Social media has changed the entire landscape of the Internet. Content can be shared with millions of people in an instant. As a blogger, it is important to be a part of multiple social networks in order to grow your readership and spread your content across the Web.
There are seven social networks that every blogger needs to join. Keeping an active presence among them will help to increase your readership and strengthen your brand.
Setting up a Facebook page is a completely free way to promote your blog. You can even set your RSS feed that will update to your page each time you write a new post. Then your fans can “like” each of your posts and leave comments. This helps you build a community of your loyal readers that you can actively engage with.
Using Twitter can help you increase your readership in a short period of time. You can simply tweet the title of your latest blog post with a link or you can do more to help encourage followers to participate on your blog. Try asking them a question on the subject your blog post focuses on and then follow it with a link.
StumbleUpon
This is a unique type of social networking that can seem a little strange at first. It’s like shaking up a Magic 8 Ball and getting a random answer each time. It is one of the top resources for traffic generation for many blogs. When someone “stumbles” your page that means it gets sent to millions of other StumbleUpon users. That means the likelihood of new people finding your blog goes way up.
Delicious
This is a social bookmarking website. There are hundreds of millions of web pages bookmarked on this site. Users can tag their bookmarks to make them easily searchable. Links from similar topics can be grouped together. It is another way to get your blog posts seen by millions of users across the Web.
Pinterest is one of the newest and most popular social media platforms. You can add a “Pin It” button to your blog that allows readers to share your posts with their Pinterest followers by attaching it to a virtual pin board. You can also pin your own posts but don’t go overboard. You don’t want to become known as someone who is only there to be a self-promoter. Take time to browse others’ pins and add them to your own boards. It’s also a good source for finding out what topics are trending and getting ideas for your future posts.
LinkedIn is one of the least-utilized social networks on the Internet today but it is also one of the most powerful. Through LinkedIn, you can generate leads, find sponsors, sell products and drive a ton of traffic to your blog. It takes a little time to get the maximum results, but when you do it is completely worth it.
Google+
Despite a lot of doubts, Google+ is shaping up to be one of the fastest growing social networks on the Web. With the Sparks feature, you can stay current on the latest trends in your niche. That will give you a fountain of future topic ideas. One of the features available on Google+ is Hangouts. You can invite your readers to have a face-to-face video chat with you anytime. You can even conduct how-to classes during a Hangout. Add the +1 button to your blog posts so that readers can quickly share them.
There are many others that you may consider, especially communities that are highly targeted for your niche. However, there are only so many hours in a day to manage them. So choosing the most popular are essential.
As a blogger, the amount of interaction you have across various social networks can greatly increase the number of devoted readers you have visiting your blog as well as reach new readers.