I’ve received a few questions lately from newer bloggers about how, when and why they should use social media for their blogs. Is it effective? What are the must-haves? Is it more important than blogging? Than reading other blogs?
Here’s the thing: social media is itself a constantly changing industry. How many times has Facebook updated their interface since you signed up? Probably more than you can remember. When did it acquire Instagram? Not too long ago. Since when could you sponsor a “trend” on Twitter? I have no idea!
Even the structures within which we play, aren’t playing by the same rules.
A lot of this can be overwhelming to a social media first-timer, especially someone who’s dipping into it mainly for blogging purposes. And, if you’re like me, you’re neither an expert or an enemy of social media, but you want to use it in a simple, manageable, non-addicting fashion.
Like most of my posts, this is ultimately a “How-I” rather than a “How-To”. If you want to triple your page views via social media, then I’m probably not the person to ask. But if you want to use social media in a simple, relatively effective and efficient way, then read on!
I’d also like to point you to two posts that I found informative:
- How To Promote Your Blog Via Social Media (A Beautiful Exchange)
- Top Social Media Sites: The Top 3 (She Is Fierce)
Which Platforms Do I Use?
First, let me break this down by sharing about each social media platform that I actively use. I know there are more, but I use these four.
Twitter: tweeting– what is it? It’s a method of sharing ideas and links (a photo if you wish) with your followers, all under 140 characters. If you add a hashtag (starting with #: for example #thebachelor), people who click or search that term might find your tweet. But ultimately, most of your tweets will be seen by your followers, and by those who follow anyone who retweets your tweet.
Facebook: Most of us love and hate this platform. Love, because it has over a billion users. Hate, because newsfeeds are increasingly crowded with sponsored (paid-for) content. Also hate, because there are lots of “like” farms overseas where people can actually purchase “fans”. At the end of the day, a Facebook page for your blog is usually considered a necessary evil. It’s a way that makes your page accessible to most followers who might be interested. But it’s probably not very effective.
Pinterest: Lots of things belong on Pinterest, but they have one thing in common: excellent high-quality photographs (preferably vertical). Common “pins” that make it to Pinterest are how-to’s and tips, recipes, DIYs, fashion ideas, and interior design. If you use Pinterest, you’ll want to use large photos in your blog post and be sure to pin them with a description of that blog post content. Adding words to the image also works– that way people will see the image and immediately connect it with what your post is about.
Instagram: No, you can’t hyperlink in Instagram other than in your profile, so you can’t really link anything through an IG post. Instagram is a fun platform on which to make announcements, promote your current blog post, and share some “behind the scenes” shots. It’s a method of engaging with followers and other bloggers while “off duty”.
Bloglovin: Bloglovin is not a social media platform! HOWEVER, I strongly encourage you to make sure there’s a Bloglovin’ account for your site, and a follow button visibly available. Lots of readers and bloggers use Bloglovin’ instead of other RSS feeds. Email subscriptions to daily posts would be the same thing.
How Do I Use These Platforms?
Again, I feel I should reiterate that I’m not a #winner at social media. I’m just a regular, unaggressive user who has seen a few benefits that social media can bring to my blogging experience!
Twitter and Facebook: I’m listing these together because the way I use them is similar (see Facebook Groups below for exception). I schedule tweets and shares via Hootsuite, which will optimize the time during which they are shared. You can set up your Hootsuite account for free and schedule tweets so that your old posts get some traffic too. All you have to do then, is navigate to that post, and then click the little owl in the corner of your browser. Voila!
*How often do I do this? About 10-15 minutes, once a day: I schedule and promote old posts. At the end of the day: I log onto Twitter to see what other people are tweeting, respond to any replies to my tweets. I might promote a friend’s blog post if I think it’s awesome. After about 20 minutes, I sign out.
Pinterest: Pinterest is more of a hobby for me, so I spend more time there. I create good images with informative text for each of my post. As soon as the post goes live that morning, I’ll pin an image to a relevant board (category). For example, I pinned yesterday’s granola bar recipe to my Food Lust board.
