The Best Way to Promote Your Blog Posts

The digital world moves so quickly that as soon as you find something that works, it’s already changed. As bloggers, 20% of our efforts go to producing content, and the other 80% is spent promoting them, our brand, or product. And if you don’t operate that way yet, you should!

Promote, promote, promote! Any successful blogger or entrepreneur would tell you this.

Without getting eyes on your blog, you’re pretty much talking to no one. And in order to get those eyes on your stuff, you have to promote your blog posts. But how?

The times you post any blog post, picture, video, etc. used to be a lot more important, but now it rarely matters since most social media platforms are based on engagement, not chronological order. There even used to be websites dedicated to “optimized timing”, but now they’re pretty useless, and if they try to convince you otherwise, they’re just trying to sell you something… Don’t buy into it!

Every so often, I’ll look for patterns among successful bloggers and entrepreneurs, and honestly, I haven’t seen any. If there is a pattern, it’s specific to that person’s audience and it doesn’t necessarily mean his/her schedule will work for you.

The key to nailing the best time to promote your blog posts is by creating conversations and engagement around whatever it is you’re promoting. You want to create hype and consistency so people are excited to see your next blog post, and they know exactly when to expect it. You can give teasers ahead of time on Snapchat or Instagram like, “How to wear a mock neck coming to the blog next week”. Once you get engagement up, you’ll show up on people’s news feeds, in which case the time you promote doesn’t really matter.

However, Instagram/Facebook insights are great tools to use as guidelines for times when you should post… You can also step outside of your stats and be mindful of when you’re personally online for fun.

Lunchtime is good because people are on their break, and late afternoon is also popular because the day is almost done and people are getting bored and restless.

The best way…

When you’re promoting your blog posts, you want to make sure you’re telling your readers about what you’ve done. A caption, such as “new blog post!”, doesn’t cut it anymore…

What are you going to tell us in your new blog post? Why should we care to click? How is it going to improve our lives? These are questions you should answer in 1-3 sentences that you use to promote your content.

I mentioned engagement earlier… You can also ask your readers what they want to see or what they thought of your blog post. That way they feel like they’re a part of the process. People appreciate things they’re involved in; they’re proud of it and they’ll want to share it. And sharing is the ultimate key to promotion.

The best platforms…

This is going to vary from blogger to blogger. Some people do really well on Twitter if they’re a news heavy blog. Others do great on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest.

I personally find Twitter, Facebook, Bloglovin’, and Pinterest to be the best platforms for sharing. It’s harder for people to share things on Instagram and Snapchat.

But no matter what platform(s) you use, you have to make sure you’re speaking its native language. Meaning, you have to be able to create excitement and get your point across in 140 characters or less on Twitter. You have to have the highest quality pictures/infographics to share on Pinterest. And you have to make sure your engagement is high enough on Facebook, so people actually see your post (or you can “promote” it – let me know in the comments if you’d like to see a post on Facebook ads).

A lot of bloggers only use Instagram to promote because that’s where they have the most followers. That’s great, but I believe your reach is limited on Instagram… Not many people like to click out and it’s tricky because you can’t include clickable links in your captions. Play around with other platforms to see what works best for you. Lately, my Facebook page has been a top referral site for me, which could have the same effect for you or it could have the opposite.

You won’t know until you try.

Like I’ve said before, there is no one way that works for everyone. Every blogger’s promotional efforts are going to be different. The best way to really find out what works for you is to try what other people are doing in tandem with patterns in your own audience.

What have you found to be the best platform to promote your blog posts on? Where have you seen the best results? Tell us in the comments.

xx Britt

Follow Me – Blog Instagram Facebook Snapchat @notanothrblonde

You Should Also Read:

3 Ways to Increase Your Engagement
How to Brand Yourself (aka Why Branding is #1 in Blogging)
Snapchat or Instagram Stories? The Best One for Your Blog

The post The Best Way to Promote Your Blog Posts appeared first on Zanita Studio.