Helpful tips are everywhere on the internet. You just have to type in the phrase, ‘Social Media tips for bloggers’ and Google will hit you with a ton of responses quicker than you can blink an eye and say ‘Wow’.
So, why write another post on the subject?
A. Because you can
B. Because you may bring something valuable to the table: your perspective
As some of you may know, I’ve been blogging for 9 years. This blog, however, is barely 2 and a half years old. In fact, it went self-hosted only last December, so that makes it less than a year old technically.
One thing I know for certain is that blogging without social media is like writing without readers.
Here are 4 social media tips I have learnt in the time since blogging became an integral part of my life and routine.
To make it easy for you to remember, I’ve come up with an acronym: LENS
L- Learn
E- Engage
N- Network
S- Support
These, to me, are the four pillars of social media and how they can help bloggers. Let’s break them down one by one.
[easy-tweet tweet=”LENS: The 4-step rule to getting #SocialMedia right for #Bloggers” user=”shyvish”]
L- LEARN
The crucial driving factor in any field is the willingness to stay open to experiences. Nowhere have I found this more true than in the creative space. I’ll refer to this both in terms of blogging and social media.
Blogging is an extremely evolutionary concept. I began my journey on Google’s Blogger platform in 2007. In 2014, I tentatively tried my hand at WordPress. In April 2015, I moved one blog to a custom domain. The end of 2015 saw me purchase my first-ever self-hosted website. In August this year, I moved my other blog to self-hosted as well.
All through these months, I’ve been fortunate enough to have some of the most helpful people on my side. Whether it was to do with technical know-how or tips and tricks to manage social media, they were there to share their knowledge.
If blogging evolves quickly, social media moves at light speed. Now, if you have your fingers in too many pies, you’re going to suffer- either from sticky fingers or overeating. So what helps a blogger?
Pick a social media platform and spend some time learning how it works. This will take anything from a few days to a few weeks. Be patient. The returns will be rich and bountiful.
I began my social media journey with Facebook, followed it up with Twitter, moved to Instagram and occasionally dabble in Google Plus and Linkedin. So, how do I do it?
E-ENGAGE
This is crucial for any social media platform including your own blog. You must engage with your audience. This doesn’t mean dropping a link and hoping it will be seen by your friends, fans and followers.
Each platform has a different reason and thus requires a different approach. Facebook, for instance, is built on personal connections between friends and family. It is why more people identify with posts that have an emotional or humorous quotient, something which connects the writer to the reader. To date, Facebook drives the most traffic to both my blogs.
Twitter is like snippets of data moving very fast through the social media funnel. It runs on the principle of hash tags, curated chat sessions and building effective bonds between brands and bloggers. I talk to friends, ask questions and find excellent articles via Twitter. It ranks second in referral traffic to my blog.
Instagram is stories told through pictures. Have a picture that you just love? Share it but remember to share your experience with it. People love experiences. They will then connect with you.
One simple rule I follow for all my social media platforms is this: Spend some time on each of them during the weekdays. It’s not enough to share links to your blog. You must show people the human side. Evoke a sense of belonging and being human. That’s what people love.
N- NETWORK
Social media is important for the very visible bonds of networking that it enables between professionals in the same field.
A lot of my content work as a blogger has come through Twitter. It even gave me my first-ever session as a speaker at an event for bloggers- something I’d never envisioned!
How? I attend events that I find interesting which someone may have shared on this platform. While attending the event, I tweet out live commentary and highlight what I loved about the sessions. I share pictures on Instagram and Facebook.
Thumb rule: I thank people.
I make sure that I try and find the Twitter handles or Facebook pages of businesses/ bloggers that I’ve networked with and either mention them in my blog or shout out to them on social media. This builds more trust than you know. It also establishes your credibility and authenticity in a world that is driven almost completely by digital footprints.
S- SUPPORT
I’d be nowhere today and practically invisible on social media if it weren’t for my incredible, awesome and super supportive network of bloggers, friends and family.
