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A Beginner Blogger’s Guide to Social Media Management

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Social Media Management

You’re fed up. You can’t believe you talked yourself into this. What a waste of time!

Your blog is on the same internet as all the other successful blogs you read. It has an elegant but simple design, and you think you’re a pretty good writer.

Then why are you getting squat in terms of social shares and interaction? And I mean diddly squat!

You have some Twitter followers and hundreds of friends on Facebook, but aside from your wife/mom you have got tumbleweeds for blog traffic.

You have reached your end and you can’t help but thinking…

Have I wasted my time and money on blogging and social media promotion?

Will I ever get people to read my blog?

Something has got to give.

Let’s look at a few social media management strategies that have worked for me and hundreds of other online influencers. These will help you:

  1. Define social media success in a different way
  2. Save tons of time and stress early on
  3. Meet those online influencers you have always wanted to meet
  4. Have your content shared by those same influencers

If that sounds scary or difficult, let me assure you that it is not. These strategies will start you and your blog down the road to success. So let’s get into them!

Avoid the Agony of Wasted Time on Social Media

Social media can be a gigantic waste of time. From cat memes to profile creeping, hours of our lives are wasted every day on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the like.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Sometimes, especially after a tiring day, mindless browsing on social media can be fun and relaxing. But wouldn’t it be nice if we could find ways to be more efficient while using social media for blog or business promotion?

Luckily, the following techniques are all ways to minimize the time spent on social media while maximizing your outcomes! And the first one is dead simple…

Start Small

The temptation to sign up every social media network is a strong one. Everything is so exciting and you just know your content will speak for itself and you’ll begin building an audience on each network in no time.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like this. Each network has its own strength and therefore needs its own strategy and unique content. The pressure to create consistent, quality content across a variety of different platforms is more than many companies can do well, let alone little old you.

You are much better off picking one or two networks to build on, and then growing from there once it makes sense for you and your blog.

Which Networks?

The answer to this question will depend greatly on the topic of your blog. For example, if you are running a photo-blog, Instagram and Pinterest would be a much higher priority. However, in general terms, the two networks you should start with are the two biggest, Twitter and Facebook.

Facebook is a no brainer for a few reasons:

  • If you are on it personally you already have a built in audience for your content. Utilize your friends and your family to help share your content early on
  • Facebook has recently overtaken Google as the top referral source for digital publishers
  • Building a brand page for your blog gives you a level of perceived legitimacy online
  • It is very easy to automate promotion from WordPress to Facebook – as you can see here

Twitter has its own set of benefits for the start-up blogger:

  • Research can be done very efficiently with Twitter, so it’s a great place to get inspired with new ideas
  • NETWORKING! We will delve into this one further down, but you can meet and interact with people on Twitter that you never could in real life
  • Twitter is your own personal focus group – use it to test article ideas, new initiatives, or even the name for your blog

If you start with just these two networks, you can quickly grow your online brand and become an influencer in your niche, without the stress and hassle of marketing through dozens of different channels right from the beginning.

In the case of a beginning blogger, QUALITY beats QUANTITY.

Build Your Sensational Social Network

Haven’t you always wanted to be able to ask an expert in your field, maybe even a famous person, a question? Maybe in your wildest dreams you have even imagined building a relationship with said expert?

Even if you can’t identify with the above, this is probably the most important thing you can do on social media as a beginning blogger. I am talking about building relationships with other bloggers and influencers in your niche, and Twitter’s real-time communication capability is THE best tool for doing this efficiently and effectively. Let’s take a look at how you can accomplish this and begin building your awesome network.

First, and I can’t stress this enough, you need to make sure that your Twitter profile is complete and professional. You should have a profile picture, Twitter bio, and hopefully at least a few tweets on your timeline.

Just like you wouldn’t go to a business meeting in a T-Shirt and sweatpants, if you want to rub shoulders with online influencers you need to present yourself as a professional too.

Twitter profile example
(Bonus points if you’re ridiculously good looking.)

Then, you need to identify the top bloggers and most influential people in your field. You might already have a good idea of who they are, but if not it is worth the time to discover them. A simple Google search and Twitter search within your niche should do the trick.

