Like a lot of internet industries, blogging is ever changing. What worked five years ago doesn’t work now, and what worked two years ago might not work now. Which is why I like to write this post every couple of years: how to promote a blog post in 2020 is different from how to promote one in 2022, and it’s certainly different from what worked when I started blogging in 2013. That being said, let’s talk about all the ways to promote blog posts in 2022, whether or not they be new posts.
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How To Promote a New Blog Post
Social Media
Did you know that there are 199 million daily Twitter users? (Source) And 32% of users are tweeting in English, 18.8% are tweeting in Japanese, and 8.5% are tweeting in Spanish (x). That math ends up with 63.68 million Twitter users using English, 37.412 million using Japanese, and 16.915 million using Spanish. That’s a ton of people, no matter which of these languages is your primary one. So why shouldn’t you use Twitter to promote your blog posts?
In the last 6 months, Twitter brought me 5.15% of my traffic. I know that doesn’t sound like a lot, but considering over 50% of my traffic comes from Pinterest and over 34% comes from direct traffic, it really is. Here’s how I promote a new blog post on Twitter.
Whenever I have a new post, I schedule 7 tweets spread out over the course of 24 hours to promote it (always at the same times: 8, 10:30, 1, 3:30, 6, 9, and 1 AM the next day) and then another 3 over the next 2 weeks (2-3 days later, 1 week later, and 13 or 15 days later). Plus, in the first tweet, I include “{new post}” in it so people know that it’s, well, new.
Best Social Media for Bloggers: How To Manage Your Social Media
In the 7 tweets of the first 24 hours, 4 of them mention retweet accounts – which is an account that solely retweets other accounts’ posts – to get more eyes on my posts. Not all of those accounts retweet them every time, but at least 1 does every day.
Like I mentioned, I also tweet it out 2-3 days after it is published. In these posts, I always include “ICYMI,” which stands for “in case you missed it,” so people know that it’s a newish post.
I schedule this many tweets because tweets have a very short shelf-life and it’s easy for them to get lost in the shuffle. By sharing my posts frequently across the course of a day, more people are likely to see my tweets no matter what timezone they’re in.
Another way to draw attention to my tweets is including images. In half of the tweets from the first 24 hours, I include an image from my post. Personally, I always include an image that has the same text as what I write in the tweets to help anyone using a screen reader.
I also try to use relevant hashtags, but not for all of my tweets. I also don’t overload the tweets with hashtags – I just use 1 or 2. Usually, they are things like #ChronicIllness or #RheumatoidArthritis for a post about RA, or #BloggingTips for a post about, well, blogging tips.
Follow me on Twitter | How to use Twitter as a blogger | 8 tips to get more Twitter followers
There are a couple of ways that I promote my new blog posts on Facebook. One way is on my Facebook page.
Like with Twitter, I schedule promotions of a new post on my Facebook page over the course of 24 hours to promote and then another 3 over the next 2 weeks.
I schedule my posts to be in between my Twitter posts to cover as much ground as possible. On the day of the new post, I schedule these posts at 9:30, 2:30, 8, and 12 AM the next day.
After that, I schedule a post 2 days later, 6 or 8 days later, and 2 weeks later. I post less often on Facebook, though, because Facebook posts have a longer shelf-life than Twitter posts do.
Another way I promote blog posts on Facebook is through the 6 Facebook groups I’m in for bloggers.
The Facebook groups I’m an active member of are:
- Bloggers Supporting Bloggers
- Newbie & Expert Bloggers Unite
- Chronic Illness Bloggers
- Boss Girl Bloggers
- WEGO Health Patient Leaders
- HEALTHeVOICES – A groundbreaking leadership conference
A couple of those groups have daily threads for users to connect on on a variety of different networks. For example, Monday is Twitter, Tuesday is Instagram, Wednesday is Pinterest, etc. Generally, one of these days in these groups is for blog posts. I’ll promote my new post in that thread.
Additionally, if my new blog post is about health, I’ll share that in the WEGO Health and HealtheVoices groups, as those don’t have threads like some others.
Like my Facebook page | Essential Social Media Tips for Bloggers
Instagram is great for building your brand and audience, but it’s also a place to promote new blog posts.
