Earlier today on Twitter, Mike Stenger posted a link to an infographic on Soshable about what life would be like without Facebook. With 600 million users (as of Jan. 2011) who average 130 friends each and create an average of 90 pieces of new content (pictures, status updates, notes, etc., suffice to say that Facebook plays a significant role in our lives. And with 70% of local businesses using pages to connect with fans, everyone is beginning the realize the power of this platform. If it was suddenly taken away, it would be pretty jarring.
Twitter might be lingering behind Facebook, but I imagine that a life without it would be just as jarring. At least, it would be for me!
Today, I have a little challenge for you – think about what your blogging world would be like if Facebook and Twitter didn’t exist. Of course, they do exist, but I think sometimes we use them as crutches. We rely on people to share our links via Facebook and Twitter, so we don’t do much other promotional work. We don’t have to.
But just because you don’t have to doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t. You could be missing out on thousands of readers by not promoting your blog anywhere but Facebook and Twitter.
It’s a little exercise to stretch your blogging muscles – think about some of the well-known and creative ways you could promote your blog (and individual posts) to find readers who might miss what you’re doing on Facebook and Twitter. Facebook and Twitter might be your old standbys, but if you mix in some other techniques now and then, you can reach out to completely new readers – and that should be an exciting prospect to any blogger.
I’ll start by listing off some non-Facebook/Twitter ways to promote your posts. I hope you’ll add to it by leaving a comment at the end!
- Other General Social Networks (like LinkedIn)
- Niche-Specific Social Networks
- Social Bookmarking (StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit, etc.)
- Emailing Your List
- Guest Posts on Blogs in your Niche (check out My Blog Guest)
- Comments on Other Blogs (especially those using CommentLuv)
- Guest-Hosting Podcasts
- Being an Expert Source (try HARO)
- Do Interviews (like Meet the Blogger)
- Hosting Webinars or Live Chats via Ustream
- Submitting Articles to Directories
- Include Links in your Signature on Forums
- Install a “Related Post” Plugin on your Blog
- Link to Old Posts within New Posts
- Include a Link in your Email Signature
- Buy Advertising
- Write a Press Release (if relevant to your post)
- Pitch your Story to Mainstream Media
- Create a Free WordPress Theme with Your Link in the Footer
- List your Blog in Blog and RSS Directories (like Technorati)
- Participate in Blog Carnivals (like Brilliant Bloggers)
- Email Friends Who Might Be Interested
- Upload Pictures on Flickr and Other Stock Photo Sites
- Upload a Video on YouTube and Othe Video Sites
- Attend Conferences like BlogWorld
Your turn – what are some non-Facebook/Twitter ways you promote your blog and your individual posts? Leave a comment below!
Many of today’s top bloggers began blogging and growing their blogs long before Twitter and Facebook. In fact, I didn’t start to truly embrace Facebook as a promotional tool until the last year of owning my blog, prior to that I didn’t use it at all. We grew our blogs by participating in each other’s communities rather than blasting links all the time. Now, you don’t see many of the same bloggers visiting and commenting on blogs like they used to – they don’t need to with Facebook and Twitter to help them promote.
I’m agree with you, before Twitter was there or facebook, my sites and I guess also other sites have a lot of traffic. I don’t think that Twitter or Facebook gives you a huge boots to get 50% more readers. I have tested it out and it also depends on what kind of Blog you have and what the subject is. Is there a hype on Twitter like News about Iraq and your blog is about that than it works, but for how long, if there is something else in the World like a New Ipad that is hot in the News and your blog is not writting about that that, than your tweets are not important anymore.
About Facebook … well it seems to be that everybody in the world made a facebook fanpage, how many are there from it. The second thing is, that the most of the people like a followers or Like race. Without counters on a social media platform, it was a lot easier to use Twitter or Facebook. Twitter is great if your are famous, but for a casual blogger, keep up the good content, google will find you in no time.
Thanks for the linkage and great question Alli. Coming from someone who gets quite a bit of traffic from Twitter and Facebook, this is definitely something to keep in mind. I think it was Scott Stratten who said you want your blog to be your main hub and funnel readers into your email list.
Never know what can happen in the world of social…
Get your blog into Google News for sure. My entertainment blogs can definitely exist without FB and Twitter, but not without Google News!
That was a good hint, I did it, thank you for the tip. and like I said in my other post, I agree with you
I barely have any visitors from Facebook and Twitter. Everything comes from Google. I guess there is a lot of potential for growth if I could figure out a way for tech tutorials to matter to people so much they want to share them.
Oh this is really really good. Thanks. Off to share the link on Twitter.
Irony at work – love it!
And at last, there are amazing points in this blog what I can use. Thanks for the share! I love comments on Blogs more than Twitter, because I don’t have to be afraid about my 140 characters 🙂