Feeling like Twitter isn’t driving as much traffic to your blog as you’d like? Well, it’s time to change that! If you’re going to put time and effort into a platform, it should be delivering the results you want, including being one of your top traffic drivers.
The Easy Guide to Promoting Blog Posts on Twitter
If you need help promoting blog posts on Twitter, these tips are for you! They’ll help you create tweets people notice, which will help you gain more visibility for your profile, and will encourage your readers to share your posts.
1. Share Multiple Tweets With the Link to Your Post
Obviously, the best way to promote your new blog post on Twitter is to actually share the link. Where most people go wrong is that they only share the link once and think they’re done. Because tweets have a short lifespan, this strategy just isn’t going to cut it. You need to share the link multiple times throughout the day the post goes live (and also schedule tweets into the future).
Don’t think of it as being overly promotional. Your content is serving a purpose and it’s there to help your audience. But the thing is, it can only help them if they discover it and they don’t have a chance of finding it if you aren’t sharing it.
The next time you publish a new blog post, share multiple tweets with the link on the publication day. Three or four tweets would be great to shoot for. The key here is to spread them out throughout the day, thus allowing you to hit multiple time zones. Your audience is all over the world and you want to reach them when they’re most likely to be active on Twitter. And while you’re at it, you can schedule tweets into the future as well. (P.S. This post features some great tools for scheduling tweets.)
2. Add Hashtags for Optimal Reach
When you’re writing those tweets, don’t forget to add a relevant hashtag. Hashtags are a great way to expand your reach since your post will show up when people are searching. Take some time and do a little research to discover the best hashtags for your industry. You can save them in a document and refer to them later when scheduling posts. Just remember not to go overboard! One or two hashtags is the sweet spot for Twitter.
3. Include Eye-Catching Images
When promoting blog posts on Twitter, you want to make sure your tweets stand out by including an eye-catching image. You can even take it one step further and design multiple images for sharing one specific blog post. This allows you to change it up and you can monitor your analytics to see if there’s a type of graphic your audience responds to best.
The best way to grow your Twitter following is to be consistent. Tweet and connect every day. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/lPNcbu5PAZ pic.twitter.com/078Sw6OMcu
— Madalyn Sklar ? Digital Marketing since 1996 (@MadalynSklar) June 4, 2019
You can create a simple image that features the title of your post or get creative by adding quotes or statistics that are mentioned within the post. Above, I share my “Secret Sauce” to growing your following on Twitter with a cool image while linking it to my free course. There are plenty of options to consider here, so you really can’t go wrong when creating promotional graphics for your posts.
4. Tease Your New Post in a Video
Video content is where it’s at so there’s no time to be shy about getting in front of the camera! You can film a quick video teasing your new blog post. Let your followers know what your new post is all about, share some juicy snippets, and leave them wanting more. This way, they’ll have no choice but to head over to your blog and read the full post.
5. Make Your New Post Your Pinned Tweet
Are you actively taking advantage of the Pinned Tweet feature on your profile? If not, you’re missing out! This is valuable real estate at the top of your Twitter page that you should be using for promoting blog posts on Twitter. Whenever someone visits your profile, they’re going to see this tweet that you’ve pinned and it’s the perfect way to drive traffic back to your blog.
You can pin a piece of evergreen content that really shows off what your brand is all about (like I’ve done above). Or you can change up the tweet to feature your most recent piece of content. Either way, it’s a great traffic driver you should be using to its full advantage.
6. Make Your Blog Share-Friendly
While it’s important for you to share your own content, isn’t it also nice when other people share it too? If you want to encourage readers to share your blog posts, you have to make it easy for them to do so. They won’t be bothered if it’s difficult or is going to take a long time. So, you want to make it as simple and straightforward as possible.
To do this, make sure you have social sharing buttons that appear on each of your blog posts. I use Social Warfare. They should also be in a prominent location so they can’t be easily overlooked. When readers see those buttons, it prompts them to share and they’ll be more likely to spread the word. Another great tip for promoting your blog posts on Twitter is to add ClickToTweet buttons within your posts. You can customize the tweet the way you want and in just a few clicks, a reader can share your content.
7. Retweet When People Share Your Posts
Thank you for sharing, Heidi! ? https://t.co/YcdKW548WI
— Madalyn Sklar ? Digital Marketing since 1996 (@MadalynSklar) June 5, 2019
If someone shares your blog post on Twitter, let them know you appreciate it. You can retweet them, which in turn gets more eyes on the post, thus driving more traffic to your site. And you can also take a moment to give your thanks in the retweet (that’s called a Retweet with comment). It may not seem like much, but it makes people feel noticed. That goes a long way in building your community using the know, like and trust factor.
8. Start a Conversation Around Your Blog Post Topic
Social media is meant to be social, after all! So, why not start a conversation around the topic you discuss in your blog post? For example, I could promote this post by sharing a tweet that asks people what they do when promoting blog posts on Twitter. It gets people talking and sharing their advice, plus they can see what tips I’ve shared by reading the post. This is super simple and very effective!
9. Regularly Participate in Twitter Chats
Okay, let me start off by saying that I’m not encouraging you to promote your blog posts during a Twitter chat. Unless you’re asked to share a link, it can come off as too self-promotional and it can turn off other participants. However, Twitter chats can still be a great way to direct traffic back to your blog.
By becoming a regular participant in some of the popular chats within your industry, you stand a better chance at driving relevant traffic to your Twitter profile. When people see you popping up and consistently sharing great tweets during the chat, they can’t help but check you out! And the first thing they’ll see is your “pinned” tweet. To help you make the most of it, read my post on making the most of Twitter chats.
10. Promote It
And finally, you can really take promotion to the next level by creating a paid ad. If you have a post that you really want to drive traffic to, it could be worth it to put a few dollars behind it. Check your analytics and watch how it performs so you can improve your paid tweets over time.
Call to Action:
- Commit to sharing a new blog post more than once on the day it’s published, adding relevant hashtags and eye catching images.
- Step outside your comfort zone and record a video where you promote your blog post.
- Make sure your blog is share-friendly and encourage people to share your content with social sharing buttons like Social Warfare and ClickToTweet.