I have been blogging for around eight years now, and I wish I had known just how vital social media is to complement and help to promote your blog posts when I first started out. Pinterest was something that was quite new and I didn’t start using Instagram in a way that can really help to promote my blog until the past few years. So what are some of the things that you can do to make sure that you use social media to promote blog posts and to drive traffic back to your website?
Pinterest Pins
When it comes to Pinterest, you really can use this to help your blog. With a range of pins that I have, and only checking in on it a little each week, I have over 28,000 visitors to my pins each month! When you’re posting your own content, as well as others, that is a lot of potential traffic.
If you want to make your pins really stand out on Pinterest, then the design really is everything. Usually on Pinterest, long and tall images are best, as they help to command the interest of the reader and create some of the most visual content. The best aspect ratio for images on pins is 2:3.
If you want to create some pins for this, then for the image, it is best to have images that are 1000 x 1500 pixels. You might not have images on your blog that are this size, but you can create a pin that is custom, and has text alongside or overlaid on the image. Then when the pin has been created, you can share on your blog posts so that if someone pins your link, the pin is there for them to click on and use. Having something visual really helps people to click on images and invites them to do so when it is at the end of a blog post.
The text that you use with your pin should be clear to state what the link is heading towards. There are some generic fonts out there that you can use on sites like PicMonkey and Canva, but you could also look up Font Bundles free font collection to see the great range that they have. I have been using the free fonts that they have to create pins for Pinterest, as well as for creating Instagram story highlight covers.
There are a range of free fonts to choose from, and there will be one to suit your branding, for sure. I like white playful fonts as my blog is lifestyle, but if you had a more serious blog then there are some corporate style fonts, as well as less bouncy and playful styled fonts.
Instagram Story Highlight Covers
Instagram is such a big part of my blog, especially after hitting the elusive 10k followers and being able to add the ‘swipe up’ to blog posts. I have found that having my stories saved with the highlights has helped too, as I can link to blog posts that people can refer back to when I mention them, and followers can look my stories up after 24 hours, such as an event or a trip somewhere.
Having well designed Instagram story highlight covers is a way to attract followers to look at them when they see your profile. It helps to keep your profile looking quite standard and uniform, helping it to look more professional and less messy. I have found it really helps me. Again, using Font Bundles you can use their free fonts to keep your branding the same, and then edit with an online video editing tool like InVideo to get the Instagram story highlight looking just as you want it.
Why take time to do these things?
Taking a bit of extra time with your content helps to push your blog in the long term. Having a good Pinterest pin can help a pin to go viral, if it shows a good image along with some text that really resonates. Keeping things seasonal really helps too, such as sharing relevant content around Valentine’s Day or Easter, for example.
When you get more traffic, the trustworthiness of your blog increases, as well as the potential to get backlinks to your content, helping to increase your DA. When this happens, you are helping yourself to get more paid work, so putting in the time can really help your blog to improve.
*this is a collaborative post, but all words and opinions are my own.
