How To Optimize Your Social Media Platforms as a Blogger + Free Checklist

As a blogger in 2018, social media is just as important as your blog. Most people think this because you can work with brands on social media alone, but that’s only part of it. Social media is a huge way to get traffic to your blog. For example, in the last month, 69.1% of my blog traffic came from social media. So if you’re not trying to get blog traffic from your social media platforms, you’re missing out.

Today I want to help you optimize your social media platforms to help you access more readers. To be clear, I’m not going to talk about how to master the Instagram algorithm because I’m not an expert at that. But I still hope that this will help you.

PS – Scroll down to get a free checklist to help you optimize your profiles!

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What Does “Optimize Social Media Platforms” Mean? Why Should I Do It?

“Optimizing social media platforms” essentially means getting your networks set up in a way that will get you more clicks or follows. In this specific context – optimizing them as a blogger – we’re looking to get more clicks over to your blog. This could be specific posts or your blog at large; it’s up to you.

As someone (I can’t remember who) once said, content may be king, but social media is queen. It’s really important to share your posts on social media, but it’s just as important to set up your profiles so people a) follow you b) go to your blog even if you don’t share a specific post and c) sign up for your mailing list. These can all be done as long as your profiles are set up in a certain way. Today, I’m going to help you do this.

How To Optimize Your Social Media Platforms

There are a couple of characteristics of optimization that remain the same across all platforms, and then there are some that are individual to each network. Here’s what you need to do on all:

Consistent Brand Images – Keep with the same 1-2 profile pictures and headers across all platforms because this helps create a cohesive network. It’s even better if these are the same images that are on your blog. You’ll notice that the header on this blog is the same as I have on Twitter and Facebook, and I use the same profile picture on all of my networks. This also helps people know that those other accounts are, in fact, mine. Make sure your pictures are good quality and, if they are of you (and your profile pictures should be), they are clear pictures of you.

Contact Information – Like I mentioned, a lot of people are working on campaigns on social media alone, and so brands are looking at bloggers’s social media. You want them to know how to contact you. Plus, you can collaborate with other bloggers on projects, and you want to know how to contact them. I suggest putting your email address in your bio.

Blog Link – You want people to go check out your blog, so you want a link to your blog! There are a couple of different ways that you can do this. 1) Basic link to your blog (ie katethealmostgreat.com). 2) Link to your newest post. 3) Link to one of your pages, like about me, work with me, contact, start here, etc. Pick which one works best for you and your blog. I like to link to my start here page because, you know, it’s where you should start.

Bios – Anyone else get stressed out by creating a bio? You only have so many characters and, if you’re like me, you want to put a lot in it. My go-to is to describe who I am and what I publish, hopefully in a fun way. For example, part of my Twitter bio says, “Writer | Blog about chronic illness, books, writing, makeup & more. RA & more.” This is to describe who I am (a writer) and what I blog about, as well as what my health issues are. I include that because I tweet about them a lot and I don’t want people to be confused. On Instagram, part of my bio includes, “I make living with RA & more look good. A writer & blogger who loves my pets, makeup, books, & New England.” Again, I want people to know why I talk so much about my health, I want them to know what I do, and I want them to know what sorts of things I’ll post.

Here are the things needed for specific networks:

Twitter – link in your bio to your mailing list: If your mailing list has a free opt-in, include a link to with a short description of what it is. I change mine every few months so there are new options.

Instagram – fun bio: You want it to catch people’s attention, describe who you are and what you do, and encourage people to follow you and go over to your blog. Here’s how to write a kickass Instagram bio.

Facebook – two bios: Facebook pages are weird because there are two bios. The “about” section is a typical bio with a limit to how much you can include. The “general information” section, however, can be much more detailed. What I do is use the about section for describing the blog and use the general information section for describing who I am and how to contact me.

Pinterest – link in your bio to your mailing list and select 1-2 boards to showcase: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Pinterest is a search engine. It is a huge way to get blog traffic through pinning your posts, but it can also do more for you. Including an opt-in for your mailing list in your bio can get you more subscribers. Another awesome thing you can do on Pinterest is choose a board to showcase, aka be at the top of your profile and be larger than the others. I have a board for my blog posts, so that’s the one I showcase. That way, when people go to my profile, they see that board first.

Get the checklist to help figure out if your social media is optimized to help grow your blog!

How do you get blog page views from your social media platforms?

Like this post? Check out:

12 Blog Traffic Boosting Tools To Try in 2018, Why Social Media Matters for Bloggers (And How To Grow Yours!), How To Use Twitter as a Blogger + Free List of Things To Post, Why You Need a Social Media Content Calendar