As I've mentioned before, blogging helps you turn social networking into business networking. It allows you to promote your business in a subtle way, by sharing valuable information that your ideal clients are looking for. I call that Blogging for Business 101.
The first step is to make sure you send out a notice to your social networks when you post something new to your blog.
But what do you do after that? Here are ten suggestions for when and why to link to your latest blog post from your social media accounts.
- You posted something new – Integrate your blog with your social media accounts so this happens automatically. Typepad makes an app that streams any RSS feed to your LinkedIn account and WordPress has many social networking plugins - ask around for recommendations and find one that works for you.
- You sent a link to the blog post to your mailing list – Similarly, you can set up most email broadcast systems to automatically post an announcement/link to your social networks when you've sent an email broadcast.
- You mentioned a friend, colleague or industry bigwig in your blog post - Alert the person you wrote about. It's a great way to start or deepen a relationship. And if the other person continues the conversation, then you both get an introduction to each other's network.
- It's been a couple of days (or hours) – since you posted - The people in your network are not watching your stream 24/7. So link to your new blog post on Twitter and LinkedIn several times and on different days, to give them the chance to see it. (Note: Unless you have a high volume on your Facebook Fan Page, I suggest limiting your blog post links to once per day).
- You have (or want) readers from all over the world - On a similar note, remember that if you post something at 3:00 p.m. Eastern time, people across the pond in the U.K. have already ended their business day. And making a big announcement about your latest post at 8:30 a.m. Eastern won't have much impact on your friends on the west coast who are still sleeping.
- Someone left an interesting comment – You can link directly to a particular comment or to the post itself so people can read it for themselves and then peruse the comments at the bottom.
- No one left any comments – Ask people in your social networks for their feedback or opinion about what you've written. Just don't be discouraged if comments are quiet.
- Someone has posted a question you can answer – You can set up a Google Alert or Twitter search, or just watch your streams for people talking about your area of expertise. When you see a question you've already answered in a blog post, send that link.
- There is a call to action in your blog post – Whether your call to action is to attend an upcoming program or try out a new service, you'll want to remind people about this opportunity. Try using a variety of "teaser" phrases to entice people to click through to your post.
- You're feeling shy, busy or you just haven't posted in awhile – Sharing helpful information is always a welcome addition to a conversation. Once you've jumped in with that, be sure to follow up by responding directly to what someone else has shared.
By blogging about topics that your ideal clients care about, you are creating a mountain of content that will build your credibility and visibility online. Use these 10 reasons to keep sharing that content long after you've posted it on your blog.
P.S. You may also want to add a link to your latest blog post to your email signature line - WiseStamp helps you do this automatically.
