Blogs are a great way to gain exposure for your brand, products and services. Blogs allows you to give your targeted audience information that they are interested in. Having a blog though is not about just putting up information and saying “I have a blog.” Your blog has to have value to your readership. What happens to something that has no value? You generally discard it. This can happen to your blog if it has no value to your readership. You readers will eventually discard the blog and not visit anymore. The overall goal is to increase readership; not lose it.
The Value of Social Networks
A great way to enhance the value of your blog is to harness the power of social networks. Social networks have become a catalyst to help businesses gain valuable exposure to a wide demographic. It has become a cost effective way to promote products and services to an audience that you wouldn’t normally have access to.
Social networks are platforms that are used to connect to people and to stay up-to-date on what is going on within these social structures. People within these social networks are connected based on a variety of factors like friendships, family relationships, common interests and more.
Social media helps build relationships, it can be used as a teaching tool; it can provide knowledge to others. Social media encompasses platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus and more. These platforms are changing the dynamics of doing business and reaching customers. They are unlocking doors to new avenues to gain customers and thus revenue.
Using social networks in combination with your blog can change the landscape of how you do business and can enhance your marketing efforts.
Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms around. Facebook started as a popular tool for college kids to stay in touch with one another. It has turned into a business acceleration because it has literally ignited many businesses.
Businesses or individuals who own a blog have the opportunity to create a Facebook page. Facebook pages are a platform for organizations, businesses, blogs, charities, etc. to connect with people and put out the information they need these “connections” to know about. Facebook pages are different then establishing a Facebook profile. Facebook pages allow the addition of application to be used where a profile doesn’t. These applications can enhance a blogs Facebook page. These applications can be used for promotions and contests as a way to engage target audiences.
Social media is about “connecting” with people and Facebook pages are a great way to connect with a wider demographic. Through the use of “like” buttons, people can let others know that they like a specific Facebook page. They can also recommend these pages to others. Essentially it’s the word of mouth in the virtual world. You can add a “like” button to your blog. Why would you want to do this? When someone clicks the “Like” button is shows on their Facebook profile that they show that page as a page of interest and enjoy it.
When others see this on someone’s profile they too can click on the link and be taken to your Facebook page where they come in contact with information on you and your blog. So you just reached a person that you may not normally have come in contact with. Your blog is gaining exposure through the use of the “like” button. If that blog is tied in with your business website then you are increasing your marketing base exponentially.
Adding a “like” button to your blog is simple and easy. There is html code that you can add behind the scenes that will add the button to your blog. Depending on your blog platform you can also easily add a “like” button by utilizing widgets. Wordpress is an application that has a Facebook widget that will easily add a like or share button to your blog.
Social media is golden when it comes to the power that it harnesses for connecting with others and getting a message across. It’s a powerful SEO tool that when combined with your blog and website, can really catapult your exposure.
Twitter is another social media platform that came into the picture and began to spread like wildfire. Unlike Facebook, Twitter was designed to allow for small bursts (tweets) of information to be sent out to groups of “followers”. Whereas Facebook has friends; on Twitter you can choose to follow people and groups that interest you. When you follow a person or group, you will get the updates that they send out. This is a valuable tool for a blogger as you can “tweet” about a new blog post or topic that you are discussing with a link to the blog page.
Installing a Twitter button to your blog is easy to do through html code or again, depending on the platform, through widgets that will add the button for you. By combining these tweets with keywords and SEO rich links, you can enhance the exposure of your blog and/or business.
Social Media Tools
Many people tend to stray from social media because they say they simply don’t have time to sit and do posts for Facebook every day or send tweets on a daily basis. However, through various applications, you can actually set up your posts and tweets ahead of time and can arrange for them to be distributed at specific intervals.
Hootsuite is one of these applications. You can create bulk posts and tweets and schedule them ahead of time. So while you’re on vacation or working, your posts and tweets are being sent out at the rate you specified.
Another application is called Buffer. It has the same premise as Hootsuite and actually allows you to see what tweets were clicked on and retweeted. Why is this important? Because it will allow you to see what is working and can assist you in more effective marketing of your blog, business, products and services.
Social media is growing in popularity each and every day. More people are using social media in their personal and professional lives. If you are not using social media in combination with your blog then you are missing out on a great opportunity to reach more people then you ever thought possible.
Change the way you handle your social media today. It will have a huge impact on how successful you are tomorrow.
Image Credit: LinkedMediaGrp
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