Running a blog while studying can be exceptionally challenging. Both things are incredibly time consuming, and take a lot of effort and concentration. Basing your blog around either your student experiences, or your field of study, perhaps your online MLIS degree, can be a great way to make it easier. You already have the material for 100s of posts, and many useful connections to help you along the way. Using social media to help you grow your blog can take away a lot of pressure. Once your social media profiles are set up and working, they can be a great way to grow your blog traffic, without too much effort on your part. Here are some great tips to help you.
Pick Your Platforms
It’s important not to try and be on every platform. Social media is huge right now, and more sites open every day. You simply haven’t got time to be on everything and give them the attention they need to be successful. So, pick those that you think can be useful for your blog and, most importantly, that you enjoy using. The main ones are Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Tumblr is very big with the student audience, so consider this too.
Design
Always remember to use your blog’s logo and color scheme across all of your profiles. This will help you to create an instantly recognizable brand. Try to write in the same voice.
Become an Active User
It’s important to be an active user on all social media platforms. Sharing your blog posts is great. But if that’s all you do, no one will care. To get people following you, and sharing your posts, you need to engage with them. Show an interest in them, share their material, and get to know them. This will make them want to be a part of your success, and help you to get there.
Schedule
You can’t schedule engagement and conversation, and nor should you, but you can use apps like buffer to share your blog posts and send any automated messages.
Hints and Tips
You might find it easier to dedicate time to one platform. Say you feel your Instagram following isn’t growing as well as the others. Spend a week giving it more attention, and limit the time you spend on other platforms (without stopping completely) then swap to another that requires a little extra help. Key tips then vary, but for the main platforms some of the most important things are:
- Pinterest. Design board covers to match your branding. Keep it clean and tidy, make sure anything you share has a live link, and share unique content that’s not just your own.
- Twitter. Twitter moves ridiculously quickly. While you don’t want to spam your followers, it can be quite easy to miss things, so share frequently.
- Instagram. Stick to one filter, and keep your images relevant to your niche. This will make your profile clean and easy to follow for new viewers.
Remember, blogging should be a fun hobby. Even if your blog is generating an income and you’d like to take it more seriously, your studies must come first. Try to limit your blogging time so as not to neglect your online master of information degree.
Community manager at Visual Contenting. Jacqueline loves to talk about social media trends, new technology and how they help businesses accelerate their marketing efforts.