Something that I’ve done for years is that I promote every single blog post in my Instagram stories. The day after the post goes up, I advertise it in my stories. And now that Instagram rolled out the link sticker for all users, I can link directly to the post in my story.
Plus, I have an Instagram Links page that is the link in my bio. First and foremost, this page is designed to be read on a mobile device. You can still check it out on a desktop, but it just looks better on mobile, which is important if people are coming to the site from Instagram. I do this to encourage people to stay on my blog, which helps to reduce my bounce rate and get more page views.
Additionally, on my Instagram feed, I try to post a relevant image that advertises a blog post at least once a week. This could be directing people to a new post or even posting at the beginning of the week what will be on my various platforms over the course of the week. For example, the picture might be of me working on my computer, and in the caption I say that Monday I send my newsletter, and what the newsletter is about; on Tuesday I post a new blog post, and what the post is about; on another day I’m posting a new Reel, and what that will be; etc.
I also include that people can check out the new blog post at the link in my bio, or that they can go to katethealmostgreat.com. To be clear, I never put the link to the new post in the caption because no links will show up as links. This is why it’s important to use an easy-to-remember link address, such as your blog’s link in general.
Posting a preview like this helps to create anticipation and generate excitement over what I’ll be posting. It’s also helpful for promoting blog posts specifically because someone might view the Instagram post a day or two later, by which point the new blog post will be up.
I schedule all of my Instagram posts on Tailwind. What makes Tailwind for Instagram so great is that it can automatically post to Instagram for you. So even if I’m in a 3-hour meeting at work, my Instagram post can go up without me having to do anything.
Follow me on Instagram | 12 Tips for New Health Bloggers
Like I said earlier, over 50 percent of my blog traffic comes from Pinterest. Why? Because Pinterest is a visual search engine and I treat it as such. So here’s how I use it.
For every blog post that I have, I have at least 2 images, both of which are vertical. For each image, I make 2 copies: 1 with the dimensions that work best in these posts (600px wide) and 1 with dimensions that are most successful on Pinterest (1000-1400px wide).
After I’ve scheduled a post to go public, I schedule posts on Pinterest. I use Tailwind to schedule my Pinterest posts, and it allows me to schedule posts on multiple boards at whatever time I want.
I upload my Pinterest-optimized images and schedule them for as many boards as are applicable, and I use the interval tool to schedule them to be published over time and not all at once. I don’t have them be any more frequently than 2 days apart, and I use their optimization tool to, well, optimize the time they are published.
Additionally, once the post is live, I add it to Tailwind Communities. I believe when you sign up for a Tailwind account you get 5 Communities and 40 pins to Communities a month, but I bought the lowest level of “power up,” which enables me to join up to 10 Communities and add up to 80 pins a month.
I’m in some Communities that are for a specific niche, others that are general add-your-posts Communities, and others that are run by blogging groups I’m in. Joining and utilizing Communities made a huge difference in my blog traffic!
Want to make awesome pins for your blog but don’t have (or want to have) Photoshop? Check out Canva! Canva will help you make beautiful, attention-grabbing images for your blog, and their free plan comes with tons of free templates, stock images, and more.
Follow me on Pinterest | 9 reasons why Tailwind is worth the money | How to get the most out of Tailwind for Pinterest | How to use Pinterest for blog traffic | How to get followers on Pinterest
Missinglettr
Missinglettr is a tool that lets you set up an automated set of social media posts. I first learned about it from a blogging course I took, and it has made a big impact in getting blog traffic.
When you set up a campaign, you pick how long you want it to be for, which can be anywhere from 2 weeks to 1 year.
The free plan gives you 1 social media network and 50 scheduled posts at any given time. The posts look like this:
Here’s the thing: even if all of my chronic illnesses were miraculously cured tomorrow, I would still be disabled.
— Kate Mitchell (@kmitchellauthor) January 17, 2022
Read the full article: 6 Tips for How To Accept a Chronic Illness
▸ https://t.co/6ZQwRdCGzz pic.twitter.com/tBOXo0EiK7
These are the steps for creating a campaign in Missinglettr:
- Set up a campaign for a new blog post
- Accept or reject different quotes it pulls from the post
- Choose hashtags and images from the post
- Review the posts
- Decide if I want the posts to be scheduled over the course of an entire year or over less time
- And I approve the campaign
Then I don’t think about those posts any more!
