Tag Archive for: social media

Using Facebook and Twitter to Promote Your Blog

Though I have a reluctant relationship with Facebook at best, I’ve come to accept that, many times, Facebook is where I’m going to get readers and interaction.

The people following me on Facebook are, in theory at least, interested in what I have to say on my blog and are invested in me since we’re “friends.”

Today, I thought I’d point out a few ways you can use Facebook and Twitter to promote your blog posts, since your followers/friends in those venues might not take the time to click to your blog or even know that you have a blog they want to read. They also might not want to read everything you write

Here are a three easy-to-use tools that can help you use Facebook and Twitter to get the word out about your blog. They are all very similar in their capabilities and ease of use.

For people who use Facebook (or Twitter, for that matter) like a feed reader, this is an invaluable service. For those of us who don’t, it doesn’t hurt anything.

dlvr.it (pronounced “deliver it”)
I have Jen Fitz to thank for bringing this to my attention in the comments of a previous discussion of traffic. It’s an all-in-one service, including both Facebook and Twitter. You’ll need to open an account with them and then link up your blog feed (for those of you non-technical types, this is usually as easy as just entering the web address of your blog, if you haven’t changed things or set up a feed).

Networked Blogs
This is a popular service that I’ve been using for quite a few years to deliver my blog posts to Facebook automatically. Here’s the way it works: you enter the information and bam! Your blog appears in your Facebook feed. You can also set up a feature called “Syndication” that will let you publish your blog’s feed to your Facebook profile/timeline, any or all of your Facebook pages, and any or all of your Twitter accounts.

Twitterfeed
Much like dlvr.it, Twitterfeed is an all-in-one service. You set up an account, link to your Facebook, Twitter, and blog accounts, and you’re done. You’ll get some stats that are available to you through this, such as how many people clicked through or read from Facebook or Twitter.

If you have a WordPress blog…
It bears mentioning that if you have a WordPress blog (as I do), you can set it up to automatically use your Twitter account and post your new blog material there automatically. I’ve used the Twitter for WordPress and Twitter Tools plug-ins with some success.

YOUR TURN: what questions does this bring to mind? Do you have any tips of your own to share?

How Facebook Has Changed My Blogging


I have a love-hate-hate relationship with Facebook.

I much prefer Twitter, which is more like a crowded lunchroom, where you can pop in and out (or not) as you please. You can stick around and converse (or not) or browse around (or not).
I love Google-Plus, which is like a restaurant (at least the way I’ve been able to use it), where you can come all the way in and sit down or you can pop in and grab a drink at the bar.
Facebook is more like a living room, sometimes crowded and sometimes empty. It requires ongoing maintenance and the interaction can be unending.
(The “unending interaction” thing is true of all three, admittedly. I just find it harder to manage on Facebook.)
In the five years that I’ve been blogging, things have changed in the blogosphere, in part because of how I now use social media, particularly Facebook.
For one thing, I definitely get less comments on my blog. The comments come over at Facebook much more frequently (I have my posts published through RSS on both my personal wall and on my page).
For another thing, I tend not to blog the short snippet posts that I used to post to capture “kid moments” and those sorts of things. They are the things that I now use as status updates or tweets.
However much I may struggle with Facebook, there’s no denying that it’s changed my blogging.
How about you? How has Facebook impacted your blogging?

Sarah Reinhard blogs at SnoringScholar.com and is hopelessly active on Twitter and Facebook. She’s the author of Welcome Baby Jesus: Advent and Christmas Reflections for Families.

Social Media & Blogging

I resisted it for quite a while. “I already blog,” I thought. “Who needs Twitter? And I can’t even really navigate Facebook. So I’ll just keep blogging.”

That was years ago. Now, I’m just as embroiled in the web of status updates as anyone else. It just seemed to be the next step, the natural progression of my blogging activity.

I have noticed, in the time since trying to figure out how status updates fit into my life to now, that these 140-character updates serve a few different purposes in my life, both good and bad.

1. They take time. It’s hidden time, time that I would have committed to other things (like picking my fingernails and staring at the sky, in many cases). Sometimes, this time is also better committed to other things (like the dishes or the messy living room). Blogging also takes time, though, and when I find myself against a brick wall, sometimes those status updates (either writing a new one or looking back at past ones) can get me launched into a new post.

2. They help me remember moments in my life. I live with little kids who say the darndest things, and by sharing these things, I create a bit of a log. There are times when I realize, as I’m capturing a blissful moment or a slice of hilarity, that I have plenty of material all around me for my blog. I see the evidence of God at work; I feel the need to make connections; I have a way of keeping myself aware of the world around me because I’m documenting it for myself. (Maybe it’s just the voices in my head, needing a way to express themselves?)

3. They give me ideas for longer pieces. Somehow, the act of writing things down–whether on a scrap of paper or a status update–aids my spotty memory. (I have hopes of getting my memory back, but…who knows?) It also, as I mentioned in #1, warms me up, so that when I have a chance to sit down at my computer for the window of time I have to write a blog post, I can DO IT: the ideas are there, cultivated in my mind or saved on my Twitter feed.

4. They connect me in different ways to more–and varied–people. This can be a pro and a con, but it’s there all the same. There are quite a few people who read blogs through Facebook, and though that does NOT suit me, it gives my blog a wider audience and sometimes a more interactive audience. When I take time (which is sometimes not often) to read other people’s updates, I might find yet another source for ideas.

5. They’re fun and they give me interaction with other people. (They’re also addictive, but we’ll leave that discussion for others.) I feel, so often, like an island in my little writing world, especially as an avid extrovert. The interaction and amusement I get from social media feeds that part of me that sometimes feels like it will wither away in the middle of a lonely, blank screen. The fun has to be balanced, it’s true. But it’s important for me to enjoy my work, and since my work these days is rather isolated from other adults, I appreciate the outlet and input of social media.

How do you use social media to support or aid your blogging efforts? Or do you find that they, instead, hamper your writing?


Sarah Reinhard, author of Welcome Baby Jesus: Advent & Christmas Reflections for Families, is a Catholic wife, mom, blogger, reader, and farm girl who can be found online at SnoringScholar.com. She’s also active on Twitter and Facebook, if you’re so inclined.