Blogging Part 2: Attract and
engage new readers

There are 4.3 billion active social media users all over the world.

That's more than half of the world's population, or 65% of the people over 13 years old.

So, with all of those users, how do you make sure that your blog content gets in front of the right ones and attracts the right attention?

In this lesson, we'll cover just that.

I'll walk you through how to identify the right social media platforms for your blog, create really eye catching posts and then I'll go ahead and promote some of my own content on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to show you how.

Let's get started.

If you want your blog to get noticed and of course you do, then you need to have a strong presence on social media.

And getting users engaged starts with engaging yourself.

So here are some of my tips and best practices for getting started. First, find your blog's communities and I'm not talking about starting your own just yet.

See what's already out there.

Join Facebook groups that cover similar topics, follow Instagram influencers in your market, or search for Twitter hashtags that are popular in your niche.

And don't just look around, actually engage.

That means commenting on posts about your topic, retweating content you like and reaching out to other bloggers and readers in the community.

It'll help you become part of the conversation and get noticed.

You can also use social media as a way to stay updated on news and collect inspiration from your industry.

So, if everyone's talking about that trendy new Michelin star Mexican restaurant, maybe it's time for Truck It to post about that awesome taco truck I reviewed last month.

Because the articles you post on social, don't necessarily have to be your newest ones.

They just had to fit the moment.

Also remember, social media moves fast and topics and trends are always changing, so make sure to check in often with your social networks.

Dedicate some time every week to engaging with your online communities and catching up with industry news.

It'll help keep your posts relevant.

So, now that you're engaged with other posts, I'll walk you through how to create some of your own.

A good strategy starts with identifying which social media platforms best match your content and your target audience.

So let's start with Instagram.

For posts that rely on graphics and photos, Instagram is your best bet.

And the largest demographic here is 25 to 34 year olds.

That's the same for Facebook where it's all about starting a conversation.

So there you should focus on posts that foster some type of discussion.

In Twitter, that platform works best for posts that are more timely, like if they are related to current events, or news in your industry.

But, heads up here! Before you go investing all of your time in Twitter, just make sure that it's the right fit for your target audience.

Because of the 187 million active daily users on Twitter, 70% are male and only 30% are female, so that's something to consider.

Also, don't worry, you don't have to pick one platform, you can always change it up or do any combination.

The main goal here is, just make sure that you cater each post to the platform that you're posting on.

Don't just blanket post all three.

For me, when I'm deciding where to post, it helps me to think would I engage with the post myself?

And if I did, where would I do it?

And when I'm deciding what to post, it doesn't always have to be my latest article.

I can always refresh a headline, or post an older article again if it fits the moment or has already performed well.

So after doing some research, I've decided that I want to promote my Truck It posts to all three platforms and here's how I'll do that.

This next part is pretty simple, so I'll just quickly speed through it before we get to the good stuff.

Right from my dashboard, take any post and click the three dots then choose share post.

For now, I'll start with Twitter.

Now, since I'm already logged in to Twitter, everything is already right there, my link, my cover image, SEO title and description.

And I can customize any of that right now as long as it's under 280 characters.

But I actually think this is good as is, so I'll just hit tweet.

And it's the same process for Facebook, just click on the icon and press share.

But if you want to step it up a bit, there's a tool that can give your images that extra boost to really make them pop on social media timelines.

Let me show you how to do that.

Good looking, eye catching graphics are super important for attracting attention on social media.

Actually, on average, posts with images get three times more engagement than posts without.

And there's a tool called social post, built right into your site and I'm going to make one to walk you through it.

So, from the main dashboard, click marketing SEO and then social posts.

Here you'll find a ton of designer made templates and they are updated regularly to match seasons and trends, but I'll go ahead and start with a blank slate to show you everything you can do.

From the editor, I can do things like change up the font, I'll pick one that's bold and easily readable, with some of those emojis that I used on my landing page for branding.

Then, I'll write new post here, just to make it clear what I'm talking about.

I'll write in read now also and for this main text, I'll keep it short and I'll explain why.

When you post on social, you only have a few milliseconds to grab someone's attention.

Keeping your text short helps with that and if you want to add more text, there is plenty of room to do that in the caption.

Now that we have the text down, let's do some design.

I'll change the background color to match the look of my blog, so that everything seems cohesive and as the same branding and overall vibe.

I want people to see this and immediately recognize it as a Truck It post.

Then I'll drop in some graphic elements.

I'll just click this button of text right under here, choose the image that I want for my library and add that right in.

I'll also add my logo, right at the top, just to put some more of my branding in here.

And then, I'll add some shapes.

Putting a box around read now, makes it look like a button, so it shows people that there is an action that I want them to take for this post.

This looks awesome and it looks like a natural extension of my blog's branding, so all I have to do is click next, preview my post and download it.

I can connect my Facebook page and share right to my Facebook, but for Instagram, I'll have to download the post myself.

So I'll choose my country and add my phone number and there it is, a text for the link to the image sent right to my phone.

Now I can save it to my photos and add it right to Instagram.

And I just want to leave you with one last tip before I go.

If you haven't done this yet, make a Facebook business page for your blog now.

It's not just a good step for creating a community and sharing your latest posts, it'll also help you monetize your blog and connect with other bloggers later on.

So, we've covered just a few of the most effective ways to promote your blog on social media.

And you don't need to put all of your posts in front of all 4.3 billion of those active social media users, You just need to get them in front of the right ones.

So be strategic and use all of your tools to your advantage.

And remember, keep building those social communities.

Okay, that's it for this lesson, I'll see you back here for the next one on creating email marketing campaigns and we'll talk through getting even more eyes on your content.