If you’re reading this – maybe you’re already on board the Social Media bandwagon – so you don’t need me or any of us to tell you that you should be engaging your audience through the various Social Media channels. But, the question I have for you today is, “Are you effectively leveraging your blog content via social media?” Promoting your content involves more than a simple Tweet here or a link dropped over there. Using multiple channels to reach a wide audience is essential to growing you audience over both the short term and long haul.
Create a Facebook Fan Page – and use it!
Creating a Facebook Fan Page may not seem like a good idea or a waste of time – but taking a quick look at my Analytics, I see that Facebook, as it stands right now, is number 6 on the list of highest traffic referral sources. How? I created a Fan Page about 6 months ago, and have made sure to stay active. Promote your posts on the day they are posted, ask questions, run contests – find ways to get your “fans” involved. The great thing (that is often forgotten) is all of your “updates” show up in every single fan’s news feed – meaning that when they log in, they are almost forced to read what you have to say. Use that to your advantage!
Stagger Your Email Subscription Send Out
Your RSS subscribers are some of your most loyal readers – your Email RSS subscribers perhaps even more so. To reach a wide audience, it makes sense to stagger your promotion. For example, use the early morning hours to promote your new content on Twitter, Facebook, etc – then around 12-2pm, send out your RSS email to subscribers. Feedburner allows you to easily set this up. Experiment with different times and monitor the results.
Get going with video
Video isn’t for everyone but it does allow you to 1) engage your audience in a new and interesting ways 2) Tap into new online communities via Youtube, Vimeo, Viddler, etc. 3) Provide “viral” content that is easy to share.
In short, if you’re not already incorporating video into your Social Media and blogging mix – you are really missing a huge opportunity and a trend of people who are increasingly turning to more “visual” and “interactive” content. It doesn’t have to be all the time, but throwing in a video post every now and then is a great way to mix things up.
Overall, Social media is about experimenting – trying to figure out what works, what doesn’t, and tweaking your strategy and approach along the way. You’re not always going to get it right, and that’s OK – you’ll carry with you valuable learning experiences and odds are, you’ll be a Social Media rock star in no time!
Matt Cheuvront is the mastermind behind Life Without Pants. Take the next step by saying hello on Twitter and subscribing to his blog today!
Tags: Blogging, blogs, content, Social Media, social media tools, social network, social networking, Strategy, the right way
