Increasing visibility of your content with social media promotion
Leading on from my post about what to do when you’ve finished writing a blog post, I promised I would look at social media promotion. So here is my strategy and top tips for social media sharing of your blog posts. First let’s have a look at the main types of platforms which you can use for social media promotion.
Bear in mind that not all of them are useful for your business. Some might be more worthwhile than others. From an SEO perspective Google+ should definitely be a choice since according to a source in Google if you share blog posts there they will be indexed by Google much more quickly!
As I’ve mentioned before if you love Google, they’ll love you back!
Headlines
This is perhaps the most important skill in social media promotion. To get people to click through to your post you need to be able to write good headlines. How are you going to entice your followers to read your content? If you have come up with a good title for your post then use that. Otherwise it needs to be something that engages people’s curiosity, emotions or gets them thinking.
There is a conundrum in getting it right online as often a catchy title does not make for good SEO. However with social media you can be a bit more inventive. This one covers both angles.
“Super Cally goes ballistic, QPR atrocious”
The Liverpool Echo, describing a brilliant performance by Liverpool’s Ian Callaghan against Queens Park Rangers.
Source: The secrets of great headline writing. The Guardian.
I suggest you do a bit of research on how to write good headlines. It’s a skill that all bloggers need to continually develop.
Twitter
One of my favourite ways of social media promotion is via a tweet. It’s by far the most engaged audience often giving 25% referral rates (percentage of total visits) to many sites I look after.
Perhaps that’s because many of them are in the small business, home business or freelancer niche. If you’re targeting the consumer market then Facebook might be more lucrative.
How to use Twitter for social media promotion
Because of the the way that tweets disappear down a timeline you need to catch people when they are online. You either need to do a bit of testing around when you get the most interaction, or use Tweriod to discover when most of your followers are online. Their free analysis will sample 1000 of your followers.
You have to pay for more detailed analytics which start at $3.99 dollars a month for up to 4999 followers or $7.99 a month for 19,999! It does go beyond that but I wouldn’t imagine you have more than 20,000 followers!
It gives you information about when most of your followers are online. Which means that rather than casting your net into the Twitter pond when there’s no fish about you are more able to get your tweets seen.
As for the number of tweets per post I would normally do 3 on the day with different headlines for each one and then schedule it for a future date one week ahead and then every month perhaps.
One way to get your tweets noticed is to mention other people using their Twitter handle (@seemanaboutblog is mine). If you’ve talked about someone in your post who is on Twitter mention them in your tweet too.
One way I usually get people to take a look is to tweet them directly and ask for their feedback (Quick thank you to @NickyKriel, Sharon @baywebbubbles and @judyheminsley who are my touchstones for content, amongst others).
Always, always thank people who retweet your content. From a leadership point of view it is useful to reinforce good behaviour. I also subscribe to the sentiment of Alfred Painter that “Saying thank you is more than good manners. It is good spirituality.”
Facebook
This has become one of my favourite ways to keep in touch with people socially all over the world. It has its place for social media promotion too. It’s not so good for business-related things especially if you’re marketing to other businesses.
Sometimes you find you have to dumb down your message and slightly trivialise it to get much response. Think cats here!
However it is still is worthwhile having a presence and if it’s business-to-consumer it’s a great way of attracting your market. There’s been some real success stories from well known brands such as Coca Cola, Red Bull and Converse who have really nailed it on Facebook.
You may well learn a thing or two by checking out what they do on Facebook to engage with their audience.
How to use Facebook for social media promotion
To be honest, once is enough! At least that’s my angle. You can post blog posts on your personal Facebook profile, your Facebook page and a relevant group if you have one. Although posts do tend to drop down your Facebook wall I feel that you are in danger of spamming if you post the same blog post too often. You don’t want people to ‘mute’ you!
If it’s a popular one then you can always mention it as one of your top posts. Every month I do a ‘Top 3 post’ shout out on my main social media platforms. Fond your top posts on Google Analytics by clicking on ‘Behaviour’, then ‘Site content’ and choose ‘All Pages’. It will show your top 3 pages or posts that have been seen by your visitors.
Linkedin
This is a great medium for business-to-business and also useful for recruitment if you’re an expanding business. There are currently 300 million users and it’s growing fast. In fact it is the third-fastest-growing social network!
