A guest post by Ray Sherlock. 

Gaining traffic to your blog is extremely important. It can help you build a loyal readership, who will regularly return to read each new post you publish.

There are several ways to get traffic to your blog using organic search, friends etc. However, to successfully build a brand and gain a consistent amount of traffic to their blog, successful bloggers need to know some social media tricks to be successful.

Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon and even Pinterest offer opportunities to increase engagement with regular readers and attract a new audience. But if you are new to Social Media, it can be quite daunting to grow an audience and get traffic to your blog.

This post will explain 10 simple yet effective social media tricks to get you started.

1.    Create a Facebook Page for your blog

Facebook’s subscription feature is a good reason to create a Facebook Page for your blog. Here you can publish each new post with its link without feeling you’re annoying your friends on your personal page.

This is also useful if nobody knows your name as an author, but they do know the name of your blog. One of the Social Media Tricks is to use Facebook’s search feature to find your blog using its brand name.

And you can convert your readers into fans by adding a Facebook like-box widget onto your blog’s sidebar.

2.    Join Facebook Groups for bloggers

Facebook has a large number of groups which you could join to get advice about problems with blogging.  And it also gives you the opportunity to help someone else’s issues in return.

Use the Facebook search facility for terms such as “Travel Blogger” or “Global Bloggers Network”. WordPress users also have several support groups that can help with technical issues. And remember the Fairy Blog Mother blog is also a great place as a blogging resource!

3.    Display your social media icons

You need to make it easy for any reader to follow you on Social media. Especially if you want them to connect with you on several platforms.

Therefore make your social networking links obvious by highlighting them on your blog. Display the icons in a viewable prominent position, and link them straight to your profiles. Another one of the social media tricks is if you can match these to your blog’s theme, all the better.

4.    Using StumbleUpon to drive traffic

StumbleUpon is similar to a blog directory, where you can gain followers who are interested in your topic. Users can access a browser which allows them to click through the pages they are following. They are also recommended blog posts which match what they are already reading.

Bloggers are able to submit their blog posts to attract “StumbleUpon Friends” obtained by following and sharing each other blog’s content. This new audience will share your content not only on the StumbleUpon platform, but also on their social media accounts.

Unfortunately there is no definitive guide on how to get your content to go viral. But you can definitely get a good amount of consistent traffic and readers coming to your blog through this platform.

5.    Using RSS for your LinkedIn profile

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is one of the useful social media tricks that allows you to submit your blog posts automatically to other sites.

LinkedIn has a plugin which submits your posts directly to it every time you publish a new post on your blog. This makes sure your LinkedIn connections get to see your blog posts, helping to turn them into new readers.

6.    Link Shorteners are your best friend

Another one of the social media tricks is that many social media platforms will shorten your links for you, particularly on Twitter which has a character limit.

With sites like Facebook and Google+, the length of your link isn’t as important. But using a service such as bit.ly gives you an insight to your analytics. Here you can see how many people have clicked your link and what time they clicked.

This data will allow you to experiment with the best times to post, as well as changing how you reveal your content.

7.    Pinterest is the visual platform for bloggers

Pinterest has a huge number of bloggers who are successfully establishing a presence there. It gives you the ability to pin your best images to a themed board, which link to relevant blog posts.

The type of blogs that work best on this platform are those who are visually strong, such as fashion, design, crafts, food and, of course, travel. Infographics also do extremely well, as they can be repined several times, possibly even going viral.

If you use WordPress, you should definitely consider getting the Pinterest plugin. This will allow your readers to pin and share your content on their Pinterest account.

8.    Use your blog as your social media username

It’s important to promote your brand. This means there needs to be consistency throughout all your social media channels. This avoids confusion for your audience when they follow you on more than one social media platform.

Another one of the social media tricks to to pay attention to your avatar. If you upload your logo into gravatar.com, it will be able to be used uniformly throughout social media.

9.    Continue to be social, even if it doesn’t generate traffic

Remember, not everyone will get immediate engagement from their social media, and no one can successfully build a brand overnight.

This can be frustrating, especially if you feel you’re posting great content and yet no one is visiting your blog via social media.

However, spending time on social media and building relationships is definitely the best way to build up a following. And also you can get great ideas for your next blog post through the discussions and conversations.

10. Be generous with your time and engagement

If you engage with other bloggers’ posts and share their content, this is a guaranteed way to get them to return the favour.

Too much self-promotion is not tolerated on social media streams, so vary the content you post by sharing other blogs. One of the best social media tricks is to retweet, repin and reciprocate any actions whenever anyone shares your posts.

Do you know any other social media tricks?

Tell us about them through the comment box below – we are looking forward to reading them.

About the author:

Ray Sherlock is the owner of Engage Hub, a Social Media Agency in Manchester, UK. We are a social media and influencer agency who have a passion for video, engaging content and disruptive campaigns.

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