The Complete Guide to Social Media Sharing: What to share, when to share and how to share for cross-promoting your blog posts
Twitter – The Short Message Social Network
Twitter – The Short Message Social NetworkTwitter facts & figures:
- 330 million people worldwide use Twitter and
- visit the service 930 million times a day.
- That is why it is important to always get right to the point when you tweet a message.
So, what exactly is a successful and engaging Tweet? What structure should it follow to get the maximum engagement and retweets from users? What to share on Twitter:
For me, Twitter is mostly business related. We run 5 Twitter accounts for our various products and in different languages, one for our company and I also have my personal Twitter account, but I use this account for business purposes, too.
How to share on Twitter: “There is a lot you can put into 280 characters”
- Keep it even shorter: Tweets around 110 characters increase interaction up to 17%, Tweets with 80-110 characters work best.
- Share images: Tweets with images generate up to 150% more retweets than those without. Tweets with images work best with 20-40 characters.
- Include links: Tweets with links get 86% more retweets.
- Use #hashtags: Adding up to 4 hashtags get more reactions, Tweets with up to 2 hashtags generate more direct interaction with users.
- Use @handles to give credit or to message to specific Twitter accounts.
- Call-to-action: words like pls. RT, help, read, check, follow get more results. Ask for RTs results in 12 times more retweets.
- Use trending # and seasonal hashtags for newsjacking and agenda surfing.
When to post and how often to share on Twitter:
- The lifetime of a tweet is about 18 minutes. So it might be a good idea to share your blog post more than once on different days and at different times. Post it up to 4 times during the first 36 hours, then slow down on a weekly frequency. Afterward, you can post it as evergreen content (every 2-3 months), but always mix your posts with curated content and other relevant content and re-tweets.
- The best times to post on Twitter:
The Twittersphere is most active during the daytime hours between 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. in your audiences time zone. Tweets posted during that time will generate 30% more interaction. Tweets on weekends generate 17% higher engagement than on weekdays. The best times to tweet are: - morning hours from 8 a.m. – 10 a.m
- middays from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m and
- after work from 4 p.m. – 7 p.m
- How often to post on Twitter:
- Boost your blog post up to 4 times per day for initial promotion.
- Re-post your content with different comments once a day over the next few weeks, then slow down to once a month for your evergreen content.
- Please Note: For every 3 pieces of creative or promotional content, post 5 pieces of curated content from other sources and 2 pieces of personal content (that can also be replies and RTs with personal comments).
The lifetime of a tweet is about 18 minutes. #socialmedia #onlinemarketing Share on X
Twitter Tools:
- Tweue.com: Queue your Tweets
- Twuffer: Twuffer allows you to compose a list of future tweets, and schedule your releases.
- Tagboard: helps you to monitor hashtags
- Tweetdeck: monitor streams, mentions, and keywords in order to respond and discuss in real time
- Trending Hashtags: shows the 30 most popular hashtags in any language
Infographic: Tips for Twitter Posts
Facebook – The Most Popular Social Network
Facebook – The Most Popular Social NetworkThe premiere social network ranks among the most popular social networks worldwide.
Facebook facts & figures
- Facebook has 2.2 billion users worldwide and
- 7,2 billion page visits a day
- Facebook is primarily used for private conversions, but it’s great for brand marketing in B2B and B2C communications, too.
Tipps for cross-promoting your blog post on Facebook
Facebook gives you a lot of freedom to present your content. Text posts work as well as images and videos. There is practically no limit for the length of a Facebook post. However, only the first 480 characters are displayed in the stream, the rest is hidden behind the “show more”-button. So make sure you put the essence of your message into these first 480 characters.
How to share on Facebook:
Facebook allows you to promote your blog post on your profile, your pages and in Facebook groups. Publishing your blog post along with a video or picture works best.
- Post with images and questions work best.
- Facebook posts with less than 50 characters are more engaging than longer posts.
- However, posts that link to longer form articles over 1,000 words get the most engagement.
- Posts without hashtags get more interaction, but they are more difficult to be found.
- Personal comments work best for interaction. When you share a blog post on Facebook always add a personal and engaging comment on why your followers shall read, like or share your post.
- Encourage your readers to share their opinion. Ask questions to get more response: What, Why, Who, When, Which, Would, How.
- Videos that are directly embedded get over six times the engagement of embedded YouTube videos.
