8 Awesome Social Media Tools to Grow Your Blog Today

Last Updated on January 8, 2020 by Katherine

So you got your new blog and are probably super excited right? You should be, go you! Now what? Well, my advice to you is to get yourself on social media and get out there. That’s how your initial readers and potential clients are going to find you. Guest posting is powerful too, but more on that later. In this post, I’m going to share with you my favorite social media tools to use that will help you expand your reach and get more people checking out your blog!

Pinterest + Tailwind = Match Made in Heaven!

This one is first because pretty much every single blogger has seen growth by posting to Pinterest. For Pinterest, I use a paid tool called Tailwind (referral link), and it is fantastic! If you only have enough money for one tool, this is by far my biggest recommendation.

I schedule about 40 pins per day, and I manually pin a few more periodically. Most experts believe that 50 is sort of the max you can pin before you start to see no benefit, so I try to keep it below that. I started much lower, but have seen a bigger jump in traffic since moving to a higher number of scheduled posts per day.

Tailwind also offers a very generous set up for smart looping. I have not had to buy a booster yet, but it allows me to pick pins and boards and it will repin to those boards based on the settings I put in the loop.

Facebook

Facebook is second on my list because of the sheer number of people who use Facebook daily. You have to be careful with using third party apps though, due to the algorithm used. You can learn more about the idea of EdgeRank here. Sometimes it’s best to use Facebook for Facebook. I do use Dlvr.it to get that first post out. Right now I am maxed out on the tools I can pay for, so perhaps down the road, I may look at something like Hootsuite. For now, I do some manual sharing. When I’m on a site that I’m using for an upcoming blog post, I’ll share it on my facebook page.

Twitter

I’m also on Twitter, namely for networking, but I have started to advertise affiliate offers on there (always, always use the #ad hashtag!). Buffer is a great free tool (you can upgrade to a paid plan at any point), but it is free to schedule posts, and you can get the browser extension to make for easy sharing when you’re surfing the web. You always want to share other content as well as your own and have a good mix of that.

I am still using a paid tool, Crowdfire(referral link), but will likely not continue when my subscription ends later this year. It isn’t anything personal with Crowdfire or their features. In my case, however, I see more organic search traffic than referrals from Twitter, so it’s just not worth the money or effort to continue. If you do see Twitter as a great referral for traffic, I would definitely recommend Crowdfire as an option for you.

Instagram

A good chunk of my blog content is visual (home decor projects, crafting projects) so Instagram is another area that I’ve begun to take a focus on. For Instagram, I use the tool Later (and good news, it’s FREE). I have just started with Instagram this month, so I don’t have much to say here. Later is a straightforward tool to use and they do offer a premium level for more features. If you are just starting out, I recommend starting with the free tool and go from there.

Some General Tools

I’m trying out dlvr.it this month to see if it makes a difference. This tool will post every new post you have to the accounts you select. It’s free at the basic level and you can try the free trial. So far, I like the fact it’s connected to my blog and will post to Facebook and Twitter as soon as a post goes live. One thing I will say for schedulers is sometimes you can get so focused on getting your chosen number of posts that you neglect to post your newer content into your schedule for a little bit (I’ve sometimes thought a week later “oh rats, I need to share this post!”). It gets that initial post out there, without me having to do something about it right away.

Another useful tool is Hashtagify.me, I include this tool because for Pinterest, Twitter and particularly Instagram, you are going to want some hashtags for your post. I stick to between three to five for Pinterest and Twitter and more like ten for Instagram (you can do up to 30). I like using this site because you can type in a word (or words) and it’ll create some suggestions for you. You don’t have to use them all, but it can save you so much time especially if you are like me and struggle with hashtags!

Finally, you need a place to create those sweet social media graphics. For that, I use Canva.com because it is an amazingly simple online tool. It is entirely free (they have a paid version with a few more bells and whistles that I don’t need). It’s very easy to get started with them and you can use their templates (most of them are free).

Social Media Tools can be handy if you use them wisely!

My one piece of advice on social media is to do what you can to avoid seeming too spammy. Share your content, but be sure to include other people’s content in there. Share anything you think your ideal reader may find useful or fun to read. These tools will help you because they allow you to batch your work better. I schedule two 30 minute sessions throughout my week for mainly for filling up my Tailwind queue. Facebook I am still using the manual share buttons as I conduct my research for blog posts.

Most importantly, using these tools strategically will give you more time to do the things that you love!

Another tip is to check out this post from Oberlo on the ideal times to be posting your content so you increase your chances of higher engagement!

So I hope you found this helpful, if you did, I’d love to hear from you. Also, if you have a favorite tool not covered here, drop that down below in the comments! Also, be sure to share this content to Pinterest or your other favorite social media channel!

Finally, would you like some free productivity tips? Sign up for my mailing list, and I will let you download a free PDF copy for your use!

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Next week will be a crafty post about what pliers you may want to consider purchasing for jewelry making. Until then, stay crafty my friends!