Chances are if you’re reading this post, you may have actually read quite a few blogs in the past. Blogs come in all shapes and sizes from ‘Mum blogs’ like this one (even though I’m not keen on that term’) to blogs on business pages. They are so popular these days that it can be quite tricky to get them spotted. To get them read. That’s why blog promotion is so important and such a big part of the blogging process.
It’s safe to say that when I started blogging, I was extremely naive. All those years ago when my first blog post went up because I wanted a rant. I had no idea how much went on behind the scenes. When I think back it’s actually laughable. In all honesty, that’s why my first few attempts didn’t work. Nobody was reading the posts I spent so much time and effort on and I gave up.
Eventually the desire to write and create content came back and I researched into it a great deal. I read other blogs. I read many of the great posts you can find about ‘how to be a blogger’. ‘How to get traffic’. ‘How to promote your posts’. I learnt a lot.
In all of the posts I read during my research, I continually came across the same thing. Social Media.
Social Media plays a huge part in blog promotion and if you’re new to blogging, in any form, it’s something you need to realise early on. Now I had a Twitter account when I started but I didn’t use it to its full potential. Not for my blog anyway. I didn’t have a Facebook Page. So I had to do something about all of those things. I had to work hard at building my following. Interacting with people. Follow people and hope they follow back. I had to ‘get social’, if you’ll excuse the cheesy phrase.
If I’m honest, I didn’t mind in the slightest. I mean I love social media, so for me it was fun. I enjoyed the process. It can take time, but anything that’s worth doing does. In a little under a year my Twitter following has gone from around 800 to almost 4000. My Facebook page has gone from 0 (because it didn’t exist) to almost 700. And these figures are rising all the time. They’re not huge compared to some bloggers out there, I get that. But it’s a work in progress and it’s proof that it can be done.
I’m lucky enough to do this kind of thing for work as well. I’m grateful for this every day. Not everyone gets to say they do their hobby for a job. My blog isn’t my day job. I’m not there yet! But social media for another company is and it’s great to get the experience and gain the knowledge of seeing how social media works for businesses in comparison to bloggers.
Whilst there are many bloggers out there who are also vloggers (I’m not one of them, I’ve not got that brave, yet!), it’s clear that in this day and age, as well as social media, video can play a huge role in blog and business promotion.
I know this because the videos I promote at work, get seen a lot on social media timelines. The viewing figures speak for themselves. It’s like having a picture in a tweet – that’s going to get more attention because it grabs you instantly. Videos are the same. A 30-40 second video on Twitter or Facebook that automatically starts playing when you scroll through your timeline will draw people in (this clearly explains why the husband can spend hours watching videos on Facebook!!).
With this in mind, it’s certainly worth considering videos for promotion (yes Jak, pay attention to your own words!). If you’re a business it’s obviously a much bigger process where there will likely be a budget available for this kind of thing. It’s worth looking into companies who specialise in this. Good reputable companies are out there who can help boost your business with the help of social media. Video production in London & all over the U.K is a growing business in itself – but it’s something that could help your business too and worth considering if you have the pennies available!
Whilst all this is good, we must remember that social media is meant to be fun. The minute you forget that, you can fall out of love with it. Enjoy it for what it is. The spontaneity. The speed of it. The interactiveness. There aren’t many things these days that can help your brand grow that can be as much fun and as interactive as social media. So have fun with it, enjoy it. Use it to your best advantage and above all, don’t forget why you started in the first place. That’s key. Remember that and the rest will follow.
How about you? How do you find the whole blog promotion process? Do you love it or hate it? Let me know in the comments.