Twitter profiles feature full-width headers, also known as Twitter banners. It is important to select an image with the recommended Twitter header size dimensions and the best composition for the desktop and mobile display modes of this social media platform.

 

The Ideal Twitter Header Size

So what is the ideal size for a Twitter header? The recommended image size for a Twitter header is 1500 pixels wide by 500 pixels high. Panoramic photos are well suited for use as banner images. Twitter header pictures size remains constant, even when an image scales and re-crops as a user expands or shrinks a browser window.

Keep in mind that Twitter automatically crops the upper and lower edges of images that meet the Twitter banner size requirements. Make sure that the major details of the image you choose do not appear along the top or bottom edges or they will likely be cut out. You should also account for the floating position of the profile image displayed at the bottom left of the Twitter header image since it will be covering some of the picture.

 

Twitter Headers and Profile Pictures

A Twitter profile pic size should be 400 pixels wide by 400 pixels high. On a full-screen desktop view, the profile image covers up a small portion of the lower left side of the header image and tends more toward the center of the header.

The profile image floats further toward the left side as a user shrinks the browser window. The header image also scales down.

Make sure that the Twitter header image you choose does not have important visual elements or information in the lower left corner. You may prefer some header images over others based on the presence of the profile picture over the top.

 

A Note on Twitter Header Image Quality

Twitter converts header and profile images to JPG files and compresses these files to conserve bandwidth and promote faster loading. This process can degrade image quality. This is especially the case if you use an image that has been saved (and compressed) multiple times, or attempt to increase the size of a small image by scaling.

For the best results, use images that have as little prior compression as possible. If you edit a header or profile picture, save it at the highest quality setting. Images with many colors, smooth gradients, logos, or text may look blurry unless they are at high resolution and the proper Twitter header size.

You may want to opt for header images that have clean lines and fewer colors. Avoid added effects such as drop shadows. It is always a good idea to test any header image you are considering on desktop and mobile devices to make sure that it never appears distorted.

 

Twitter Header Image Dos and Don’ts 

A scenic shot can be an eye-catching Twitter header, even if you aren’t creating a profile for a national park.

Make sure that the most interesting aspects of the banner photo appear near the center. This image directs viewers’ attention toward the geysers. The profile image should not cover the important parts of the image in any browser window size or on mobile.

Rather than just displaying a single image, you can also create a collage to serve as your Twitter banner. Be sure to use only high resolution images, adhere to the Twitter header size requirements, and remember that the file will be compressed.

In closing, here’s a cautionary example. Here, Oprah has a picture of her five adorable dogs as her Twitter header, but this photo does not make for the best header image.

The dog on the right is much taller than the others and gets cropped at the top. The dog in the middle is shorter than the other dogs and barely makes the cut at the bottom.

 

Consider the Photo When Figuring Out Twitter Header Sizes

Not every photo is ideal for use as a header or Twitter banner. Factor in the Twitter header size specifications and the composition of the image before making a selection!

Screenshot Sources:
https://twitter.com/twitter, 24 October 2018
https://twitter.com/twitter, 24 October 2018
https://twitter.com/YellowstoneNPS, 24 October 2018
https://mobile.twitter.com/YellowstoneNPS, 24 October 2018
https://twitter.com/BillGates, 24 October 2018
https://twitter.com/Oprah, 24 October 2018

Looking to build an online following? From blogs to podcasts, there’s no shortage of ways to get your message out to the world. One of the most effective ways to do so is through a vlog. Five billion videos are watched on YouTube every day, so you can imagine the impact vlogs have on viewers. However, we know that vlogging can be a little scary for newcomers, which is why we made this simple guide to help you figure out how to start a vlog and build your tribe in no time.

 

Why Vlog?

Whether you already have an online presence or are starting from scratch, vlogging makes it much easier to connect with your followers and promote your services and products. Your audience can see your facial expressions and hand gestures, which can help you to appear more authentic while retaining their attention. By seeing your face, followers feel more connected to you. They stop seeing you as an unidentified creator and start seeing you as a trusted source of unique content and opinions.

Along with connection, vlogging has a practical side. Video is more engaging than written content, so you’re doubling your chances of getting visitors that stick. Successful vlogs also have the opportunity to host ads or get sponsors, therefore enabling creators of all niches to earn a substantial profit from their vlogs.

via GIPHY

One of the best aspects of starting a vlog is that there’s no one way to do it. The best way to start a vlog is to simply be creative. Don’t know how to make a vlog the way you want it? Experiment until you find the style that sticks, and then switch things up to keep your audience engaged as your relationship progresses.

If you’re not convinced yet, we have a few tips for starting a vlog that shows how easy it is to get it rolling.

 

How To Start a Vlog

Before you fire up your laptop and start recording yourself, there are some things you should consider so that you can start off on the right foot. Whether you want to use YouTube or another form of social media, here’s what you’ll need to get started with carving out your following:

 

1. Get Inspired

While the logistics of starting a vlog aren’t too complicated, you’ve got to have a platform or a niche in order to make an impact. Not sure what you want to talk about, the vlog topics you’ll be covering or the style you want to use? We get it. If this is where you find yourself, the best thing to do is to study the work of other vloggers.

Do a search on topics that interest you and spend time watching videos from some of the results that come up. According to Lifewire, here’s what you should take notes on as you watch these videos.

• What kind of topics do they cover?
• How long are the videos?
• How frequently do they put out videos?
• Why do you find them interesting?
• What are their followers saying and how do they respond?

Even if you’re not sure how to start a vlog yet or if you even want one, start taking notes while you watch your favorite vloggers. What makes them stand out to you? Pay attention to practices or techniques that you could implement.

 

2. Get Your Style

Based on what you find interesting and the examples of vloggers you’ve studied, it’s time for you to decide on a theme and style for your vlog. Write down some vlog topics that you’d like to cover, and if the topics aren’t all along the same vein, consider how you can weave them together so that they can all fit under your brand. Keep your list of things to vlog about close for future reference.

For example, if you want your vlog to be about nutrition, an appropriate topic that’s not specifically food-related can deal with how mental health can impact nutrition. On the other hand, dedicating episodes to talking about the best winter hairstyles may not be appropriate for a nutrition vlog.

If you’re worried about finding your niche, use these four questions from Entrepreneur to help you decide. What matters most is that you start vlogging about something you enjoy. Find ways to incorporate other interests, but keep in mind what will attract followers.

 

3. Get Your Equipment

Some of the more seasoned vloggers invest in expensive cameras and lighting fixtures that can help their videos visually stand out from the crowd. Others do just as well without these things – especially with how far technology has come with smartphone cameras. Since you’re just learning how to start a vlog, it’s perfectly fine to start on the basic end. Here are some of the baseline tools you’ll need, according to the site Start Blogging Online.

• Camera: Many people use their smartphones to record their videos. If you’re not too fond of the quality of your phone’s videos, try to get a hold of a nice digital camera.
• Microphone: It’s best that you invest in a separate microphone that can record and render professional sound. Depending on your setup, you can invest in either a stand-up microphone or one that clips onto your shirt.
• Camera Stand: You’ll need something to hold your camera or phone in place during your recording. Nothing screams “unprofessional” more than a video that’s bouncing around (unless that’s your intent).
• Editing Software: You’ll find that some vloggers upload their videos unedited. While that may be great for some, it’s best to purchase video editing software to make it easier on yourself and to uphold your professional appearance. Editing software will also allow you to add subtitles and other effects which have become a staple of modern professional videos.
• Positioning: Ideally, you’ll want to make sure your camera is at eye level. Make sure it’s not positioned too far away (making it feel more like a lecture), or too close (making it feel like a FaceTime call.)

With these basic items, you can set up a solid filming station and feel satisfied with your results.

