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Why did you start blogging? Probably because you love writing, or taking photos, or being creative in some other way. But if you actually want people to notice your work, you need to let them know it exists. Promoting your blog is just as important as writing posts. And that's where social media comes in.
Now I won't pretend to be some kind of expert, but here's what I think of some of the most popular social networking platforms used by bloggers (based only on my personal experiences).
Twitter
Twitter has always been my favourite social media site, whether for promoting my blog posts or just wasting time. It's great for us bloggers because there are always chats going on that we can join – some are interest-specific (e.g. #hbloggers, #bbloggers), others are about blogging in general and a few are 'anything goes' where all topics are welcomed. There are also a lot of good accounts which will reweet your blog post links if you tag them in the tweet. I actually like the 140 character limit on Twitter and hope they don't start allowing 10,000 character tweets like I recently heard. If they do, I'm afraid Twitter will end up like Facebook (you can read my thoughts on Facebook later in the post).
Instagram
I joined Instagram on 31 December 2015 (less than three weeks ago) after fighting it for so long and it's quickly overtaking Twitter as my favourite app. I love looking through people's food and workout pictures (pretty scenes and cute animals also get my attention).
I also love the fact that random strangers like and comment on your pics! I've discovered that the more hashtags you use, the more visible your image will be and the more likes you will receive.
The only thing I don't like about Instagram is the lack of clickable links. You have to write 'link in bio' and unless the post really intrigues me, I won't interrupt my Instascroll to click on the person's profile and then on the link. Apart from that, I'm loving IG!
BlogLovin'
I am finally learning to love BlogLovin'. Within a few weeks of starting this blog in 2015 I quickly learnt that BL was an important platform for bloggers now (I used to blog back in 2008-10 and it didn't exist then; we had the now defunct Google Reader – God I feel old) so I jumped on the Bandwagon and joined. Then went on a following spree. Until recently I was following about 700 blogs and hated it because I could scroll for ages and never find any content relevant to me, so I stopped bothering. I did go on there about once a day to see who had followed me and to follow them back. Then a few days ago I decided to unfollow all the blogs I wasn't interested in (unless the person had followed me too. That would just be rude) and now I'm actually enjoying the time I spend on BlogLovin' because I can find interesting blogs a lot more easily.
I don't like Facebook. It was fine in its heyday (ten years ago when we were all moving on from MySpace) but it doesn't hold the same appeal anymore, especially now we have real-time sites like Twitter and Instagram which are more fast-paced. I have a profile but I rarely go on there and when I do it's just to nose at what my friends* are doing.
I rarely post anything and I only provided the link to my blog once (I'm not even sure if anyone clicked on it). I don't have a fan page for my blog either. However, some people still love FB and if it works for you, great!
*People from school that I don't speak to anymore and family I've never even met
Google+
Does anyone actually use this? When I set up my blog I had to make a G+ profile as Blogger is owned by Google. I do add people on there and browse through it occasionally to find new blogs to read, but I wouldn't be that bothered if it ceased to exist.
Blogging Communities
I think these are great for finding other bloggers in your niche and with similar interests to you. I used to be a member of Twenty Something Bloggers, which has since closed down (and I'm not twenty something anymore anyway).
My two favourite sites at the moment are Health Bloggers Community and UK Bloggers, both worth checking out.
What are your favourite (and least favourite) social media platforms? If you want to leave me your links I'll be sure to check you out!
PS. If you like this kind of post and want more like it, please let me know. I usually only write about nutrition and fitness on here but as a bit of an experiment I thought I'd branch out a little. If you really hate it and would prefer me to stick strictly to health in the future, I will!
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