Blogging is becoming more and more essential for businesses to stay on top of their game, especially when it comes to their content marketing strategies.
As I read blogs, I’ve notice three things that most people DON’T do that could help improve interaction within the posts, boost social sharing, and increase your time on site.
Sometimes, if you write a golden nugget, you need to take the extra step to get people to share it.
1) Add “Tweet This” Links to Your Golden Nuggets
Every blog post you write generally has a few really good one-liners or “golden nuggets” of information that they hope people will take away with them.
In fact, you probably hope that they take that message and spread it to other people, so why not make it easy for them to do so? (Tweet this…see what I did there? 😉 )
How to do it:
All it is, is a simply hyperlink. You’ll need a certain URL to make it work, but it’s really easy, and I’ve even done the work for you.
https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=TYPE YOUR GOLDEN NUGGET HERE http://short.url.here via @YOURHANDLE
Feel free to copy and take that URL wherever you need to, but don’t forget to change out the parts that are underlined.
(Note: You may have to save your post as a draft before you publish it in order to get the URL, then go back to the tweet and put in the shortened URL)
Now, all you have to do is put a “(Tweet this)” after your golden nugget and hyperlink those two words with the link above.
2) Point Readers to Content That They May Be Interested In With A “See Also”
Mashable does a great job at keeping readers on its site by suggesting articles they might be interested in right within the article they’re currently reading.
I first noticed this trend on Mashable when I would find myself reading post after post without realizing that I was falling into Mashable’s trap. Calling it a “trap” is kind of harsh and isn’t entirely accurate whereas the word “trap” has a negative connotation.
In almost every single post on Mashable, you’ll find somewhere in the middle of the text a phrase in bold that says “SEE ALSO: [Title Of Related Post]” that is hyperlinked to an article that might tickle my fancy.
The suggested articles don’t always have to directly relate to the article that you’re reading, but what Mashable does well is answer the question “If someone is reading this article, what else are they likely to enjoy?”. (Tweet this)
SEE ALSO: 5 Easy Steps to Engage Your Audience on Twitter – Twitter for Business 101
For example, If someone is reading a satirical article, chances are they’re interested in reading another humorous or entertaining article; if Solar Joe is reading a tutorial article on how to install solar panels, maybe he’d enjoy an article on how much solar panels cost; or, if Engineer Jane is reading about the latest update on a CAD program, perhaps she’d also like to see your post on the “Ten Worst CAD Designs Ever Created”, etc.
3) Add Media To Your Posts as “Bonus” Content
When applicable, another great practice to create engaging posts to add “bonus” content such as a video, white paper, or presentation. There are plenty of free tools that make this easy to do, the most obvious being YouTube and SlideShare.
Both YouTube and SlideShare have the ability to embed your content directly within your post (if you don’t know how to embed a YouTube video, click HERE). SlideShare is a fantastic tool and probably one of the most under-utilized in business (Agree? Tweet it). You can not only upload PowerPoint presentations to SlideShare, but you can also upload pdf’s, white papers, and even videos.
SEE ALSO: 8 Reasons Why SlideShare is Important for Social Media Marketing
When you add your “bonus” content at the bottom of a post, you can even put a hyperlink to another article that is related to that video or presentation.
I hope this has been helpful! What ideas do you use to make your posts more engaging and interactive? Let me know in the comments.
BONUS: Marketing Tools for Component Manufacturers
-Lance Brown
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