Post by Nicholas Scalice (@nscalice)
So, you’ve worked tirelessly selecting a topic, researching it, creating an outline, and writing the actual blog post.
Then you added some images, embedded some links, and clicked that “publish” button with a sigh of relief.
Ah, the work is done, or so you think.
Well, guess what? You’re not finished just yet.
Publishing a new post on your blog is just half the battle, and frankly, it’s the easy part. The real work begins when you go out there and promote that post so that it gets the widest exposure in the shortest amount of time.
How do you do this? By using a fairly straightforward formula, which I will outline below. From the minute you click “publish,” these actions should be waiting on your to-do list.
You put all of this effort into your post, so why let it sit there on your blog, with very little attention? Certainly the post won’t share itself.
That’s where these actions can help make the difference between a mediocre blog with very little activity and visibility and a blog that is a social hotspot.
So, what are you waiting for? Let’s get to the list:
1. Slice and Dice Your Post Into Bite-sized Tweets
Don’t be that guy or gal who tweets the same title and link 15 times in a row.
Switch it up a bit. Dive into your post and pull out three or more short quotes or statements that you can use on Twitter. Of course, add a backlink to the full article.
Doing this will not only help you provide your audience with higher quality content, but it won’t look as repetitive or robotic.
2. Seek Out Similar Posts and Comment on Them
This might sound elementary, but few of us actually take the time to do it. Search Google for blog posts that are related to what you just wrote about and then add a brief comment.
However, make sure you’re adding value to the conversation and not just trying to call attention to your own blog.
3. Make Use of Influencer Marketing Platforms
If you haven’t heard of Triberr, it’s worth checking out. Basically, you can find and join tribes (groups) of like-minded bloggers who write about the same general topics.
Triberr provides a stream of posts from the tribes you’ve joined, making it very easy to share other bloggers’ posts. Ideally, those bloggers would then reciprocate and share your posts
While this isn’t always the case, you’ll find that many people do reciprocate, making Triberr a great way to get that initial social media boost behind your freshly pressed blog posts.
4. Promptly Respond to Every Comment
Don’t let comments sit on your blog for too long, or else it gives the impression of inactivity and indifference.
After all, you’re writing these posts not for yourself, but for others, so take time to appreciate each and every person who reaches out to you.
5. Schedule Your Social Media Distribution Over Time
I love using a tool called Buffer to schedule some of my social media posts. This way I can send out a steady stream of content via Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn without having to be in front of a computer every minute of the day.
Schedule links to your blog posts periodically, but not more than once or twice a day.
While it’s important to promote your content if you want readers, it’s also important that you don’t gain the reputation as a social media spammer shouting for attention.
Ultimately, you need to use social media as an engagement tool, not a distribution platform, but every now and then, a few scheduled tweets and status updates are perfectly fine.
6. Pin the Images Within Your Post
If you’re a savvy blogger, you already know how important it is to have at least one image within each and every blog post you write. The right image (or lack thereof) can make or break a blog post. Put time and effort into this.
Once you’ve found the perfect image, take this one step further and be sure to “pin” it onto Pinterest. This is a great way to gain further exposure with very little additional effort.
7. Don’t Forget About Bookmarking
A couple years ago, social bookmarking was all the rage. Sites like Digg, Delicious, and StumbleUpon held authoritative spots in this domain.
These days, the tables have turned and social bookmarking has somewhat faded. But it hasn’t gone away completely.
A number of social bookmarking sites are still kicking and new ones have arrived (such as Scoop.it), so why not take a few moments to bookmark your latest blog post? It can’t hurt.
8. Repurpose Your Content into Different Forms
Lastly, I’ll leave you with a real gem. Take your blog posts and turn them into other forms of media.
For instance, you can very easily transcribe bullet points from your last blog post into a PowerPoint document, drop in a few images, and upload it to SlideShare.
This is a great way to gain exposure from a new audience, without having to come up with completely new ideas.
Another way to repurpose content involves using graphics. Take specific statements from within your post and make them into “quote cards.”
Then, share these cards via social media and link back to your full post. Same content, different medium.
Well, that’s it for this one. Hopefully you gained a few nuggets of advice that you’ll use with your next blog post. If so, let me know how it works out for you!
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About the Author: Nicholas Scalice is the founder of FastBlink, a social media marketing agency located in Boca Raton, Florida. He is also a board member of the Florida Direct Marketing Association and a frequent blogger on the topics of social media and content marketing.