Go the Extra Mile

Although these are the typical items you’ll need to start vlogging, you don’t have to stop there. There are hundreds of gadgets out there that can help you accomplish your vlogging wants and needs. Consider adding these gadgets to your arsenal:

• Wind Muffler: If you’re going to film outside a lot, this keeps audio sounding crisp. The furry windscreen blocks out distant noises and controls vocal levels. The audio typically turns out a lot quieter, but a little video editing can adjust the sound exactly how you want it.
• Drone: Looking for cool shots? A drone can capture large events or film unique angles that you couldn’t recreate with your own hands. Depending on the model, you can program the drone to execute specific functions to fulfill your filming needs.

• GoPro: Some vlogs are full of adventure. If you want to film your backpacking trips or bike rides, a GoPro can catch those incredible moments in action. These hands-free cameras have great video quality and are exceptionally durable.

If you’d like to experiment with more equipment, do some research to find out what you need. Check out reviews and ratings to pick the best gadgets with the best quality and price.

 

4. Get Practicing

Now that you have your equipment, put your vlog ideas into action. It’s a good idea to do a few dry runs before shooting your first video. You don’t have to worry about perfecting it, but you should make sure you can get through it with very few “ums” and “you know what I mean” breaks.

Also, since you’re just learning how to start a vlog, you can use a notepad or cards that can help you stay on topic and ensure you cover everything you had in mind. If you’re using notes, be sure to monitor how frequently you look at them and for how long.

If you’re not used to being on camera, that’s okay! Take it slow. Try to avoid talking too fast or showing nervous ticks. Start building up that confidence, even if that means talking in front of a mirror first or imagining people you trust watching you.

Get advice from others who are more familiar with vlogging. Here are a few suggestions from TechSmith on how to look and do your best on camera:

• Improve your posture.
• Know where to look (try looking directly or just above the camera).
• Smile and be yourself.
• Schedule enough time to film.
• Remember that you’re human, and it’s okay to make mistakes.

As you prepare yourself to be on camera, try to be genuine. You have specific strengths, funny quirks and a unique sense of humor. People want to know who you are! Spend less time worrying, and more time practicing. Over time, you can feel comfortable and confident as you vlog.

 

 

5. Get an Account

Whether you’re creating a new YouTube channel or social media account or need to update an existing one, make sure the design aligns with your vlog’s brand. The colors you use are vital. For example, if your vlog is promoting healthy living, it’s best to use bright, vivid colors over darker, more muted tones.

As you find the right design and messaging that fits your niche, remember that brand consistency is important. The videos, words and design you use need to line up with your brand or image that you are creating for yourself. The more consistent a brand is, the more likely followers are going to develop loyalty and trust in your channel.

Although you may not know what your account will look like yet or become, start getting a general idea of what your messaging and design will be. As you follow that, viewers will start to recognize you and the specific factors that define your vlog.

 

6. Get Your Timing Right

Understanding your audience is a major part of learning how to start a vlog. They, along with your topic, will help determine how frequently you post videos. A gaming vlog can have multiple posts in a week, but that may not be ideal for other topics where the audience may need time to digest and implement the ideas you share.

And depending on the effort you put into your videos, you may need more time to put them together. Deciding how often to post depends a lot on your own capability. If this is a new hobby, you may feel inclined to keep vlogging stress at a minimum.

Once you pick a frequency that works, stick to it. This will help you gain a following and build more loyalty in followers. Edgy suggests posting on weekdays from 2-4 p.m. as these times are when most internet users spend their time online.

Just as important as the frequency of vlogging you do is the length of your recordings. Statistics show that most videos that get watched in their entirety last two minutes or less. Of course, there are some vlogs that go on for 30 minutes or more. However, depending on your topic, you can expect folks to drop off anywhere between six and 12 minutes. This is where vlog editing can come in handy to help you take the meat of your vlog content and whittle it down into something more consumable.

 

7. Get Moving!

As with most new endeavors, figuring out how to start a vlog can be a bit intimidating. However, once you get started, you’ll quickly realize that it’s not as bad as you thought. The truth is that once you get moving, you’ll get better as you go. Get started today! Think of some vlog topics, get filming equipment and begin practicing.

 

Start Your Vlog Today

If you have a desire to start a vlog, now is the time to do it. There has never been a bigger market for vloggers. Start brainstorming and get your voice out there. The capabilities, experiences and opinions you have can inspire hundreds, thousands or even millions of people out there.

Have any more great tips on how to start a vlog or keep it going? Please leave them below!

We enter our online workplaces for different reasons and with varying skill sets, but every blogger, marketer and website builder has to figure out what techniques will bring in business. When crafting and implementing content marketing campaigns, it becomes quickly apparent that it can be easy to get lost in the sandbox that is the internet.

Thankfully, there are content curation tools that can help you to find relevant, trending, engaging content that you can then curate for your own readers. If you’ve done it correctly, they’ll continue to look to you as a source for relevant, valuable news.

 

What is Content Curation?

Content curation is the process of gathering existing content (whether news, informative, how-to, guides, etc.) that is relevant to a particular topic, industry or area of interest, and then adding value, context and organization specific to the readers you are sharing it with. This form of content creation involves finding content that reflects your brand voice and speaks the right message to your customers.

It’s typically easier than crafting brand new content yourself because the meat of the message is already there and you’re adding enough new content to provide context and messaging to your reader base. Also, because you share it and give credit to the original creator, you can grow your own network of influencers at the same time. It’s a win/win!

The hard part comes down to finding good content to curate. Where do you look? How do you narrow down your search? In this article, we’ll highlight some of the best content curation tools used by content marketers and writers all over the world.

 

10 Super Useful Content Curation Tools

Content curation tools help you to engage, understand and cater to the people you want knocking on your virtual door. When used properly, content curation tools save you billions of hours otherwise spent sifting, sorting and potentially going insane.

Here are 10 of the best content curation tools on the web today.

 

1. Listly

You know what people love? Lists. You know why people love them? There are five main reasons…. jk. But seriously, people are obsessed with lists.

It doesn’t matter why the general public is infatuated with easy-to-read, numeric rankings. You just need to accept that as truth and let Listly lead the way. The function here allows you to sort relevant information into lists on your site, then gives users the opportunity to vote content up or down. Since your goal with your content writing is to engage an audience, a curation tool that allows for active engagement makes a lot of sense.

The response from visitors provides invaluable feedback, helping you pinpoint what content actually speaks to the customers you hope to target. List.ly can be a great tool to provide numerous list ideas to fill your site up with interesting, engaging content very quickly.

 

 

2. Scoop.it

Amateurs and professionals alike use Scoop.it because it curates lighting fast and filters like a champion. While a lot of content curation tools do a fine job of pulling information, you need information and articles based on relevant keywords. So how do you use Scoop.it? Scoop.it finds popular and trending material based on choice words and phrases, giving you necessary control as you curate.

Automation options also make Scoop.it effective and easy to use. If the app is already finding posts for you, why stop it from automatically sending those articles where they need to go?

 

 

3. Feedly

Feedly? More like Feed-ME some more of that useful information! Sorry. Sorry.

This option works great for content managers or content marketers looking to stay current and connected with leading voices. Feedly finds blogs from popular writers and sites, ensuring you have the latest and greatest articles ready to inform your own posts or dispense through an email blast. With this service, you take a lot of guessing out of the content curation business.

 

 

4. Quora

Quora is like a social media feed with content you actually want created by people who actually know what they’re talking about. Crazy, right?

People love Quora because so much information gets delivered so succinctly. Plug in keywords and watch your page fill with excellent insight and relevant posts. Read what you like, save articles for later and come back anytime to see what’s changed. If you want very specific information, Quora provides one of the quickest, easiest ways to get what you need.

Quora is also question-based, meaning you can target specific queries that your read base might be asking. Curating content based on questions being asked is a great way to help provide value to your readers.

 

 

5. BuzzSumo

With BuzzSumo, you have lots of ways to track down content and lots of ways to specify exactly what you want. You can filter articles by the ranking of the influencer who created the piece, by sharing frequency within the last day or year, by the specific type of content you need, etc. When you’re looking for very specific content to curate, BuzzSumo is the way to go.

The option to receive alerts when new content hits the web protects you from getting caught asleep at the wheel while your competitors out-curate you.

