How To Promote Your Content on Twitter

You know what’s better than writing a great blog post? Writing a great blog post that gets the attention it deserves. There’s nothing worse than pouring your heart and soul (as well as hours of your precious time) into crafting a blog post you’re proud of, and then being the only one to read it. So here are 8 ways to promote your content on Twitter and ensure you’re not the only one to appreciate your content:

1. CRAFT INTRIGUING TWEETS

If you want to capture your audience’s attention, run-of-the-mill tweets saying “read my latest post” are simply not going to cut it – at least not until you have a vast and loyal readership that want to keep up-to-date with your content. “Read my latest post” is simply not an inviting phrase that would attract new readers – especially if you don’t even mention what your post is about. 

So instead of tweeting “Hey, read my latest post on xyz” why not try a more provoking “X things you didn’t know about xyz” or “things you should know about xyz before you purchase it!” These tweets tell your audience that you’re not just fishing for views – they will get something out of reading your post too.

2. CUSTOMISE YOUR TWEETS 

In order to have the most success at attracting new readers, you will have to advertise the same post more than once a day and ascertain that your tweet has the chance to be seen by everyone, including those who live in different time zones.

You should however, keep in mind that these tweets will remain on your profile for all to see, and a profile spammed by the same tweet is not going to do well to attract new followers. So every time you promote a blog post, find a different way to introduce it: describe what your post is about; ask a question that your post will answer; quote a part of your post. Then, alternate between these tweets.

3. DON’T OVERDO IT 

Publishing a new post is exciting and it’s only normal to want the whole world to see it, but keep in mind your current followers. Trying to appeal to new readers is all fine and well but remember that your current audience would not want to be spammed by the same tweet 20 times a day, so find the balance between promotion and regular tweets, as well as promoting some of your older posts or your blog as a whole, for variation.

4. USE  IMAGES 

Yes I’m aware that an image takes up 23 characters of your already very limited space for expressing yourself. But you know what? When your whole dashboard is full of text that changes every minute, it’s an image that will make you stop and read the tweet. It’s the image that will catch your readers’ attention amongst the sea of writing, cause them to pause, and hopefully click the link. A picture’s worth a thousand words, and you only need 23 characters.

5. MENTION RETWEET ACCOUNTS 

Every time you advertise a blog post on twitter, make sure to mention a couple twitter accounts that are dedicated to retweeting bloggers and exposing their content to a larger audience. My favourite retweeters are:

@LovingBlogs, @blogginggals, @FemaleBloggerRT, @UKBlog_RT, @UKBloggers1, @TheBloggersPost, @RT_Bloggers, & @BBlogRT (for beauty  related posts). I use at least 2 of these in every promotional tweet.

6. MENTION COMPANY ACCOUNTS 

If you’ve written a whole post about a company or its product, why not mention them in your tweet using the company’s handle? Not only will your tweet become visible to all who search the handle, but it may also be retweeted by the company to all of their followers. And really, once you’re on their radar, who’s to say they won’t offer you a partnering opportunity?

7. BE ACTIVE 

Twitter is probably the most fast-paced environment on the internet; one second your tweet is there, and the next it’s buried under a 100 new tweets. It’s old news. Worse yet, it’s no news. With the tweets rolling in at a 100 posts a minute, it’s far too easy for your tweet to get lost amongst the sea of others and get overlooked. 

That’s why you have to be active and persistent, making sure that if one tweet was overlooked, the next one will be noticed. And don’t forget to appeal to the audience from across the globe and schedule tweets for when you’re out or asleep.

8. LINK TO YOUR BLOG IN YOUR BIO 

Regardless of whether you’re online or not, your earlier activities and scheduled posts will be bringing people by your profile throughout the day, curious about who you are and what you do. So why not leave them a link to your blog so they can learn about you and decide whether or not they’re interested in what you have to say?

How do YOU promote your posts on Twitter?

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How To Get Your Content Seen

Writing just for the hell of it can be a fun and rewarding experience in itself, but most of us write in the hopes of reaching an audience, connecting to the readers, and developing a lasting relationship. 

So how do you get your content seen online?

