More often than not, people picture social media as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. While those are certainly your powerhouses, one of the most overlooked, and potentially effective, tools aren’t necessarily tied to a specific platform.
Blogs are a substantial part of social media now, both for your social media pages and your results on search engines. Not only do they help you get discovered, but they also act as content for your social outlets. That content can help you reach a wider audience and establish your company as a leader in your industry. Setting yourself up as an authority in your field is something that cannot be overlooked.
Businesses that blog earn, on average, 55% more leads, 97% more inbound links, and saw a 434% increase in indexed pages. Those numbers are staggering, and they clearly illustrate why a blog needs to become a focus for you.
There is more to blogging than simply typing up a few hundred words once a week and moving on. If you aren’t providing valuable content, then you are simply hurting your brand. With the increasing complexity of search engines, you need to make sure your content matches up with what your potential customers are seeking. Following a few rules can help your blog skyrocket in popularity, and in turn, boost your company’s growth.
1. Listen to your audience
No one should know your audience better than you do. If you are keeping up with the current trends and needs of your audience through social media, you will have a massive amount of topics from which to choose. Monitor Facebook groups within your industry. Use sites like Quora.com to find out what questions people are asking. Find what’s trending and how you can turn that into content for your brand. Let your audience tell you what they need, and your blog will flourish.
2. Include keywords in your pages and posts
Keywords are going to be the frame that will hold your posts up on social media. Search engines comb your keywords and use them to direct traffic to or away from your blog. Research them carefully, and don’t rely on using only one or two. Make sure ANY keyword that applies to your blog content is used. Using keywords effectively can be the difference between success and failure.
4. Use images
Visuals are always going to be your most important weapon. Blocks of pure text are not only ugly from a visual standpoint, but they will chase people away. You need images to split up your text, to highlight your points, and to give your brand a visual voice.
The images you use are going to represent your blog on every social media channel, so make sure they fit into your entire aesthetic. Images have to look good on Instagram, be compelling enough to stop someone scrolling through their Newsfeed, and give people an idea of what your message is.
One detail often overlooked is in the backend of your blog. Your image should be named and have the “Alt Text” filled out as well. Both should be laden with keywords. Search engines will look at the text associated with your picture, and if it isn’t relevant to what your blog is saying, your ability to get indexed can be severely hindered.
5. Promote your posts on social media
No matter how amazing your blog is, if you aren’t putting it out on your social channels, your efforts will be close to wasted! Getting your blog out there is vital; so don’t sell yourself short by cutting corners. Use your beautiful images and craft that Instagram post. Make that compelling copy draw people in on Facebook. Have a pithy quote for Twitter to catch some eyes. Leverage Facebook Groups to help spread the word
If you want even more ways to get your blog in front of people, we’ve got you covered!
