Strategies and Tools for Social Media Marketing

I make no secret about it: The majority of my tweets are automated using a combination of Buffer, Feedly, and IFTTT. This automation means I still tweet lots of quality content, but have way more free time to interact with my followers and engage people who share my content.

Tools I Use for Social Media Management

Buffer

I use Buffer to schedule posts to my Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook

accounts and pages Of all the social media management tools, Buffer’s

user interface is the best

As you can see below, Buffer allows you to set up schedules for when you want to publish social media updates

The image below is for my Twitter account and you can create different schedules for different days, as well as for each individual social network

Set up your schedule for what times

of the day you want to publish

updates…

Select which days of the week the schedule applies

to…

I make no secret about it: The majority of my tweets are automated using a

combination of Buffer, Feedly, and IFTTT This automation means I still tweet lots

of quality content, but have way more free time to interact with my followers and engage people who share my content

To learn how I automate this process, check out my post here: How To Automate Twitter

Buffer is, of course, free and also has an easy-to-use browser extension that allows you to schedule posts from any website or blog without opening the Buffer

website Buffer is a must-have in the tool belt of anyone serious about social media marketing

You can learn more about Buffer and sign up HERE (affiliate link)

HootSuite

I don’t use HootSuite very often, but I do keep it handy for scheduling posts to Google+ since Buffer doesn’t integrate with Google+ yet

Feedly

With the demise of Google Reader, Feedly quickly became my go-to

RSS syndicator

As I mentioned, I use Feedly to automate my Twitter updates, but

it’s also my knowledge bank and news machine

I have my Feedly tab open almost all day, frequently checking the top digital

marketing blogs to make sure I stay current with the rapidly-changing social media industry

I highly recommend you open a Feedly account and start subscribing to RSS feeds for top blogs in your industry It’s one of the best ways to stay ahead of the game and it also saves tons of time when you’re looking for high-quality content to share

on social media

How and Where I Promote My New Blog Posts

I’m a big fan of the 80/20 rule when it comes to blogging That is, I spend about 20% of my time writing new content and 80% of my time promoting that content

For most beginning bloggers, those numbers get wrongfully switched That is, they think they need to be spending 80% of their time producing new content

The problem with that mentality is it often leads to low-quality content You

become more concerned with quantity over quality, which leads to low traffic, no subscribers, and eventually frustration

This is the single biggest reason you see so many dead blogs online

With that said, I’ve had readers ask me how I go about promoting my posts Below are the strategies and tools I use to promote a newly-published post

Social Networks

Of course, I promote my posts using social networks Duh! :)

After I publish a post, I usually go down the list and share it on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest

On Facebook and Google+, I write an extended message, giving a brief summary

of the post and writing a strong call to action encouraging people to read the post

On Twitter, I give the post title, a link, write [New Post] in brackets exactly like that, and then include a couple relevant hashtags such as #SocialMedia, #SM, or

#SMM I use these hashtags on Google+ and have also started to use them on Facebook more often

On LinkedIn, I share the post with my connections If I feel the post is very good and worthy of being posted in groups, I’ll share it in some of the social media and digital marketing groups I’m in

Be careful sharing in groups, however Occasionally sharing a post is fine, but if you’re sharing tons of low-quality posts, you’ll quickly gain a bad reputation in the group and could possibly be removed for spamming

Email Marketing

Your email list is essentially eternal and perhaps the most important area you can focus on when blogging (besides content)

I almost always send out an email to my list when a new blog post is published The importance of this can’t be emphasized enough and here’s why…

The people who have subscribed to my email list have a relationship with me They trust and expect me to provide good information As is necessary in any relationship, I work my ass off to meet their expectations and deliver value

What’s the result of this relationship?

Loyal readers

If I opened my Google Analytics account right now and looked at which visitors stayed on my site the longest, it would be the people who visited my site after clicking a link from one of my emails

That’s the true power of list building, list nurturing, and email marketing Your email list is the most important form of promotion for your blog

Guest Posting

If you don’t already know, you’ll find out soon after looking around my blog

I LOVE GUEST BLOGGING!

