So you’ve designed your self-hosted website really well, optimized it in such a way that Google screams your name in the search and also you may have the most amazing posts as well. Why then are less people reaching your site? Haven’t you checked everything on the list? Uh, maybe not. We use it every day. We post what we ate for lunch, where we checked in, how we’re feeling, when we got a new pet, and so on. Social Media has always been our dear friend. But have you introduced your website to this age old friend? Posting updates on our life has become a trend that we’re well adjusted to.
But when it comes to using this platform to promote our blogs, this blares “marketing” in our head, something that we find tedious.Don’t we? You wouldn’t think so if you knew how beneficial this could be to your website.
If you are a regular user of social media, you already have a readymade following. This makes it all the more easy to get an audience. Even if you don’t, it doesn’t take much time to set up an account and learn the basics. Don’t forget to give it a professional look just the way you did your website.
One thing to keep in mind is try and keep all usernames same on your social media platforms. This makes it easier for people to find and follow you. Include your website’s address of course, call to action button on Facebook, and any other contact details you’d like people to know. On Instagram selecting a business profile makes it very professional and classy. Take the first steps by inviting friends, family and your website subscribers to follow.
Apart from just sharing links of your blog posts on social media there are a lot of cool stuff that you can do exclusively here.
- Social media is a great place to use ads to promote your site. Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, all offer numerous ways to promote your posts. You get to choose the audience who views your promotions through fine filters. This way you can also keep a check on your budget.
- Twitter and Instagram work very well when you use the right hashtags. Keep up with trending hashtags so that you can use them with flair. There are online tools to search for the popular hashtags. (Hashtagify for instance).
- Another use of hashtag is when you want to check how well your community is expanding, search your hashtag on Twitter and Instagram and see if there is any buzzing in the air.
- Tease your audience! We all love when suspense is built up. Be it a post, an image, or a teaser from your upcoming YouTube video, a little peep is sure to keep your audience hooked and waiting for the big reveal. What better place than social media for this?
- Announce a contest or even better, a giveaway and watch people crowding up.The chance of winning something usually never goes missed.
- As you grow your website and following, you begin to interact more with your audience. Sharing their experiences or testimonials on social media encourages others and builds trust. New audiences always look for reviews or testimonials before signing up.
This may sound like a lot of work, but once the basics are sorted, all it requires is consistency in posting, interacting and keeping your platforms alive. A quick tip if you still find this hard is to choose one or two platforms that you are most familiar with instead of too many and going crazy on them.
So, when are you introducing your website to this new friend?
