Blogging Basics – Does Social Media Help?
Last year, it was estimated that there was 31 million bloggers in just the United States.
Writing a quality article means a blogger will spend their time not only writing, but researching, finding photos and editing a post before hitting the publish button. The question then becomes is it enough to stop working on an article after you publish it?
Start or Stop
Social media can help build a community.
Every day in the world, someone begins blogging and someone quits blogging. The difference between beginning a blog and quitting a blog is learning about the ongoing relationship of adaptability and community.
A beginning blogger will complete an article, publish it and wait for readers to visit. They will check the sites stats throughout the day. They get excited “if” one person finds their post.
They can keep up this same routine for weeks without understanding why they have no visitors on their site. A blogger will have to learn that blogging is more than writing, it is also about interacting within your community or niche.
Adaptability and community
Human nature tells us we have to adapt to our surroundings. In blogging, adapting means that it is okay to try new things, but you also have to know when things are not working. When you write a blog, you have to learn to adapt to the community you want to know about.
Community building is one of the most essential steps a blogger does. A community should encompass other websites, readers and potential future readers. One of the quickest ways to start building a community around your site is through social media.
Many people say that social media is king. I think blogging and social media are complementary towards each other, and neither one is dominant.
1.) Social media allows blogs to be shared easily.
2.) Blogs offer social media greater value and depth. We might get bored if we only shared our mothers Facebook status through social media.
When you are working on community building, do not be afraid of stepping outside of your comfort zone. Many people find the different social medias intimidating. Truthfully, you have a lot to gain by using social media when building and learning about a community.
More About Social Media
There are many forms of social media that bloggers can work in building relationships within their niche. Three of my favorite social platforms are Facebook, Google + and Twitter.
1.) Twitter – Twitter is one of my favorite social media tools. It allows users to send and receive text-based messages of 140 characters. Twitter gives you the ability to share other bloggers articles. You can begin to build a community by responding to the tweets others make by retweeting them, commenting on them and visiting their blogs.
If you want to understand your niche better, a good option is joining a twitter chat. The chats or conversations all use a preset hashtag word (e.g. #dadchat) in every tweet to let others know they are participating in a conversation.
Twitter chats communicate in real-time. It allows people to ask questions and begin to understand one another. It is even possible to find some new followers because of these chats. If you want to learn more about twitter chats Carolyn Nicander Mohr, from The Wonder of Tech wrote an excellent article entitled Twitter Chats – Get Together With Tweets.
2.) Facebook – If you enjoy being creative on your blog then Facebook is something you might like. Facebook gives bloggers the opportunity to set-up a page specifically for their blog. Facebook gives a writer the freedom to post short messages, ideas or questions.
You can share things with your readers that they might like from other blogs as well as things you find online. The more engaged you are on Facebook with the readers, the more likely they will respond to your Facebook blogs fan page (and potentially your website).
3.) Google Plus – I have heard people say that no one ever would want to use Google Plus but if you are a blogger it is something you undoubtedly need. A Google Plus account lets a user create circles and join hang-outs with other people in their niche (both extremely helpful on building a community). It also is helpful in showing ownership of a particular article.
If you have noticed in Google search results, some of the results include a photo next to it or Google Authorship. It is a way to confirm that you are the author of that particular article. The only way you can use Google Authorship on your blog is to have a Google Plus personal account. It allows a Google Plus account to link with the content that you create on your blog giving you ownership over your work.
Personal Choice
I can not tell you that you have to build a community around your blog. However, it is the community that can tell you when something is not working. They are the ones that can answer questions and help build a better blog. If you are writing a blog for your family, do not adapt, they are your only readers. If you want to realize your potential in blogging be willing to adapt and be part of the blogging community through social media.
How do you feel about community building? Do you think social media and blogging are interconnected? Do you use social media to enhance your blogging? If so, what is your favorite platform?
Read my last Blogging Basics post here Blogging Basics – Am I A Writer?
Visit my home page and see more great posts on blogging, fatherhood, humor and life fast forward!
You can follow me on twitter @dadblunders or on my Facebook fan page, Dadblunders.
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Tags: Blog, blogger, bloggers, circumstances, creative freedom, creativity, niche, photos, quality article, relationship, time consuming
I think twitter has to be my favourite medium as it’s allowed me not only to read more blog posts from people but also to reach more people from their kindness in re-tweeting me.I do send to Facebook but confess that I don’t really visit there any more to chat or interact with people. So far I’ve not seen any benefit to adding the posts to Pinterest but I’m expecting that to take off whereas Gather.com seems to be encountering more and more difficulties and you have to cut and paste blogs there.
David Prosser recently posted…Quietness.
David,
Twitter is probably my favorite medium. I “had” always enjoyed Facebook until they started doing more and more sponsored posts.
When I started my fan page on Facebook I would receive lots of comments and shares. Now, I still receive them but not in the quantities of life before sponsored posts.
I actually did not mention Pinterest in this post for reason. I am working on an article about reasons that Pinterest may not be so friendly towards bloggers. I will admit though I have always enjoyed Pinterest in the past. My perspective isn’t so clear cut after some of the things I have read.
Aaron Brinker recently posted…Who Wants To Be A Cowboy?
