Writers just starting a blog may think traffic miraculously arrives after publishing an article. The reality is that bloggers spend as much time (or more) promoting a post as they do writing it. The goal of content promotion is to ensure your article is read from as many places as possible. The key is posting in the right places where people look for your offerings and answers.
Preparing your Content Promotion Strategy
Connecting to a reading audience and customers is the blogger’s priority. Getting articles posted on numerous targeted websites and social networks makes it possible, but requires effort with little return. Successful bloggers know who their audience is.
With a clearly identified audience, online writers gain not just a steady flow of readers. Instead, writers gain readers who identify with the content, the challenges and answers covered. A clear audience also creates a content source. Through interactions with the writer, a clearly identified audience brings up challenges and questions for the niche content area.
Writers need to quickly answer these key questions to begin:
- Where is my audience most likely found?
- What challenges are they experiencing in their daily routines or work?
- How can my blog, service, or business help solve these problems?
Finding Target Audiences
1. Quora
Quora is a great place to start for writers with new blogs. Anyone can set up an account by providing an email address, selecting a set of topics (interests) to follow, and beginning to view and interact with posts and other posters. Then Quora becomes a blogger's topic generator.
See what questions and answers relate to the blog. Once a feel and flow around the topic is clear, bloggers can write topics on these same themes and pique the interest of others with similar interests. Submitting answers to popular questions drives traffic to the blog.
- Bloggers should review several relevant questions for their content area. Observe how others answer questions, how concise, clear, and knowledgeable the responses are.
- Monitoring what new questions arise in responses can drive blog post topics. Content ideas are generated quickly, and should be captured for later blog post topics.
- When selecting and answering a specific relevant question, use priority keywords in the post. Reinforcing top keywords helps drive blog ranking through SEO.
If bloggers know the subject, and speak with clarity and knowledge, readers will upvote the posts and share blog articles. Writers with continued upvoted posts can appear highlighted as a top writer, gaining respect that increases blog visitors.
Reading and responding insightfully to many short-answer questions will help writers explore the target audience. As a result, the interactions increase the range of topics open to bloggers. And the blog posts can make real connections to readers, increasing site traffic.
2. Search Engines
Search engines provide a quick open-ended way to learn audiences. Begin by using broad search terms for the niche area. Remember, look for audience data, not just the subject. If a blogger restores classic automobiles, and wants to know about her target audience, a query for “classic car hobbyists”, returns information on car clubs, car shows, and newsletters. A blogger could quickly identify dozens of topics for a target reader audience. Search Engines such as Google also provide various information objects on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) in addition to the standard results:
- Knowledge Panels pertain to organizations relevant to the search query, including businesses and organizations. These could also be mined for targeting information.
- Reviews of businesses and services can provide detailed responses from target audience members about what is important to them in a service or product relating to the niche.
- Google My Business (GMB) are provided to businesses with a local presence. In many cases, these provide additional information.
- Relevant YouTube videos are included for the queried topic, whether informational or promotional.
- “People also ask” features other top queries related to the search just conducted. These examples are based on target readers or consumers of your blog or business.
3. Email
An easy way to connect readers to a blog is to distribute a newsletter. Include a simple Call-To-Action (CTA) encouraging readers to sign up for a mailing list. Emailing interested customers is one of the most effective ways to get your blog post opened.
- Using inexpensive software such as MailChimp allows bloggers to send beautiful and customizable emails. Email marketing software often comes with a free version, providing capabilities to send 1000s of emails out for no charge.
- Create a marketing plan for newsletters that includes content sections, frequency, distribution, and ways to sign-up and opt-out.
- Don’t limit newsletters to just anonymous or new online readers; reach out to friends and coworkers who might also provide feedback and circulation.
4. Blogger Tools
In addition to the main research and dissemination tools, blogging tools can also help analyze site traffic, design the images, layout, and content of the blog, or collaborate and organize all the content.
- Web Analytics tools such as Google Analytics can be daunting at first, but powerful once familiar. Track the main sources of traffic, whether from search engines such as Google or Bing, or social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Knowing where the most interested visitors come from allows bloggers to increase outreach in specific channels.
- Collaborative tools such as Google Docs provide free ways to organize all content, use spreadsheets for tracking spends and revenue, and collaborate with other group members.
- Writing utilities such as Hemingway ensure that the blog writing style is appropriate for audiences, and can make suggestions to improve readability.
