Similar to the importance of commenting on other blogs, using social media as an avenue for blogger outreach is essential. One of the best ways to use social media is by making yourself an authority. You can do this by sharing information about your industry, asking questions, and taking part in conversations about your industry. As a result, many guest blogging opportunities can come as a result.
Let’s first discuss ways you can use your own industry expertise to share on social media. Whenever you publish a post to your blog, share the link on your Facebook, Twitter, and other social media profiles. This will show that you have expertise and insight in your particular industry.
Also, asking questions on your social media profiles is another excellent way to position yourself as an authority and engage readers, influencing them to provide you with feedback.
Let’s use Pete the photographer as an example. Pete decides that he wants to know how many people have taken photography classes in the past and how many felt as though those photography classes were beneficial. Therefore, he posts a question on both his Facebook and Twitter account that says, “Have you ever taken a photography class? If so, would you say it was beneficial?”
After Pete posts the question, he receives three responses on Twitter and six responses on Facebook. Out of the nine people who responded to Pete’s question, four of them have their own blogs. This means that Pete has just connected with four bloggers. He then visits their blogs and shares one of their blog posts throughout the week on his social media profiles. His reciprocal actions show these bloggers that he wants to form a relationship with them and give back to them for responding to his question. This is exactly how relationships with other bloggers form.
Another way to connect with other bloggers is by finding them on Facebook, Twitter, and other outlets. Many times, if you visit a blogger’s blog, he or she will have social media connect buttons on his or her blog sidebar. You can easily connect with these bloggers on social media using these provided social media icons, which are linked to the bloggers’ social media profiles.
Share their relevant information with your readers, interact with them, and make a point to connect with them.
Let’s go back to our example of Pete the photographer. Pete would find other photographers that are on social media, begin following them, and start connecting. If one of his followers tweets an article about portrait photography, he can retweet that to his audience. This builds those relationships that help lead to guest blogging opportunities.
Pete also uses his Facebook page to promote other bloggers’ articles. In order to remain consistent and to not go overboard with posting outside articles to his Facebook page, Pete creates a social media schedule that has him posting outside articles once a day and never repeating the same blogger for three consecutive days. This way, Pete gets a wide range of outside articles on his Facebook page, and illustrates that he is involved in the photography community and isn’t just posting the same articles from the same blogger all the time. This would show that he has nothing to offer the photography community and that he doesn’t know the key players in the photography community. When he can spotlight several key players in the photography industry on his Facebook page, readers can see that he is clearly involved in the photography community and this helps to position him as an expert in the industry.
Also, whenever Pete retweets another blogger’s post or shares another blogger’s post on his social media accounts, he always visits their blog to leave a comment on the post that he has just retweeted. This gives him even more exposure to the blogger and illustrates that Pete is involved in the photography industry and has expertise to offer.
Once Pete has commented and shared posts on social media several times for one particular blogger, he has not only made himself known to this blogger, but he has also positioned himself as an expert in the industry.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi! I was researching networking for blogs because I just launched mine today
This is a great site and article
Celeste, congratulations on the blog launch! How is it coming along? I’m so glad you could find these tips beneficial.
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