 

 

6. Pocket

For some, the more involved content curation tools can feel overwhelming at times. If you just need to flag useful content pieces and don’t want all the bells and whistles, Pocket offers an excellent solution.

This content curation app throws a little button on your browser so you can quickly mark and store articles, videos, pictures and graphs you find interesting or useful. You can later access those items offline, and you also receive alerts notifying you of items that have been frequently “pocketed” by users with similar interests. Not a lot of frills come with Pocket, but it’s very helpful when it comes to content writing and enticingly simple.

 

 

7. Triberr

Searching through the vast internet ocean for relevant content can make a person feel lonely. Fortunately, Triberr infuses the process with a sense of togetherness.

This curation tool makes connecting with other people in your professional world much easier. You join groups and share other people’s content, with the prospect of them returning the favor. Triberr points you toward the top influencers in your field so you can learn more about professional writing and blogging from those who actively make a living at it. As you look to increase clicks and traffic, Triberr directs you to the people and information best equipped to help you.

Curating expert content has a lot of benefits, as you’ll soon find out.

 

 

8. Twitter Lists

The great part about Twitter is that it typically houses the most up-to-date news on the internet. Sports stories, news stories, rumor mills and anything else you can imagine basically first starts on Twitter before someone finds the information to curate it on a news or blogging site. If you want what’s fresh, you’ll utilize Twitter.

That being said, when used improperly, Twitter is a time-suck that can cost you a day and teach you very little. When you sprinkle a little strategy on this tiny bird, it can be incredibly useful when it comes to social media content curation.

Twitter Lists blocks out the noise and allows you to focus on the information you want to see. Thousands of brilliant minds are actively sharing great content on Twitter, and a simple list puts everything you need in a tidy little package. Most people already know how to use Twitter, but this list feature shows how to use it well.

 

 

9. Pinterest

Some people see Pinterest as online scrapbooking. Others see it as an accessible, useful, undeniably fun social media content curation tool.

The size of the platform also ups the appeal of Pinterest, with so many users and so much available media. The creative curation ideas found on Pinterest are seemingly endless, and if you’re not careful you could get lost for hours within its pins.

Pinterest also places an emphasis on visual content curation. With nearly every pin selling itself through great pictures and visuals, the allure is there. For those looking to bring more visuals to their mailings and posts, it’s hard to find a better way to collect what you need.

 

 

10. FlipBoard

News travels way too fast these days. With no time to bounce between different information sites and get relevant media to your followers, FlipBoard is the lifeline you’ve been waiting for.

With FlipBoard, you can put all your favorite news sites into convenient folders and get headlines from around the world wide web delivered right to one place. Cut down on the time you spend searching for the latest trending topics to curate, and you’ll have a much better shot at keeping your content relevant.

 

 

Find Success With Content Curation Tools

If you want people to find your site, you have to rise above the noise created by the rest of the pervasive digital world. No one pretends that’s an easy thing to do, but we can all agree that you have a better shot when using the right content curation tools.

While we feel these are 10 of the best curation tools on the web, there are many more that can help give you the groundwork for your next content writing project. Whatever tool you use, you’re probably grateful you’re not browsing through newspapers to find great content to curate, amiright?

Get started with a few content curation tools from this list, and please share any success stories in the comments below!

It’s no secret that businesses use Twitter as a way to help them establish branding and reach within an industry.  If you are a business professional or brand that isn’t already on Twitter then it’s time to get with the program!  Whether you are using paid advertising methods on Twitter or building your brand organically, there are still some amazing benefits to be had from building a following and consistently interacting with them through engaging content. Here are a few Twitter tips and tricks that can help you get started.

In order to make the most of your Twitter account, you first have to understand what you’re working with.  Let’s start with a breakdown of some of the basic terms/actions/fundamentals of the “Twitter Ecosystem”.

 

The Anatomy of a Tweet

According to a research study done at Carnegie Mellon University in 2012, it was shown that 25% of tweets are not worth reading, 36% are worth it, and the remaining 39% are, well… meh.  So what is the makeup of a good tweet, and are there Twitter tricks that can help you fit into the 36% category of good tweets?  Before we can answer that, it’s important to understand the basics of tweeting in general.  Aside from knowing that tweets can only be 140 characters or less, here are some of the other important aspects of a tweet.

Username

Upon signing up for Twitter, this is the first thing you’ll create. Your username is also known as your Twitter handle.  It’s always preceded by the “@” symbol.  You can choose between upper case and lower case letters, numbers and underscores in your username. People often wonder how they should choose a Twitter handle.  Do you use your real name or something else?  This really just depends on what you’re using the Twitter account for.  If you have a brand or business or are looking to position yourself within an industry, then it’s best to choose a handle that is as close to your brand/real name as possible.  If your first choice for a username is taken, try using an underscore or an abbreviation to keep your branding intact.

 

Name

This is the display name that comes up every time someone searches for you.  It also appears front and center on your profile (right above your “@” handle).  One Twitter tip is that you can change your display name to more accurately reflect your brand at any time, even if your username or “handle” is something else.

 

Backgrounds

When it comes to branding, you should ALWAYS take advantage of factors that you have control over. Your background for your Twitter page is one of those things.  Don’t use one of the template backgrounds that Twitter offers, but instead choose something unique to you or your company.  Get your designer involved and have some fun with it.  One great example of this is the Geico page.  You can see how they have tailored an image of their fun-loving Gecko to the left side of the page but kept the colors consistent throughout their profile.  It’s simple, yet impressive.

 

Profile

Your profile is a short write-up of what it is you do and what you’re interested in.  Make the most of it, it’s one of the greatest Twitter tools for business. People almost always look at your profile to see if it says something meaningful/relevant. If they quickly glance at your profile description and it doesn’t say anything about what they are interested in, they’ll likely move on.  Be aware that the text is always in white.  Try to use a profile header image with contrasting colors or your profile can turn into a visual nightmare for a potential follower. While it’s never a bad idea to humanize your profile picture by inserting an image of a person, be careful not to have too much going on in the picture or you’ll lose some of that branding.  If ever in doubt, err on the side of simplicity. For more information on making great twitter headers, click here.

Hashtag

While this part of a tweet is becoming more and more irrelevant as Twitter’s search features get better, it still can be used to designate “groups” of searches.  Hashtagged keywords will show up as clickable search terms.  Hashtags are inserted into a tweet by inserting the “#” symbol before a term (i.e. #contentmarketing, #showmethecookie, #srslysoblessed – you know who you are).

 

@mention

Inserting someone’s Twitter handle in the middle or at the end of a tweet will notify them that they have been mentioned in your tweet.  This is usually done to give credit to someone for writing or sharing the post initially.  Proper etiquette would be to precede the person’s twitter handle with a “via” or “by”.  (i.e. via @bkacontent)

 

Reply

Starting a tweet with an @mention signifies that the tweet is a message directed to that person specifically, and only they will be able to see it (unless someone visits your twitter page directly).  Use this function to engage in a direct conversation with another person on Twitter. However, make sure to save really personal tweets for Direct Messages.  If you are talking to someone but the tweet is meant for a wider audience, simply put a “.” in front of it (i.e. “.@matt_secrist is a content creation guru.”) or place the @mention later in the tweet.

 

Shortened URL

Whenever you insert a URL into a tweet, Twitter now shortens the URL automatically so you have more real estate to work with.  Don’t worry, you’ll still get a count of how many characters you have left to place in the tweet at the bottom middle of your tweet box.

 

Retweet

Retweeting is an important Twitter tip, as it can lead to more interaction and added content on your page. You can either manually put the letters “RT” at the beginning of the tweet, or you can click the small “retweet” button located under a tweet you really like.  This will post the tweet out to your followers, but it will show the information of the person who originally tweeted it.

To make the most of your retweeting, add something to the beginning of the tweet to give it some character and differentiate it from the masses of boring tweets out there.  People are more likely to interact with someone who is “real” rather than a retweeting robot.  Be careful with how often you retweet; it can quickly become annoying to your followers if it is done too frequently.