Now, you need to check out their presence on social media – specifically, Twitter. It is important for this exercise that your identified influencers engage regularly on Twitter. If they don’t reply to mentions or RT others on a regular basis, they probably are not the right contact for you (at least not initially). And, if you can’t find them on Twitter, they are probably not the right people to ask anyway.

Next, it is time to connect. This can be scary for many of us, as we may be star struck by the people we are wanting to contact. Luckily, the first step is painless. Simply “follow” your identified influencers:

Twitter follow example

The next step is interacting with your influencers. This can be done in a variety of ways:

Tweet or Retweet (“RT”) relevant content published by the influencers you’re following

Don’t spam your own followers, of course, but do share valuable information. This won’t start a dialogue, but it can open the door to further interactions.

Give them a shout out

Saying “thanks” or congratulating your influencer on something is an innocent and easy way to make that first direct reach out. Often you will get a direct response thanking you, which can lead to further dialogue.

Another idea would be to use the hashtag #FF (or #FollowFriday) as a way to get them to notice you.

Engage in conversations

If you notice your influencer has asked his/her followers a question, jump in with your thoughts. Be respectful and don’t spam, but share your view on the topic. You’d be surprised how effective this can be and you might even get followers out of it!

Share interesting content

We will talk about sharing your own interesting content coming up, but here I mean share news, opinion pieces, and other links in your niche with your influencer. It can start a conversation and will definitely get you noticed.

Introduce people

Once you begin building an audience there will be chances to play matchmaker. You will be able to introduce others to the influencers you have cultivated a relationship with and then, guess what, you will begin to be perceived as an expert and influencer yourself.

You can use the below Twitter templates to make it even easier to connect with your influencer:

@influencer Hey. Enjoyed your post on (related topic). Read this and thought you might be interested: [Link]

@influencer [Link] was one of the most interesting posts I have read. Where did you get your data?

You guys have to check out this post on (related topic) by @influencer. Must read: [Link]

Ask for Help

In case it isn’t clear, this step will come only after you have begun to cultivate the relationship (with the influencer). You may even be your influencer’s new best bud.

It is amazing how effective it can be to ask for help.

Asking your new BFF for an RT or to check out your newest blog post can have game-changing effects on your blog. Let me give you an example from my own blogging experience.

I used to blog on football (that’s soccer to my American and Canadian readers). I had cultivated a relationship with a top journalist in Spain who had hundreds of thousands of followers. It had gotten to the point where he followed me as well and we were in regular contact.

There was one article I wrote that I thought would be especially relevant to my influencer and his followers. I asked him for an RT with the link to my article, and he was kind enough to oblige.

Twenty-four hours later I had a traffic spike of 10,000 unique hits, over 100 Retweets, and – maybe even most thrilling – my article was featured on the official site of FC Barcelona, giving me even more traffic over the coming weeks.

This was one of multiple examples of success I enjoyed because I cultivated relationships with online influencers and then was willing to put my pride on the line to ask for help. Worst thing that could happen was that I might get a “no” (which I did sometimes).

Some Tweet templates to make your life easier:

@influencer Loved that last post you shared about (related topic). Thought you might be interested in this one too: [Your Link]

@influencer Reading your blog has inspired me to write on (related topic) too. What do you think? [Link]

@influencer Would appreciate your thoughts on my latest article on (related topic)! [Link]

Get Out and Connect!

Social media management can be tricky. It’s easy to feel unproductive, particularly when you’re putting so much time into dozens of different platforms.

Luckily, a few simple changes and a new understanding of what success on social means can have a profound impact.

Just imagine people interacting with you on social media about YOUR content.

Imagine waking up and seeing a spike in traffic after an influencer you asked to share your content RT’d the link you sent him/her.

Imagine starting to think up ways to grow your blog and even starting to monetize it.

You can start your journey on the road to success today by choosing just one of the techniques above. Heck, connect with me and just see what happens. 😉

Keep at it. Rome wasn’t built in a day. If you give these techniques time, you will be successful.

You could be the next blogging sensation.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Hey Caleb! Great post.

    I just got started with blogging and social media. Those these are helpful tips!

