Where Is Everyone Hanging Out?
Episode #7 of the course How to create a profitable blog by Jessica Festa
Being a successful blogger means being active on social media. Not only does this bring traffic to your blog, it gets you noticed by potential partners and helps you get paid work. Which is why we’ll be covering this topic today on Day 7.
The good news: you don’t have to be active on every social media channel. In fact, it’s actually smarter to choose two to three channels and really do them justice.
Where Does Your Audience Hang Out?
First, you’ll want to pinpoint which channels it makes sense to be active on. Peruse where other successful blogs in your niche are getting results. Also, consider demographics. If you’re targeting senior citizens, you can assume Instagram and Snapchat would be pointless. Here’s research to help gain some insight into who is using each channel.
Pro tactic: Most features on BuzzSumo cost money; however, within their free version, you can research keywords relevant to your niche or even competitor URLs. From there, BuzzSumo pulls up relevant content. Look to the right of each blog post to see where they’re resonating most.
Are Your Handles Available?
Once you’ve determined what channels you’ll be active on, it’s important to make sure the handles you’d need for your blog are available, or at least a close variation thereof. For example, I’m @jessieonajourney on Instagram, @jessonajourney on Twitter, and Jessie on a Journey on Facebook.
Understand Each Platform
While your mission and tone should be consistent across platforms, the way you share your content should be optimized for each. For example, if you’re a beauty blogger, the way you cover a new makeup line would be different on Instagram vs. YouTube.
Something else that differs across platforms: how to increase visibility. A few best practices:
• Twitter: Keep it short, attach images, use one to two hashtags per share.
• Facebook: Include a photo, post short videos, go Live for 10 minutes (and re-post your video to your wall).
• Instagram: Keep a cohesive tone throughout your photos (such as always using the same filter) and stick with the same photo orientation (square vs. rectangle). Also, make your account more searchable by making your name different than your handle. For example, I’m @jessieonajourney and Jessie Festa | Solo Female Travel. Use targeted hashtags that blend popular tags and less popular tags that give you a better chance of showing up at the top of results.
• Pinterest: Pinterest acts like a search engine, so optimize pins with keyword-rich descriptions. Use vertical orientation for pins and an automation tool like Tailwind to schedule pins and re-pin old pins for more visibility.
• YouTube: Create an enticing channel trailer, include a branded subscribe watermark, and add relevant tags.
General best practices across channels:
• Include a call to action.
• Tag featured brands/influencers.
• Invite followers from one channel to follow you elsewhere.
• Have a purpose with each post.
• Run competitions. Gleam is a great tool for running giveaways across multiple platforms.
• Include your mission statement in your bio so people know why they should follow you.
• Use Canva to create beautiful graphics for platform headers and shares.
• Stay consistent with graphic layouts and messaging tone.
• Make use of built-in analytics to monitor what’s working on a platform and where there’s room for improvement.
• Understand how often to post on each channel.
And don’t forget to search for niche-specific social media platforms. Facebook may be more popular than Untappd, but if you’re a beer blogger, being active on the latter helps you target your efforts.
Be Social
People seem to forget that social media isn’t just about sharing your articles. It’s about starting and joining conversations online. Instead of blindly sharing, ask a question or state an opinion and then share. If you blog about fashion, create a collage of three dresses and ask your followers to pick their favorite. Share the content of others (especially those who share yours).
Your Turn: Start researching what social media channels will work best for your brand. Then, set up those channels. We’ll be expanding on social media tomorrow!
Recommended book
The Art of Social Media: Power Tips for Power Users by Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitzpatrick
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