When many bloggers hop on the social media wagon, they fall prey to numerous, widespread untruths on what works or what doesn’t. The result? Not only does their social media fail, but it actually turns readers off – sometimes for good.
The trick to good social media for blogging is not to bury readers in tweets or Facebook posts, but develop a reliable, targeted strategy that saves time and maximizes return. To get you started, here are the top seven social media and blogging myths and why they don’t work:
1. Get on social media on Monday, get huge readership on Tuesday
There is no such thing as instant success on social media unless you are blessed by the same paradoxical muse deities as Justin Bieber. Social networking is a prerequisite for all legitimate bloggers but it has to be seen as a long-term commitment, not a way to make an immediate splash. Like everything else worth doing this takes time, so be patient and keep plugging.
2. Work around the clock to bury your followers in content
When some bloggers first establish a social media presence they have a tendency to hit the Jolt Cola and stay up nights working on placing a massive amount of content up on their pages. This effort is rarely rewarded as it’s preferable to start with a relatively minimalist page and then build content organically as you draw in more followers.
3. Social networking is a numbers game
If you want to engage in epeen one-upmanship over your fellow bloggers then by all means go ahead and buy 25,000 bot followers for a hundred bucks. However, if your ego is not that fragile you might want to consider getting readers the old fashioned way: By earning them! Your goal is to build a quality audience which is actively interested and engaged in your blog, not just rack up numbers of ghost followers who never click on your blog links.
4. There’s no such thing as having too many social network presences
Er… yes there is. At last count there are more than one thousand social networks in the English language alone. If you tried to dedicate a minute’s time to update each one it would take you almost 17 hours a day. Every blogger needs a Facebook, Twitter and (maybe) a Google+ presence.
If you’re in a particular industry which has a specific social network such as CD Social for Funeral Directors (!?!) then you should be there too. Unless you’re big in Beijing and need to be on Sina Weibo, you can skip the others.
5. Mistakes, typos, and wild goose chases will be buried
Bloggers have to institute absolutely meticulous fact and copy checking procedures on every single social network post. There are few things that will tarnish your reputation as a blogger than letting typos slip through or worse yet, factual errors.
No attention will be paid to your later correction or retraction, but you can bet your bottom dollar that your mistake will be flaunted across the net by your competitors and detractors to prove that you’re a moron.
6. Who cares what your followers say?
You should. Mining your followers for their opinions, tips, and facts can be an invaluable way to build and expand your blog. You never know which one of your readers has an inside path to a top executive you’ve been trying to get a quote from since you were carving your blog with a stone chisel out of granite.
Encouraging a free flow of ideas, comments and opinions on your social media presences can help you understand your readership so you can more accurately craft your blog to fit them (instead of trying to fit your audience into what you want to write.)
And the biggest fib of all:
7. You don’t need social media to support your blog
In the second decade of the millennium you need social media to support everything that is done on the web, from dating to buying pet meds. Blogging does not get an exemption from this mandatory process as social networking can be even more important for bloggers than most other online purveyors.
Establishing your blogging identity on social networks will allow your readers to find you accessible, and see you in an authoritative and favorable light… which will result in a higher rate of quality readership!
Social media can be a huge boon to any blogger, and over time, it can bring in boatloads of readers and send your blog rank to the stratosphere. To succeed, though, you’ve got to approach the task not just categorically, but with enthusiasm and regularity.
(source:www.dailyblogtips.com)
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