How to Use Facebook to Promote Your Travel Blog [Digital Marketing Tips]
Almost everyone is on Facebook. It is an amazingly useful social website that does wonders for your blog. Invest a little effort on promoting your blog on Facebook and everything comes back to you tenfold!
The best part is it is not even hard. Most likely, you are on Facebook every day. Why not spend a good portion of that time working on increasing the traffic of your blog?
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There is no special or complicated way to do it. In fact, the strategies are truly basic but very effective. See for yourself:
12 Effective Ways to Use Facebook to Promote Your Travel Blog
1. Images are everything.
This should not be hard. You are a traveler, and chances are, your travel photos are never-ending! Capitalize on them and post full-size photos on Facebook.
Posts with images get 100% more engagement compared to those without. Make the visuals as prominent as you can - this is the key to likes, shares, comments, and click-throughs.
Regularly check your Facebook Insights to get a precise view of your metrics. Whatever generates the most traffic, do more of that!
TIP 1: To add a full-size photo, upload it to Facebook directly.
TIP 2: Always add a link to your blog post in the next update. NOTE: Shorten the link via bit.ly so everything looks clean!
TIP 3: Make sure the image is stunning to encourage click-throughs!
2. Keep it brief.
Be concise with your Facebook updates. Make the text short and witty - just enough to generate engagement. It should be a teaser, an appetizer.
The more elaborate details should be kept in your blog for people to find. One sentence is ideal, under 140 characters. REMEMBER: Most people are receiving these updates through mobile.
TIP: Choose the most intriguing of your posts to share on Facebook to get the most reaction.
3. Ask your followers questions.
The best thing about questions is they pull answers. They are the best tools to reach out to your fans!
Similar to any content update, condense your questions. Stir their interests. Appeal to the curiosity of readers. Think about what will get them to respond and relate to your blog article. Also, mix it up a bit. Solicit for opinion one time, post a trivia another, or start a problem-solving frenzy! Keep it fresh and people will start talking.
4. Share a short quote from your blog post.
How many quotes do you see shared on Facebook every day? Far too much! Get a slice of this engagement and get on the habit of including a short quote from one of your blog posts. Pick a relevant one that reveals the good flavor of the long content. Of course, you can further make this post better by adding a photo of the quoted person.
5. Remove the link.
Unless you are sharing a full-size image, do not add a link to the text of your post. It does not look very nice. De-cluttered is always the best way to go. A clean post generates more attention so check your update before posting. Delete the link, after all, the image and summary of your article can be clicked, which leads readers to your website.
6. Pick how-to articles for sharing.
Do not just focus on promoting actual products or services on Facebook. Regularly share content that is useful to your readers. Make it a point to publish posts that will enhance their life. Be the first to help out! This creates a sense of community and your followers will reward you more.
How-to articles are particularly great. People are always interested in tips. Give them a steady stream of ideas on how to manage the different aspects of their travels. Also, use pronouns like you and us in the text to address your readers.
7. Host fun contests.
Interactive content like contests is always a great way to stir some action for your blog. Come up with a contest and post it on your Facebook page. The fans are sure to be engaged! Promote the blog, encourage them to share, show the prize, and include a link back to your announcement or contest page. This is definitely a fun way to generate click-throughs and lots of it!
IMPORTANT: Remember to highlight the prize!
8. Have a weekly wrap up.
Towards the end of the week, compile all your best articles in a post and share it on Facebook. Give your followers a chance to see the quality content you post. Let them catch up in case they missed something wonderful!
Create the compilation in a look-book format. Add the nicest images to quickly capture the fleeting attention of your audience.
9. Embed a video.
Images are appealing, but videos are even more so. It shows the readers the essence of your article or blog and when done in the nicest way, videos are just so entertaining and captivating.
Videos do not have to be super long. In fact, the best ones are short and direct to the point - just show what your blog or article is about and that is it. Embed it directly onto your Facebook post and write a few lines to entice followers to interact with it. Make it colorful, add people, or products and customize it so that it has a personal feel. It will be really cool!
10. Share guest content.
While you may want to focus on promoting your blog all the time and sharing your posts, there is wisdom in sharing content from other people, too.
Social media is all about sharing so use it to its full potential. If there is great content from a big travel blogger you like or a travel magazine that relates to something that you do, share it to your followers. The more help they can receive, the better!
Also, this strategy is brilliant because it shows your openness. All your fans will appreciate the great content, the source will likely show reciprocity, and it all leads to an increase in traffic.
IMPORTANT: Only share content from reliable sources. Link back to them and extend your network.
11. Add a blog tab to your Facebook Page.
The simplest way to get people to your website is of course, to simply add a blog tab on your Facebook page. This is a must!
12. Use Facebook Ads
This is a big boost to your page. Your updates are seen by targeted audiences, which has a tremendously positive effect on your traffic. These are the Promoted Posts that you see. They do not have to be so expensive and can be set up in a pay-per-click option. What is cool about this is you reach your niche on a granular level - highly effective if you are marketing anything!
A personal example of how we use Facebook to promote our travel blog:
We run the Two Monkeys Travel Facebook Page. It started with 88 likes in May 2014 and now has over 300K followers with a high engagement rate, all organic.
IMPORTANT: After creating your own Facebook page or group, read the tips below on how to grow your followers.
TIP 1: You can boost posts on Facebook to reach a wider audience and get enhanced engagement. We have done this five times on different articles we judged to have the potential of going viral.
TIP 2: Do not obsess over numbers at the start. There is no point comparing yourself against big-time travel bloggers who have been around for years!
TIP 3: Focus on interaction. If you get real likes, it is likelier for people to interact with you. Post compelling material that is helpful and valuable to your readers. Reply to their comments and messages. Build a relationship with them.
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