Ways to Promote your Blog Using Facebook

It's a great idea to set up a Facebook page for your blog. Facebook is the original social network, and still has the largest number of active users. Having a page for your blog allows you to promote the blog on Facebook, without spamming up the newsfeeds of all your regular Facebook friends for whom your blog might not be relevant. This post follows on from this one about using Twitter to promote your blog, and this one about how to write a good blog post.

• Use Facebook to post links to your blog, but not just that. Post pictures, share content from other pages, links to relevant articles or websites. 

• Think about what makes you click "like" on a Facebook page. You want more than just your personal friends to follow your Facebook page, so try to make it appealing. Fill in the "about" section as thoroughly as possible, so that people know what they're signing up to.

• Be polite! If someone comments on your Facebook page, or sends you a private message, always try to respond. Always thank anyone who shares your content. People will not continue to interact with someone who does not respond to them.

• It's not a clever idea to have your Twitter update your Facebook page (I often tweet several times an hour, especially if attending a Twitter party, and your friends will get sick of it). You can, instead, have your blog Facebook page update your Twitter.

• In the top right-hand corner of the Facebook screen, there's a star symbol. By clicking on this image, you can select to "use Facebook as..." your blog page, rather than your personal account. Use this mode to "like" pages with similar subject matter to yours. Comment on posts by these pages using your blog page, rather than your personal account. By interacting with people using your blog page, you can encourage people to take a look at your page.

• If someone else posts a link or status that is relevant to a blog post you have written, comment with a link, using your Facebook page rather than your personal account. You need to be careful about doing this - don't do it too often on the same pages, and don't post a link without a comment to go with it. That's just rude.

• Design a cover photo that shows what your blog is about. Consider having it in the same colours or using the same photos as on your blog, so as to keep things consistent.

• Think about who you are trying to attract to your blog, and aim your Facebook posts at that person. Save your other witty observations for your personal Facebook account.

• Depending on the type of images you post, consider setting your Instagram settings to post your pictures to your blog Facebook page rather than your personal one.

• Try to give your readers value for money. If everything you post on Facebook is exactly the same as your Twitter feed, there's no point in their following you on both. Post photos etc on Facebook that aren't on Twitter, and vice versa.

• When you post photos on your blog, consider posting that photo on Facebook later on, with a link to the post in the title. This will eventually give you a large photo album of (hopefully) good photos that people may want to look at, with links back to your blog.

• This one sounds a bit silly, but if you "like" a post on your blog page, from your personal page, your personal friends will see it. They'll be more likely, then, to come and look at your blog page to see what it is you've been liking! 

• It's also possible to link Klout to your blog Facebook page, rather than your personal one. This means Klout will be judging you based on your interactions on the blog, not personal interactions.

• This post by Joanne Dewberry has some very useful tips for using Facebook to promote your blog/business.

And of course, now that you've read this, I really think you should go and "like" my fan page on Facebook!

If you decide to try any of these tips, do come back and let me know how you get on.

Have you seen your blog traffic increase since setting up a Facebook page? Have you figured out a clever way to get more "likes" on your Facebook page? Have you written a similar post on your blog about using Facebook to promote your blog? Let me know in the comments!