Social Media Marketing for Bloggers How to Leverage Instagram, TikTok, and Beyond to Grow Your Audience

Social media is an incredibly powerful tool for bloggers looking to expand their audience and get more eyes on their content. Platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest make it easy to put your work in front of millions of built-in users.

But with new platforms emerging all the time, it can be hard to figure out where to focus your efforts. Should you double down on Instagram? Experiment with TikTok? Or try the latest hot app?

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about social media marketing as a blogger, including:

• The top 7 social platforms for bloggers in 2023
• Key differences and what content works best on each network
• How to set up profiles to attract your target audience
• Tactics for engaging followers and growing your community
• Tools to manage multi-channel Social Media Marketing
• Metrics that matter for tracking success
• Tips to streamline your workflow

Plus, you’ll find a handy comparison table of all the major platforms as well as answers to frequently asked questions at the end.

So whether you’re new to social media or looking to step up your current strategy, use this guide to help choose the best channels and leverage them effectively to promote your blog content.

Why Social Media Marketing Matters for Bloggers

Let’s start with the basics – why social media should be an important piece of any blogging strategy.

Put simply, social media gives your content a much wider reach. There are over 4 billion social media users in the world today. That’s a massive potential audience you can tap by effectively utilizing social platforms.

Plus, social media helps drive referral traffic to your blog. Over half of users discover content through social networks. When you share your blog posts and engage followers, it raises awareness of your brand and content. Those social shares can drive site traffic and introduce new readers to your work.

Social platforms also facilitate networking and community building. You make connections with other influencers, brands, potential contributors, readers in your niche, and more through channels like Twitter and LinkedIn.

And they provide a space to demonstrate thought leadership and industry expertise. As bloggers and content creators, social media gives us an opportunity to showcase knowledge and perspective.

All in all, having an social media strategy is critical for extending your blog’s reach, building an audience, driving traffic, connecting with industry peers, establishing credibility, and growing your personal brand as an influencer.

Picking one or two platforms to start is perfectly fine. You can expand your efforts over time. Just make sure social media marketing has a place in your overall blogging strategy.

Top 7 Social Platforms for Bloggers

There’s no shortage of social networks out there. So which ones should take priority?

The “best” social channels depend on your blog niche, target audience demographics, and content format (e.g. video vs text). But some networks tend to be better fits across the board.

Here are the top 7 platforms generally recommended for bloggers along with a brief overview:

1. Facebook

• 2.85 billion monthly active users
• Best for driving traffic, group engagement
• Fan pages to represent brands/bloggers

2. Instagram

• 1.478 billion monthly active users
• Visual content excels – photos, illustrations, infographics
• Can embed links in Stories and profile

3. LinkedIn

• 810 million monthly active users
• Professional networking and thought leadership
• Blog post links can boost authority and expertise

4. Pinterest

• 478 million monthly active users
• Imagery focused – pin photos, designs, infographics
• Gets traffic from commercial searches

5. Twitter

• 237 million daily active users
• News, commentary, networking in short snippets
• Use hashtags and mentions to connect with interested audiences

6. YouTube

• 2 billion monthly active users
• Videos and livestreams help build engaged followings
• Opportunity to go “viral” and access broad viewership

7. TikTok

• 1 billion monthly active users
• Short videos full of memes, entertainment, creators
• Great for capitalizing on trends and amusing visual content

This covers the major networks that tend to work well for bloggers in most use cases. But don’t overlook up and coming platforms like Reddit, Snapchat, WhatsApp or others that could be relevant.

Evaluate new networks as they gain steam and carve out a specific niche to determine if they warrant experimentation for your target readership. Part of staying competitive with social media marketing means adapting to evolutions in the landscape.

Now let’s explore the key differences across these platforms and optimize approach for each.

Tailoring Your Approach by Platform

While social networks share commonalities like visual design components and engagement features, they all have distinct cultures, algorithms, and ideal content types.

You need to tailor your approach based on the platform strengths and nuances to make the most of each one:

Platform	Ideal Content Types	Character Count Guide	Top Tips for Bloggers
Facebook	Articles, videos, images, lives streams	Text posts up to 63,206 characters <br> Captions up to 2,200 characters	– Share blog content natively <br> – Engage niche Facebook groups <br> – Use calls to action in posts
Instagram	Photos, illustrations, infographics, short videos	Caption 2,200 characters <br> Bio 150 characters	– Embed blog links and handles in bio/stories <br> – Use relevant hashtags in all posts <br> – Post consistently with visual cohesion
LinkedIn	Professional news, long form thought leadership articles	Text posts up to 1,350 characters <br> Comments up to 300 characters	– Establish expertise with long form posts <br> – Join conversations within your industry groups <br> – Repost blog content natively
Pinterest	Watermarked photos, designed infographics, illustrations, GIFs	500 character limit for pins <br> 200 character limit for board names	– Curate shareable visual assets <br> – Organize content by theme into boards <br> – Write snippet copy for every pin
Twitter	Commentary, news, networking – all in snippet form	280 characters max per tweet	– Use relevant hashtags and handles <br> – Reply and engage with tweets from others <br> – Thread tweets to post long form
YouTube	Videos – educational, entertainment, documentary style	Title up to 100 characters <br> Description up to 5000 characters	– Upload long and short form video content <br> – Engage audiences through comments <br> – Promote videos socially to maximize viewership
TikTok	Short videos, mini stories, entertainment, creative effects	Title up to 60 characters <br> Description up to 150 characters	– Post short clips that educate or entertain <br> – Use trending sounds that align with your niche <br> – Engage with duets, stitches, and comments

As you can see, the right approach varies quite a bit depending on which platforms your targeting.