- The 7 popular post types on Facebook:
- Photos (with no link)
- Question Posts
- Video
- Giveaway Posts
- Links (with or without image)
- Coupons/Promotions
When to post and how often to share on Facebook:
- The best times to post on Facebook
- in the afternoon from 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
- in the evening from 6 p.m. – 10 p.m.
- also on weekends
- How often to post on Facebook:
- Promote your blog post once for initial promotion
- Engagement generally increases with more than one posts per day but decreases with more than two posts.
- Share your blog post on your profile as well as your page and in groups, but at different times and with different comments.
- Re-share your evergreen content every 2-3 month, but only on your profile.
Facebook101: Directly embedded #Videos get 6x more engagement than embedded YT videos Share on X
Facebook Tools:
- Pagemodo: Pagemodo simplifies Facebook Advertising from start to finish. Create your ad in the intuitive design studio, reach your audience with simplified targeting tools, and optimize future Facebook ads with user-friendly analytics.
- Heyo:Use Heyo to easily create sweepstakes, contests, and campaigns that publish to mobile, Facebook, and anywhere on the web.
- Likealyzer: LikeAlyzer helps you to measure and analyze the potential and effectiveness of your Facebook Pages.
- fanpagekarma: Analyze your profiles – and your competitors. With KPIs, analyses, and reports. Monitor your success and increase your social reach every day.
Infographic: Tips for Facebook Posts:
LinkedIn – The International Business Network
LinkedIn – The International Business NetworkLinkedIn facts & figures
LinkedIn is the biggest international business network. The network mainly serves the purpose of contacting and networking with business contacts, recruiting high potentials and communicating business news and developments.
- LinkedIn has 500 million members worldwide and
- 820 million page visits a day.
Tips for cross-promoting your blog posts on LinkedIn
LinkedIn allows you to post on your profile, on business- and focus pages and on LinkedIn groups. You can also re-publish your blog post on LinkedIn’s Content Network LinkedInPulse.
How to share on LinkedIn:
- Sharing your blog post along with an image and link to your post works best.
- A LinkedIn post should not be longer than 600 characters.
- On pages, only the first 463 characters are displayed.
- Updates in your stream show your post along with the first 238 characters of your comment.
- Share your blog post on your profile, as well as on your business page and focus page at different times and with different comments.
- Make your comments personal and engaging: ask questions or make your statement to encourage engagement with your post.
- How-to postings perform best for post views, likes, comments, and shares than any other post type, list posts also perform well.
- Posts with images work better than posts with text only.
When to post and how often to share on LinkedIn:
People are most likely to read your post in the early morning hours before work and after work in the late afternoon.
- The best times to post on LinkedIn
- in the morning between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. and
- between in the afternoon 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.
- Posts published on Thursdays get the most average total views, followed by Sundays.
- How often to post on LinkedIn:
- Post your blog post once for initial promotion.
- Post recurring updates to your profile once a week, then slow down to every 3-4 month on your profile, but not on your page.
- Also, post to your business page and/or your focus page depending on your content but do so at different days/times.
- Post your blog content in groups, but do not just copy & paste, but use different comments depending on the group and target audience and post on different days and times.
- Re-publish your blog content on LinkedIn Pulse.
Did u know? #LinkedIn #Postings #published on Thursdays get the most average total views Share on X
LinkedIn Tools:
- Crystalknows: Crystal gives you personality information for everyone you contact, coaching you to get their attention, win their trust, and earn their business.
- LeadFuze: quickly gather contact information then send personal emails and follow-ups to them automatically.
- Outro:
- discoverly: See information from social networks as you browse
Infographic: Tips for LinkedIn posts
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
Visual content is increasingly important for blogging as well as for posting on social networks. Posts with images or videos are more likely to get attention than bare text.
Sharing your images successively will extend the lifetime of your posts and will also have an impact on your visibility in the search engines. Shared images with links will provide more possible search hits and backlinks to your blog. So, sharing your blog post images on social networks such as Pinterest, Instagram or Flickr can gain more outreach for your blog.
Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr
Pinterest – The Branding Network
Pinterest – The Branding NetworkPinterest facts & figures
- Pinterest has 175 million active users worldwide and
- gets up to 300 million page views a day.
