Blog Your Passion

By: Lorelle VanFossen

Jun 01 2012

Tags: communication, facebook, how to blog, linkedin, marketing, networks, promotion, reddit, seo, sharing, social, social media, social media networks, social web, stumbleupon, tumblr, twitter

Category: How to Blog

1 Comment

Once you have furniture in your home, you can invite over the neighbors.

Once you have content, enough to represent your thoughts, opinions, and expertise on the subject, it is time to get social.

WordPress and WordPress.com have social media integration features such as the Sharing feature on WordPress.com or various WordPress Plugins from the WordPress Plugin Directory.

Before you get too wrapped up in the details, make a plan on how, why, and which social you are going to integrate not only into your site but into your business and marketing plan.

The most popular social media networks today are Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Tumblr, reddit, and LinkedIn. There are other sites and services, but the question you need to ask yourself is:

Where is my audience?

Since you want readers who are just like you with common interests, it is likely that where you naturally hang out is where your readers will be as well. Still, take some time to figure out where they are and get involved before investing time in learning how to use the various Plugins or social media features.

Once you know, explore the various options and make decisions on how much you will automate and how much you will manage manually.

Automation is an excellent way to save time and energy, but there is nothing like the personal touch.

Make your tweets or announcements personal. Share the link but share why you wrote the post, some interesting detail about it, and why you recommend people read it.

Do more than just tease. Give people a reason to not just visit but help spread the word.