Research what performs well in each channel and tailor your efforts accordingly. For example, condensed commentary thrives on Twitter while expansive educational posts do better on LinkedIn.

Now let’s get into optimizing your profiles and presence to stand out on each platform.

Setting Up Your Social Profiles

If no one can find your profiles, your social media marketing won’t get far.

Help readers identify and connect with you by completely filling out your profile details on every channel.

Here are key items to define or optimize in your social profiles across platforms:

Profile Photo – Use a clear, high quality headshot so readers recognize you. Display the same photo across networks for consistency.

Cover Image – Choose eye catching visuals reflecting your niche and brand vibe. Leverage Canva templates to create banner images that look polished.

Bio – Share your areas of expertise, experience highlights and blog niche focus concisely within tight character limits. Embed links to your website and important pages.

Name – Display your full name consistently so networks can verify your identity and readers understand who you are.

Location – Share the city and country where you’re based to give readers context. Location tags also help networks showcase your content.

Website Links – Embed clickable links to your blog in profile fields when possible to drive traffic.

Pro tip: Set up branded custom URLs on platforms like YouTube to claim username prefixes aligned with your handle everywhere else e.g. @YourName

Completing these profile elements makes you look more professional, helps readers learn about you, and gives them easy access to check out your blog.

Make sure you also set notifications so you see when users interact with your content. Activity streams inform you about comments, shares, reactions and new followers so you can engage.

Building Your Audience and Encouraging Engagement

You’ve crafted awesome social profiles to attract readers initially. But getting eyes on your content is step one.

Encouraging meaningful engagement helps transform casual visitors into active community members and loyal fans.

Here are some top tactics for each stage of audience growth:

Attracting Followers

• Use relevant niche hashtags frequently so interested audiences find you
• Engage with influencers and brands by tagging, liking, sharing
• Promote giveaways and contests to build initial momentum
• Embed calls to action inviting users to follow you across assets

Engaging Followers

• Reply to all comments and queries on your posts in a timely manner
• Ask engaging questions to spark dialogue like “What’s your view on X?”
• Give followers recognition and value by liking their content
• Repost user generated content that mentions you appreciatively

Expanding Reach

• Cross promote blog content across all your social channels
• Collaborate on social videos, campaigns or takeovers with niche influencers
• Curate content recommendations like industry news, apps or events followers would enjoy

Rallying communities takes effort but pays dividends. 88% of consumers trust online recommendations as much as personal suggestions according to Nielsen data. So let your followers evangelize for you through authentic engagement.

Next let’s get into posting strategies and best practices by network.

Optimizing Your Approach Posting Strategy Per Platform

Now you have a solid understanding of popular social platforms and how profiles should be set up. But what should you actually be posting?

Content strategy varies widely across networks based on audience expectations and feed experiences.

You need to align your social media initiative with your blog niche first. Think about what topics and post types make the most sense for your readership.

However, these general evidence-backed principles can inform your strategy on each channel:

Facebook

• native video garners 5X more engagement than links or images
• 80% of content engagement happens in the first 3 hours
• posts between 40-80 characters get highest overall engagement

Instagram

• video posts have a 48% higher interaction rate over images
• Link stickers in Stories drive the most profile visits
• 70% of hashtags searches happen on Fridays and weekends

LinkedIn

• articles longer than 3 minutes read time get the most shares
• 66% of users access LinkedIn daily for industry news
• shares increase up to 45X on posts with hashtags

Pinterest

• Ideal aspect ratio for Pins is 2:3 tall on desktop and 1:1 square on mobile
• Pins should use roughly 20 relevant hashtags in the comments
• Bright colors and appealing graphics attract more impressions

Twitter

• Tweets during the workweek drive 25% more engagement
• Polls and quote Tweets boost engagement up to 22X
• The best time to tweet averages 1-3pm across time zones

YouTube

• Descriptions over 5000+ characters rank best in YouTube search
• Calls to action in the middle/end of videos increase clicks
• Persuasive custom thumbnails with bright contrasing colors perform better

TikTok

• Videos under 30 seconds have highest completion rate
• Trending hashtag challenges invite mass viewer participation
• Duets and Stitches with content from other users helps expand reach

Pay attention to platform algorithm updates and experiment within these general guidelines to determine what resonates best with your audiences.