*How often do I do this? It depends. If you follow me on Pinterest, you’ll know that I pin about 10 recipes a day. I LOVE cooking, and I usually use these recipes as inspiration to create something of my own. However, I still limit my Pinterest time. I try to keep it under 20-30 minutes a day. During this time, I scroll through my feed, enter search terms if I’m looking for something, and will re-Pin a few things from the past that I’ve already pinned before. It works!
Instagram: I only recently opened up my account to the public. Before then, I had about 11 followers– just my closest friends! Nowadays, I open up Instagram only about 4-5 times a day. I post a photo once a day, maybe twice if I’ve captured some really great images. If I have an image-heavy blog post up, I’ll upload a photo of it to IG and encourage people to check it out. More importantly, I spend time liking and interacting with friends and followers.
*How often do I do this? As I said, only a handful of times each day. I don’t want to be an Instagram addict! And I am pretty committed to following fewer than 100 accounts at once.
One last platform…
Facebook Groups: This is the richest source of community I’ve found! Joining a blogging facebook group can mean connecting with new friends, asking all the “dumb” questions, participating in activities and more. This is pretty much the only reason why I still have a personal Facebook account!
How has social media enriched my blogging experience?
Good question. First, you should probably read my post on 6 ways that blogging has enriched my life— if these are your goals too, then the following will resonate with you.
1) Connecting with new blog friends outside of Simplicity Relished. This mostly applies to Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook Groups. Sharing my friends’ posts, saying hello, liking their photos and responding to questions is an excellent way to connect. I felt so much more supported in my blogging endeavor once I became active on these platforms. But there’s no need to be glued to them in order to feel that connection!
2) Reaching out to new audiences. Through Twitter and Pinterest, I’ve received traffic from like-minded people and even made a few new friends! When someone comes to you because they clicked on your tweet or your pin, you already know that they share some of your interests. Convenient, right?
3) Cultivating a “culture” for my blog. The things I share on my blog-related accounts– whether on Pinterest, Twitter or Facebook– tell my followers what my blog is all about. Blogging is no longer about simply finding your own voice and writing your own content (though that is the first and most important step); it’s also about sharing a certain ethos, culture or perspective that you want to promote. And you can do this through social media!
4) Finding new inspiration. Choosing to share my own content on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest has helped me find new accounts to follow, new ideas to consider and new recipes to try! I think there’s a delicate balance between being glued to social media, and using it in a healthy way to enrich our lives. Of course, I’m all about the latter.
A final note
You don’t have to be super active on social media. Actually, when it comes to blogging, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.
Unless, of course, your blog is a business and it pays the bills.
Try out one platform at a time, and figure out a balance that’s right for you. There’s no need to feel intimidated by these platforms, or by people who have 50k followers when you only have 2. Everyone had 2 at one point or another.
As you become more savvy, continue to ask yourself: am I enjoying this? Is this enriching my life?
And, when your feed gets really cluttered with stuff you don’t care about, do this social media detox. Un-following is so fun sometimes!
How do YOU use social media? Which are your favorite platforms? Have you become more active on social media once you started blogging? I’d love to know!
I have been playing with the idea of starting a Facebook group for bloggers my age recently, so your praise for them definitely confirms my thoughts! 🙂
Great post Daisy! I love how you’ve broken everything down and made it so clear and easy to follow. Unlike other parts of life where you’re paired with your peers until you graduate or are promoted to the next level, social media throws you in with everyone else — all the varieties of skill, time put into it, interests, style, levels of name recognition or popularity, etc. — all in the same pool at the same time, to either sink or swim. It’s incredibly overwhelming for those getting started. I think the final questions are key — you can pick and chose the social media platforms that you enjoy and enrich your life. There’s no rules, and there’s really no clear cut statistics I’ve seen that you HAVE to be an expert across all platforms to grow your brand. In the end, if you’re enjoying it, that’s what will come through and attract like-minded folk.
xo
http://www.threadandbones.com
you are awesome! seriously! thanks!
