Do you want to increase blog traffic and bring in more visitors to your blog?
It’s a simple question, with most likely a resounding YES as an answer.
It’s the same for many brands: you can create valuable, engaging content. You can be sure it’s going to wow your readers. Yet you fall down at the promotion hurdle.
If you’re willing to leave social media confusion behind, you can learn proven social media tactics to drive traffic to your blog.
And the great thing is, these methods on how to increase blog traffic won’t cost you a penny.
Ready? Let’s dive in.
THE BEST PLATFORMS FOR BLOG PROMOTION
It feels like we’re inundated with social media networks each month, each with a ton of opportunity to promote your blog.
But for most, it’s not realistic to try to use them all. It can be a case of trying to manage multiple accounts but yielding little to no reaction.
A far more reasonable and effective strategy is to focus on a cherry-picked number of social networks which make the most sense for your brand and blog.
This part isn’t rocket science. Simply look closely at your brand and target audience to determine which platforms they’re most likely to use.
My tip is to stick to picking from the core platforms to begin with: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest.
In this article, we’re breaking down Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to get you started.
1. FACEBOOK
Facebook can be a tricky beast when it comes to making sure people actually see your content, despite the number of likes or followers you have.
Luckily, there are a few handy hacks you can do to make sure your blog post gets seen:
- Shoot a short video. This only needs to be a short clip filmed on your own smartphone of you teasing your blog post. You can show the video with your post, as a super engaging way to get people interested.
- Shoot a live video. Perhaps more daunting to many, the Facebook live feature is pretty great for the simple reason that your followers get a notification each time you go live. Try and make use of it!
- Promote on your profile, pages and in relevant groups for the most exposure.
- Posts with images are most effective on Facebook. When you share your blog post, try uploading an image and putting your link in the text field instead of using the automatic link preview post.
Remember Facebook lets you post up to 10,000 characters, but only the first 480 characters are visible in the timeline; the rest are hidden behind the ‘See More’ link. The answer here is to put the essence of your message into the first 480 characters.
It’s worth noting that Facebook posts with fewer than 50 characters have proven to be more engaging than long posts.
2. GET TWEETING ON TWITTER
Twitter has one of the shortest character limits than its social peers, with 280 characters allowed per post. This means you have less time to persuade, less room to be enticing and more room for error.
Don’t panic, you just need to plan effectively.
- The average lifespan of a tweet is 24 minutes according to research by Moz, SEO Consulting Company. The way around this is to post about your blog post 4 times on the day it’s published, bearing in mind that your social media followers will live in different time zones.
- Break different sections of your blog posts into tweetable chunks. For longer posts, lists and roundups, you can maximise your content by creating a set of tweets that are posted over a longer period of time. These bite-size sections will give your reader value and give them a taste of what’s to come.
- Add optimal hashtags to extend your reach. The most important part of this is to make sure each hashtag is relevant to your audience. It’s best practice to limit your hashtags to 3 and separate them from the rest of your copy. So choose wisely!
- Tag influencers! If you mention an influencer in your blog post, tag away in your tweet and thank them for their wisdom. If they respond, your post will suddenly be in front of their ample followers.
- Make sure you add a call to action after your post. Reminding your followers to retweet can be effective, particularly after they’ve read a post packed full of value.
- Post your evergreen content every 2 to 3 months, but always mix your posts with curated content and other relevant content and retweets.
3. AMPING UP LINKEDIN
If you’re a B2B, LinkedIn is the ideal place for you to connect with your audience and drive traffic to your blog.
The main trick with LinkedIn is striking a balance between being consistently in front of your audience, while also not being too in their face.
- Post status updates a few times a week. This will make sure that you’re out there in front of your business network, but not in an annoying way.
- LinkedIn lets you post on your profile, on company and showcase pages, and in groups. You can also republish your blog posts on LinkedIn Pulse or SlideShare.
Check out this post from LinkedIn with a useful how-to on publishing on their platforms.
- On your company page, your update can contain around 600 characters. Any text beyond the first 150 or so characters will be condensed and readers will need to click ‘See More’ to view the complete post, so make sure it’s engaging and again, the essence is in the first part.
- Make sure you’re posting out links to the other posts. If you’re curating content and giving value to readers via other posts, they will be more inclined to sit up and take notice of you – this includes your very own blog posts.
One important part of the LinkedIn world that many people forget about, is that there are a wealth of groups you can join.
There are over 1.5 million groups on LinkedIn and 81% of users belong to at least one of them.
One piece of advice? Be targeted. You need to be realistic about the number of groups you can actively participate in.
It’s not going to work if you randomly enter a group and start talking about your blog.
At this point, you’ve added no value and no one will care, to be frank.
Check that groups have genuine engagement and reach your niche before you get involved.
SOME SUPERSTYLIN’ TIPS
You can be as strategic as you want when you try to increase blog traffic, but you have to go about your social copy with a bit of personality or it’s going to fall flat.
KEEP IT CONVERSATIONAL
Corporate blog speak isn’t going to cut it. You need to take the wall down and speak directly to your readers.
Here’s a tip: write out your copy as if you were recommending your post to a friend because it’s valuable to them.
That’s the type of tone you can use, whether it’s LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram.
Ask questions. Use colloquialisms. Give opinions. Don’t be scared of being you.
ADDRESS THE READERS’ PAIN POINT
You need to put your readers’ pain in the copy to show them you understand them.
The trick here is to stay far away from it sounding marketing-y and keep it genuine.
If you want to promote your blog post that’s talking about sparking creativity when copywriting, example (funny that), you can write something like:
“Don’t you just hate it when the creativity well runs dry? I’ve been testing out some new methods to get it flowing again recently, with great results. Check this out for inspiration.”
It’s personal, but also addressing the pain points for your readers and steering well clear of marketing speak.
COMPLETE YOUR PROFILES
This is a flaw in many people’s plans.
You go to all this trouble to create amazing, relevant blog content but then your social profiles are drier than the Sahara.
Jazz them up with spicy copy. Add your blog url to your profile so it’s easily accessible. Add eye-catching images and a decent profile pic. More than anything, make them interesting and highlight your expertise.
Check out my own LinkedIn page for some inspiration on how to do this.
ENGAGE AND COMMENT
Seems like a simple one, but it’s a trick that many people forget.
If people are commenting on your blog post, respond to them. Don’t leave them hanging with a big fat tumbleweed.
The more you engage, the more your posts will be visible (particularly on LinkedIn), and you’ll start seeing increased blog traffic.
Make sure you’re asking questions at the end of your posts, that way it encourages engagement from the get-go.
KEEP A CONSISTENT VOICE
You need to build credibility on your social channels. There’s no use jumping around a bunch of different voices, as that’s just confusing.
Develop a tone of voice and keep it streamlined across all channels.
Readers are getting to know your personality through social media, so familiarity will build the more consistent you are.
Good luck in your efforts to increase blog traffic!
Konrad and The Creative Copywriter team xx