 1.  Social media is the biggest and baddest wolf in town, so it wouldn’t hurt to spend some time getting to know the most popular sites and set them up to work in your favour! Twitter and Pinterest are some of the highest traffic source sites for bloggers and should therefore be at the top of your interest list. Craft witty tweets and attractive photos to pin, but be sure to keep in mind the peak sharing times of each platform for best results (check out this post for the best sharing times of each platform). 

    » Join Twitter chats to meet more bloggers within your community

    » Tweet your blog post at blog post retweeters like @LovingBlogs or @UKBlog_RT for extra exposure.

 2.  Interact with the blogging community and develop real connections and friendships with fellow bloggers. Read and comment on their blog posts regularly and try to appear on their blog as a guest poster. Not only will they appreciate some new and different content, but you should also be able to snag a couple of new readers. It’s a win-win for all.

    » You can also retweet or pin their new blog posts for better exposure which is sure to win you some brownie points or a favour in return. Promoting your own blog is good, but it’s even more valuable coming from someone else.

 3.  Join Bloglovin’. WordPress and Blogger are probably the two biggest blogging platforms that we use, but they’re so different that simply following a blog from a different platform can be a difficult ordeal. And if it’s difficult, the reader won’t bother. Making your blog available on bloglovin’ assures that readers can follow your blog instantly without having to look around for a follow button that may or may not be available on your blog AND it keeps their feed updated with your latest posts. Exposure to the full.

    » Readers can also “save” your blog post, thus sharing it with their own followers.

 4.  Make links between your posts and in doing so you will achieve two things: first, you will undoubtedly increase your post exposure as a reader will be interested to read more about a certain point that is linked within the current blog post. Secondly, by making links to your previous posts you will increase your blog’s chances of appearing higher in the Google search (thus bringing more readers) as Google will recognise that your links are well established within the web and appear more often than those of bloggers who do not link back to related posts.

    » Linking the related post within a different post informs the reader of the existence of this information AND makes it quick and easy to access via 1 click, rather than searching through your archives.

For more tips to increasing your success, check out the Blog Post Checklist and make sure that all of your posts contain these 5 must-have qualities!

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Your Blog Post Checklist

Is your blog not receiving the views or engagement you had hoped for? Do you feel as though your blogging efforts are not yielding results? Today I will share my 5 point blog post check-list to make sure that your posts contain everything they should, and optimise your chance to be seen online.

 1. CAPTIVATING TITLE 
Your post title is the first thing to appear in any link or search, and it is therefore your first and possibly only chance to make an impression and convince the reader to give your post a chance. If you fail to capture the reader’s interest with the title, any effort you put into the rest of the post will have probably been wasted. So instead of calling your post “My blogging routine” why not describe it as “5 ways to improve your blog”? Not only will the use of numerals and lists indicate a helpful and easy to read post, but shifting the focus away from ‘your’ blogging routine and offering tips to help your readers will attract much more attention.

 2. HOOK SENTENCE 
Getting readers to click your link is half the battle; the other half is getting them to stay. In order for you to achieve this, you must have your reader hooked within the first few sentences of your post – that’s where the hook sentence(s) comes in. This can be an interesting statement, statistic or fact that relates to the rest of your post; it can also be a relatable statement or question that will capture your reader’s attention and promise to solve their problem. It may also be a good idea to include your keywords within these first few sentences to improve your SEO!

 3. ENTICING IMAGE 
Fellow bloggers and other readers alike are very visual creatures and a bad image may often be a deal-breaker that will make you lose out on loyal readership. Ensure to use medium/high quality pictures that span across the width of your post or follow a Pinterest format. If you’re reviewing an item, make sure to take well-lit photos from different angles, showing off all product features or functions. Otherwise, you may choose to use free stock photos from such websites as Pexels or Unsplash.

 4. GOOD STRUCTURE 
There is probably nothing worse than a badly structured post with no punctuation or paragraphs. Nobody, and I do mean nobody, wants to read a 1,000 word post that appears to be a single paragraph with no structure, subheadings, or bullet points. It’s tiring. Instead, make sure to form proper sentences and group similar ideas under the same paragraph or subheading. Use lists whenever possible as they attract the reader’s attention, convey your point easily, and save time for yourself and your reader.