Hahaha I felt like I had to learn at least a thing or two about social media, especially because in the past I rarely used pinterest and never used twitter. I’ve found them to be much better than facebook though, and I personally really enjoy pinterest. Today I just searched “balcony” and found all kinds of gorgeous photos! I may suffer from balcony lust now…
Thank you so much Niamh! I honestly think that twitter is a good fit for some people but not all– I definitely find Pinterest is better for how-to’s, recipes, and anything with images. Twitter seems to work best for sharing ideas rather than concrete things… but that’s just my perspective!
Thanks Anne! 🙂
Thank you so much Rachel! Scheduling apps are really helpful– I don’t like being on social media all day everyday, but it’s useful to appear “active”.
Oh wow! Good for you Jeannette– that’s amaazing that your friend shared your blog, that’s so so cool! I think one thing you should really consider is sponsoring other blogs, if you have a little extra money. It can be so helpful for other people to promote your blog and put your name out there to bring you more readers. I know I’ve said this before, but I really think that sponsoring other blogs helped me learn a lot more about blogging, a lot faster. I don’t offer sponsorships, but some of my friends do. 🙂 Your blog has a great future, I know it!
Thanks so much! I am so glad it was helpful, feel free to send me any questions you might have 🙂
Thank you so much Heidi! Hope you’ve had a lovely weekend.
Thank you Kerrie! Your puppy sounds absolutely adorable!!! Instagram is a great way to share puppy pictures. I follow a lot of dog instagram accounts…. hahaha
Thank you Gina! My favorite facebook group has been the Peony Project! I was in a few others but found it too overwhelming to keep up with all of them. 🙂
Thanks so much Rachel! And exactly– facebook is the social media that practically everyone has, and definitely not the others. I think the key with Pinterest is to start following the bloggers you like who share recipes, diy’s etc. because watching them pin things will help you figure it out! At least that’s what I did. 😉
Thank you Natalie!! It takes a while to decide what we share on which platform… I find that pinterest can be really really great for anything that’s informative, which is mostly what I blog about. I can see what you mean about privacy though. I don’t have kids but that would be on my mind as well.
It’s crazy overwhelming! I was overwhelmed at first. Thanks for stopping by Becca!
Hahaha Facebook is so so so useless sometimes, and you’re right– follow the wrong people and all you get are negative posts and ridiculous selfies. I like the way you use IG, by the way– especially photos of your adorable daughter. And ahaha Pinterest is pretty useful!
Thanks for stopping by Amanda!
Thank you so much Kristy! That’s so cool, the classroom analogy. I’m an aspiring teacher, by the way– so cool that you used to teach!
Thank you Susannah!! Glad it was helpful 🙂
Thanks Annie!
Thanks Catherine! Twitter is so much easier to use especially for blog stuff– I feel like all my facebook shares get buried under ads. And I use my personal facebook pretty rarely, mostly just for the Peony Project!
Thanks girl! Glad to hear 🙂
Thank you Becky!
Thank you so much, so glad to hear it! Schedulers are so helpful, I’ve been loving that!
Thanks girl! And haha I’m with you– sometimes I realize I’ve gone silent for days and didn’t even miss it.
Thanks Shauna! Glad it was helpful, let me know if you ever have any questions 🙂
I agree Brooke! I work mostly on my blog as well and interact mostly through comments. Thank you so much 🙂
Thanks! Social media can be really helpful!
Thank you Jenna! It’s good to have your own social media routine– it’s tough to try to keep up with everything all the time.
Glad to hear it was helpful Terrence! Let me know if you ever have questions– I’m no expert but I’ll share everything I know!
Thanks Joanne– good luck friend! 🙂
Thank you so much Joanna, I’m really glad to hear that! Definitely stick with what you’re comfortable with and slowly expand– social media can take so much time!
Thanks Rachel! Yes, twitter is super useful!
