![\"Let's](\"http:\/\/www.brandignity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/lets-get-social.jpg\")
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If you\u2019re a blogger, you know readers don\u2019t magically appear. Word of mouth and commenting on other blogs in your niche are a great source of exposure, but you know you have to do a little marketing yourself. The great thing about social media is that it\u2019s free, but keep in mind that even though there\u00a0aren’t\u00a0any out of pocket costs, your time is valuable. You need to know where to spend your time. Too many people use their existing Facebook profile to marry business with pleasure. This can backfire horribly. I cap my personal Facebook page at 100 people, because there\u2019s no way anyone is actually close with more than 100 people. However, a recent study shows that the average Facebook user has 300 \u201cfriends.\u201d<\/p>\n If you really have 300 friends, you should be generating at least 50 new readers from your blog shares. If you\u2019re not, it might be time to make a separate, professional Facebook business page and start doing other online marketing outreach. Engage with people who will actually want to read your blog, and who don\u2019t just feel mildly obligated because they know you. Make sure you use witty or engaging posts to introduce your latest blog topic. Don\u2019t forget to use the platform a little too \u2013 engage with your fans by asking them questions, posting polls, or sharing other sites or images they would enjoy.<\/p>\n Twitter, Pinterest and Google+ are some of the other big social media outlets. There\u2019s a good chance that if you\u2019re successful on Facebook, you\u2019ll get a similar reaction on Twitter. The audiences are similar, but Twitter can be used as a teaser for your blog. Twitter ties in well with a number of other services, so many bloggers find that it is a great place to start.<\/p>\n There are plugins that allow you to automatically share your posts to Twitter \u2013 one of them is bundled right into the WordPress JetPack plugin \u2013 and other services, like HootSuite<\/a> or TweetDeck<\/a>, which allow you to schedule tweets ahead of time. If This, Then That<\/a> (or IFTTT) is another useful service, which lets you create \u201crecipes\u201d for chain reactions of events. For example, you might use IFTTT to tweet the things that you post on your Facebook group, creating less work for you.<\/p>\n Pinterest, of course, is a must if your blog is image-driven or related to the arts, travel, animals, crafts, interesting products, or food. If you post a compelling enough image, your link can be picked up and shared by a large audience of people interested in the same things you are. When you create boards, be sure to focus on your niche as well as related ones, and pin mostly others\u2019 content, not your own! Find a good balance between promotional pins and \u201ccontent curation<\/a>,\u201d the sharing of interesting content, and others will flock to your galleries.<\/p>\n If your blog is not image-driven, don\u2019t necessarily count on others to share or follow your content as readily as you hope. Still, you can try to get into the Pinterest game by ensuring that every post on your blog is headed by an interesting image, or a \u201cheader\u201d style image with some text to describe the blog post. Bloggers who create how-to or tutorial style content have had some success with this technique.<\/p>\n Google+ is not the most active social network, but it\u2019s an important player regardless. Spend a little time on your Google+ profile, ensuring you have a professional photo and a link to your blog. Sharing your most recent posts is an easy way to generate a little interest.<\/p>\n An easy way to implement Google+ with your blog is to take advantage of Google Authorship<\/a>. If you use author boxes on your blog, link your name to your Google+ profile, adding ?rel=author to the link. For example, in my byline, I have linked my name to https:\/\/plus.google.com\/u\/0\/109654446375621919755\/?rel=author<\/strong>. See the end? Since I have done this, Google now knows I wrote this post, and it is more likely to show my Google+ profile picture beside this post in Google search results.<\/p>\n Google Authorship Video<\/strong>
\nFacebook is a given, but only if used correctly. For example, if you faithfully link your new blog posts on your Facebook page<\/a>, but\u00a0aren’t\u00a0generating hits, something\u2019s wrong. Some SEO companies offer blogging or blog marketing as part of a package or an independent resource. If you decide to go this route, check their reviews first.<\/p>\nManaging Facebook<\/h3>\n
Don\u2019t Stress Over Twitter<\/h3>\n
Pinterest: For Beautiful Imagery<\/h3>\n
Google+ Isn\u2019t Dead<\/h3>\n
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