If you’ve found this post through Twitter, Facebook, or another social media channel, you’ve just proven that these tools are an effective way to bring readers to a blog. However, I’ve talked to a number of organizers who blog or are planning to start blogging, but don’t want to get involved with social media. If that sounds like you, you’re missing out on a good thing – but don’t take my word for it! My guest today is Tim Eyre of Extra Space Storage, who will share his thoughts on the subject.

The days are gone when a person could establish a blog, create some interesting content, and just wait for readers to line up.  Instead, in this day and age where new blogs pop up each day and readers have endless options when searching for information, bloggers have to employ an aggressive strategy to ensure that their site gets the attention it deserves.  If you’re willing to take the time to write a thoughtful piece, you should also be willing to put forth the effort to ensure that as many people as possible get to enjoy your hard work and interesting insights.

Any strategy targeted at promoting a blog should involve social media.  Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and LinkedIn have a remarkable way of connecting people all over the globe.  In addition to these more prominent names in social media, smaller sites with a more focused audience can provide a great forum to promote your blog. The following information will help you take advantage of social media when trying to attract more readers to your site:

Let Others Do the Work for You

A great way to spread the word about your blog is to create links to your favorite social networking sites on your blog.  That gives readers the ability to share your original work with all the people they are connected with online.  Readers can Tweet your story on Twitter, pin it on Pinterest, and like it on Facebook.  Give them the option to just email it to others as well.  A series of links like this appearing at the end of each blog entry gives readers a user-friendly way to promote your site:

The best part: your readers will do the work for you.  As long as you’re creating interesting content that moves them, chances are they’ll be compelled to share your message with others.  In an era where news is instantly available, savvy web surfers revel in being the first to “discover” information online. Create content that people want to share.

Reach a Wider Audience

Providing links on your blog so readers can share your writings allows others to do the heavy duty promotional work for you, and it also creates the possibility that people you don’t know (and people you’ve never even heard of) will gain exposure to your blog.  For example, if a Facebook user shares one of your blog entries, that information will appear on his friends’ newsfeeds.  If one of their friends “likes” the entry, that information will appear on that person’s friends’ newsfeeds.  The cycle continues and, if you’re lucky, before you know it your blog entries may go viral.

Carefully Craft Online Content

If you want to harness the powers of social media to promote your blog, make sure that your online persona reflects the image that you want to portray.  For example, if your blog entries focus on organizing for busy moms, your Facebook posts should have a similar focus, your Tweets should address family management issues, and your pins on Pinterest should demonstrate your interest in this area.  Think of your social media profiles as an extension of your blog.  In addition, while maintaining a presence on multiple different social networking websites will help you target more potential readers, you should strive for consistency as you reveal information online about yourself, your expertise, and your interests.  Inconsistencies will detract from your credibility, and no one will read your blog if they get the impression that you’re not trustworthy.  Services like HootSuite can help maintain an appropriate level of consistency when trying to manage profiles on multiple social networking websites.

Regardless of how compelling your blog content may be, you can’t rely on that alone to ensure a loyal following.  Using social media is one of the easiest and effective ways to generate traffic to your blog.

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