Good to know! I’ve enjoyed using twitter but am still learning how to put together a “good tweet”. 🙂
This is great! I am REALLY bad at social media and made it a point in 2015 to be way more present. I’m the girl who has her phone on silent 24/7 and I rarely check it. I really need to be better. I’ve been kind of in the dark about social media and blogging so it’s great to hear what other bloggers are doing – getting tips are great! And I so agree with what you said about Facebook!
– Sarah 🙂
http://www.thecrownbijoux.blogspot.com
Great post Daisy! I’m kind of ashamed to say but I have NO IDEA how to use Twitter. I actively use all the other social media platforms and I’m addicted to Instagram & Pinterest
but I have no idea where to start with Twitter… I think I might have a twitter account but I wouldn’t know how to check! Haha 🙂
Great and informative post!! Love this! Simple tips that will take you and your blog further. Thanks for sharing.
Wonderful post, Daisy! Thank you for sharing! I’m currently trying to make my posts on social media more consistent, through schedualing apps and websites, and this should help.
Dear Daisy! I really needed this post. I have never been a social media person and the only platform I used before I started blogging was FB and to be honest with you, I didn’t even used it that much. Now that I am a “blogger” I have forced myself myself to get more involved in the social media world. I immediately opened my blot FB page and thanks to one of my best friends from childhood who is a very famous Latin singer, “Olga Tañon”, I earned my very first 5500 followers from an announcement she made (she mentioned my blog on her FB page one time). That day I thought my FB page got a virus because the like number kept increasing and I wasn’t sure why. I didn’t know she had announced my blog on her FB page until later that day when she texted me. Anyways, that is how I got my followers I got on my FB page. I now use IG and have a tweater and Pinterest account that I don’t use much but know that I need to begin paying attention to (especially pinterest) if I want my blog to grow. Finding time is a challenge for me but since I would like to get somewhere with my blog one day, I know I must get on it. This post was amazing and I found it super informative and I want to tell you that you are very talented and that you were born with many gifts one of them being the gift of communication. You are also very creative and I can clearly see you running a very profitable blog one day (not too far away). Your blog is amazing and trust me (I have visited quite a few!) So don’t stop my friend and keep going but must importantly keep believing in yourself and dreaming big! You will see:-). Blessings to you always:-) Jeannette
http://www.msjeannieandhercloset.com
Thank you for all the infos very helpful. Im a newbie blogger and I need this things.
xoxo
http://www.analynmilallos.com
This is such a GREAT and informative post, Daisy! Amazing and super helpful tips!
Heidi D.
http://www.wishesandreality.com
Such an interesting post! It’s really funny because I used to hate social media and I kept trying to use facebook and twitter because I heard you kind of “had to” in order o have a successful blog but I just didn’t enjoy either and always abandoned them after a while. Then, when I got my puppy who’s a big ball of black fur I started using instagram simply for the filters (black furballs don’t photograph well without a professional camera) and just fell in love with the platform. Honestly, I think I use it a little too often but on the brightside it has been wonderful for both me and my blog.
K.xo
http://www.rarelytakenseriously.com
These are awesome tips, Daisy! I’m loving how your approach is simple and realistic. What are your favorite Facebook groups? I always love knowing what people join! Thanks so much for this post, friend!
This is a great post Daisy 🙂 I use all of these platforms and I think that instagram’s being the most useful for me. I agree Facebook is a necessary evil as I don’t have many followers there, but the ones I do have don’t use any other social media. I like your tips about pinterest, I’ve not really got the hang of it yet but will apply your tips!!
Rachel xx
http://www.thedailyluxe.net
This post is everything! Social media is a constant love/hate relationship for me. I am just this week trying to get more fluent with twitter, because I know a lot of bloggers swear by it and I need to make it work for me. Facebook is actually my highest referral, even above Pinterest, but I am trying to get more Pinterest savvy about when and how I pin my own content. Instagram…well I’m a total gram-a-holic, but I’ve been going back and forth lately on whether or not to start posting more pictures of my kids JUST to my personal facebook and using Instagram for other things. I think I am leaning more toward that direction and actually just made my profile public today. I love instagram because it is like my kids’ baby book, but I am kind of wanting to keep their lives a little bit more private as time goes on. I just need to make sure I’m still TAKING the pictures of them, even if I’m not always sharing!