A while back, I stumbled on a training program from Danny Iny called Write Like Freddy (read my full review of the program)

The training showed me exactly how to get guest posting spots on authoritative blogs

I learned how to find the best blogs in my niche for guest posts, how to pitch those guest posts to ensure acceptance, and how to follow up after writing a guest post

As soon as I started using the method taught in Write Like Freddy, my traffic

immediately jumped (see below) and so did the number of subscribers to my blog

Since I put the Write Like Freddy training into action, I’ve been featured multiple times on blogs like JeffBullas.com, Social Media Today, Business2Community, Social Solutions Collective, and many others

Guest blogging is an outstanding way to get your name on prominent blogs, gain authority in your niche, increase your traffic, and build your email list

Other Sites

Triberr

Triberr is somewhat new

Basically, you join “Tribes” (groups) of other bloggers in your niche or industry Then, you link your RSS feed to your Triberr account Every time you publish a new post, it will show up in the Triberr feed of others who are in your Tribes

The purpose of Triberr is to make it easy for people to share content You can go down the list of your Tribes and simply click “Approve” next to posts you want to share on your social accounts

Triberr has a built-in schedule feature similar to Buffer, so all you have to do is approve posts and you’re good to go

I’ve built quite a few strong relationships through Triberr and it’s one of the

primary ways my posts get retweeted often

Scoop.it & StumbleUpon

There’s not much to be said about these two from my perspective

Honestly, I don’t know a ton of the details behind using them to market your blog, but I almost always submit my posts to both sites I do get traffic from both sites, but most of it is “hit and run” traffic, so they’re not incredibly important outlets for

me

Social Media & Digital Marketing Blogs I Read

If you want to get anywhere in this world, you have to first learn from the people who have already walked ahead of you

Below is a short list of the many blogs I often read

 HubSpot

 Social Media Examiner

 Social Triggers

 Convince & Convert

 {grow}

 Copyblogger

 Jon Loomer Digital

 Danny Brown

 Problogger

Conclusion

As you can see, I don’t do anything outrageously complex or unique

All the tools I use are free and all the methods I use for promoting my blog are replicable by anyone who chooses to put in the effort

The number one thing you can do to get your blog and social media presence off the ground is to stop pretending it’s separate from interacting with human beings

 What you’re doing is providing a solution to someone’s problem

 What you’re doing is meeting a need

 What you’re doing is building relationships with other people

If you focus on helping people rather than creating hype around your blog, you’ll have no problem building a strong following of loyal readers who trust you

When you get to that point, everything else is easy!

Share This Guide

Did you find this guide helpful? If you know someone who is involved with social media marketing or blogging and you think they would benefit from this

information, be a pal and share this guide with them!

Click the buttons below to share the guide (will open new browser window)…

About The Author

As the cover suggests, my name is Jonathan Payne and I’m the Founder of My Social Game Plan

That’s me over there…

I started My Social Game Plan with one of my best

friends, Steven Gilpin, in 2011 as a senior at the

University of Louisville We had plans and dreams of

being the go-to digital marketing agency in Louisville,

KY, but as most 21-year-olds, we were just a bit

idealistic

After about a year officially in business, we knew we were in over our heads and decided to part ways After that, I reevaluated and set a goal to make My Social Game Plan one of the top digital marketing blogs

As I say on my blog’s About page, I’m not a social media ninja or guru, but I’ve experienced enough failure to know what doesn’t work with digital marketing and

I’ve been persistent enough to find out what does work

I know how frustrating it can be to recognize the power of great online marketing, but not be sure how you can harness that power

Hopefully these tools and introductory strategies start you on the right path

Thank you so much for subscribing to My Social Game Plan and I genuinely look forward to taking this educational journey with you!

P.S If you want to know a little more about me, check out these recent interviews

 #SMPro Spotlight: Introducing Jonathan Payne [Interview]

 Embrace the Plus: Interview With Google+ Expert Jonathan Payne

 Savvy 7 Interview Series: Jonathan Payne [Social Solutions Collective]