Favorite

If you like a tweet, but you don’t want to necessarily retweet it, you can click on the small star icon below the tweet to “favorite” it.  This is a micro gift you can give to anyone you are trying to network with.  If you favorite someone’s tweet, it will notify them. This could end up being enough to get them to notice you in return.  It’s a great way to pat someone on the back or stroke an ego.  However, be careful you don’t use it so much that you start looking creepy.

 

Twitter Tools For Business

To be fair, there are a LOT of different Twitter tools that could be used to get results.   Here are just a few:

 

Commun.it

This is a CRM tool specifically meant for Twitter.

 

Twiangulate

This tool can take 2 or more profiles and triangulate them to see what followers they have in common.  This is a great Twitter trick to discover people that follow companies similar to yours.

 

HootSuite

This is a great tool to use in order to schedule out your tweets.  You can sit down for an hour each week and find stories you’d like to share with your followers and then schedule them out across the next day, week or month.  This is a great complement to your social media strategy.

 

ManageFlitter

Start keeping track of those you follow that don’t follow you back.  This can help you to clean up your account and make sure you’re only keeping tabs on people that are really interested in your brand.

 

The Art of Tweeting

Stop creating boring tweets!  With all the recent emphasis there has been on having amazing social media content associated with your brand, keep in mind that this applies to your tweets as well.  “Meh” tweets are a dime a dozen these days.  Take the time to add value to your tweets so that they stand out.

We have a few Twitter tricks when tweeting. Instead of a dull tweet like “Quality Content drives SEO – URL…” try something like “You want to write brilliant blogs? You need to read this post by… @handle URL…”  Add some personality to your posts and people will not only follow you, but they’ll interact with you too.  Some people who are great examples of this are Lisa Barone (@LisaBarone) and Jennifer Sable Lopez (@jennita).

Additional Twitter Tips and Tricks For Business

1. Send out more @ tweets!  If you use Twitter in more of a direct way, it can add a lot more power to your social media efforts.  Try talking TO people rather than just broadcasting AT them.  Start doing this and you’ll see results.
2. Don’t automate the creation of your tweets.  Feel free to use tools to schedule out your tweets (i.e. HootSuite), but don’t automate them.  That’s the quickest way to lose the attention of your follower base.  Always err on the side of being personal.
3. Add value to each of your tweets.  Whether it’s a personal message, an interesting picture, or an @mention, it will do you well in the long run.  Don’t add to the pile of “meh” content that is already in the world.
4. Take advantage of industry tradeshow and event tweets.  Even if you can’t physically attend a tradeshow or event that is relating to your industry, you can be there virtually.  Not only is this a good way to stay on top of industry changes, it’s also a surefire way to get more followers.  Try favoriting, creating lists (see next section) and following frequent tweeters at the show and see the follows you get in return.  Not only that, you’ll be hitting your target market and have the real possibility of generating qualified leads.
5. Last of all, don’t make your tweets so long that you don’t have room for a retweet.  People naturally won’t retweet your stuff if they have to rearrange the information and shorten it down to do so.  Do yourself a favor and think ahead.

 

Should You Use Twitter Lists?

Within Twitter, there is a “Lists” feature. This is a place where you can categorize the people you follow into lists to make it easier to contact people you’ve connected with that are in your industry, that you met at a show, or even just a place for family and friends.

Aside from the obvious uses just explained, using Twitter Lists is a great way to stroke an ego and get noticed by potential influencers you are wanting to network with.  Here are a few tips and tricks of using a “Twitter List” in a list format (how appropriate).

1. Try using Twitter Lists as a way to connect with influencers within your industry.  The way to do this is by creating a list with the title “Most important people in (insert your industry here)”, or even something as simple as “VIPs”.  This is also a great way to get noticed at a tradeshow or event.  Pat other people’s backs and they’ll start to pat yours.
2. Make sure to subscribe to lists that list you.  If you’ve been labeled as an influencer by someone else, take advantage of that networking possibility.
3. Be sure to consider the story that your list of lists is telling.  Make sure there is some rhyme or reason to the lists you make or people will start to see through you.

What’s a Twitter Chat?

A Twitter Chat is a public conversation that is centered on a single, unique hashtag.  Using the hashtag allows you to participate in and follow the discussion.  Most times, these Twitter Chats are recurring and focus on the same topics so people can regularly connect with other people that have the same interests.  These chats are a great way to start a conversation on a topic and get people to engage with you as a brand (#blogchat is one good example).  Create your own Twitter Chat, invite a special guest, and have them answer a few questions.  Schedule out the chat and see what happens!

 

Twitter Chat Etiquette:

• Try to stay on topic.
• Make sure to number all of the questions and answers.
• Don’t shamelessly self-promote.  The only time this is appropriate is at the very end of the chat and you want to quickly state who you are and what you do.  To hop into a chat during the middle of the discussion and include a link to your company is bad form.  If other people click that link on accident, it will take them completely out of the chat.
• Anytime you RT, make sure you do with attribution.
• If you show up to the chat late, don’t ask “What’s the topic”.  Wait for tweets to come in and respond accordingly.
• Always end the chat with a “Thank you!”  Don’t forget.

 

Generating Busine$$ by Setting Goals

While every company is different, the only really effective way to use Twitter is to set some goals.  Here are some great Twitter tips that can help you do that:

• Interact with 3-5 people per day
• Tweet at 3 different times of the day to optimize your social media strategy
• Engage in the community every day
• Join 1-3 twitter chats each week
• Host a Twitter meet up every week with the intention to bring it offline at some point
• Utilize Twitter tools (such as hootsuite) for an hour each week so that content is constantly being posted on your accounts – builds consistency

 

Tweeting: A Virtuous Cycle

So you’ve set up a Twitter account, you’ve generated some kick “A” tweets, and you’re starting to see the follows flowing in.  Now comes the real question… do you follow those people back? You can, and both can receive benefits from it.

When it comes to how to properly reward people that interact with you on Twitter, there are many different opinions on the subject – and no one right answer.  Some choose to only follow a few of their followers back, hoping to increase their brand prestige, and help manage their own home feeds.  Others opt to always follow back those that follow them as a tribute to karma.  The latter can be more risky, but it can also pay off.  Whatever your strategy is, make sure it’s consistent with the values and personality put off by your brand.

 

The Power of Twitter Tips and Tricks

Overall, Twitter is an incredible social media tool that can be used to not only expand your business reach, but to make meaningful interaction with those you already associate with or are hoping to connect with in the near future.  You can reach influencers, solicit feedback, qualify leads and do a fair amount of branding when you handle your account appropriately.  Whether you’re new to Twitter or an old pro, these Twitter tips and tricks can help you start taking real advantages of the business benefits this platform can offer you.

 

If you ask marketers what the top outlets for content are, social media platforms will almost always be on the list. Social media is a critical player in today’s digital marketing world, and your company may be hurting a lot without it.

While a social media plan should definitely be a part of any content marketing strategy, it can be confusing to determine how to develop one. With a few key elements discussed in this post, we can show you how to make a social media plan that gets the most out of each platform.

 

Why Do You Need a Social Media Plan?

Whether you sell makeup, mold removal services or business expertise, your social media can play a big role. Pew Research Center shows that seven in every ten Americans use social media in some form. Whether they are on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter, the facts show that most of your audience is likely using a social media platform.

So, as any business should, you strive to connect with your target market. Ads, email marketing and mail can go a long way to reach customers, but social media creates a whole new playing field. There are a variety of ways to interact with customers through social media, whether that’s by posting pictures, linking to blogs or encouraging discussions on a thread or story. You can be much more specific with the way you target your audience and can help them have more awareness of your company and the products you offer.

In other words, social media can be a huge asset to your marketing strategy.

 

How To Make A Social Media Plan

Unfortunately, you can’t lasso in all the benefits of social media just by creating an account. It takes effort, and more importantly, it takes a clear plan that is focused. Instead of running around in circles, start with a strategy. In our opinion, there are five key elements to a successful social media plan.