- Graphic design tools can create professional, modern site images as well as the overall look and feel of a blog. Many inexpensive or even free tools allow anyone to create site images, business cards, or even video. Canva is one of many design tools that supports a free level.
- Find more tools by using software review aggregator sites such as HubSpot and G2.
All these tools prepare bloggers to identify audiences, build a powerful site, and begin to produce content and reach readers and customers. So which places are outstanding for promoting your blog post? For one, Quora, which provides an excellent location to clarify the full breadth and different focuses of the target audience, is also a great outreach tool. The other platforms below all offer extensive reach, each with unique approaches and audiences to round out a blogs target audience,
Social Media
5. Twitter
One of the first places to actually share a blog is on Twitter. The social media network has changed a lot since its early days, and the way people use it has also changed. But it remains a place about news and the most current, highest trending topics or stories. It’s great for announcements and event updates, news and pop culture stories, and blogger/writer networking.
- Be concise. Even after expanding, 280 characters forces focus and brevity.
- Use tools such as Bitly to shorten your links and make them simpler.
- Try including a fact from your blog, or the main topics of your article.
- Write a second tweet later in the week with a reminder to read the blog again, and finally a third tweet a week later for anyone who missed it.
- Don’t forget to include a hashtag if you have space for it. It’s great for helping with Twitter search.
- Twitter runs on influencer marketing more than most other social networks. Consider teaming up with an influencer or thought leader in your space who you can engage with and have retweeted your content.
6. Facebook
Of the six social media platforms with one billion active users, Meta owns four of them. Facebook has nearly 3 billion monthly active users. From a content marketing perspective, Facebook gives you greater audience targeting and market research than any other website, besides Google.
- Use Canva, as mentioned above, to design some graphics. You can add an image that doesn’t show up on your blog page, which may increase engagement if you make the image more personal and less commercial.
- Similar to Twitter, use a quote or fact to share from the article. These usually get higher shares.
- Ease up on the ad copy. People on Facebook tend to be more intimate and personal, so be careful about trying to sound too sales-y. Ask genuine questions and foster healthy dialogue and debate.
7. Instagram
Instagram is like the cooler, younger brother of Facebook. It may not have all the same features as Facebook, but Instagram has become really popular with celebrities and younger audiences. It’s focused on visuals that can be scrolled through on smartphones. Because of this, quotes, food, selfies, and picturesque scenes such as concerts or mountain hikes, are the most popular content.
- Use Canva to create a quote or an infographic statistic you can share.
- Make sure to like and comment on other people’s similar content. Instagram is definitely a social network where engaging with others always finds a way of coming back around.
8. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is known as the professional network, so there’s a lot of businesses and startup entrepreneurs. The advertising and corporate noise can be dizzying, so some people feel overwhelmed by posting. But if you provide value for readers, and build genuine relationships and partnerships in your LinkedIn network, it becomes a lot easier.
- Keep it professional. LinkedIn is about a business mentality, so think twice about how humorous you want to be in your copy.
- Full posts aren’t necessary unless you are attempting to establish a LinkedIn reputation for writing.
Share your content on LinkedIn Groups. There’s a group for almost anything, from colleges to engineering teams. Just be mindful about which one you join and when the best time to post is. Don’t just publish your blog on there, but get to know other people and engage with their content too.
9. Pinterest
Pinterest emphasizes visuals, just like Instagram. A majority of Pinterest is female, and like to shop online. This makes Pinterest great for DIY or cooking related posts, as well as product-based marketing.
- Infographics are extremely popular on Pinterest.
- Pin an image from the article. If you use their official Browser Button you can do this straight from Chrome.
- Re-pin to multiple boards. Some of your audience may only be subscribed to one of your boards. Re-pin for max exposure.
10. Reddit
Reddit calls itself the “front page of the Internet” and it’s not too far off. Unlike most social networks, Reddit relies on a voting system that makes popular content (links or text posts with the most “upvotes”) rise to the top, while spam falls to the bottom. In addition, Reddit capitalizes on various “subreddits” which are communities complete with moderators and themes dedicated to a particular topic, such as gaming, EDM production, or funny gifs. There’s a subreddit for everything.
- Post on a specific and relevant subreddit. If the content you’re sharing is a recipe for baking cookies, don’t just share it in /r/food (a subreddit for food), try sharing in /r/baking. You may find more genuinely interested readers.