Hi Aaron, I see that you’ve changed your commenting platform since my last comment. I love it:) I use FB and twitter regularly but I’m not very knowledgable on google +. That needs to go on the to-do list. I prefer twitter but what I’ve found is that twitter is most beneficial connecting with other bloggers. I have a healthy living blog, so obviously I want to connect with people who find it beneficial and inspirational and FB is where I get a lot of that. I didn’t realize how relevant FB still was until I started blogging in December. I don’t spend time lurking on any social media, but I get so much traffic from FB primarily and twitter that I am forced to engage there. I don’t mind. I have grown to like it. I do not approve of FB’s tactics to try to get you to purchase promotions on fan pages though so I still link to my personal page as well.
Joi recently posted…An Orientation for Group Fitness Classes
Joi,
Thank you! I thought I would try a different platform for commenting. I hope it is user friendly, and everyone likes it. It was a hard decision for me to change.
Google plus is certainly something you need as a blogger. The Google authorship is something you need to have on your posts (at least in my opinion).
I have always enjoyed Facebook to. I have the same complaint that you have…i can’t stand sponsored posts. I have purchased a couple of them in the past few weeks to do some research. I wanted to see if it increased the viewership on a post and it’s effects. I am planning on doing a write up on it sometime in the near future.
Aaron Brinker recently posted…From Boyhood to Fatherhood
Very good advice!
Thank you!
I am glad you enjoyed it. When I started blogging, one thing I wanted the most was information that didn’t need a computer science degree to understand. I hope I am succeeding in helping a few bloggers.
Aaron Brinker recently posted…Defining Dad Bloggers
Hi Aaron, Thanks for the shoutout! You’re right, social media can really help us spread the word about our articles. You picked out the best ones here. Twitter and Facebook send me the most traffic. Google + gets the attention of Google, which is never a bad thing, right?
If I had to add two to this list, I would add StumbleUpon and Pinterest. Both have generated significant traffic to my blog, though not as much as the ones you mention.
You’re right about Twitter chats. Not only are they a great way to interact with others, but you can also gain new followers through the chats!
Carolyn recently posted…10 Features My iPhone Has that Your Galaxy S3 Doesn’t
Carolyn,
You are more than welcome for the shoutout. Originally, I was going to add Pinterest and Stumbleupon in this article. I decided to talk about my favorite 3 (or the big three) because I have plans for the other two later.
I am working on an article about how Pinterest may not be so friendly to bloggers. In my research, I learned a few things that make me wonder about Pinterest (although I still enjoy it)
Twitter chats are still my favorite but time is always a factor. I want to participate in a hangout at some future date (time again being the biggest factor).
As always so much to do and not enough time.
Aaron Brinker recently posted…5 Ways Children Age Parents
Hi Aaron,
A different post from you but very useful indeed. Social media hasn’t always been that great for me, a little traffic from twitter has always helped.
However in most cases I rely on relationship marketing because I have to know each and every reader of my blog to be able to attend to their personal problems better.
I have a few plans for promotion on Facebook, let me see how they click!
Aditya
Aditya recently posted…Do You Enjoy Working Hard in Life?
Aditya,
You are correct it is a little different article than I normally do. I try to do a blogging basics once a week. Everything is else is related to fatherhood or parenthood.
Aaron
Aaron Brinker recently posted…Are Men Good At Being Sick?
A great article.
A lot to think about.
Thanks for following my blog! Still trying to figure out how to follow back!
Kiril Kundurazieff recently posted…Day 6: What Mama Done Tol’ Me About Pinterest & My Thoughts, too
Thank you!
It takes some practice learning all the in’s and out’s of everything. I know that when I started i was constantly reading (I still do actually). Now, the biggest problem I have is finding the time to do everything I need to do.
Aaron
Aaron Brinker recently posted…Are Men Good At Being Sick?
I use Hootsuite to help manage Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.
Twitter is my favorite of the above for social media blog marketing because there’s a bigger group of people who seem willing to forward (retweet) your content and because Twitter seems to consistently be the largest traffic source.
Facebook is second in traffic sources and my preference, but I also get a decent amount of response to posts there versus on my blog.
I get almost no traffic coming in from Google+, despite a bigger, more committed push of content there. I don’t really have time for hangouts at this point, so I’m not really able to make much use of that feature.
As for LinkedIn, I still haven’t wrapped my head around using it as a more “wide open” social media site. I tend to restrict that to professional interests and networking rather than marketing my blog there. It just strikes me as inappropriate to post blog content to those circles unless I’m specifically writing about my professional work versus my opinions on news of the day, etc.
I think community is very important, and I’ve found that Livefyre’s commenting system has helped build that as well: it makes it easy to leave a comment in realtime and allows others to respond. I often have readers responding to each other, which is great because conversations happen that way.
Patrick recently posted…Why It’s My Least Favorite Day of the Year
Patrick,
I get the most traffic from twitter also. It has been a big assistance in promoting my blog. The main problem I have with all social media is finding the time to do everything (especially the last few weeks. Everyone has been sick).
Aaron
Aaron Brinker recently posted…Are Men Good At Being Sick?
Yes, I definitely know that feeling. Hootsuite has at least helped with that, because I can control most of the posting (and scheduling of posts) for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and G+ from there. That at least helps.
Patrick recently posted…Sunday Seven #385