 

1. Gather Information

You may have caught the vision and be bursting to start sending out those tweets, but gathering as much information as possible first will save you time, money and frustration.

 

Learn About Your Customers

First, you need to learn about your target market. If you haven’t created a target persona yet, this might be the time to do it. It’s important for a business to know the demographics of their target market, especially when learning how to create a successful social media plan. Know their age, location, likes, hobbies and dislikes.  This will help you be more specific when focusing on them, especially on social media. It will also help you predict consumer behavior and improve your advertising strategies.

Next, you’ll want to get specific about learning the social media behaviors of your audience. Surveying your current customers is a great way to find out important details, including:

• Which channel your clients most often use
• What they use each channel for
• Whether your posts would be viewed as intrusive or valuable
• What type of business posts your customers enjoy

You may also want to perform some research about your competitor’s social media accounts. Look for details like how often they post, which sites they use and how well their posts are received by their clients.

Learn About The Platforms

As part of your social media plan, you will also want to become educated on how each platform can be used. Each one has different features and perks that allow you to build creative campaigns. Here is a quick run-down of 4 popular social media platforms to help get you started:

• Facebook: Used to connect with friends and family. Posts tend to be longer and URLs are shared frequently. Videos and pictures are also shared often.
• Instagram: Picture-oriented. Most users find and post pictures with small captions. The story feature is a big highlight for users.
• LinkedIn: Used for networking. Professional audiences normally use this platform to create connections and read professional blogs.
• Twitter: Also used to connect, but with a series of short posts and compressed URLs. Users can easily find information by searching keywords and hashtags.

Explore these options to give you a better idea of how you will develop your plan. There are also many more social media platforms that may benefit your business such as TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Reddit and Pinterest.

Doing some extra research will help you feel better prepared to launch social media campaigns and maintain your brand image without feeling overwhelmed.

 

2. Set Goals

What results do you want to achieve with your social media plan? Your goals will determine the details that you deliver to your content writing service and how you proceed. You will need to determine the following:

• How often you should post
• Which topics to post about
• What time of day you post
• The sustainability of each topic

The Content Marketing Institute has developed this template to help you cover all aspects of your plan.

You also need to determine what tone of voice you want your posts to convey. Part of this should depend on the platform you are using, as some lend themselves better to cheerful, fun posts and others work best with more serious, professional content.

This is where your research on your client’s use of each platform will play a big role. By evaluating their purpose of use and the posts they enjoy seeing, you can get a good idea of the type of content you should be posting.

When learning how to make a social media plan, another thing that you need to consider is which channels you will be using. Some companies create business accounts on every single social media platform and blast the same piece of content on each one. While this may have some level of effectiveness, a smart approach backed by research is much more likely to win you followers and potential clients. It’s okay to be picky on the channels you focus on and put forth effort in the areas that are most likely to make an impact. In some cases, less really can be more.

 

3. Involve the Pros

Creating a dynamic, engaging, informative Facebook post for your business is easy, right? Wrong. The way you use social media for your personal use is not necessarily going to be the same way you market your business, which is why you need to trust this aspect of your marketing strategy to professionals, just as you would any other part of your social media plan.

Content marketing services are not only great sources for blog posts, home pages and SEO articles, they are also trained to create fantastic prose that encourages your followers to click, read and re-post. With the move toward social media marketing in the business world, it is important to give your company a professional front. After all, your social media page may be your first and only impression.

 

4. Use and Reuse Content

After you’ve done all the initial research and decision-making of your content social media plan, the fun can begin. It’s time to decide what to post! Maybe you want to use one platform for deep, serious topics and another to post fun facts and discount codes. Once these decisions are made, you can save a lot of time and money by making smart decisions with your content. Begin testing the waters and see what people relate to most.

If you find that a particular post on the history of peanut butter gets thousands of likes, divide it up and get the most out of it that you can. You can usually pull a few sentences to make several tweets. You could also rearrange it into slides and create a SlideShare. Infographics are also highly shareable when you find a topic that your viewers enjoy.

Once you figure out what works for your company, get everything you can on that piece of content and then dig deeper. Build another post on the history of jam, or how the peanut butter and jelly sandwich was invented. Get creative and follow the lead your clients have given you as far as you can.

 

5. Get a New Audience

One of the best parts of social media is that you can make connections that put your company in front of an entirely new set of eyes. The easiest way to do this is by asking a fellow professional to guest post on your blog, then post about it and tag that person on social media. Suddenly, you both get access to each other’s followers and will likely each gain several new ones for your company.

Using hashtags is another way to get more exposure. Use your keywords or perform specific hashtag research to find out what your competitors are using and which are most often searched for.

 

Create a Social Media Plan That Works For Your Company

Adding a social media plan to your content marketing strategy is not only nice, but it may also be essential in today’s world of advertising. By making smart decisions, you can make the most of this free form of advertising and gain clients that you wouldn’t have found any other way.

Of course, if you want to learn how to make a social media plan that works, you need to put in the time and effort. Hopefully, these tips can get you on the right track. Once you’ve decided what to post, when to post it and where to post it, start experimenting with your plan. Before you know it, you may start building new relationships with customers, get an increase in traffic and discover new ways to promote your product.

Don’t forget to use a professional content writing service to help you post quality content frequently.  Once you get started, prepare to see your company “tweet” and “like” its way to the top.

 

When social media sites first arrived on the scene, many businesses became excited by the chance to directly engage with consumers and quickly jumped on board. Increasing reach on social media was seen as a way to organically get the word out about their business at a minimal expense. However, the complex algorithms the social media sites now use to determine whether or not a fan or follower actually sees posts makes it difficult to achieve organic reach on social media platforms, especially Facebook.

 

Increasing Organic Reach on Social Media Platforms

Studies have found that non-sponsored posts on Facebook have around a 3 percent reach. Every year, it seems to get worse, especially after Facebook debuts newer algorithms to deal with the constant influx of users. The increased competition also has affected organic reach on Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media sites.

Studies have also found that Twitter, despite beliefs to the contrary, has less than 20 percent organic reach on posts. Recognizing what helps improve your social media reach can help you to increase your numbers.

 

Understand Algorithms That Affect Social Media Reach

Content development starts with understanding the unique complexities of each platform and creating a strategy suited to the platform. This can help you to create posts and content that will enhance, not impede, your organic reach.

For example, the Facebook algorithm is a complex tool that looks at hundreds of thousands of factors when determining whether a post will make it into a particular person’s news feed. There is no way that you can know every single one of those factors, especially as many of them are not public knowledge. Those that you can, and should know, include the following:

• High-quality content gets higher ratings
• Anything considered spam will be limited or removed
• The more engaged users are, the higher rated the post
• Negative feedback from users leads to reduced reach
• Priority is given to videos and photos
• Individual user’s past interaction with the page or post type affects visibility on News Feed

You do not have to be an expert on social media, but having the basic knowledge of how it works is invaluable to the creation of your future posts and expanding your social media reach.

 

Review the Performance of Past Social Media Posts

To create a strong content strategy for increasing organic reach on social media, you first need to understand the performance of past posts. This data tells you the organic impressions versus the paid impressions, as well as how many fans you reached and how many non-fans saw your post. You can also find out other information, including demographics of your fans. It is best to review the trends of your posts over a few weeks or even months.

Although it remains beneficial to implement Facebook, Twitter, and other social media paid campaigns from time to time, it is possible to gain some momentum naturally. Adding one or more of the following 7 ways to increase organic reach on social media to your content strategy moving forward may help you to reach your goals.

1. Develop High Quality Social Media Content

Just as it is important to create high quality content to improve organic search engine results, high quality posts have a greater impact than low-quality ones, especially on Facebook. You want to avoid any posts that could be seen as spam, as will those that receive negative feedback. In general, people respond better to high quality content, so it is also important to have it on other social media sites, such as Twitter and LinkedIn.

