A Blogger’s Guide to Perfecting Your Social Media Marketing Strategy
If there’s ever been a time to create a free blog, it’s now. People all across the world have joined the movement; from food bloggers to sports enthusiasts, blogging never discriminates. Sure, anyone can start to blog, but the real challenge bloggers deal with? Getting their content seen.
It’s no secret that social media is one of the best avenues for getting your blog read. But if you’re new to this world, it can be an intimidating feat. Because blogging and social media go hand in hand, we’ve created a simple guide to creating a killer social media strategy to help your blog take off.
Craft a Social Media Strategy
Just like with any new venture, it’s important to map out a strategy instead of going in blindly. The best place to start? Scope out your competition. Investigate how often they’re sharing their content, what social networks they’re on and what their level of engagement is. Once you’ve done that, you’ll be able to build up your identity and how exactly you’ll be separating yourself from competitors. Think about what will make your content and the structure of your blog stand out from the rest. Once that’s established, you’ll want to generate content that aligns with your newly formed identity.
After you’ve been up and running for a bit, the only way to improve is by analyzing and optimizing your blog. Take a look at what type of content performs best, what time of day your audience is most engaged and of course, what type of feedback you’re getting. Note if blog posts that are written in an informative tone perform better than posts written in a more friendly tone. Each element can be broken down and built back up to ensure you’re blogging like a pro.
Build a Presence on Social Media
But let’s back up and figure out where you should start now that you have a social media strategy to implement. First thing’s first, set up social accounts for your blog. If you haven’t already done so, create a Facebook page and open up a Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest account. You may find that other social networks are more or less relevant for the type of content on your blog, so explore each option and see what the best fit is. The next step? Connect your social accounts to your blog, so readers can start to follow your every move with just a click. The Social Bar from the Wix App Market allows you to add various social icons right to your site. Once people are following you on social media, they’ll be more inclined to share your content on their personal channels.
Spread the Word
Want to give your readers the ultimate reading experience? Meet Facebook’s new Instant Articles platform. Wix is working with Facebook to allow you to post using Instant Articles by adjusting your settings on the social network. The results already show a huge increase in clicks and an even larger increase in shares.
A reader checking out your blog on Facebook means they’re more likely to share it since they’re already using the most popular social platform. It couldn’t get any more convenient for your readership to spread your content on your behalf. It’s a total win-win! With this tool, you can host your content directly on Facebook so your audience can read your content right from their newsfeed, decreasing their website loading time and increasing convenience and creating a totally interactive experience. In other words, when you share a post on social, Instant Articles kicks into gear and works on your behalf to reach the masses.
Stay Connected
Once you’ve zeroed in on which social platforms are the best fit for you, make sure you’re active. Create a content calendar or a set schedule of when you’ll post so your followers can learn when to expect something hot off the press. Link to your blog post with a compelling image and an enticing caption that will get your followers to click. Want to take things one step further? Be bold and join online communities on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Plus that relate to your blog and share your stuff. You’ll get your name out there and reach a whole new audience.
Expert tip: If LinkedIn is a social community that fits the content of your blog, consider publishing on the Pulse, their platform for sharing articles. This way you’ll be able to engage with a whole new type of audience and begin to build more of a professional reputation.
Expand Your Reach
Wix ShoutOut is the easiest way to send beautiful newsletters and updates to your contacts. In addition to sending a stunning newsletter straight to your contact’s inbox, you can share your emails on your social media platforms and even turn them into Facebook Ads, targeting the specific audience you want to reach. It doesn’t get any easier to expand your audience and get more readers!
Ready to create a blog that readers will adore? Create your free blog today!
By Jillian Altit
Community Manager
