If I was to make a pie chart of the questions I have been asked in my eight years of blogging a big slice like the big slice of every birthday cake you dad always got would be "How Do I Get More People To See My Blog?" . More Traffic/Visitors/Readers/Page Views/ use the term you want but if your pouring your heart into your blog you want people to see it.For so many years SEO (Search Engine Optimization) was the king, if you wanted to grow your blog Search Engines like Google were the prize to bring those eyes.Now this Blogger would still say SEO in general is more effective than Social media but boy has the gap closed.
The Big Two
Facebook has over 1.2Billion users, Twitter has around 1Billion registered accounts (About a quarter; 250Million are actually active accounts).That's just the big two, so social media has a very large pool in which to fish for blog traffic.
Of course you are just a wee blogger so you will never have the pulling power of people like Lady GaGa or brands like CocaCola who are among the most followed on the main social networks.But there is a niche audience there for you no matter what the subject of your blog.Put 1.2Billion people together and you are guaranteed to find like minded people who share the interests and views you share on your blog (Even if you do blog about toe nail clippers!).
But how do you reach out and find your target audience, were are the best places for Social Media Promotion ?
Be There Or Be Square - First up you want to have a presence on the main Social Networks we mentioned above.On Facebook your first step will be to create a "Like Page" for your blog were you can share your latest content.On Twitter you can quickly create a profile and Tweet your posts.You will need to have a more interactive presence on Social networks rather than just sharing your stuff we will look into that later.
We mentioned Facebook and Twitter but there are so many of other social networks that may have the target audience you are looking for.When Pinterest launched in 2010 it grew so fast it earned the title of the Fastest growing social network ever.That initial growth has inevitably slowed but we are still looking at in the region of 100Million users.Pinterest has become an "Arts and Crafts" social network and is most popular with so called "Mommy Bloggers".Indeed it has been reported 83% of pinterest users are female.So if you have an arts and crafts, cookery or design style blog (Sounds masculinist but that's the stats) Pinterest could be the community for you.
Many social networks have also carved out a niche for themselves .
LinkedIn - LinkedIn is most used by Professionals
Tumblr - Tumblr is looked on as a kinda Social Blogging Platform.
MySpace - MySpace was the biggest social network until Facebook took over the world.Far from being dead MySpace still has a large user base.Th focus now is on Music so Music bloggers could find their following on MySpace.
Google+ - It's hard to tell just what category Google+ can be dropped into.It is a general social network and Google's attempt to rival Facebook but Mark Zuckerberg has nothing to worry about just yet.With Google connecting Google+ to their other services like Gmail, YouTube and Blogger many users have accounts because they were required to.Still there are community's within Google+ and it is worth checking out.
Reddit - Reddit is a social network I enjoy however if you go in there with the sole intention of promoting yourself you won't get too far.Once of the most closely knit community's users submit content which lives and dies by user votes.
There are so many more social networks you can research and in upcomming posts we will look at the best practices in Social Media, just how you can make them work for you.
What are your opinions ? Don't hold back drop your comments below.
Paul Crowe
I'm the owner and main author here on Brighter Blogs.I've been a full time Blogger and Web designer for over eight years.I have worked on thousands of projects and blogs over the years and I bring this information to you here on BB.Making every tutorial easy to follow for bloggers of all levels.
Great Guide learned a lot thanks.
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