    I often have to resist that temptation to sign up with every social media platform that exists. It’s tough. They all seem very unique and to have different benefits. I was on Tumblr and Instagram before I ever got serious. So it’s hard to let them go. But I also feel like I should be focusing on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. I’m excited to grow and learn more.

    Thanks!

    Reply

    • Hey Eli,

      Glad you enjoyed Caleb’s great tips!

      Resisting the temptation to get on every platform is tough. What I did was sign up for every platform (to reserve my handle), but I wouldn’t use them. So, to start off, I focused on Google+ (for some inexplicable reason). After I surpassed 10,000 followers, I started using Twitter. Then I started using Facebook (while scaling back on Google+).

      My time is limited, which is why I’ve found it difficult to actively interact on more than two platforms at a time. I’ve started using Pinterest recently, but it meant I had to scale back on both Twitter and Facebook. There’s a give and take! 🙂

      Appreciate your comment, Eli. Hope your day is going well!

      – @kevinjduncan

      Reply

      • Thanks Kevin!

        Yeah that makes a lot of sense. I just jumped on a bunch of platforms recently to reserve my handle.

        I’m still trying to get a feel for witch one / ones I really want to focus on to start.

        Guess we’ll see!

        Reply

  2. Thanks so much Eli!

    Good for you for starting a blog! I agree it is so tempting to sign up and try all the cool social networks but the fact is there are more important things to focus on when just starting out!

    It really depends what niche you are blogging in but I would do Facebook and Twitter for sure!

    Good luck and if I can ever help feel free to contact me via Twitter @CalebCousens or my blog! 😉

    Reply

  3. Hi Caleb,

    I was terrified the first time I reached out on Twitter, but I’ve been constantly heartened by how willing most bloggers are to support each other. And Kevin Duncan is the King of Support!

    Thanks for the hot tips.

    Cheers, Mel

    Reply

    • Hi Mel,

      I think it’s awesome how most bloggers are happy to help and support each other. I try to do my part. 🙂

      How are things??

      Reply

  4. Hi Caleb, I’m so glad you mentioned not to join every social network out there. You can quickly become so stretched thin! I try to stick to Twitter, FB, Pinterest and LinkedIn. Twitter is my fav and I love the suggestions and examples you have shown here. Thanks for sharing them with us. Thanks Kevin for having Caleb here.

    Reply

    • Hi Lisa,

      Glad you enjoyed Caleb’s article! He certainly did a fine job. 🙂

      I’m impressed by your ability to be active on FOUR different social networks! I can do two at a time. If I try to add a third (like I’ve recently done with Pinterest), it means I have to scale back my time on the other two. I really need an assistant or two or ten. 😉

      Hope you’re having a great week, Lisa!

      Reply

  5. Hi Caleb,
    Interesting post!
    I liked the idea of how you can get more connections, by being inclusive and informational.
    Tweeting other people’s content and also interesting posts is a great way to leverage social media to get more fans and followers.

    Ah, thanks for those awesome templates. You rock!
    -Swadhin

    Reply

  6. @MelWicks It is super scary, even now I find myself procrastinating and avoiding the all important asks. And the worst thing that can happen is they say no! Our minds are our own worst enemies some times.

    @LisaSicard That sounds like a great mix Lisa! You will get way more out of those networks than if you were spread across 6+. I really like LinkedIn recently too, think there is a lot of value there that lots of bloggers don’t see.

    Reply

  7. Nice article Caleb.

    I have recently started taking Twitter seriously as I see a good improvement in my traffic after using Twitter apps and plugins on my blog.

    Thanks for the detailed article. Liked the way you write.

    Reply

  8. Hi Caleb,
    Thanks for putting this together.
    It’s so informative without being overwhelming. Just what the beginner blogger needs. I am more on Facebook and Instagram. Joined Twitter and like the dynamics.
    I’d try out some of your tips like the #ff follow Friday hash tag to connect with influencers.
    Thanks Kevin, a wonderful piece this is. Regards to Cherry.
    Stay blessed.

    Ruth

    Reply

    • Thanks for the kind words Ruth, glad you found it helpful. Twitter does provide something that Instagram and Facebook don’t. The ability to connect with anyone with a Twitter profile really is a secret weapon.

