Monday, February 27, 2012

How To Get Blog Traffic: Using Twitter wisely

Twitter is perhaps one of the most effective tools a blogger can have if used correctly.  "If" being the operative word here.

To start: how is Twitter different from all those other social platforms?  Why not just have Facebook?  Someone once explained the difference to me and I feel it's  quite apt: Facebook is for keeping track of people you know but don't really want to talk to.  Twitter is for talking to people you really should know.

On Twitter it's not taboo at all to start up a conversation with a total stranger.  In fact, you quickly will gain a following if you do do that.  That's the entire purpose of Twitter.

What Twitter is not good for is selling stuff.  Those who go on there and do nothing but try and hawk stuff on others will quickly get ignored.  It may have worked in early Twitter days... but not anymore.

But Twitter can be used to share blog links.  It's one of the best ways to initially get random people to check out your blog since the entire idea of Twitter is "random encounters."

Use Twitter as a person.  Make a point to interact with others.  People often appreciate it when someone takes the time to reply to their "tweet."  Then when you have a new blog post, announce the title of the post and share the link.  If people you have talked to in the past have found you interesting, there's a really good chance that they will click on the blog link out of curiosity.

How is that not hawking stuff?  There's a thin line.  But really it comes down to the fact that you're not selling anything.  A blog is, essentially, an opinion column.  So it gives those that have found your opinions interesting a chance to further explore "you."

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