Last week we walked through a step-by-step tutorial on how to create a Facebook Page for a blog. The reason why a blog owner would want a Facebook Page is that Facebook is the best social media platform for drawing attention from far and wide to a specific person, event, or brand. Not only that, but Facebook is free, easy to use, and has become a household name. Grandma is on Facebook now!
This week we’ll talk about how to use your new Facebook Page to draw readers to your blog. The main difference between a Facebook Page and a regular Facebook Profile is that your Page is public and everything you put on it can be accessed by anyone, anywhere. You also have access to seeing your “stats”, which is to say, the numbers that tell you how many visitors you have, how many times readers clicked a link that led directly to your blog, and how well (or how poorly) a story, meme, or status update was received by your followers. You can use this information to figure out what and when to post for the best reach.
Let’s take a closer look:
What to post to Facebook
Since you want to set up your Facebook Page to draw attention to your blog it makes a lot of sense to post links to your blog! But don’t just stop there, also post links to other blog posts that you like. Because Facebook algorithm doesn’t show everyone your links, it is a good idea to repeat posts that do well with your Facebook Page followers. If you have a blog post that did great then post it two or three times in the same week on your Facebook Page.
Memes do very well on Facebook too! A meme – short for mimeograph – is an image with text that is intended to be shared or copied as many times as possible. It is important to note that when you share a meme you must use caution and make sure that the meme you are sharing has a “watermark”, which is like a signature of the meme creator. These days, a large number of memes on the Internet are copyrighted work so protect yourself and only share watermarked memes.
When to post to Facebook
There are many theories about when the best time to post on Facebook is. The truth is, no one really knows for sure because it depends on the nature of the Facebook Page, but there are some trends that seem to tell us something about good timing. In order to keep your Facebook Page popping up in the newsfeeds of followers you should consider posting several times in a 24-hour period. You can schedule these posts ahead of time. Make sure to have at least one or two posts in the morning, in the mid and late afternoon, and one or two posts in evening. Think about who your target audience is and ask yourself when they are most likely online then post accordingly. You will only truly know the best times to post after a few weeks of data in your insights.
How to engage readers on Facebook
Several ways that you can engage your Facebook Page readers is to ask them questions, always respond to comments, and when you post a link to your blog make sure to write something interesting that invites comment. It is a good idea to remember that since your ideal Facebook Page user is also a blog reader that you post content that would be interesting to your audience.
One mistake a lot of Page owners commit is to blast their audience with content that may be popular on other pages but that doesn’t match with their particular niche, which can cost followers and potential readers. Stay true to your “brand”.
How to read your Facebook insights
Your insights are a set or sets of data that can tell you which of your posts was the most popular, how many times a post was viewed or clicked on, how many new likes or “unlikes” your page received, and more. It is not recommended to spend a lot of time studying your Insights. Instead, check out your Insights once a week or once a month to see the patterns that emerge over time, this is the best way to determine what kind of content does well with your audience. For example, some Page followers don’t respond well to memes, while others consume memes almost exclusively and ignore links to stories.
Using giveaways, share groups and guest posts
Finally, a great way to generate readership engagement is to conduct giveaways, feature a guest blogger from another blog, and start a share group.
Giveaways are a fun way to get your readers commenting and clicking through to your blog. You can give almost anything away from tickets to a show, books, subscriptions to the newspaper you name it. Gather together your prize package, make a fun graphic, write a snazzy blog post, and share that post to your Facebook Page and watch as your readers come out of the woodwork!
Guest posts are a fabulous way to meet other bloggers and cross audience pools to generate more exposure to your work. Be sure to follow proper guest blogging etiquette so that you can maximize your experience and secure future guest posts.
A share group is when a group of people agrees to post each other’s work on set dates and times in order to boost stats. This is a smart strategy because it can mean exposing your blog to a brand new audience and potentially picking up new readers!
A Facebook page is a wonderful way to increase your readership, drive traffic to your blog, and interact directly with your readers in a social way. Don’t forget to make sure that your blog has a widget for folks to “like” your Facebook Page! Give your page a few weeks to percolate and then watch your blog stats to see how much of your traffic is from Facebook. You will be pleasantly surprised by the outcome!
Have you been able to use Facebook to increase traffic to your blog? Share ideas that have worked for you in the comments.
