Want to get more eyes on your latest blog posts?

Promoting yourself on social media isn’t easy, and finding the perfect balance is near impossible. But generating a buzz through your platforms can make a massive difference to how many people view, comment and share your content.

If you’re new to social media or you’re looking for ways to make more of an impact, this post is just for you. Today, I’m sharing 10 tactics you can use to generate the biggest buzz ever.

Ready to go?

#1 | Use teasers

Whenever a business launches a new product, they're always more successful when they have a teaser campaign.

Teaser campaigns are used to offer a peek of products or information that acts as a clue, which helps to build excitement. This way, when the big launch day comes, people are excited about your product and ready to buy it.

This is exactly the same when it comes to your blog posts. You can share a peek of what’s to come on your blog over the next few weeks, and that way, when you publish your latest post, people are ready to head over to your blog.

Check out this teaser that helped to launch my #BloggingBreakthrough eBook in January. I posted the last few words that every reader would see when they finished the book. This is now my most liked photo on Instagram and built up a lot of anticipation for the eBook’s release.

Want to release your own teaser campaign? Customise this same messaging, relate it to one of your upcoming blog posts (or even better, a series), and let the excitement build.

Notice how I’ve used a teaser straight from the pages of the book - but also how I’ve not given too much away in terms of how the eBook is going to look. Just enough to spark curiosity. It’s also important to note how I create a specific hashtag for the eBook, as a way to build community, continue the conversation and allow people easy access to find out more about the product.

#2 | Create a hashtag

Hashtags are a great way to show that you’re a professional brand. It makes it easy to categorise your blog and ensures that any content you put out there (or that your users share), is all collected in one place.

Obviously they’re great for product launches, but they’re so great to continuously build momentum for your blog too. Think about it - if you used your blog name as your hashtag every time you shared a post to Twitter or Instagram, all your content would be pooled together. It means new readers can find out more about your brand with just a few clicks. Plus, whenever anyone wants to share your content, spreading the word is simple - everything is there with just a click of the hashtag.

The only thing you need to be careful of is what your actual hashtag is going to be. It needs to be original, easy to remember and as simple as possible. You can either use your blog name as your hashtag, or if you’ve created a community around your blog, you can use that too. It should be directly related to what you and your blog is all about.

A great example you might even know about is Kayla’s #CreateLounge community. To build excitement and grow this community of people, she name it as #Create Lounge, where it now has a Twitter chat, a podcast and even its own website.

Now obviously you don’t have to use hashtags all the time. Just tailor it to each social platform - no more than two or three on Twitter and up to 30 on Instagram. But the biggie? Make sure it’s relevant 👍

#3 | Run a contest

We’re all a fan of winning things, right? Hosting contests through social media is a great way to build momentum for your blog. If you’re launching a new series, or your blogiversary is coming up, they’re some perfect times to give this a go.

Contests don’t have to be complicated either. I bet you see at least one a day pop up on Instagram, Twitter or someone’s blog. You can get your audience to send you a picture of something using your own hashtag, ask them to fill in a blank or get their feedback on an upcoming blog post. The possibilities are endless!

It’s really beneficial to create a few graphics to share alongside the contest on your social platforms - but remember you don’t have to include every single detail in the image itself. Keep the graphic minimal and include the rules, deadline and prize information in the text you create to go with it.

#4 | Create a community

People love being part of exclusive groups where they gain something from it. This is exactly what you can offer by creating a community for your blog. Essentially, you’ll create a special group of people who want to hear from you all the time. This is such an amazing thing. You’ll provide exclusive updates just for them and content they won’t get anywhere else. This is how you create your loyal audience!

So how do you do it? It’s easy - through your newsletter. But instead of saying, hey sign up to my newsletter, you’re saying, hey sign up to the XXX community! Then let your audience know what they get for signing up. While a lot of people won’t want another newsletter to sign up, those who really like what you’re doing online won’t hesitate. These people are precious and the ones you want to generate the most communication with. They’ll spread the word about your brand and help you to grow.

