It can be pretty tough to get yourself noticed on social media these days, it’s a totally oversaturated market of hopefuls trying to get their stuff in front of a few more eyeballs and build up their presence. Having a blog can help you out with your quest to build your very own community.

A lot of people still think of blogs as the olden day diary style type of site, but things have changed a lot. Nowadays many blogs focus on different niches and provide useful information on whatever that niche is. If you want to have a blog to try and boost your social media then obviously your blog should be mainly centred around the same niche as your social media. If you’re a makeup artist then your blog should focus mainly on makeup. If you’re a yoga guru then your blog should focus mainly on yoga. Focusing on a specific niche means your blog is more likely to get noticed by people searching for information on a topic.

You need to make any visitors to your blog aware that you have social media accounts where they could be following you. Make sure you’ve got them linked up in the side bar, the footer, anywhere that is appropriate for your blogs design.

So let’s look at some of the reasons why a blog can help you out.

Better Search Visibility

Google has become the number one place people turn to when they’re looking for some information so it makes sense to be appearing as much as possible in Google (or other search engines). Each post you write gives you another spot in the google search results which in turn gives your blog more of a chance of being found, which in turn gives your social media accounts more chance of being found.

Ideally you want to write posts that people are likely to search for, that’s why it’s a good idea to focus on a niche. Even if you’d prefer to have a blog where you just talk about your life it’s still important to try and think of what people would be searching for and write content based around that. There are more people searching for How to make avocado on toast than What I ate for breakfast today. If you look at blogs that are focused on peoples lives you’ll notice that they still include posts that are more search engine friendly like reviews of products.

The easiest way to figure out what to write about is to think about the things you search for.

More accessible

If you’re a youtuber then obviously your content is mostly video based. But, that doesn’t mean a blog couldn’t help you out here.

There’s a whole tonne of reasons why someone might prefer reading information rather than watching a youtube video about it, maybe you’re having a sneaky read at work, maybe your internet is too sucky for a video, maybe you just want to skim read, maybe you just don’t like videos, the list is endless. Basically your blog is more accessible to people that don’t want to or can’t watch videos of the same kind of content.

While you might think of people that don’t want to watch videos as out of your target audience, you’d be surprised how many people will become frequent readers of your blog and eventually get curious enough to start watching your videos.

Wider reach

Having a blog is going to give you the opportunity to reach a much wider audience. Your instagram posts are only really reaching other instagram users, or people doing image searches. However a blog post on that same image could reach a lot more people if that blog post provides some useful information like how you shot the picture, the type of lighting you used, information about what’s in the picture like if it’s a picture of food the recipe for how to make it, if it’s a picture of a lipstick a swatch and review of that lipstick.

Writing posts around the images or videos you produce for social media allows you to attract more readers to your blog by using targeted keywords and providing information that people are interested in. In turn some of those readers might decide to watch your video, or to come and follow you elsewhere.

Shows personality

It can be hard to show your personality on some forms of social media, like instagram, it’s just pictures with captions (that hardly anyone reads). Even with youtube videos it can be hard to show much personality especially if what you do is tutorial based. A blog can be a great way to show that you’re a real person and give your social media a dose of personality. 

Even if your blog is focused on a niche where you post mainly reviews, information, or tutorials, make sure to include some more personal posts to inject that bit of personality into your online presence.

Branching Out

Lot’s of people have themes on social media, but chances are you’re more than a one trick pony. On social media it’s considered a faux pas to break theme, but with a blog you can do exactly that. 

Maybe you’re a film buff with a secret love a food. On your blog you can have a section dedicated to food and recipes. While I would avoid making it the main topic of your blog if it doesn’t match up with your social media, it can be nice to have a little outlet to talk about your other interests.

This ties into having a wider reach. You could find that people come to your blog for a food recipe and happen to notice you’ve reviewed a new film they want to see. By branching out a bit and providing content on other areas you’re reaching people that might not necessarily be into whatever the theme of your social media is, but there’s a chance that when they see your themed stuff they might just hit that follow button.

Become an authority

We all dream of being masters of our field, and having a blog is a great way to show your knowledge on whatever it is you’re doing. Instead of just posting shots of your fabulous makeup on instagram, you can write blog posts that provide useful information for people about makeup. If you know your stuff then people might want to follow you elsewhere and you’ll start to be seen as someone that really knows their onions.

This can be especially helpful nowadays with the growing suspicion for self taught youtubers. While personally I don’t think being self taught is a bad thing, a blog can help to show people that you know what you are talking about and that you’ve taken the time to really master techniques.

Shows your serious

There are a whole load of inactive social media accounts out there, people that start posting and then just disappear forever. With an established blog it shows that you take what you’re doing seriously, it’s your passion, you’re not going to suddenly disappear never to post again, you’re putting time and investing in your online presence.

Loop

While a blog can be used to bring new people to your social media, at the same time it can give your existing audience on social media a new place to engage with you. On social media the comments sections tend to be a bit of a jumble, whereas on a blog you’re giving people a more dedicated way to engage. The comments section isn’t full of randoms that have just stumbled onto your content so your followers will feel like when they comment you see it. You’ll want to make sure that when people comment on your posts you take the time to reply to them. It can be a great way to build a more interactive community which in turn will help your social media presence grow.

Warning

Blogging is not as easy as some people think it is. It’s much more than just tapping out your thoughts into a laptop and hitting publish. It’s something that you’ll need to invest time into to learn the ropes, and even once you’ve learnt the ropes it still takes time to put together your blog posts. You’ll need to take any accompanying pictures for your posts, and of course to research whatever topic you’re talking about.

It can be time consuming so it’s worth thinking about whether or not you really have time to run a blog, and if you do decide to take the plunge how frequently you’ll be able to post. It’s really not going to help you a great deal if you can only post once a month.