This series aims to provide tips and tricks for the omnipresent question bloggers ask? How do I grow my blog? For Part 1, click here.
Blogging for business is all about creating an image, and to grow your audience, you want that image to please your customers. For Part 2, I curate and elaborate on techniques and tools for being active in your community AND forming relationships: the most rewarding marketing tactic in this digital age.
16. Write with personality
Find your brand’s voice. Use that voice in every blog and social media post. Are your blog posts boring or lacking in humanity? You need to inject some real and relatable traits into your writing! That’s how salespersons charm their prospects. The same goes for blogging.
A simple test: Pick a blog post at random, read it. Can you tell YOU wrote it? Are you in it? Are your character and passions present?
17. Make memes. Or use them.
Writing with personality means being relatable. The importance of relatability makes you memorable and it has viral potential. It can be so simple, and yet profound.
Consider WWF’s posts below. Polar bears and pandas tugs heartstrings by themselves, but everyone takes selfies! This meme campaign, along with that hashtag, reached and touched millions.
Think big when it comes to your own campaigns— but you don’t have to spend big. Meme generators are free.
18. Motivate your audience to be vocal and social.
85% of small businesses get customers through word of mouth. You want people to talk about you. How about giving them a little incentive to spread the love? Referral tools are aplenty and give your audience rewards or interactive games– yes, that’s right. They call this gamification and if it matches your service/product, go for it.
Rewards, gratification and acknowledgment all build loyalty.
Take your pick from the following for options in customizing a reward system.
19. Utilize alerting tools.
So, you employed the above tactic and your blog’s audience IS probably already mentioning you on their social media and websites. Are you notified? You won’t always be tagged– some are tech-challenged and might not tag you even though you’re connected on a social platform!
Solution: Alert tools. Surprise people when you turn up and thank them!
- Mention
- SocialMention
- Google Alerts
- Linkstant and Open Site Explorer – keep track of who links to you
- PinAlerts (currently offline) – know when someone pins your blog images to their Pinterest. If you play your cards right and create great visual content, chances are, you WOULD get pinned.
Bonus tip: Set up alerts when your competitors are mentioned, too. Great way to gather insight!
Speaking of Pinterest…
20. Use social media tools.
Sure, we all know by now how powerful social media is, but that doesn’t mean losing all your time on it, or hiring it out to a virtual assistant who then does everything manually. That’s not efficient, and it could cost you in the long run.
Buffer and Hootsuite – Most of you have probably already used or heard of Buffer and Hootsuite. More than a sharing platform for all your social media accounts, they also provide performance insight about your posts.
IFTTT – “If This Then That” is a wonderful tool in uniting your social media and saving you time. It connects all your social platforms through ‘recipes’. You can even connect tasks for every post– if you post on Facebook, then post it on Trello or Slack for you and your team to get back to later (for repost, for comment monitoring, etc). Oh, and IFTTT is free.
Edgar – Share and re-share your posts– because only a few actually see those posts. If you have tips, jokes and inspirationals, Edgar can help you schedule every type of post for maximum benefits to your readers (and you). Watch your page views increase because you repost your articles.
21. Be a dependable source.
No, you don’t have to hire reporters and have them do stakeouts. But sharing and talking about news or what’s new in your niche CAN be your catapult to Google’s first page, and your audience will love hanging out on your page if it’s all they need to stay updated.
Feedly – I love this because it’s useful for content curation as well as being an RSS feed right in your inbox. You can set up a separate folder for it in Gmail for convenience and organization. Every morning, give it a browse, and you can immediately share what you find, or add them to your content calendar for curation or extension.
- Add only the best, authoritative websites to Feedly.
- Browse by topic and find obscure but delightful sources.
What about your audience’s questions? I mentioned before that you need awareness of your audience’s pain points. FaqFox is a search tool that combs forums for questions your target audience is asking. Answer their questions; post the answers in your blog or social media.
22. Don’t let your readers leave without opting in.
Picreel specializes in “exit offers.” It gives you options to personalize irresistible lead magnets when your site visitor is leaving. Many beginner bloggers suffer big bounce rates (people arriving at your site, only to leave again), but with tantalizing exit offers, you can still hook them.
Sharing different types of content with your subscribers is just another great way to bring more traffic to your site.
Which of these do you already use? Any results to share? Which are you planning to sign up for?
Please, let us know in the comments!
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