Since I started using Missinglettr, I’ve gotten over 1700 clicks just from Missinglettr posts. Considering I spend less than 5 minutes setting up each Missinglettr campaign, that’s pretty incredible.
Can Canva Pinterest Templates Actually Help Your Blog?
Promoting Your Blog Post in an Email Newsletter
We’re going to skip the part where I tell you that you should have an email newsletter and that’s where your most loyal readers will be, etc., etc. First of all, tons of bloggers and experts say this and you don’t need me to add to that. Second of all, if you don’t currently have a newsletter, then this section doesn’t really apply to you.
So let’s talk about how to promote your blog post in an email newsletter.
At the very least, you should be sending your blog posts to your newsletter subscribers. This could be whenever a new post goes live, or every week or month recapping the new content posted. Maybe you’re sending your subscribers a ton of different stuff.
No matter what your strategy is, you should at the very least be sending your new blog posts. Here’s how I personally do it.
My newsletter is weekly, going out Monday nights, and my new blog posts are published on Tuesdays. Among other things I send my subscribers, I include a link to last week’s blog post. Sometimes it’s within the body of the email, but primarily it is after I write a bit to my subscribers.
Plus, at the end of the month, I send my subscribers a monthly wrap-up. This includes all of the blog posts from the last month, which is helpful if someone missed a post or they only recently found my blog.
Subscribe to my free weekly newsletter | Why I Switched to MailerLite from MailChimp for My Email Newsletter
Plugins in post
As someone using self-hosted WordPress, I use a lot of plugins for my blog. Some of them help me promote my blog, and most of them are related to sharing my posts. This is because sharing posts helps others find them.
One plugin that helps is Better Click to Twitter. “Add Click to Tweet boxes simply and elegantly to your posts or pages. All the features of a premium plugin, for FREE!” (BCTT). I use this plugin in most posts! If you see a pre-written tweet in a post that only requires you to click a button to send it, that’s this plugin. I love it!
Another one is jQuery Pin It Button for Images. In this plugin, “Highlights images on hover and adds a ‘Pin It’ button over them for easy pinning” (jQPITFI). Pinterest is vital for every blogger, so you want to make it easy for your readers to pin from your posts. That’s where this plugin comes in!
Well, friends, that is how I promote my new blog posts! But that’s not all I do to promote my blog. But I also make sure to promote my blog and my older posts when I don’t have a new one. So let’s get into promoting your blog when you don’t have a new post.
50+ Incredible Free Blog Resources
How To Promote Your Blog without a New Post
Social Media
On days that I don’t have a new post, I schedule blog post promotions of another post using the same schedule that I note above. I try to do posts that are at least a month old, and I spread my post niche’s out so that I don’t have posts from the same niche promoted 2 days in a row.
I do this because I have 3 categories, which are really 3 niches on their own: health, writing and blogging, and lifestyle. For example, this is (obviously) a blogging post, and I’m trying to spread out the posts I promote across the week for different niches. Yesterday I promoted a lifestyle post, and tomorrow I’ll promote a health post.
Additionally, every couple of months I schedule 1 promotion a day of 1 old post for every day for a month or two. I schedule my posts with Buffer. This way, older posts (or at least not new ones) still get traffic and eyes on them.
How I Manage Social Media Platforms for My Blog
Like on Twitter, I schedule blog promotions of another post on days when I don’t have a new one, and I also schedule promotions of 1 old post for every day for a month or two. And like with when I have a new post, I try to schedule these posts in between Twitter posts. That doesn’t really apply to scheduling the 1 older post a day, as I can’t schedule all of my social media content around the schedule of another network. But, overall, my Facebook schedule is different from Twitter.
For example, I try to schedule questions to inspire conversation on my Facebook page at 11 AM or 1 PM, and if I already have something scheduled for noon, that leaves pre-11 and post-1 as the times available for posts. 1 PM is taken on Twitter, too, but with a post promotion and not another kind of post.
Learn more about my $10 ebook for health bloggers.