Tips for cross-promoting your blog posts on Pinterest
On Pinterest, you can organize your images on specific pinboards, which helps you to create a visual brand identity. Everything visual from photos, screenshots, infographics to posters is allowed.
How to share on Pinterest:
While the image remains the most important part of a pin, the description gives more information what the pin is about. You may describe and comment your images in 500 characters and you can collect your images in albums to sort them by topic or keyword or brand. Pinterest is a very good instrument for brands to display all brand images and brand related topics in one place.
- Post the featured image for your blog post on Pinterest with a link to your original blog post.
- 150- to 300-word descriptions work best to convince users to click.
- The description is also an opportunity to add in your desired searchable keywords.
- Add focus keywords in form of #hashtag in your pin description, so that your pins are easier to be found.
- Adding a link to your pin descriptions can increase clicks to your site because users can click on the pin to actually travel to your site.
- Calls to action (CTAs) in your pin description encourage users to take the desired action. Popular examples of CTAs that work well include: Repin, Learn More, Enter Our Sweepstakes or Buy Now.
When to post and how often to share on Pinterest:
People are most likely to read your post at midday and after work in the evening hours.
- The best times to post on Pinterest:
- Pinterest is around midday from 12 a.m. – 2 p.m. and
- in the evening from 7 p.m. – 10 p.m. and
- also, post on weekends.
- How often to post on Pinterest:
- Post your featured image of your blog post for initial promotion.
- Then post all suitable images of your blog post.
- Share all shareable images from your post gallery successively over the following days to re-share your post on Pinterest.
Pinterest101: 150- to 300-word descriptions work best to convince users to click. #socialmedia Share on X
Pinterest Tools:
- Pinterest Business Suite: Analytics suite with insight statistics on profile views, board views, clicks on pins.
- Autopin: automation software for Pinterest based on filters for auto-follows and likes and board invites.
Infographic: Tips for Pinterest posts
Instagram – Photo Sharing in Real Time
Instagram – Photo Sharing in Real TimeInstagram facts & figures
- 700 million users worldwide use Instagram each month and
- the network is visited 770 million times per day.
Whereas Pinterest is focused on brand or topic related communication, Instagram is real time streaming with images. Unlike Pinterest, Instagram provides a unique square size for all images, which is 1080 px in width by 1080 px in height. Especially food, lifestyle and fashion bloggers use Instagram for sharing and networking. However, the network is also suitable for corporate communications.
Tips for cross-promoting your blog posts on Instagram
Whereas on Pinterest, images are organized in albums on pin walls, Instagram displays all images in a single stream.
The lifetime of an image post on Instagram is much shorter than on Pinterest. Most interaction takes place within the first few hours after posting. Despite the focus on hashtags, images on Instagram fall much faster into oblivion than pins on Pinterest.
How to share on Instagram:
- Comments can be up to 2200 characters, of which only the first three lines are displayed in the feed.
- #Hashtags are very important on Instagram, so many comments consist of #hashtags only. You can add up to 30 #s.
- Be sure to add your focus keywords in your comments, so that as many Instagram users as possible will find your picture.
- Instagram does not display any clickable links. If you want your followers to get to your site, place your link in the comment for them to copy & paste.
When to post and how often to share on Instagram:
People are most likely to read your post around midday and after work in the evening.
- The best times to post on Instagram:
- Instagram is around midday from 12 a.m. – 2 p.m. and
- in the evening from 7 p.m. – 10 p.m.
- How often to post on Instagram:
- Share your featured image on Instagram, but also share other shareable images from your post gallery to re-share your post successively on Instagram.
Pinterest vs. Instagram: #images on Instagram fall much faster into oblivion than pins on Pinterest Share on X
Instagram Tools:
- Instagram Analytics: summary of your overall profile as well as individual posts’ reach, views and engagement and analytics showing times when your followers are most active.
- Holr: allows sending a customized auto-message template to followers, for example, to promote a new product, link or a welcome message. The messages are not sent instantaneously but gradually.
Infographic: Tips for Instagram posts
Flickr – Yahoo’s Photo-Sharing Site
Flickr – Yahoo’s Photo-Sharing SiteFlickr is one of the oldest photo-sharing communities and is directly integrated into Yahoo’s online services, but Flickr can still reach a lot of people.
Flickr facts & figures
- The Flickr photo community has 75 million users worldwide and
- gets 76 million times page visits a day.