If your target market is high earners then this is the place as it is estimated that 49% of Linkedin users have a household income of over £100,000 (2012 Consumer Electronics Report).
Other statistics for social media promotion make Linkedin rather attractive for those targeting the business market.
- LinkedIn sends nearly four times more people to your homepage than Twitter and Facebook.
- 6 out of every 10 Linkedin users are interested in industry insights.
- LinkedIn has found their busiest times to be morning and midday, Monday t0 Friday.
- About 20 posts per month can help you reach 60% of your target market.
- A single status update reaches 20 percent of your followers.
“50% of our paid inbound leads come from LinkedIn. LinkedIn is our most cost-effective online marketing channel.”
Matt Johnston.
VP of Marketing at uTest.
How to use Linkedin for social media promotion
Again I would say once is enough and you can post links to your personal profile, company page and any groups you might be in. Just make sure if you post it in a group that it is a relevant link and that the group ground rules allow dropping links.
Google+
As mentioned above you will need to be on Google+ from an SEO perspective since sharing anything on Google+ gets indexed in their search engine much faster. The latest statistics give you an idea of where it stands in terms of social media.
- Percentage of total global social media sharing – 3%.
- 300 million monthly active users.
- 20 million unique monthly users on Google+ via mobile.
- Percentage of online adults that visit Google+ at least once a month – 22%.
- Percentage of millennials that visit Google+ at least monthly – 28%.
So don’t miss out on this important channel to market. It’s becoming increasingly popular and you don’t want to miss out on potential improvements.
How to use Google+ for social media promotion
Again leave no more than one link. You can post to a personal profile, company page, add links to community pages and leave links in comments. As with all conversations on social media build relationships by helping people rather than just broadcasting your content.
If you’re new to Google+ take a look at this article which explains in simple terms the benefits of Google+ and how to use it.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that when you sign up for a social media account most of them will allow you to add your blog or website address so you get a backlink.
I hope you found something of value here. There are people who have a lot more expertise than me on individual platforms but this should get you going on your social media promotion journey.
In my next post I’ll be talking about using social media promotion tools such as bookmarking sites, OnlyWire and Buffer.
What are your top tips for social media promotion? It would be great to hear from you.
Photo by William Iven on Unsplash.
Sharon says
August 28, 2014 at 1:54 pmThanks for this useful info Andy, I hadn’t realised how often I should be posting articles on Twitter and not heard of Tweriod – will be trying that out.
Facebook I do not use for business at all, personal stuff only – and that’s only under sufferance because some of my friends only use Facebook.
Google+ I love, need to use it more effectively. I’m trying out Circloscope at the moment.
LinkedIn – it’s often my forgotten social network so I am going to make an effort to use it more seeing as you’ve mentioned it 🙂
Andy Britnell says
August 28, 2014 at 2:41 pmHi Sharon
Judy does this with her Work from Home Wisdom posts. She posts at different times with different headlines which means that she is more likely to catch people when they are browsing and has more chance of people clicking through depending on how she hooks the reader. One headline might appeal to one person and the others might intrigue someone else.
So it’s just covering your bases really. You could play with it and use language that appeals to people with a visual, auditory or kinaesthetic preference. Or think of the colour energy personalities and write headlines to suit each one.
Tweriod is something you definitely want to check out. Facebook – probably not right for your target market. Good to see you’re on Google+ and I must investigate Circloscope. So much to learn, so little time to take it all in!
Linkedin is the useful tool you’ve left at the back of the shed. When you discover it again and start playing with it you wonder why you forgot about it!
Have fun with it 🙂
John says
November 5, 2014 at 2:09 pmLots of information about Social media promotion of your blog post. Organize your social media publishing schedule, so you can you can make sure your brand has a consistent voice.
Andy Britnell says
November 7, 2014 at 11:51 amThanks for dropping by John – and yes, consistency is a key factor for brand awareness.
Center For Arts Crafts says
November 24, 2014 at 8:25 amTotally agreed with your prediction related to Google+. It’s certainly going to lead the social media world. What I like most like about Google+ is, their community members’ engagement. Members are genuine and looking to build their brand instead of spamming.
more investments would be made in the social media come 2014 but I doubt if Google + would dominate the social media market completely…..