- Reddit’s users are usually skeptical, so spam and advertising are always stigmatized and downvoted. Make sure your content actually provides some resource or help.
- Engage with the users. Reddit is ultimately about comments and curiosity.
- Ask questions and provide answers as much as you can. You don’t have to make a post, you could private message or just comment in a relevant thread.
Sharing Platforms and Communities
11. Growth Hackers
Similar to Inbound, Growth Hackers is another marketing and entrepreneurship community with a voting system for each post. It costs extra to join Growth Hackers Projects, which is a more in-depth dashboard for your company’s testing and optimization purposes, but it’s free to post as long as you have a Facebook or Google account.
- Network with others just as you would on LinkedIn or Inbound. These are tight communities, and the only way to get real engagement is by engaging with others first.
12. Flipboard
Flipboard is a popular news aggregator and curator, and just about anyone can make their own magazine. It’s especially popular among mobile users and provides a visually pleasing way to continue sharing interesting articles.
- Build out a good profile. Follow some magazines relevant to your business, include an image and a brief description about what you do.
- Start your own magazine, and begin curating the content. This is how users will read your magazine.
- Comment. It’s not done enough by other users, but can really get you additional views.
- Post your own articles but make sure you post others’ articles too. People will only read your content if it doesn’t look like shameless self-promotion.
13. Medium
Medium has become a powerful network of writers and readers from all industries. Like a social network, Medium has its own curation algorithm, based on a number of factors, such as whether the reader follows the author, whether the reader follows the publication containing the story, and whether the reader follows one of the story’s tags.
- Leveraging a publication or getting a sponsorship from a brand can boost your organic distribution. But blogs published by individuals get a qualitative boost.
- Use tags. Pick broad and popular tags rather than specific ones.
- Get your team involved in your content. Find people with similar interests and engage with them. Whenever someone highlights your content, your story or blog is shared with their followers.
- Since people like to read on Medium, consider writing the whole blog in Medium. It’ll get more engagement that way.
Reuse and Repurpose
Often content must be adapted (or reinvented) to match the chosen placement. After all, the content posted on Facebook should be very different than what is posted to Twitter. However, bloggers shouldn’t leave large audiences because of the platform medium.
14. YouTube
All content is redesigned for chosen platforms, or in the case of YouTube, an entirely different modality. Written content is often repurposed in video–when authors give a summary of a book, when someone reads a speech. In the case of ebooks, an entire written work is translated to audio only. Visitors to YouTube and other video sites seek content, and they seek it in video format. However, the niche a blogger has chosen will have audiences familiar with various media forms and feel completely at home with strong written content repurposed.
- YouTube has extensive reach, with over 2 billion active users worldwide.
- Reaching YouTube visitors extends your reach across a different platform format, reaching some users who might go unaddressed with text alone.
- Interested viewers will create traffic to the blog, expanding brand awareness.
- For bloggers new to video, search for your niche content and see how others handle it.
15. TikTok
Depending on a blogs content, a writer might see this channel as a bit of a stretch (or challenge). But the reality of TikTok’s shortened, eminently sharable format, is that popular content gets trafficked fast and wide. If a blogger focuses on a niche for cooking (food, recipes, processes, cuisine, etc.), the format fits well. If the content is restoration of classic vehicles, ditto. In fact, the top blog topics for 2022 easily translate to short, encapsulated videos: fashion and beauty, travel and personal, food, photography, DIY, political. Just as in Twitter, the content mode is brief, overview, a quick hit such as a quote or interesting fact, and a link to the blog.
- Follow the medium, see what others are doing in the same content space
- Make it unusual. The short video must stand out in a sea of content just as in any other channel.
- Make the point clear. No point in gaining traffic misaligned with the blog’s purpose.
- If you are offering a product or service, either show a demo, how-to, or testimonial.
- Go viral!
Once you feel you’ve exhausted all your possible places of promotion, brainstorm some ways you can use your content again without actually sharing the exact same entity.
Always remember to engage the audience. Ask for feedback, post challenges, find out what they thought of the piece, and what they want to hear more of. You can also continually update your post if it’s a comprehensive guide, by including new information and resources (and making note of the additions at the top).
Finally, just as bloggers translate content across Tweets, Facebook posts, long-form blogs, and video, always consider reusing the exact same content in a completely different format. Try a webinar, an infographic, a podcast, or a downloadable PDF. There are many more options to try simply by searching a specific content topic and a modality (classic car restoration + infographic).
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