Tips on Using Social Media for Writers and Bloggers

There is a sea of content online and at times it can be tough to figure out how to cut through it in order to get your content out in front of people. I personally feel that written content is especially difficult to get in front of a new audience, especially if you are just starting out. Social media is the best tool at our disposal to gain some traction online, there are so many great communities that are willing to connect with you and drive more exposure to your work. The #writingcommunity on Twitter is the main way I have been able to connect with other writers and have meaningful interactions with them.

Being able to take advantage of all different kinds of social media is really important in this modern age, without the ability to market your work and yourself as a brand you will not be able to find the traction you need in order to get the SEO working for your site. SEO takes time and consistency in order to really start bringing in organic clicks from search engines, so until you hit a point with your content where it will be able to be found on its own you will need to push it forward on your own. I also recommend taking advantage of Google Analytics to see what is working well for you and what types of things you could improve on to make your content easier to find.

SEO is one of the most important things to take into consideration if you want to create a successful website that will bring in traffic organically. What it breaks down into is how easy it is for your site to get noticed and recommended in search engines. You can optimize your website to come up in searches by researching keywords people are searching for and including those in your posts and tags. No matter what you do to optimize your website, the process of getting picked up in searches will take some time. The best thing you can do is to continue to churn out high quality content at a consistent pace, doing so will eventually help your website find the traction you are looking for.

On one hand social media can be one of the most valuable tools available, but on the other it can be one of the biggest hurdles for many of us to get over. Social media provides a constant distraction and can keep giving us reasons not to do the most important part of this entire process, producing the actual content. Getting caught up in tracking how a post is doing on one of your pages, or trying to make sure it is being shared at the rate you were looking for can take you out of the mind space you need to be in to create. If you have problems with getting distracted by social media or websites while working I would recommend doing something even as small as logging out of your social media accounts while working, just putting that little bit of friction between you and those distractions will make it seem like a hassle you will not want to deal with.

Once you have your work done and social media marketing planned out, the best thing you can do is find likeminded people with whom to share your work. There are so many writers and bloggers online in communities like the one I mentioned earlier that want to connect and create with you. Reach out to you most consistent readers and find out what they do that works well for them, most of us are open to helping others and honestly it always makes me feel good to interact with my followers on here and help people whenever I can.

For a while I was only using my personal social media accounts to promote what I put out on my blog, but after a while I realized I wanted to have a more professional look to the way I share my content so I created Instagram and Facebook accounts for Books and Pixels. I feel it looks better to have all my posts organized in these places with none of my other personal thoughts bleeding in. I still use my personal accounts to share these posts but it adds that little bit of separation that makes it feel more professional. I really do recommend doing this as it allows your brand to grow into something of it’s own.

Another thing you can do is try to cross-promote with other bloggers and have guest bloggers. This is a win/win for both parties, you can reach out to new audiences while also deepening those connections in the community. If you have the opportunity to do this I would take it, because there really is no downside to working with someone else who shares your passions. I see any chance to grow my network and work with cool people to reach an audience you might not have otherwise as a win.

There is no better way to get started on these ideas and use social media to your advantage than by asking. Look at your followers on Twitter for instance and see who you interact with the most. I would start with these people and just open up that line of communication and see if they would be interested in some sort of collaboration. They might say no, and that’s okay, but if they say yes, then you might be able to start something great that will benefit the both of you. Nothing will happen until you reach out and see what types of things people are open to. Even if someone says no right now, it doesn’t mean they won’t be more receptive to the idea in the future. They might even remember the conversation you had and reach back out to you.

Bloggers, especially on WordPress, seem to have a sort of kinship. I have never been a part of a community that so genuinely wants to help each other and see others succeed. It’s honestly refreshing and has helped me in many ways cultivate my own creativity. WordPress has it’s own built in social media of sorts with the reader, you can find new blogs and like their posts right from the WordPress website and app. I would definitely recommend looking there to find blogs similar to your own and start following them. I have found so many book bloggers and video game bloggers this way, and they have been some of my favorite people to interact with online. Like I said, we are all willing to help and want to see everyone succeed so reach out and try to create those meaningful connections. If you are looking for someone to reach out to and start some sort of a collaboration with, I am always looking for new ways to make content online and find new people to connect with!

As always, thanks so much for reading! If you felt like this helped you in any way or you have differing opinions, let me know in the comments below. I would also love to hear from you on the topic of social media, so feel free to reach out to me there! Check back (at least) every Wednesday and Saturday for more posts or sign-up via email to make sure you never miss a thing!