So what is high quality content? It is content that is more than just barely veiled marketing and advertising copy. This content provides something of real value to your followers. The value could be informative, but it could also simply make your followers feel better such as a humorous post or an uplifting thought. It should be appropriate to the medium, be well written and be the right length. You might need to hire an article writer to ensure you create the best content to get the most social media reach.

2. Create Relevant Social Media Content For Your Target Audience

When developing your high-quality content for your posts, it is essential that you always keep in mind the demographics and behavior of your target audience. These are the people who will be most likely to see your post, like it, and/or share it to spread your organic social media reach. You do not always have to just write posts about your business, but it should remain pertinent to your particular industry and/or area of expertise.

The best content creates a conversation with your fans so that they comment, share, and like your posts. You can also directly engage with them through question and answer sessions, polls and more.

3. Use More Images in Social Media Posts

Adding images and other media to your posts greatly helps with your organic reach on social media. People are attracted to visuals more than text, so it increases the chance of users seeing the post. Additionally, Facebook sees images and videos as top priority, so these posts have a higher rating than text-only posts, improving your rating already. Twitter may not have the same algorithm, but photos and other media still improves the likelihood of followers seeing your posts.

4. Change Your Social Media Content

Another way to help improve your organic reach on social media is to change up your posts. If you always post the same sort of information, your audience will quickly tire of it, reducing engagement. To help you do this, create a content development strategy that follows a certain plan that includes a variety of post types. For example, you could have a strategy that includes a cycle of posting a pitch of some type, personal development posts, a link to a blog, something that directly engages users, information about data or research in your field, and then something fun such as relevant memes, videos or songs that your followers may like.

Remember, though, that these posts should remain true to your brand in order to increase the kind of social reach you’re going for.

5. Include Hashtags and Influencers

Another way to help your organic social media reach is to include hashtags or reference influencers in your field or an associated one. This helps more with Twitter and Instagram, but it can still have an effect on your Facebook reach. Hashtags allow people to search for certain topics, which increases the chance someone will see your post who does not follow you. By posting at or referencing to an influencer, you increase the chance they may re-post it and even more people see the post. 

6. Include a Call to Action

When you post on social media, you should include a call to action. However, this does not need to simply ask fans to like or share the post, or even click a link. In fact, blatantly asking for likes and shares can hurt your rating. Instead, ask questions that subtly request your followers to take action. For example, you can ask “do you agree”, “who’s excited” or other open ended questions, and your fans can answer by sharing, liking, or commenting.

7. Post at the Right Time

Timing can be critical in increasing your organic reach on social media sites. Contrary to what you might think, it may be better to post at non-peak times. This reduces the number of competing posts trying to enter your follower’s feed, especially on Facebook. Timing is an essential component to your organic reach on Twitter, since it displays content in chronological order. If the majority of your users look at Twitter in the evening but you have posted in the morning, then only those who tirelessly go through all the posts or make a point to look at your feed will see the post.

You may have to experiment to find the best time for your company to post in order to increase social media reach, as it is largely based on when your followers are actually active on the site.

 

Social Media Reach Can Be Increased!

Increasing your organic reach on social media takes some strategy, but it mostly focuses on creating great content that your users want to share. You and your content creator can find ways to improve your posts and increase engagement with your current followers, which will help you have higher ratings and a broader social media reach.

Content marketing can be harder than it looks. If you’re a company or influencer, you need followers (and potential buyers). These followers often come through traffic on your website… but what happens if you’re getting no views?

The first remedy is to start producing quality content. Once you get a steady flow of well-written content on your website’s blog, you have the material for getting great traffic. But what happens if you publish content consistently… and still get no hits on your website?

What you need are blog promotion strategies, and you need them fast. Content distribution is an important part of content marketing and it requires strategic effort. Luckily, we have a few tips that can help you out.

 

Why Do You Need To Share Your Blog?

Content marketing is the newer kid on the block, especially when it comes to traditional advertising. In order to make a dent in the digital sphere, you need content. Content comes in many forms such as blog posts, product descriptions, web pages and even social media posts. These pieces of content are circulated on Google for users to find, and with the help of SEO, the search engine can use your content to meet users’ needs.

There’s a lot you can do in the SEO world, but there’s one thing that stands out as a priority: make your content available, especially content that is shareable (such as blog posts and articles). Want to know how to share your blog? This can be done through blog promotion strategies, and we have a few ready for you to start using immediately.

 

Where Do You Promote Your Blog?

Most websites have a blog page on their website that showcases recent blog posts, but to be honest, not many people will go there… yet. Unless you already have a big following and your readers are hungry for each and every fresh post, you need to do some extra work.

Other than using SEO tactics to get blog posts to rank high on Google, the best place to make your content available is through social media. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and even Instagram are powerful tools that you can use to find more readers. When using blog promotion strategies, focus on social media and consider how to use it to fuel the traffic and get your article shared and circulated among users.

Sharing on social media platforms is easy. Once you have an established profile (make sure to include your website URL and contact information), you can post on your feed whenever you want. You can easily post the latest article for your followers to read. To some, social media can be a beast. Hopefully, our tips will help you get the best out of your social media accounts.

 

7 Blog Promotion Strategies That Can Make a Difference

Part of any blog promotion strategy is shareability. Your social media audience wants to share content that creates an appearance of intelligence, culture, and sophistication. They won’t just share any content, so what you produce needs to be engaging and beneficial, containing unique knowledge seldom found elsewhere.

Even if the content is available in other places online, the way you display your content has to be interesting enough to captivate your social media savvy readers. You have to leverage all the power that social media channels provide, particularly after investing so much time to cultivate your audience and create your content. In addition to just posting on your social profiles, there are other excellent methods for sharing your blog. Here are seven blog promotion strategies that you can start implementing.

 

1. Use Intriguing Titles

When you publish a post linking to an article on your website, all you have to convince readers to click through is a title and a small description. What happens if your title just seems… boring?

Types of Dinner Tables

When you’re scrolling past dozens of posts in your social media feed or inbox, does this title stand out? A slight shift in the style and tone of your posts’ titles can increase your exposure.\

The Expert’s Guide for Choosing the Perfect Dinner Table

To some people, this will likely catch their eye much faster than the original title would have. This is because usually, your social media feed, RSS feed or email subscribers of your blog may have subscribed to additional blogs in your niche. With congested information lists in their inbox and feeds, a creative title may keep you from getting neglected in the crowd. Engaging images may also draw the attention of social media friends, resulting in more shares of your post.

 

2. Integrate Social Media Into Your Blog

Integrating social media into your blog can bridge the gap between popular social media sites and your content. Visitors to your blog need an easy way to connect with and share your blog content via social media elements embedded in your site. Part of a good blog promotion strategy is giving more access to your readers.

These elements could be in the form of social media buttons that help your readers join your social media community such as Facebook or Twitter, social media share buttons that help readers share your content or social media logins that help readers comment on your blog. In whatever form, make sure to include those social media buttons at the end of each blog post, allowing anyone to share if they feel inclined to do so.

Buttons aren’t the only way to integrate social media into your website. Consider embedding a social media widget, which is a great way for readers to interact. There are many you can choose from that look interesting and encourage readers to take action.

 

3. Add Visual Appeals

When you share a blog post on a Google+ page, LinkedIn, or Facebook, write a personal message about the post to motivate others to read it. However, don’t stop there. Always include a picture.

We lived in a media-saturated world. We hunger for good images and interesting content that appeal our visual senses. If you want to get noticed on social media, include an image that goes with the title.

In fact, adding images to your blog is not a bad idea. Images and videos that break up the text are more engaging, and these blog posts generally get more traffic. When using blog promotion strategies to distribute your blog, use high-quality images that are interesting.

It’s also a good idea to share a photo with the post because most platforms automatically display a thumbnail image from the post. This is just another plug for your blog, and it can help your reader click-through.

 

4. Social Bookmark Your Blog Posts

 

Although social bookmarking is not as well known, it is still a great way to distribute your blogs and find new ideas and information for future articles. Social bookmark your posts on high-profile sites, including Reddit, Delicious, Digg, and StumbleUpon, which have extensive audience bases.