I completely agree with you on one at a time. Trying to master all at once is way too overwhelming!
Oh Facebook, the form of social media I find myself second guessing why I even have one every single day. It’s become nothing but a way for people to complain about their lives and trash talk others. Instagram is pretty much my most used form of social media, though I don’t really focus on my blog. For me it’s just little snapshots, videos, etc. My life through my eyes. I’m addicted to Pinterest though. To an embarrassing level. It’s managed to gain me quite a bit of traffic. Especially on my recipe pins. (:
http://www.accordingtokiki123.blogspot.com
Thanks for all the info 🙂
Daisy, this is such a great post for newbies to social media! And I love your insight about your experience, especially #3. I never realized that I’m actually creating a culture when I share posts on Facebook, Insta, and Pinterest. Love it! I’ve always seen my blog and its social media sites are like my classroom (I used to be a teacher), and everything I surround myself reflects my beliefs, humor, and sentiments. 🙂 I love the blogging community, and I especially love supporting one another. Thanks for the great read!
This is fabulous! I learned some new tips I’m going to implement.
Thanks for sharing!!
xo Annie
laircake.com
These are great tips, Daisy. I’ve really grown to love Twitter and agree that Facebook is a necessary evil. It’s more annoying but I’ve had an account for almost 10 years, so I won’t be getting rid of it any time soon.
Such a helpful post love! Thanks for sharing all this great info!
xo
Michaela
http://michaelajeanblog.com
An amazing post, thanks for sharing your comments and experiences with social media!
VelvetandVino.com
It’s definitely way too tempting to spend time lost in Instagram photos or pretty pins. Your efforts to limit yourself are commendable–using schedulers, setting aside a specific time to respond to comments/shares/etc, and re-sharing old content are all great ways to keep your schedule organized. That way you have more time to write new stuff! Great post, was glad to run across it in my Pinterest feed 🙂
Such a great post, Daisy! I’m a big fan of detoxing on my social media. Sometimes I think I’m too good at it, so I have to beef it back up. And you’re absolutely right, you don’t have to do any part of this that you don’t want to. Remembering that your blog is for you first and foremost is so important!
I love this post. I really have been thinking of how to enhance my blog and how to incorporate social media more. Great tips, I really appreciate your thoughts!
Shauna
http://www.lipglossandlace.net
I used to be big into social media, but then found I really didn’t enjoy it. I wasn’t making lasting connections and it was more of a chore than fun. So, I turned my focus to reading other blogs which is what I enjoy and the main reason I started blogging! Great post as always Daisy!
Brooke
Pumps and Push-Ups
Good ideas. We all want more readers.
This post is so full of great advice! I wish I had this when I first started blogging. I wasted way too much time with social media and got bogged down doing so many things. Now, I’ve figured out a much better system since I know what works best for me. I’ll be trying some of your tips soon.
I agree! Twitter helps because words are my art and twitter allows you to really be creative with words!
Good golly! This post is CHOCK full of awesome info. Thanks for writing it, Daisy! As always you are right on point. I really admire how you keep a pulse on your “culture” and write what they want/need to hear. You are on fire!
Wow, how helpful! I am working on a Twitter page, so please wish me luck. <3
http://thoughtsintiffanyblue.blogspot.com/
This is so helpful to me, Daisy, and I loved the articles you linked to-especially the one from A Beautiful Exchange. I’m learning so much! I use Facebook and Instagram the most and try to post daily one each of those, although I also have Twitter and Pinterest. I really should start doing more with social media though!
lovejoanna.com
I love your approach. I know myself, and I know that being very businesslike and strategic with social media is just not my thing. I probably enjoy twitter the most as a blogger–I enjoy facebook the most personally, not as much for the blog. 🙂
If I had to pick only one form of social media for my blog – i.e., which one I think is most important, I’d say twitter. I didn’t create a blogging twitter account until 6 months in, and it did make a noticeable difference! x