Additionally, I sometimes promote old posts on regular traffic posts in Facebook groups. Remember earlier how I said that some of the groups I’m in have daily sharing threads? Well, sometimes, I don’t publish a new blog post in the previous week, so I’ll share an older post in those Facebook groups instead.
I do want to note, though, that I always follow the rules of the Facebook groups. One, it’s not worth being kicked out of a group because you didn’t follow the rules. Two, if you spam someone or a group, then people are just going to not like you.
However, if someone asks a question and I have a post that answers that question, I will share it in the comments as a response. But I never post the link and only the link. I always include a few sentences such as, “I dealt with that, too! In this post I talk about how I deal with it.”
The Dos and Dont’s of How To Get Your Blog Noticed
Revive Old Posts
This is a plugin that helps to share older posts, and it’s one of those “set it and forget it” plugins. This plugin helps you to keep your old posts alive by sharing them and driving more traffic to them from whatever social media platform you pick. You can set the time and number of posts to share to drive more traffic. Since I’ve published over 1,000 posts, it can be hard to keep them alive. So this plugin helps with that!
Why Isn’t My Blog Getting Traffic?
Advanced Recent Post
This is another plugin that helps drive traffic to older blog posts. But unlike Revive Old Posts, this shares older posts on my blog instead of social media. This is a “Plugin that shows the recent posts with thumbnails in the widget and in other parts of the your blog or theme with shortcodes” (ARP). So if you scroll to the bottom of this post and see suggested posts after the text of the post, that’s this plugin working.
You can do so much with Pinterest and, once again, if you’re not using it, you’re missing out.
When I pick an old post to promote on Twitter and Facebook, I make a new image for Pinterest, and I add to my Tailwind queue.
Tailwind also has this program called Tailwind Create. This is Tailwind’s smart tool for making new images. You add a link to a blog post, add the title or wait for it to populate from that link, choose some photos (including from stock images they have), and it makes a bunch of images. You choose the ones you like and download or schedule them!
Another thing that I do is regularly publish brand new pins on Pinterest. I publish 2-3 brand new pins every single day. Once a week I make 14-17 new pins on Canva and then I schedule them to be published over the course of a week. I can do all of that in an hour, and then I’m set for a week!
The Benefits of a Social Media Editorial Calendar
What are your favorite ways to promote blog posts?
Like this post? Share it! Then check out:
13 Best Blog Tools for 2022, What I Would Do If I Started a Blog Today, How To Be a Health Blogger: Writing Blog Posts, The Blog Tools I Use and Love
Kate Mitchell is a blogger, chronic illness patient, and advocate who helps people understand chronic illness and helps chronic illness patients live their best lives.
Thanks for these ideas! I will be using some of them on my latest post!
Thanks for sharing this great list of ideas for sharing posts! I will try some of these!
Oh my goodness. So many great tips here! I need to stop procrastinating and get on Twitter!
Those are some great ideas that I am going to try!!
Wow, Kate! What a great post! So informative. I just starting using a social media scheduler last year, and I love it, but I can only afford a freebie right now (I use Later since it has the most free stuff). What most surprised me in this post is how often you post a blog post on social media! I’m always worried about bugging people, but you’re right, posts have a very short life on social media, especially Twitter!
Thanks for all the helpful tips – I’m bookmarking this page!
Sue
Live with ME/CFS
This is a very informative post Kate. I learned alot. Will definitely start to use some of these tips. Thanks 😊 for sharing.
Informative post. Thanks for the list of Facebook groups. I find groups very useful for growing an audience and getting organic traffic. I need to get on Twitter, lol. I have been avoiding it for years.
This was incredibly informative – thank you for all these tips! I’m trying to work on my Pinterest game and so I so appreciate your insight.
Thanks for sharing! I hadn’t heard of that scheduling site I’ll check it out.
Very comprehensive and useful post. Thank you! I would add an YouTube video of a post as a marketing tool.
This is an awesome post! It’s super helpful and informative! Thank you for taking the time to share these great tips!
I just started my blog 2 months ago. I’m still working on getting traffic to it. Everything takes time, so patience and consistency are so important. Thank you so much for sharing your experience and great tips 🙂
This is so helpful! It gave me several new ideas on ways to gain traffic just from a quick read! Thanks for sharing your creative ideas and expertise with us!