Online social networks are one of the easiest ways to reach a larger audience with your blog or digital portfolio.
While search engine optimization (SEO) and website directories will help you reach a general audience, social media marketing is arguably much more beneficial for personal blogs and online portfolios, because it offers a way to more directly interact with your visitors.
Whether you're a web writer trying to increase your readership or a creative professional trying to catch the eye of potential clients, you should be utilizing as many social networks as possible to help cultivate your online presence.
Create Content Specifically for Social Networks
Content that caters to specific social networks will be much more effective for marketing than general content.
For example, if you're a blogger, spend some time researching trends on sites like Tumblr, StumbleUpon and Reddit. Take note of popular subject matter as well as trends in stylistics such as diction and humor. Then, incorporate these elements into blog posts that are short and to-the-point, because social network users are most often just looking for a quick read.
When you include these catered posts on various social networks, other users will be much more inclined to engage with and cross-share your blog, giving you the potential to go viral.
This marketing method also works for other types of creative professionals. If you're a digital artist, incorporate popular visual styles and Internet memes into some your work. If you're a photographer, utilize trending post-production effects on a selection of your photos and share them on networks like Flickr and Instagram.
Even if your online work is strictly commercial, you can still use LinkedIn and other business-minded sites to research current trends in your field.
Knowing the current trends can make it substantially easier to land new clients. No matter what type of media you produce, your website will reach a much larger audience if you can tap into the Internet zeitgeist.
Diversify Your Online Portfolios
Don't limit yourself to one or two social networks. Even if you only have a small following on each social network, keep your profiles up to date and consistently post content to each one. Doing so will help your work reach a larger and more diverse audience, because each social network has a different demographic with vastly different web browsing habits.
Besides, since setting up profiles is free and cross-posting between most social networks is as simple as clicking a single button, there's no reason not to promote your work everywhere possible.
Utilize Multimedia
Utilizing multimedia on numerous social networks will help maximize the exposure of your website. Furthermore, creating and sharing multimedia content is simpler than ever: you can now easily run a social media campaign of photos and videos from a single smart phone device.
For bloggers, sharing relevant photography and videos on sites like Flickr, Instagram and YouTube will compliment your text-based content and reach an entirely new demographic. You can intersperse your blog posts with photos and videos to help pique the attention of new visitors.
Also, include links to relevant blog posts on the social networks where you share your multimedia so that your website is intricately connected to the various social networks that you use.
Similarly, if you're a digital artist, photographer or videographer, cross-posting some of your content to social multimedia networks will bring new visitors to your website while helping you to establish an online following.
Additionally, take advantage of text-based content on sites like Tumblr and Twitter to discuss your multimedia work and interlink your site with relevant keywords. No matter your profession, each different type of media can work for you in different ways, maximizing your Internet exposure.
Network Yourself
Building a successful social media marketing campaign for your website requires more than great content. Interact with similar writers or creative professionals on sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. Join active discussions on Twitter and Tumblr. Post your work to relevant communities on Flickr and Google Plus. These are all ways of organically establishing your online presence.
Networking with others in your field and engaging the community will help you establish your website and develop a wide range of readers or clients.
Unlike SEO and third-party advertising, which often results in one-time clicks, the visitors you acquire via networking will often continue to interact with you and your website on a regular basis. Plus, anytime another blogger or artist shares links to your work, you automatically reach their entire audience.
