Annaliese HenwoodYou’ve gotten past the business blogging basics, right?
- You know why it’s an important part of your marketing efforts.
- You have a system in place for creating and publishing your content.
- You might even already have a content promotion strategy.
However, similar to social media marketing, the education never stops. There’s always so much more to learn and so many fresh ideas out there. It’s important to be flexible and adapt with changes, including but not limited to blog promotion.
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What are the best ways to promote your content and build an audience for your blog?
I start with the 25 Smart Ways to Promote Your Latest Blog Post article by Rebekah Radice. She gives you a strong list with some of the most effective promotion techniques for your blogging activity. I love how she mentions the importance of customizing social media promotion for each platform because that is definitely key. She also includes some ideas that I had not thought of before, including bookmarking tools and blogger communities.
The only problem I have with this source is that Rebekah focuses on the work of individual bloggers rather than business blogs. However, much of her advice can still apply here. For example, publishing a blog post and promoting it on social media isn’t the end of it. Your business can benefit if you take the time to interact with other bloggers and comment on their work. Building relationships with other bloggers can bring in much more readership than if you ignored them.
Not yet satisfied with these promotion techniques? Ian Cleary gives you even more to try with his article on the Razor Social blog: How to Promote Your Blog Post to Get 1,000 Shares. Beyond the typical social media promotion, Ian provides advice on optimizing your social sharing as well as advice on tracking your promotion.
My favorite part of this article is that Ian makes everything seem so clear-cut and simple. I appreciate the infographic because it makes everything easy to understand.
One of the things I learned from this article is the importance of social share icons. When visitors want to share your article, are they able to do so easily? I recently changed my social icons on my website so that I have them appear along the side of my articles while the reader is scrolling. I used to only have them above and below the article, but Ian is right in that readers might want to share while in the meat of your post. They won’t always want to scroll up or down to share.
There’s a good chance some of you might already have a strong collection of published blog articles. In that case, Kevan Lee‘s article from the Buffer blog could be a great resource to help you get the most out of your blog archives. In “How to Share Old Blogposts on Social Media,” Kevan provides advice on how to share old content on social and why it’s important. Buffer articles are always very thorough, and this article is no exception.
I’ve been sharing several of my blog articles more than once, especially on Twitter, and it is definitely an effective strategy when done correctly. I never really thought about the 5 strategies for resharing old content, which Kevan provides, and they definitely have the potential to be very helpful.
Kim Garst continues to provide more blogging value with her Ultimate Guide to Building a Successful Business Blog, which I’ve referenced previously. This time around, it’s her promotion advice that helps the most.
I’ve heard of several of her ideas, but I never thought to use social bookmarking sites or Scoop.It. While it’s definitely important to share on social and contribute as a guest blogger, you’ll find the most success by trying as many techniques as possible and track each one’s success rate. I’ve spent a lot of time researching influential content for my own articles, and I’ve found it to not only help with promotion but also with self-education.
My final resource for this article is especially of value. Marcus Taylor writes about encouraging influencers to share your content on the Social Media Examiner website. It’s something many of us have yet to try. I, personally, was hesitant because I feared being ignored. However, Marcus’ article is greatly helpful in lessening fear and increasing my motivation.
With Marcus’ five tactics, you’ll be able to not only reach influencers but also drive more shares as a result. I want to try number four, invite collaboration, particularly by asking for a quote for my new articles. Having an influencer guest write or provide a quote for your blog can increase your own readership and influence.
You’ve now seen five sources that can help you with your promotion efforts. It’s time to take that advice and implement as much of it as possible in your own blogging activity for better results.
But first:
- Was this article helpful to you?
- What information did you find most relevant/useful?
- Would you add any other sources to this collection?
Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Have you been following this blogging series?
Catch up with these past Business 2 Community articles:
Is Blogging Right for Your Business? An Analysis
Getting Started with Business Blogging
How to Keep Your Business Blog Organized
Blogging ROI: How to Determine Your Blog’s Value
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This article originally appeared in modified form on the Marketing Innovator blog.
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