How’s The Blog Doing? Social Media Tips and To Dos

In my little social media journey, it has a little difficult in terms of getting seen. I wrote about how I share my blog posts and videos on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, with the majority of the views coming from Facebook (and only if I share to my personal page), and struggling to find the views on Twitter and Instagram. I know they all have their own algorithms and hashtags and user bases and I know a lot of artists struggle on all platforms. Here are all the tips I’ve been trying and some more I’ll need to look into.

Tips I’ve Tried

Include a visual in every post

Especially on Instagram and Youtube, I try to make my photos and thumbnails visually interesting so people will want to read the caption or watch the video. This is, of course, harder if you’re also creating visual content, so you’ll have to not only take the pictures, but you have to make sure the content you create will need to be visually interesting. I use highlighters, stickers, and washi tape in my journals, not only for my own organization, but to make sure people also like what they see.

For my YouTube thumbnails, I’m going for a vibrant color, to grab the attention of the viewers. Here are some examples:

For my Instagram, I’m not going for an aesthetic on my public account, but I am trying to focus it more on stationery and journaling.

Share more video

I started doing YouTube again to build up my brand as I get started on my creating journey. I think I will also need to start posting the videos onto Facebook, and the shorter videos on Instagram as well. When I get into creating, I know I will need to do some live videos as well as some behind the scenes videos.

Here are some of the videos I’ve posted earlier in the year. Again, I’m focusing on two topics, journaling and crocheting, with only one recent video about beauty.

Using hashtags

I use hashtags in every Instagram post. I’m not so good at hashtags on the other platforms, but I research the hashtags and even create my own (like #MyRecencies) to make sure you can click on that and look at all my past posts.

I try to use hashtags with the largest amount of uses and followers, but also tag some of the lesser known hashtags as well. Nothing is more annoying to me than following a hashtag and then something unrelated comes up. The first time, I just select “Don’t Show For This Hashtag” and then if I see the same user multiple times, I block the user entirely.

Post at the “Best Times” to post

If you have a Business account on Instagram, you can check out your users and when the optimal time to post would be. I try to post just around the best time for each day. Unfortunately, I don’t have any information on the other platforms, as they don’t provide the same information.

For the YouTube, I’ve found better engagement when posting in the morning than when posting in the middle of the night, so I schedule my videos to post at 9am.

For the blog, I schedule the posts at 11am, right before lunch, for some lunch time reading. I don’t know if it works, because I usually just check my RSS reader (Feedly) when I can.

Engage with other users on social media

I respond to all messages on social media, and use my account to like and respond (on Instagram) and retweet (for Twitter). I don’t really use Facebook unless I’m tagged in something, or am liking my own post for views.

In each post, I try to ask questions relevant to the materials, and I definitely tell people to let me know what they think on each post.

Liking your own post

I read somewhere that you should like your own post for the like count. I don’t do this on Instagram anymore, but I still do it on Facebook because I think it actually does help? On Instagram, I like it with my other account.

I don’t know if it helps with engagement or helps the post have traction or not, but it’s something easy so I just do it anyway.

Tips To Try in the Future

Hosting a contest

It’s already been proven that hosting a contest will bring more followers and subscribers to your blog. I have a couple of things I want to give away already, so I’m just waiting for the start of my business to put it up.

Use memes/humor

Using memes and humor lightens the mood of your social media content and brings joy to your followers feed or timeline. I never really thought about this as bringing in followers, but considering the amount of memes that I like, it totally makes sense…

Encourage tagging

Encouraging tagging your friends kind of reminds me of the previous note: using a meme and then tell your followers to tag a friend who can relate. I also didn’t think about this as a tactic to bring in followers, but it totally makes sense!

Use paid social media

Using paid services to expand your social media coverage is definitely a future goal of mine. I have a goal I want to meet before paying for ads or content.

Use tools to monitor your activity

Again, using tools (free or paid) to expand or monitor your social medial coverage is definitely a future goal.