Social media has been a great tool for Ghost Blog Writers.
Throughout the life of this young business I’ve tried to practice what we preach with our service. We tell our clients that blogging is a great long-term strategy for bringing in traffic; the type of traffic that turns into customers.
This happens with consistent blogging over months and years. And the traffic sources are diverse. They include organic search traffic, email traffic, direct traffic and social media traffic.
Social media and blogging are a great pair, but they both need to support each other. Blogging can help grow your social media following and a great social media following can bring in more traffic to your blog.
We’ll focus on the second part. To get there you need to build your following.
One way to do that is to post more content on social media.
Here are 7 hacks I have found to be most effective for sharing more content on social media while getting more followers, favorites, RTs and traffic.
1. Comment On RT’d Content
One of the best things you can do on social media is to help others promote their content. This is done with the retweet or RT.
Now, Twitter has a fancy retweet button, but back in the early days you had to do it manually and this manual way still works really well for engagement.
Here is what an RT looks like:
RT: @dayneshuda Social Media is a great tool for businesses.
That’s a simple RT, but if you’re retweeting that message you can add unique content by adding your own thoughts and tips. Like this:
Make it a habit to RT 5x per day. RT: @dayneshuda Social Media is a great tool for businesses.
Try that the next time you’re on Twitter.
2. Create Quick Lists On Your Blog Of Top Content You Find And Share
To do this one you’ll have to remember or keep track of the content you find interesting and content you share on social media.
You can do this over and over again.
Find 10 of your favorite articles or tweets from the past week and create a quick post on your blog. Link to all the favorites and add a few of your own quick thoughts.
Then share the post on social media and mention the authors of the other content.
You curate a great list and provide value and it shouldn’t be too much extra work if you’re already reading other articles and tweets.
3. Quick Answers To Common Questions
Think about all the questions you get over and over from your customers. Think about what they ask you in the early stages of the sales process. You probably answer the questions without even thinking about it, but to your customer those answers are very valuable.
Put those answers on social media. If people are asking you the same question in person you can bet there are more people just like them that would find that answer helpful.
And to you it’s just an easy answer.
A question I get all the time is how to post consistent blog content. My answer is a content calendar. Brainstorm the titles ahead of time and write on the same day each week.
I can use that answer on social media over and over and new people always find it a useful tip.
4. Talk To The Sales Team (Common Questions)
This one builds on the last one. If you’re not involved with your customers directly anymore then talk to your sales team. See what questions they’re getting from prospective clients.
Ask your sales team for the answers they’re providing and you’ll have a list of great content your company can share on social media.
Whoever is doing your social media should be in tune with your sales team and the knowledge they share with prospects.
5. Ask Questions
Still struggling to get unique content for your social accounts?
What has you thinking today?
Ask your followers for their opinions and thoughts. Focus on the topics that are important in your industry. Add a few industry hashtags to your tweet and you’ll bring in a new audience that could answer.
Asking questions is a great way to interact with others. It can lead to a bigger following and more social media engagement.
6. Respond To Questions (Hashtags, Lists)
And instead of asking questions all the time you can mix in a few answers. Answering questions is a great content strategy no matter the channel and that includes social media.
You can answer the questions the people that you follow ask, but segment the people you follow by using Twitter Lists. It’s a great tool for keeping track of more people. You can have a list for industry influencers, potential clients, customers and more.
And follow some of the big industry hashtags and answer questions there too.
Answering questions is always a good strategy especially if you can’t think of anything to share. And usually it’s a better strategy than ideas you come up with. That’s what I’ve found.
7. Delegating Content Creation
Even with all these great ideas are you still struggling to share more content on social media?
It might be a sign that you need to delegate the unique content aspect of your social media plans. Bring someone on board that is interested in social media. Give them a few guidelines and make sure they understand your brand and let them go.
You might be surprised how well they do.
Final Thought
Social media is a great tool that can help you get more customers. But it takes effort over the long haul for it to work. Most give up too early because they find that it take works to add unique content to social media.
Use the ideas above and I know you’ll be able to add more unique content to your social media channels. It will lead to more engagement and more followers.