It’s no easy feat to get a blog up and running, let alone gather a faithful following. With literally hundreds of thousands of blogs on every subject imaginable, it’s important to think outside the box to gain consistent, loyal readership. Luckily, the recent social media boom has engaged people of all ages, creating an extremely effective medium to reach current and potential readers across a range of demographics and lifestyles.
The most effective way to generate a large following is to write topical, interesting posts that will still be relevant next week or a year from now. Be generous with your expertise and knowledge, and link to other useful sites your readers may like (who will hopefully return the favor, and link back to you). The more readers share your posts, the more links that will be created and sent back to your site. Sounds easy, right? Once you’ve developed an amazing repertoire of future blog posts, the challenge lies in initially promoting yourself so you can begin roping people in with your insightful prose.
Facebook is a great place to start. With more than 250 million active users and 120 million people logging in once a day, the growth and influence of this social network cannot be overlooked. Facebook Fan Pages are comparable to user pages, but are designed specifically to advertise businesses or products, making it the perfect place to connect and engage with fans of your brand, and in this case, your blog.
One of the best things about Facebook is that, by its very nature, it is designed to go viral. Consider how when a friend updates his or her user page, it is displayed on your homepage news feed. Similarly, if someone joins your Fan Page, their friends will see the update, driving word-of-mouth information to a wider circle of friends. After your Fan Page is established, be sure to keep it updated with fresh, useful content, such as teasers and links to your blog posts, pictures and other information your audience might be interested in. If you have a personal Facebook account, invite all of your friends to check out and become fans of your Page – this will help develop a good core audience who can then help by recruiting their friends, who will recruit their friends, and so on.
While Facebook may seem like the most obvious place to advertise your blog, Twitter comes in at a close second. Fast-paced and always on the cutting edge, Twitter allows you to update short bursts of information and develop a wide, strategic group of followers. Post an intriguing, thoughtful headline and a link to your blog and in a matter of seconds, thousands of people can be reading your blog and re-posting the link for their followers to see. Like Facebook, Twitter is viral by nature.
It may also serve you well to search for blogs or articles related to your own topic through online resources like Technorati. As a search engine for blogs, Technorati indexes millions of blogs and pieces of tagged social media. Technorati tracks not only the influence of blogs in comparison with one another, but offers the most current snapshot of who and what topics are most popular in the blogosphere at any given point of time. Once you discover other blogs or articles related to your topic, engage in conversations with readers and leave thoughtful comments, with a quick mention of your blog and a link back to your page.
As with all self-promotion, be mindful that it’s not all about you. Share other interesting articles and opinions besides your own posts. Your goal is to promote your blog and build up a following of people who come to rely on and look forward to reading – not dread each update and search for every unsubscribe/un-follow/un-friend button in sight. Though tempting, don’t promote yourself and your business, your products or your projects at the expense of your readers’ attention. If people begin to think that this is all you’re interested in, your following and readership will certainly suffer. At the end of the day, promoting a blog is really like promoting any brand. Success lies in an integrated, strategic approach that will leave a lasting impression on your target audience.
Bryan Holland is President of Holland Advertising,: Interactive Cincinnati’s oldest family-owned advertising agency, and the fourth oldest in the nation.
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