 5. VALUE 
The majority of us don’t write a blog post for the sake of writing – we want our content to have value. So we write to share, help, or inspire. Every blog post you create should hold some sort of value to yourself, your readers, or preferably both. Just remember that ‘value’ can refer to more than “how to” posts – your post will have value as long as it is interesting, entertaining, or educational to the reader.

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21 Blog Post Ideas

 It’s posting day and you have nothing to put out there? 

As I mentioned in my How To Blog: Part 2 – Content post, there are some days when you’re simply not able to create new content; one of the reasons for that may be lack of ideas. For those of you finding yourself with no idea what to write about, here are 21 ideas for a blog post.

1. Host a guest post. Not only does this allow you to have a day off from posting, but it also gives a chance to yourself and your guest to snag some new readers from each other’s blog!

2. Host a Q&A. Readers only know as much as you give them and many are dying to know specific things about you or your blog, so why not use that for a blog post? Take to twitter and ask for your readers’ questions before answering them on your blog.

3. Share your favourite blogs. Readers are always on the lookout for great blogs so why not share your favourites? Talk about what makes each of these blogs so great or unique and why your readers ought to give them a chance. You never know, your favourite bloggers may repay the favour and give a little shout-out to your blog in return!

4. Share your top blogging tips. Us bloggers are nosy and we love nothing more than a little tip or trick on how to blog! So share your success story; tell us what worked and what didn’t for your blog; give us ideas.

5. Update an old post. We live and learn and our opinions change, so maybe there’s an old post that no longer reflects the way you feel?

6. Share a recipe. If it fits in with your style of blog, why not share a recipe? It can be as creative or as common as you’d like, but even common ‘day-to-day’ recipes can have that 1 ingredient that sets it apart from all other recipes.

7. Create a list of goals for your blog. Planning and setting goals for your blog doesn’t have to be a private affair hidden in your notebook; sharing it with your blog readers will in fact help you stick to your goals, as you’ve publicly declared them.

8. Share your resource list. Much like being on the constant lookout for tips to improve our blogs, us bloggers are always on the hunt for more resources that will help us do our job quicker or more efficiently.

9. Review your favourite items. Bloggers have a great deal of influence over what we buy, so use it to tell your readers what’s worth the money and what isn’t.

10. Review your favourite apps. Whether they’re apps you use for blogging or day-to-day activities, we want to know about the apps we’re missing out on.

11. Tell us about the main attractions of your town/country. Ideally, don’t discuss the biggies that everyone already knows about. Ignore the Eiffel Tower and tell us about a cute little café we must visit, or that underground tunnel tourists don’t know about.

12. Write a “How To” about something you know. Educational blog posts offer some of the most valuable content online, so teach us something you know.

13. What blogging problems have you encountered and how did you overcome them? Similar to tips or success stories, readers want to know how you overcame problems that they may be having themselves. Relatable content is a winner!

14. Share your views on a current issue. Political, technological, or whatever it may be.

15. Talk about dealing with negative comments. All bloggers may at one point or another be subjected to negative comments or feedback, and many will take it hard. But we all know that negative comments online are practically inevitable, so help them deal with this problem effectively.

16. Tell your readers how to deal with people you know finding your blog. This is a very common fear amongst new (and some older) bloggers, so it’s an important issue to address. If you have any experience on the matter, use it.

17. Discuss why social media matters for bloggers. If we’re writing blog posts, we want them to be seen. Social media presence can help to attract new readers, but many don’t know how to use it effectively.

18. Tell us how to increase our social media following/interactivity. Similarly to the previous idea, we all want to have a larger following that interacts with us and our content.

19. Write about what readers look for in a blog. What kind of content is the most popular? What makes people interact with your content?

20. Write about what PR/advertising companies look for in a blog. While we all know that money or free products shouldn’t be the motivation behind writing a blog, many hope to earn these things. So why not share your knowledge to help them get there?

21. Share your tips for taking great blog photos. Great photos are an important part of blogging, so you can be certain that we want to know how to take the best photos possible.

If all else fails and you have no content on your posting day, just post some cat pictures – your readers will be more than understanding!

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