Because this approach has been overused, it is not as effective as it was at first. To make your presence on social bookmarking sites known, spend more time liking, sharing, commenting, or bookmarking other blog posts to boost activity for your post bookmarks. There are many social bookmarking sites available on the web, but it is ideal to identify and update a few of them on a regular basis.

 

5. Promote Your Blog in a Forum Community

Keep in mind that many excellent forums in virtually all niches don’t support link sharing to your blog unless you are an active member and help fellow members with their questions. Blog promotion strategies are all about interacting with your target audience, and you can do this easily in niche-related forums.

While this requires a lot of time and effort, building up your expertise in forum communities can be worth it. This often depends on your niche and what other networking opportunities you have. For some niches, forums are home to many great readers and potential followers.

If you plan to spend quality time on forums in your niche, you can easily locate them with a basic Google search of “niche + forum.” You may not do a lot of link sharing, but you can build up a network of people, encourage them to follow you on your social media accounts and answer genuine questions that your target market has.

 

6. Join Social Communities

Along with forums, join LinkedIn and Facebook groups relevant to your niche. These are great platforms to achieve recognition for your blog and gain attention. Instead of promoting your blog aggressively, start off slowly by joining conversations and helping those with questions. If you put in the effort and show your intentions of helping people in these communities, you could ultimately share links to posts from your blog.

Also, Facebook automatically displays the post images and allows you to select the title image from the ones located in your post. The images are much larger than merely a thumbnail. Additionally, you can upload an external image that is not in your blog post.

 

7. Share Parts of Your Content

You can share the same blog post across multiple social media platforms, but consider personalize each according to the type of platform. For Instagram, put the link in your profile or on your story and focus on the image. For Facebook, share a piece of the blog along with the link and image.

Get creative with this blog promotion strategy, but keep in mind the types of audiences that use different types of social media. For instance, LinkedIn is used more by professionals and business-oriented people. 80% of Twitter users are affluent millennials, so you can use this along with your buyer persona to create social media content that gets their attention.

Most people read blogs to find answers to questions or discover solutions to problems they might be experiencing. This line of thinking can be helpful for finding inspiration for your blog. In fact, it’s easy to stay one step ahead of the search by actively seeking those readers who might profit from your blog posts by establishing an enthusiastic presence on Internet forums such as Quora and Reddit.

There is more to advertising your blog on social media than just tapping the share button. Distributing blog posts on your social channels can further entice new visitors to your blog and contribute more worth to your current followers. At a minimum, share your blog posts on relevant social media platforms using a proportion of 10 messages about other people’s content for each one you post about your personal or business interests.

 

Start Promoting Your Blog Today

These are just a few blog promotion strategies you can use to get more traffic and pique the interest of followers. Social media promotions can be an exciting part of your digital marketing strategy and the results are completely worth it. Blogging and social media can achieve your reach and maximize your potential as long as you spend the required time distributing and promoting your content.

So, ready to start distributing your content? Pick a blog promoting strategy that you like and get started.

These are just a few quick ways to promote your blog on social media. Social media promotions can be fun and the results are completely worth it. Blogging and social media can achieve your reach and maximize your potential as long as you spend the required time distributing and promoting your content. As an added benefit, social media can also enhance your blog’s search engine ranking.

When you hear the term “Facebook,” what do you think? If you consider it to be nothing but a time-waster, you are missing a golden opportunity to market products and services to a large pool of potential customers. Not all of Facebook’s 2.2 billion monthly active users will want what you are selling, but enough can make it worth your while to tap into this platform’s huge reach. Content marketing companies see the advantages, as social media can drive traffic and give businesses exposure they might not have had otherwise. Adding Facebook to your overall marketing strategy is a good move that helps your business not only stay alive but also grow and thrive.

Facebook: Your Company’s Best Friend

Launched in 2004, Facebook is here to stay and is worth getting to know. This platform has its peculiarities, with some types of digital content marketing working better than others to garner traffic and drive social shares. Many digital materials posted in social media are image-heavy, but the best way to dance with the data and analyze what types of content are most successful is by focusing on word-heavy articles.

Particular types of writing can demonstrably boost visibility and get companies swinging. Interested? The first thing to think about is what moves you want your company or clients to make and where you want your business or clients to go.

 

Which Types of Content Work Best?

Before writing any marketing content, you need to focus on your goals. Do you want a sudden burst of Facebook traffic? Are you trying to build steady traffic each month? Get clear about what you want your content marketing to do. Articles that give readers some value are top performers. They cut through more immediately sexy but forgettable content and deliver results that have more of a positive impact on your digital traffic in the long run. 

The foundation of every metric you can calculate, pursue, and analyze is Facebook reach. In the most basic meaning, this term refers to the number of individual people who see your digital content marketing material. When devising a content plan, you must consider this essential factor in order to succeed. Facebook reach matters. Take traffic referral for Parse.ly, for example. Parse.ly, a digital data company that performs complex analytics, determined that, in a particular time period, Facebook alone created more than 40 percent of measurable, detectable traffic within its network.

Now that you have an idea of the important role Facebook can play in marketing strategy, consider the types of articles that really boogie on this platform.

 

Infographics

Visually appealing pieces that feature minimal words are among the most important types of articles posted for marketing purposes. They pack a punch. Infographics, along with list pieces, produce the most social shares. If you want a rapid increase in Facebook traffic, try posting infographics. These visual representations are designed to present information, both facts and figures, in a visually appealing way that is understandable and easy to skim quickly. Check out this example from NeONBRAND:

The striking visuals of infographics can help people remember and connect facts, as the images augment the ability of humans to see and recognize patterns and trends.

 

Lists

List-focused articles on Facebook are perennially popular because they break up solid blocks of content and are easy and quick to skim. They may be in the form of a recipe or a top five or 10 or 30 listing:

• Top 5 Classic Cars
• Top 30 Vacation Spots in Vermont
• Top 10 Nightspots in Seattle

Paragraphs can be numbered or have clear headings for each entry. Bullet lists within short entries with headings make content even easier to read and comprehend. List pieces, along with infographics, generate the most short-term social shares when first posted to Facebook.

 

How-To Articles

These types of posts do not produce the immediate excitement that lists and infographics do, but over time, they generate significant regular traffic on Facebook every month. They offer people value, and they can be about any number of tangential topics related to a business’ products or services. For example, a company that makes privacy screens could post how-to articles on a variety of related subjects:

• Fending off insects and outdoor control of pests
• Creating an outdoor retreat
• Landscaping tips
• Swimming pool area design ideas

The key to being successful with this important type of article is to brainstorm and get creative about presenting helpful information.

 

“Why” Pieces

Like how-to posts, these types of Facebook articles offer readers strong value for the investment of their time. They focus on a specific topic and present clear information. Think about these examples:

• 10 Reasons Why Eating a Vegan Diet Benefits You
• 10 Signs He (or She) Is Cheating
• 15 Reasons Why Disaster Preparation Is a Must

As you can see, article types can overlap, giving you lots of wiggle room in your digital content marketing plan.

 

“What” Articles

Another type of Facebook post that performs a service and offers readers value for their time is the “What” article. These lend themselves well to bullet lists and numbered lists for easy-to-read and graphically interesting content:

• What To Do When Your Pipes Burst
• What Is the First Thing You Should Do After a Natural Disaster
• What To Do If Your Soufflé Falls
• What Strategies Can Control Employee Conflict

Just about any industry or type of company can use these posts to boost Facebook traffic, because there are almost limitless opportunities for tangential subjects revolving around the core product or service. Whether you are writing for a plumber or an insurance underwriter, “What” posts can generate steady monthly traffic that promotes long-term success.

 

Writing the Right Marketing Content

All of these article types, though effective at driving Facebook traffic, are word-heavy. Today’s corporate world, in the wake of the nearly spontaneous internet, moves fast. The truth is that most SEO agencies as well as enterprise companies often find it difficult to write the amount of quality marketing content needed to boost traffic on a regular basis. Studies vary, as do industry audiences, but generally experts agree that posting one to five times per day on Facebook works best. Extensive time for research and writing are required for each piece, and the choice is to hire more people, taking on the expense and trouble of training them, or choose an experienced, reliable company to write the materials for you.