Managing Multi-Channel Content with Social Media Tools

Executing a thoughtful platform-specific strategy with tailored content takes significant effort. Posting unique updates daily across just a few networks is hugely time consuming.

Expanding that effort across 7+ channels may sound completely overwhelming. But it doesn’t have to be.

Social Media Marketing management tools help streamline multi-channel content workflows so you’re not stuck scheduling countless updates manually. Here are some must have features to look for:

• Content calendars to map an posting plan across networks in one view
• Bulk upload and scheduling options to save tons of time
• Post queues for drafting and staggering content
• Smart scheduling with algorithms determining best timing
• Analytics dashboards with engagement and growth metrics
• Comment monitoring to see conversations about your posts
• UTM campaign tracking to measure ROI on Social Media Marketing initiatives

Top platform agnostic tools like Sprout Social, Hootsuite, and Buffer integrate with all the major Social Media Marketing networks so you can organize efforts efficiently.

Check out Social Media Marketingthis comparison of social media tools across pricing tiers to find the best match based on your budget and needs.

Getting a tool specifically made for Social Media Marketing pros in place is a smart move before expanding efforts too widely. Test out automation features to evaluate whether they fit your workflow.

Then use freed up time to focus on thoughtful messaging, engaging with communities, and crafting original high quality content.

Tracking What Matters: Key Social Media Marketing

Expanding your social media reach, creating shareable content, and engaging communities is no small feat. How do you actually know whether all that effort is paying off?

Key metrics provide concrete snapshots of how your social media marketing is performing. Tracking numbers over time ultimately indicates whether your strategy needs revising across platforms.

Here are the top metrics every blogger should monitor:

Follower Growth – This trailing indicator demonstrates how well you’re expanding your potential audience reach. Look at overall programs as well rates network by network.

Engagement Rates – Measure interactions with your content vs reach to see what % of people take action. Check both averages and performance post by post.

Click Through Rates – See how often shared links and assets drive traffic relative to visibility. Highlights conversion effectiveness.

Referral Traffic – Dig into analytics to monitor Social Media Marketing referral levels to your blog and sales pages month over month. Indicates how well networks entice clicks.

Sales Impact – Correlate spikes in Social Media Marketing activity with conversions. Shows how directly social drives business results.

Sentiment – Use Social Media Marketing listening to track percentages of positive, negative and neutral mentions. Gives a qualitative sense of brand Social Media Marketing perception.

Building dashboards around key metrics makes assessing what’s working much easier instead of combing through platform analytics. Many Social Media Marketing tools also track analytics automatically.

Evaluate performance at least monthly, if not more frequently. Then evolve ineffective elements in your strategy based on the data.

Now for the final piece – making Social Media Marketing sustainable as a blogger Social Media Marketing.

Streamlining Your Process to Avoid Overwhelm

Maintaining an active presence across multiple Social Media Marketing channels takes massive effort. Even with robust tools to help, avoiding burnout is tough.

The workload can undermine creators who run solo shows without team support. Here are crucial ways to prevent overwhelm:

Set a Reasonable Posting Cadence – Publishing Social Media Marketing daily on every network isn’t realistic long term. Most consistent bloggers aim for 4-7 posts/week per channel.

Create an Editorial Calendar – Map your content plan weekly or monthly so you know exactly what to share and when.

Curate User Generated Content – Reposting and regramming community content about you expands reach with less effort on your end.

Draft Content in Bulk – Set aside a “Power Hour” to create a batch of posts at once. Then schedule out over weeks using a social media tool.

Automate What You Can – Use tools to simplify repetitive tasks like posting, tracking, listening and reporting wherever possible.

Analyze ROI Constantly – Review if time invested in each network aligns with business results and cuts ones that don’t deliver.

Set yourself up for social media marketing success on the blogger journey by avoiding burnout through efficiency. The less stressful your process, the longer you’ll sustain efforts and see fruitful results.

These best practices should help lighten the load. But don’t hesitate to bring on freelance support for added bandwidth if you can afford it.

Now that we’ve covered quite a bit of ground on executing social media marketing for your blog, let’s recap.

The Key Takeaways for Marketers

If you only remember a handful of tips for leveraging Social Media Marketing to grow your blog’s readership, make sure it’s these:

Pick Channels Strategically

Audit your niche, content, analytics and reader demographics. Then choose a shortlist of 3-5 networks aligned to your goals that deserve focus over others.

Craft High Quality Shareable Content

Create Social Media Marketingcontent tailored to the strengths and culture of each platform. Pay attention to the types of posts that gain traction and produce more of that.

Engage Meaningfully with Communities

Carve out time daily to respond to conversations, give users recognition and encourage them to spread awareness with their networks too.

Use Tools to Optimize Workflows

Don’t manually tackle posting, scheduling, tracking and reporting across every network. Social Media Marketing management software helps scale efforts.

Monitor Performance Metrics Closely

Set up dashboards around traffic, conversions, sentiment, reach and engagement. Continually optimize based on what content and tactics deliver results.

Now over to you! Hopefully this guide gave you tons of ideas on how to step up your social media marketing game as a blogger.