Blogging thrives on the principle of community. Without each other, we may as well be writing into the void. There’s a special sense of satisfaction when you see your post shared, liked, retweeted and appreciated.
How do you find this community? By joining blogging groups, staying open to sharing other people’s content and genuinely reaching out to both ask for and offer help. Knowledge is valuable when you have it and invaluable when you share it.
I’ve seen bloggers who only share their own content. While I understand the need to promote oneself, it’s equally necessary to appreciate the work of others.
Remember, what goes around comes around. You can decide how you want to share and how much you want to share. But do share!
In fact, depending on whether you’re still reading this piece how about sharing it with other folks who may want to read it?
After all, as bloggers, readers, friends and family will affirm:
We’re all in this together.
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Liked this post? Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or via WordPress Reader. Let’s connect. I blog on blogging and social media as well as writing creative non-fiction, flash fiction and poetry. Blogging and networking are things I enjoy immensely, much like a well-made cup of tea.
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*Images courtesy: Tips & Social Media by Shutterstock
Thanks for reading and I am glad you found it useful. 🙂
Thanks for sharing this useful information on social media marketing.
I havent been able to figure out my traffic is more via FB or Twitter – actually I relaly cant figure out my traffic at all.
But your 4 pointers are just so practical and reasonable sounding and you follow them all down to the T! I have been following you around since ayear or more because you engage so well, help out wihtout any thought and any advise you give is so thoughtful that it makes me wonder what I would do without you. I wish I knew many more peeps like you to help me grow as a blogger!!! Thank you for being such an awesome influence on me!
You’re right, Shilpa. The more time you spend on a platform, the more returns you get from it. I have done one post on Twitter and who to follow on the platform. Let me see if I can do a dedicated post on how to leverage Twitter to the maximum potential 🙂
I guess my posts receive the maximum traffic from FB, because not all on my friends list are on twitter. joining blogging groups is definitely helpful, as is reading as much as you can. It helps you learn so much, and also get in touch with more and more bloggers. It’s twitter that I need to learn. I only share mine and others posts there. I would like it if you do a post on how to use twitter to its maximum, Shailaja. It will be very helpful, like this post here.
You really have maxed this whole social media exercise. How many hours do you have in your day?
Great tips! Thank you! I am not able to spend as much time as I used to on social media these days, and it has really made life much better. I like your acronym!
You have been very good with replying to comments! Don’t worry too much. You do a fab job with the blog hopping, way better than I ever do.
Thanks Upasana. I hope you find it useful when you come back to read it again 🙂
I think you’re doing fabulously well without any of my tips, Anindya 🙂 Thank you for the warm comment. Always appreciated.
How sweet of you to say that, Menaka! Yes, blogging is completely a community activity. And the more we engage, the better we relate to one another.
Absolutely. It takes a bit of effort and some overcoming of inhibitions in a face to face situation but largely, the same principles apply. Being ourselves is the best gift we can give ourselves 🙂 Thanks, MG 🙂
Loved the acronym LENS you coined! Very valid pointers. I have to work on a few things and the first on the list is engagement on twitter. I have improved a bit on replying to comments on my blog. LOL 😀
This post was much needed. Though, enough had been said but this was something fresh and useful. Thanks for sharing step by step process while engaging readers on social media. Bookmarking it to follow it.
I wish I had read this when I had started blogging . This is real real helpful.
Thanks Shailaja for coompiling this and sharing your exprience.
True shailaja, your LENS concept is what I came to know of recently. I have been blogging for 8 years now and feel like a new born from past two months. Though I have been in a lot of communities I have never tried to be a team person which made me a solo blogger without much company. Now after finding you all I am feeling like a real blogger
LENS – perfectly sums up how you should approach social media. And there are so many parallels here to how you would approach an offline social gathering too, right? Algorithms may impact who sees our content, but engagement means that people will want to come back and visit us again. Excellent tips here Shailaja!
