and to the right people. Facebook and LinkedIn have thousands of groups filled with people who are interested in your content. Do a little research and add yourself to those groups that have people who care about your content topics. Also join groups that have people who share the same passion as you. You can then comment and like other people’s post, and ask them to share some of your content. Google Plus has circles and communities for the same reason. Search for people on Google Plus and ask request to be added to key circles and communities. You can simply join some communities without approval from an admin.
Develop Relationships
You have to connect with your audience. Just having timely posts is not enough; you have to interact with your viewers. Ask questions to get them engaged and involved. Give them a voice through your content. This way you and your audience can develop a more sincere relationship rather than being just acquaintances. This takes time. Reply to their tweets, like their status updates and comments on their posts … these are all great ways for you and them to connect and build a relationship.
Now take that finished blog you wrote and publish it using some of these advanced tips. Let us know how they’ve helped you promote your content in ways you couldn’t believe.