Content marketing companies do all of the time-consuming work necessary to produce quality content. The best sort of content creation service hires talented writers who are skilled researchers and trains them on your project. You will not have to put out the time and money to hire and instruct new employees. Instead, you can concentrate on growing your company and providing the best possible customer service, which, in the end, is good business.

Traffic, leads and brand awareness are all benefits that come from good marketing, but the most important goal of any marketing strategy is to generate sales. It’s been proven that a good content marketing strategy can increase revenue for almost any business, but many neglect the obvious benefits that come from combining content marketing methods with social selling.

Social selling is simply using social media to interact and be social with your customers. It’s an ideal way to receive real-time feedback and give your brand a personal feel to it. Studies show that LinkedIn is the most common platform for those who use social selling, with Twitter right behind.

When customers receive feedback and engagement from social selling, they gain trust in your brand and your products. Studies show that businesses that regularly use social selling consistently grow in revenue each year by over 20 percent more than those who don’t. To make it easy, we have come up with five ways you can incorporate social selling and content to boost your sales.

1. Create Content That Helps With Social Selling

What kind of content will get noticed and shared on your social media sites? We have a few guidelines and examples.

• Webinars
• Surprising or shocking information that promotes action
• FAQ pages
• How-to guides for simple problems customers face
• Content that demonstrates how your service or product works

These types of content are interesting, easy to share and helpful to almost anyone scrolling through social media or searching the internet.

2. Answer Questions Your Customers Have

We can’t stress it enough – social media is invaluable when it comes to building your brand and solidifying your customer base. Now, content can play into that when you listen to your customers and answer the questions they have about your products or industry. What you offer should provide a solution to a problem, and your content is your chance to explain HOW it does and WHY it is better than the competitor.

Pay attention to what your followers, potential customers and fans are saying and asking. When you show that you are truly interested in what they want, they are more inclined to see the value in your products.

3. Offer Content for Every Phase of the Sales Cycle

From opening a conversation to closing the sale, there are several different pieces of the sales cycle. You need valuable content for each phase.

During the sales cycle, the customer is making the decision about whether your products are the right fit for them. As they do their research, you are essentially competing with other companies when you don’t even know it. When social selling, companies use content to generate leads and create awareness about a product or brand. They also nurture leads with targeted content to increase sales opportunities by over 20 percent. Once you have delivered and the customer has evaluated, content creates trust, loyalty and improves your brand reputation. At each stage of the sales process, there should be content that your customers find engaging and helpful.

4. Have a Conversation

Content that starts a conversation is content that is doing the job it is intended to do.  Answer questions, address concerns and engage regularly with your potential clients and customers.  While originally this may mean that they simply reply to a post or comment on a status update, your long-term goal is to schedule a call or respond to an email.  That will continue the conversation and leads to revenue, sales and a solid relationship.

5. Keep an Archive of Useful Information

FAQ pages, blog posts and simple articles can be extremely useful when social selling. While you can pump these out on a regular basis on your social media platforms, they are ideally used when a customer has a question or concern. If you have an archive of valuable information that addresses common problems or issues in your industry, customers are more inclined to trust your expertise.

Anytime you have a concern, question or conversation on your social media posts, link back to a relevant piece of content that your company has used in the past.  This showcases you as an expert in your business and highlights you as an established business.

Good Content Is Essential

It is much easier to make a sale to a potential customer when you have valuable, helpful information to share with them about the problem they are facing. Using a content marketing service is the perfect way to get started on establishing your business as the go-to source in your industry.

Is your goal to get your content to go viral? Even if you do not want to reach thousands or millions of views or shares, increasing the number of shares you get on social media increases the organic traffic to your blog. Developing engaging content provides one easy way to get readers to want to share your blog; however, this is very difficult. Many marketers struggle with finding that perfect type of content that goes viral. Luckily, you do not have to continue to struggle.

Developing strong, engaging content is not a guessing game. There is actually science behind it, with several key factors involved in leading to the sharing of the content. Ultimately, the content needs to somehow speak to the reader in such a way that they feel sharing it will somehow nourish their relationships. This might be through sparking emotion, entertaining them or otherwise bringing some type of value. There are many motivating factors that lead to people sharing the content as well, including affinity, validation and social expression.

Unfortunately, when the majority of your blog is dedicated to informational topics, it is more difficult to emotionally engage with customers and lead to social sharing. Adding emotion to an informative blog can sometimes just come across as manipulative and have the exact opposite response. Luckily, using social content can help you.

What Is Social Content?

Social content is content that bridges the gap between social media posts and blogs, infographics and other marketing content. It involves the audience and your social community to create a more authentic and personable content. Rather than focusing on going viral, you are developing authentic relationships with the community that helps build true emotional connections with others within the community. There are a few different ways to easily incorporate this type of content into your blog.

Elicit Emotion By Repurposing

Eliciting emotion is an important component of getting shares. When people read something that makes them laugh, cry, get angry or otherwise feel, they are more likely to share it with others. Stories that make people feel awe or that are positive are also more likely to get people to hit that share button. You do not have to be the one to create this information; it is also possible to repurpose or curate content to elicit the emotional response you want.

Just think about popular sites like Buzzfeed and Upworthy. They get tons of shares, but much of their content is not exactly original. Instead, they take third-party content and then write something new using a fresh perspective, rather than simply regurgitating it. Their success comes from providing a perspective or comment that leads people wanting to share your piece, rather than heading to the original.

Create a “Best Of…” Post

In a similar way to curating content, you can also round up informative articles from a bunch of different sources to create a “best of” post. This puts all the information together into one easy to read piece, while also showing that your ideas are supported by influencers within the industry. Just be sure that you always include the relevant citation. Authoritative links and resources impart authority to your content, which improves your reputation as a trusted source. Round up pieces take this one step further. By creating pieces that bring together a lot of information together provides value to customers who might be looking for this type of one-stop shop for information.

Highlight Your Customers or Readers

An easy way to integrate social content into your blog is to feature your readers or customers. There are many different ways to do this, such as testimonials and case studies. However, sometimes, these might not elicit the exact response you want. For example, case studies often appear too scientific, which leads to many customers not engaging with them. Testimonials have a role, but they only provide a small aspect of the overall journey. Customer spotlights provide a happy medium that works well as social content.

These are similar to case studies in that they show the journey and how your company fixed a problem or provided a solution. However, they are told from the customer’s point of view and tell a lot more of the story. This makes them much more interesting and engaging, especially when you add photos or use video. It also involves customers and lets them share their emotions and insights during the journey. You also will find that you get automatic shares from that person and many of their friends.

Look to Comments

Integrating social content into your blog is not just about highlighting actual customers or eliciting a response; it is ultimately about providing value that goes above and beyond the normal. One way to do this is to create blog posts that will engage customers. To find engaging topics, look at the comments of your previous posts and find ideas on which to write. Perhaps a question continually pops up again and again.

Another place that opens up a way to create engaging blog posts is to simply ask your audience what they want to read about. Go on your social media accounts and post a question about a particular topic. You can run a survey or simply state a question. Then, use the answers to develop a blog that matches what they want to hear. You can even do so in the form of a roundup or curated content, an infographic or some other type of content that is not just a single blog. You might even find that you can create a whole series on your blog integrating a lot of different types of content, including social content. As an added bonus, you also demonstrate that you are interested in engaging directly with your community and that you listen to your customers.

Although social content plays a key role in creating shareable content and thereby growing your audience, you also want to be careful about over-using. In many cases, it should not take over your blog; instead, it should be incorporated as one aspect of a versatile blog that provides value to your customers in a variety of different ways. Finding a balance between providing answers to customers and otherwise imparting information with building your relationships creates a much stronger blog that will provide you with the benefits you want.