Twitter and Facebook: Tips for New Blogs

Blogs and social media create online web traffic for your business and its reputation.  But, if no one is reading your organization's blog posts, what good are they?  This weeks PRSSA blog post will focus on how to promote an organization through social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

Here are some statistics I found about the importance of blogging in "10 Smart Reasons To Blog" by Susan Nixon:

• Reason 1: Organizations that blog 15 or more times per month get 5x more traffic than companies that don't blog.

• Reason 9: Blogging gives your organization a dynamic personality and voice, which attracts more traffic than a static website.

• Reason 10: Blogs attract repeat visitors who continue to come back to the website for fresh content.

Figure out what direction you want your organization's blog to go in.  Create the profiles on Twitter, Facebook and other social platforms that fit your organization's niche.  Use content on the organization's blog to build a relevant, engaged audience; user experience is extremely important.

Twitter:

• You may not have a larger follower base the first time you tweet out your blog post but Tweet it again!  On Twitter, it is more than acceptable to tweet your blog posts several times just as long as you space out the tweets and change up the headlines.

• #Hashtag. Do a little searching and find the hashtags that are right for your topic. Hashtags help get your posts right in front of people

• Be active on Twitter and use the retweet and respond feature to communicate with other organizations and followers.

Facebook:

• After setting up a page with all of the important information, (link to your blog and contact information) be sure to use creative pictures, posts and statuses to make people want to click the blog's link.

• Use phrases like "Click Here" and "Read more about"

• Facebook is a great place to generate contests and give away prizes for people who like, comment, or share your posts.  Make it easy for your followers to download free content.

More Useful Tips:

• Shorten the post's URL with websites like Goo.gl to shorten long URLs so they can fit into your 140 character limit 

• Ask for feedback!  Continue to try out new blog promotion ideas and over time, you will figure out a strategy that works for you. Don’t be afraid to try new blog promotion techniques; keep track of what works and what doesn’t, and then do more of what’s working for your business.

For more Marketing Tips for New Blogs, check out this awesome Infographic I found on Media Bistro !