Being Cheryl: Social Media Marketing Tips from Columbus, Ohio

If a blogger writes and no one is around to read it, does she make an impact?

Or something.

Most of us want our blogs to be read by someone other than our parents (hi, mom!) so how do you get your blog in front of people who would be interested in reading it? Obviously SEO plays a big role in this - and for some great SEO tips, check out my friend Jake’s blog Agent SEO. In the meantime, here are some ways you can utilize social media sites you may already be using to promote your blog.

Just some general tips - build relationships with people on your social networks so they care when you post. That’s what these sites are for, anyway. MAKE SURE YOU PUT A LINK TO YOUR BLOG ON YOUR PROFILES! You would be surprised how many bloggers I checked who DON’T have a link to their blog on their Facebook or LinkedIn page. And finally, do your heavy promoting during peak times people use these sites – work hours.

And now, ways you can use Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, social bookmarking, ping.fm, google profiles, other blogs and blog promotion sites to get your content noticed.

Facebook
* Create a fan page for your blog – attract fans by updating it with articles, short posts and pictures
* Create and join groups around your blog’s topic
* Use Networked Blog application to create a community for your blog followers

LinkedIn
* Create or join groups around your blog’s topic
* Browse discussion boards and Q&A for conversations already happening around your subject matter
*Add the blog link application so your posts are prominently displayed on your profile

Twitter
* Be sure to use top keywords related to your blog entry in your Tweet so people using Twitter search can find it

Ping.fm
* Simplify promotion of new content bv using Ping.fm to update your status on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, instant messenger accounts and other networks. This is better than setting up feeds to auto-post when you blog because you can customize the updates, rather than having them default post with your blog entry title.

Google profile
Set up a Google profile, a relatively new feature to Google. It will come up on the front page of Google search results for your name and allows you to list all your social profiles, including your blog

Social bookmarking
* Educate your readers about the use of social bookmarking and RSS feeds – they may know nothing about them and if they do, they might not understand the value of these sites to your blog, and to them.
* Make sure you have AddThis, SocialList or some other widget which includes all of the social bookmarking sites so visitors to your blog can easily save to their favorite.
* Don’t do that. List links only to the sites you want or expect to be able to rank highly on.
* Bookmark your own best posts, and ask others to do the same.

Interact with other blogs
* Find blogs on similar topics and subscribe to them in an RSS reader to make them easy to keep up with. Comment on their blogs and link back to them in your own relevant posts. This will drive traffic to your site and encourage them to comment on your site as well. – build relationship
* Find blogs on similar topic matter, or topics that you are interested in writing about that may not fit with your blog’s niche, and offer to guest post. For the time and content that you’ve given to the owner of the blog, you get traffic, establish expertise to a new audience and gain inbound links

Blog promotion sites
* Technorati, BlogCatalog, MyBlogLog are sites specifically focused on helping bloggers promote their blogs. Use these sites to form groups with people who are interested in your blog’s subject matter.