Welcome to part four of Blogging as a Duet!

This week we are looking into social media, specifically Twitter and Facebook (Pinterest and Instagram will feature next week!).

Social media is a great way to drive traffic to your blog as well as a tool to chat to your readers, other bloggers, brands and PR companies.

When setting up your social media accounts, you want to think of them as an extension of your blog. Your username and display image should be related to your blog so that your readers recognise your brand whether it’s your blog, Twitter, Facebook or any other social media platform.

The other important point when setting up your social media accounts is to try to keep the same username and image. This makes it easier for people to find you across the various platforms and again, so that they recognise each platform as part of your blog.

Our username across all of our platforms is ‘ShopMeChic’. When possible, we will add our names ‘Melinda & Sonia’ to make the accounts more personable but keeping our username consistent across Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram helps our readers to find us.

One of the advantages of working as a duet is the ability to cover more social media with slightly less work. We are lucky enough to juggle the four platforms that we use together. Going back to one of our earlier topics, decide early on how social media is going to work for you.

Facebook

Facebook is the most used social media platform in the world. It can be a good way to drive traffic to your blog and a great way to build a community with your blog’s Facebook page.

If we’re being totally honest here, Facebook likes to keep us all on our toes by constantly changing the parameters for pages, so you’ve got to keep up with their ever shifting pace. If you don’t pay for sponsored posts (like us), then you’ve just got to get a little creative.

Variety is the key. Post photos – inspirational quotes or funny pictures you think your readers will enjoy. Share other pages’ posts – this will not only introduce your readers to other bloggers, brands or companies you share a connection with, but it will also strengthen your relationship with said blogger, brand or company. Like and comment on others’ posts – this is a great way of popping your blog’s head into the conversation and engaging with others.

When promoting your own posts on your Facebook page, we find it helpful to include an image from that post and ask a question. Don’t just write a flat sentence (eg “Bright nail polish on Shop Me Chic today.”) but instead engage with your readers – share an introduction (“Brighten up your nails (and your day) with a fabulous pop of colour!”) and then ask them for their opinion (“What colour is your fave?”).

Facebook users are on at all hours of the day (or night!), so be sure to spread out your posts throughout the day so that you are capturing as many readers as possible. You can use the Facebook scheduling option to help with this so that you’re not setting your alarm to post something at 3am…!

Twitter

Twitter is one giant, fast paced, open conversation.

Twitter is also a great networking tool. Use it to build relationships with your readers, other bloggers and brands you may like to work with. Take time out of your day to ask how someone else is going or retweet another blogger’s blog post. If you read an article or blog post you think your readers will be interested it, tweet that as well. Try to keep your Twitter content varied (but relevant to your readers and your blog) and as tempting as it is, try not to fill up your follower’s Twitter feeds with just links to your posts.

Of course, it is a great traffic driver. We send more traffic to Shop Me Chia via Twitter than we do via Facebook despite having a larger Facebook following.

When using Twitter to promote your posts, get the most out of your 140 characters by using a link shortener like bitly.com. The other bonus with bitly.com is that it gives you the ability to track the number of clicks, the time of those clicks and other data.

To get a slightly further reach out of your tweet, add a hashtag! Now we’re not talking hashtag abuse (which in our opinion is more than three hashtags!). We’re talking one or two relating to your posts topic. Some bloggers do like to use #ontheblog or #justblogged or you can choose something more specific such as #fashion or #nailpolish or #homedecor.

Lastly, if you mention a brand in your post, add their Twitter handle to the tweet with the link! At the very least, they will retweet you which in return, sends your Twitter account and your blog to a whole set of new eyes. Sometimes a brand will send you back a thank you tweet which can be the start of a great blogger/brand relationship.

Do you have any other social media tips? Which social media platform do you find drives the most traffic to your blog?

Stay Chic,

Melinda & Sonia

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Written by: shopmechic on February 2, 2013.