Kory Woodard labelled her community the Wild Hearts and tells you exactly what to expect above the sign up box:

#5 | Do a countdown

Doing a countdown is a great way to build excitement for something you’ve got coming up on blog - and also a great reason to promote it! It’s one of the easiest things to organise too - just used your blog images as the background and change the number for each day of the countdown. You’ll find that fashion brands do this a lot for launching new collections.

This is a consistent method of promotion, which means that people will be constantly exposed to information relating to your brand - hence creating a buzz.

#6 | Be consistent across your social media platforms

You know the drill. Consistency is key. Your content and voice should be related across all platforms. Use your own wording, your own language, your own imagery, your own style. When someone wants to find you on social media, all your platforms should link back to your overall brand. Make it easy for your readers to find you. You can read more about this here.

Really, a lot of this comes down to your images. If you use purple in most of your blog post images, but then a random one includes red, that’s not consistent. Be sure to keep your style the same. This will keep your social platforms branded, which links back to your blog and tells your audience that this is your brand.

Check out some of my favourite Instagram accounts for inspiration:

You might not be able to explain it, but each of the Instagram accounts above feature the same kind of imagery. Kate’s is all about white space with pops of colour. Media Marmalade always makes her outfits a focal point of her imagery. Corina features plenty of landscapes, and Dizzy Brunette is very monochrome. If you went to their blog or Twitter, you’d find that there’s exactly the same feel.

#7 | Create a schedule and post at your optimal times

As bloggers, we know that social media is 24/7. It never sleeps. You want to be posting content to your platforms as often as you can (depending on the platform). You want to build a place that’s always active, so it’s always in your readers’ minds and they can’t forget you. The way to do this is through engagement.

I recently posted about the social media schedule that increased my traffic by 100% - that’s a great starting point for you.

To be able to post as consistently as I do, I take time each week to plan out my social media calendar. What content do I want to share this week? Then I make sure all my blog photos are saved to Google Drive so I can access them anywhere and use them for all my social media graphics. That way, you don’t have to feel the pressure of wondering what the hell to post.

Planning in this way is what allows you to generate so much engagement. The more you share to your social channels, the bigger chance you’re giving people to interact with you.

After that it’s all about posting at the times when your audience is most active online. I’ve already shared a tutorial for how you can create your own unique schedule that you can find here.

#8 | Design a quiz

Taken a quiz online over the past few days? Yep, me too. I’ve taken the Disney Princess quiz and the what-kind-of-blogger-are-you quiz. And I bet you can list a few.

This means that quizzes work and you can design one that relates to a subject around your blog.

To get people to take part, you can announce your quiz on social media and share the link where they can fill it in. Create a blog post too and keep your imagery consistent to your brand styling.

#9 | Remember your calls to action

Calls to action are vital in every blog post and social media update. It’s not enough to just share links to your latest blog posts, tell everyone how great you are or just share pictures of your cat. Want people to leave a comment? Or share your latest blog posts? You’ve got to let them know!

And don’t forget about your visuals - I always know an update from Krista, because she always uses these colours. You want to make sure that as your audience scrolls through a sea of endless updates, your call to actions stand out.

#10 | Engage, engage, engage

As your blog gains more momentum, you’ll begin to see more comments and mentions coming in. get involved. Reply to everyone. Interact with those who are interacting with you.This is a brilliant way to build loyalty to your brand and grow your community. Answer questions, share your tips and thank everyone.

If someone leaves you a great comment on one of your posts, take the conversation to social. Or even create another blog post around it. This just gives people even more of a chance to engage with you.

And if you can’t find anything to comment on, celebrate what does happen within your community and keep the conversation going that way. Even something as simple as that will help you gain some followers.

So there you have it: 10 tried and tested ways to help you generate a buzz for your blog using social media. You don’t have to use all 10. Just pick the ones that make sense for you, your audience, and the ones you think you’d have the most success with.

Remember, social media takes time and effort. You won’t see a huge difference overnight, especially if you’re just finding your feet. But if you be consistent, post high-quality content and use each platform for their own individual strengths, you’ll begin to see growth in no time.

How do you use social media to generate a buzz for your blog? Which of these ideas will you be trying out?