      Reply

  9. Hi Caleb

    Thanks so much for the detailed examples in your post. And especially for the link to how to automate WordPress posting to Facebook. That was the big win for me, because Getting aWeber to post my broadcasts doesn’t get the featured image right, and that has been bugging me 🙂

    Networking via social media continues to be a real challenge for me: I feel like I have little to offer (small number of followers, little influence). So your Tweet templates will come in handy as well.

    Thanks again for your post here 🙂

    Alison

    Reply

    • Hi Alison, glad some of my tips helped! I encourage you to give those templates a try, the only thing stopping us is our crazy brains and fear of rejection but most bloggers are more than happy to help and the worst that can happen is you get a ‘no’. Heck, try it on Kevin or myself for starters, we are at least friendly faces! Have a great day!

      Reply

  10. Hi Caleb — nice post!

    Sometimes, I think we take for granted how simple some of these ideas are… like reaching out to influencers on Twitter.

    But sometimes new bloggers don’t know what they don’t know. So I think your advice is spot-on here.

    It’s worth noting, too, that a lot of new(er) bloggers get really aggressive about asking busy people for favors — busy people with whom they have no rapport built.

    I’m always a much bigger fan of taking an interest in other people’s work first (as you suggested) before even suggesting any sort of collaborative effort.

    Nice stuff!

    Brent

    PS: Thanks, Kevin, for having Caleb on your blog!

    PPS: I have a guest post publishing shortly on Build Your Own Blog (Matthew Loomis) about how Facebook is crushing my traffic results on every other social platform. I think a lot of bloggers and marketers have given up on Facebook… but it drove almost 3,000 sessions to my blog last month. Second best (for me) would be Twitter.

    Reply

    • Thanks Brent! As you say taking an interest and making that connection BEFORE asking for help it always the more effective way to go. When I was starting out blogging almost 10 years ago (yikes) I was cold calling people, practically begging for help, if I knew than what I know now things would have been way easier!

      Will watch out for your post but feel free to send it to me when its published and I’ll be happy to share it!

      Reply

  11. Hey Caleb,

    (Great name, BTW, I gave it to my son =)

    Wonderful article. Solid, concise information that can be used immediately—always the most valuable in my book.

    I’m still trying to figure out the whole Twitter(ing) experience…and even though i believe I have most of the language/slang down, I just don’t feel confident on that platform. I think it’s because I feel like it’s a shouting match or like you briefly mentioned, a spamming match with so many people.

    I have confidence in good folks like Kevin here and Ryan and many of our common friends…but my own account seems to drown in floods of buy, buy, buy…

    GOOD news is your article works just as well with other platforms, like Pinterest–which is my own personal candyland.

    Not that i do any better on that platform than Twitter, but it’s visual and being a writer/illustrator, it feels…I don’t know…’normal’ to me?

    LOL, does that even make sense?

    Wonderful to see you here on my favorite blogging blog =)

    You sure pick the clever ones, Kevin!

    Have an AWESOME week, Caleb.

    Jaime Buckley

    Reply

    • Hi Jaime! Thanks I like my name too! Awesome namesake as well 😉

      Twitter is scary as heck to start off but focusing on the networking side of things will make sure you don’t get overwhelmed trying to be heard over all the shouting. The traffic and followers will come organically if you do the networking right.

      Glad it has helped with your Pinterest, honestly that is the network I have had the least success on but that is going to change shortly if all goes well!

      Thanks for the welcome and hope to see you on Twitter.

      Cheers,
      Caleb

      Reply

  12. Great post Caleb,

    Twitter is my favourite social media channel to use. I find it much easier to connect with people on Twitter than other social media.

    It really does help you build relationships, it builds a bridge between you and other influencers.

    I will continue to use social media for content marketing, and this post has given me the needed motivation to continue!

    Keep up the great work Caleb,

    Benjamin 🙂

    Reply

  13. Social media marketing is a must in modern blogging world to build a good seo score to rank better. This a wonderful guide to learn about social media management techniques. Thanks for creating a worthy resource here.

    Reply

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