Learn + Love Your Blog Q&A Part 1

Happy Tuesday everyone! Thank you to everyone who submitted questions for the Q&A to wrap up the Learn + Love Your Blog Series! I was really overwhelmed with the positive response to the series, and I hope some of you found it helpful!

I decided the neatest and most effective way to organize the questions and answers would be to break them down by category. So this is one of three posts that I hope answer all of the questions I was frequently asked throughout the series! Today, we’re diving face first into those pressing questions about sponsorships & social media.

Q1: Which social media platforms should I be on? Which ones are most important?
A1: This answer will vary depending on who your target audience is and how you can best communicate with them. Some platforms just won’t work for you in getting your message across. First, decide what message you want to share with your readers. Are you more about the visuals? Then I would definitely be on Pinterest. Having a Facebook Page and Twitter that you can link to and share you posts on are helpful to almost any blogger because you can share messages even when you don’t have a new post.

Q2: How do you network with other bloggers on social media?
A2: Easy, talk to them! Share other blogger’s posts instead of only promoting your own. Repin their images if you enjoy them with you, or feature them in one of your own blog posts. I’ve met so many great bloggers just through sharing links in my Sunday Morning Coffee posts.

Q3: How can you promote your posts on social media without being excessive or annoying?
A3: Everything should be done in moderation. Don’t promote the same blog post every hour, and change up the lead text that you use in every post and on every platform. For example, if you tweet about a new post “On the blog today: Post Title Here,” don’t copy and paste the same message on Facebook. As long as things aren’t always shoved in your follower’s faces and given to them the same way hundreds of times a day, you should be in good shape.

Q4: How do you use social media to brand yourself.
A4: By keeping things as consistent as possible. I went into this a little more in this post about building community and social media. Make your profiles match the design of your blog, and keep the messages consistent across platforms. Using the same or similar usernames across platforms is also helpful so that people don’t have to dig too much to find you.

Q5: Which factors help you decide to sponsor a blog:
A5: I always want to make sure I’m getting my bang for my buck. Besides the givens like sponsoring blogs who post consistently and have an established community presence, I look for things that will really help to promote my bog and brand. Guest posting options, social media shout outs, features and spotlights are always great. Of course, I take the blogs page views and followers into consideration, because you want to make sure you will be promoted to a wide audience. And then, I look at who the blogger follows — and what connections I could potentially make as a sponsor.

Q6: How do you know when you’re ready to offer paid advertising/sponsorships?
A6: Only you will know when you’re ready for this step. I waited until my page views boosted and stayed high for a consistent amount of time. I wanted my sponsors to actually get what they are paying for. Think of it this way – if you wouldn’t sponsor your own blog, then you might not be ready to offer sponsorship options. If you are really looking to gain the experience, you could always offer free ad space until you felt ready to charge for advertising.

Have any more questions on these topics? Let’s chat in the comments!