Small Business Blogging: Social Media as Promotion

How do I promote my businesses’ blog through social media?

Small Business Blogging

Congratulations! You’ve just set up your company’s blog and have posted exactly four entries. Now what? The challenging part of small business blogging isn’t coming up with stuff to write about – it’s obtaining the actual readership. Here are five best practices for promoting your small business’s blog through social media:

Cross-promote the blog (and all social channels) on your main website, email campaigns, and off-line marketing materials. We recommend that your social links or icons appear on every piece of marketing material. Going to a trade show? Be sure your promotional flyers and products tease to your social sites and blog. Oh, and don’t forget to post recent blog entries on all social mediums: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more.
Experiment with Pinterest. Use the new hot social network by “pinning” the picture in each of your blog entries. This will create a direct link from your Pinterest board to your blog. Pinterest may quickly become a source of referral traffic for your blog.
Use link shorteners to track performance. Sites such as HootSuite and Bit.ly enable users to create free, trackable links to show how many clicks each link receives – AND where the click is coming from (Twitter, Facebook, etc.).
Help out other bloggers or request guest entries. Admire an industry blog? Invite the blogger to write a guest post on your blog or just promote their blog from your social channels. Tweet bloggers and comment on their blogs to show your support.
Find out what matters – then write about it. Use the search functions on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, focusing on your company’s SEO keywords. What are people saying about your industry, products, or company? Adjust your content accordingly. Remember: content is king, and if your entries are boring or irrelevant, users will never read your blog!

Before launching your next blog entry, put an hour into promoting your blog. Remember that a company blog is often the best place to source leads, engage readers, and turn fans into fanatics for your company.