Thank you, Vasantha. You are always very supportive for the blogging community. Happy to be connected with you too 🙂
How simple yet profound acronym it was – LENS. Sure I would keep this in my mind. Great post for all bloggers. Happy to get connected with you, Shailaja !!!
I am completely a self- learner 🙂 Trust me, it’s doable. Read up a lot online and reach out to bloggers on social media for help. There are many people who are more than glad to help.
Thank you, Parul! I think you actually do a pretty good job of the blog hopping 🙂 You are too hard on yourself. Do what comes easily and comfortably to you.
Aww thank you, Chicky! So glad to hear that, really. I do only what comes naturally to me. Forcing it makes it tough to maintain the stance for too long. Thank you for sharing on Linkedin too! How sweet of you.
Completely agree, Vishal. It’s not just the ‘I scratch-your-back-you-scratch-mine’ syndrome. Genuine connection goes beyond that and people can smell from a mile away if you are doing it for the comments 🙂 Being open is a big part of blogging. A lot of people need to cultivate that.
True. I find time for 3 platforms – FB, Twitter and Insta and manage to spread my time out across all three so it works for me 🙂 Yes to the reading! People must read more and lot more. Thanks, Rachna 🙂
Dagny, you sweet, wonderful person you 🙂 You know that a break is perfectly fine, right? And you’ve been building a business. That needs time and work. But yes, I know how much you love writing and reading, so can imagine how much you’ve missed it. I am so so glad to see you here and thrilled to hear that you’re back on the wagon of writing/reading. May you stay on for a longer time (hopefully forever) 🙂
Sheldon Cooper for the win! Honestly, I love blogging so much that I make time for it, come what may 🙂 As for the motivation, I have a wonderful set of readers who are always there!
You are too sweet, Naba 🙂 You’ve got a lot on your plate. Most of my blog-related work is usually done when Gy is at school side by side with my work, including my social media time. I also use Buffer to schedule lots of content so that helps. As for comments, I keep a day in a week to catch up on all replies. It seems to help 🙂
Love that acronym. I completely agree that you need to connect with people on social media and I know you do that so well. I struggle with time and I need to manage it so much better. There is so much to learn in this field and glad you got it out here for all of us. Thank you!
I have seen you do all 4, Shailaja, especially on Facebook, ‘coz I’m not very active on Twitter. I am amazed by how you do it. You write your posts on FB in a way that allows people to relate to them immediately. Your personal voice… it connects.
Awesome acronym, Shailaja. Loved the part about engaging most. Genuine engagement which truly makes a blogger feel appreciated and connected is important. Engaging with them outside their work on blogging, sharing stuff with them that they might find useful… building an engagement platform which goes beyond merely commenting on others’ blogs is powerful.
It happens to all of us, Dags. Hope you are writing more and l am definitely missing you’re comments on the blog. ?
Couldn’t have said it better. All wonderful tips, Shy. I would say don’t be on every platform. Only do what you can manage even if it is on one or two platforms. And please read. Helps with writing better. Share generously but let your TL not be just a bunch of shares. Show your human side as you mentioned.
I read a tweet yesterday that was like a wake up call… a reminder which was not only timely but much needed. For the past few months, I’ve given all my time to the business I’m trying to build. I have neither found time to read… nor even to write. This is when writing is like breathing and reading like slaking my thirst.
I have allowed the business of busy-ness take away all the time I otherwise gave to reading. Though I made efforts of regain my reading space, it has always managed to slip away again. Today, with your blog, I hope to reclaim that space again. Hopefully, I wont fall off the wagon this time. 🙂
You are like the Flash of social media, everywhere at once. I keep wondering how you keep up 😀
xo
Well said! I think it is essential to be well versed with the working of social media platforms. It is not possible for a self learner like me. That is why even my good content gets ignored.
No one could have said it better, Shailaja. I have been slacking on one thing that I consider very important to social media and therfore my blogging, replying to comments. I guess I’m not able to find the time to put that in schedule. There is always something else that needs to be done first. Since comments on my blog is a way of engaging with my readers, this is one area I need to work on