Use Facebook to Attract People to Your Blog Today

Use Facebook to Attract People to Your Blog Today

Facebook is the second-most visited site on the web globally and in the U.S., according to the Alexa ranking service. Only Google gets more visitors. The average user, Alexa reports, spends an astonishing 21 minutes on the site each day, viewing 12.6 pages. The site has an extremely low bounce rate of 30.5 percent; a normal bounce rate is 50 percent. And 22 percent of Facebook’s visitors come from the U.S.
In short, people — particularly Americans — like Facebook, visit it often, and spend a good chunk of time on it at work, home and school, Alexa tells us. What better place to let the world know about your blog?

Use Facebook to Extend Your Website and Blog Reach

Practically every people-facing business or organization has a Facebook page. So there’s a lot of competition out there to get people’s attention. For businesses or groups with specific focuses though, Facebook can be a great resource to get new customers and turn existing ones into advocates.

Facebook collects a lot of data from its members, who give it permission to mine their pages for information. It can quite literally guarantee that an ad will be placed on pages of members who have voluntarily identified relevant interests. It can even identify phrases that indicate preferences and interests.

With this kind of reach, businesses that devote time to their Facebook pages can attract customers who appreciate their wsares, even organically, without spending any money on ad space, although ads definitely extend page visibility. The first line of business: use the Facebook business page to showcase the website and blog.

LifeLock’s Facebook page (the identity theft protection company) is used to get the word out about the resources on its blog. Website content covers educational topics from credit card fraud to identity theft red flags. Not only is LifeLock creating name recognition via Facebook, but it’s also branding itself as a go-to resource for those who want to learn more about anything related to cyber security.

“Seed” Your Content on Facebook

Once you have a solid number of Facebook visitors, you can concentrate on using the page to spread new ideas.

Unlike brainstorming, seeding is spreading and testing an idea or a solution to a problem (which itself may have come from a brainstorm). If you can get Facebook visitors to spend a few of their 21 minutes commenting on and sharing your seed, that alone says it may be worth further exploration.

So how do you seed? SAP suggests these techniques:

Ask your page fans for their opinions. For example, let’s say you want to establish that motorcyclists are more careful on the road than drivers when they get behind the wheel. Ask your fans for their thoughts. Phrase questions in an open-ended (that is, not as a yes or no) way to encourage discussion.

This has to be shareable content. Consider these tips to make content more likely to get spread ’round Facebook:

• Include photos.
• Add quotes where appropriate.
• Provide an infographic, perhaps with pros and cons for the example above.

Comments you get from your Facebook fans can in turn generate more seeds for blog ideas. Be sure to post each blog to your Facebook page, and add a Facebook Like button to each entry so people can share it as they read. Ask for comments, both on Facebook and at the end of each post.