Tips for sharing your blog posts on Flickr
There is no limit of characters for your post. Use your keywords as #hashtags, so that your images can be found more easily on Flickr.
How to share on Flickr:
- Share the featured image of your blog post on Flickr with a link to your blog post.
- Share all other blog post images successively.
- Use your keywords as #hashtags to increase the visibility of images.
When to post and how often to share on Flickr:
People are most likely to read your post in the early morning hours before work and after work in the late afternoon.
- The best times to post on Flickr:
- Flickr is in the early morning hours from 7 a.m. – 9 a.m. and
- in the evening from 5 p.m. – 7 p.m.
- How often to post on Flickr:
- Post your featured image of your blog post for initial promotion.
- Then post all suitable images of your blog post.
Did u know?: The Flickr #photo #community has 75 million users worldwide #socialmedia Share on X
Flickr Tools:
- Uploadr: Upload hundreds of thousands of photos with 1000 GB of free storage.
Infographic: Tips for Flickr posts
Social Media Sharing on Editorial Networks for Re-Publishing Your Blog Post:
Tumblr, Medium, Torial, LinkedIn Pulse, Slideshare, Scribd, Issue, Quora, . . .
General Sharing Tips for Editorial Networks (Content Networks)
- Re-Publish your blog content to other blogging networks and content sharing sites to give your content a wider outreach.
- You may vary your headlines and your copy.
- Always share your blog posts with 5-7 days delay to your original post, for letting Google index your original blog post first.
Tumblr – Yahoo’s Blogging Platform
Tumblr – Yahoo’s Blogging PlatformTumblr facts & figures
Tumblr is the most popular blogging community where users publish and share texts, images, quotations, links, and videos. Tumblr provides the complete functionality of a blog.
- The blogging network has 345 million active users worldwide and
- up to 440 million page visits a day.
- The network is particularly used by younger folks. But it is also suitable for blogs and corporate blogs for re-publishing blog content to reach more potential readers.
Tips for cross-promoting your blog post on Tumblr
There is no character-limit for your posts. You can choose the HTML format for your blog post.
How to share on Tumblr:
- You can republish your entire blog post on Tumblr.
- Use keywords as tags in order to attract more interested readers to your post.
- Posts with images and videos work best on Tumblr.
When to post and how often to share on Tumblr:
People are most likely to read your post in the early evening hours after work.
- The best times to post on Tumblr:
- late afternoon and
- in the evening between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Medium – The Editorial Network
Medium – The Editorial NetworkMedium is an editorial network for social journalism, focusing on the exchange of ideas, articles, and stories. The network is known for its committed and interactive readership.
- Medium currently has 625.000 users and
- gets visited 26 million times a day.
Tips for cross-promoting your blog posts on Medium
Like Tumblr, Medium provides users with entire blog functionalities.
How to share on Medium:
- Re-publish your entire blog post on Medium and add a link to the original post, as well as related posts on your blog.
- You can customized headings and subheadings, add key words and insert your links and pictures directly in the text.
When to post and how often to share on Medium:
People are most likely to read your post during day time in the early evening hours after work.
- The best times to post on Medium:
- between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Diigo, Delicious, Digg – the social bookmarking networks
Diigo, Delicious, Digg – the social bookmarking networksSocial bookmarking networks are great to easily save, organize and share links to all kinds of online resources. Always be sure to save your blog posts as links to your collection and share them with your followers and friends.
- Diigo has 3 million pages views per day.
Tips for cross-promoting your blog posts on social bookmarking networks
- Publish your post with #hashtags and a link to your blog post.
Social Media Sharing and Cross-Sharing Automation: Pros and Cons
As you can see, there are lots of places for sharing and promoting your blog post. If you want to do this manually every time you publish a new blog post, this is quite a lot of work. Social media automation seems to be a good solution to help you with your workload. But there are severals things to consider, before you set up a social media automation strategy and look for tools.
Let’s take a look at the pros first:
Automating cross-posting to multiple networks:
- Saves time for posting on each network manually.
- Provides your networks with a consistent stream of valuable content for your readers.
- Leaves you with more time and space to engage with your community and active networking.
So what are the cons?
Blasting out robot-like the same message to all of your networks:
- Lack the human touch that otherwise makes your posts personal and engaging.
- Will be recognized by your followers as robotic content.
- May annoy your followers if posting frequency gets too tight.
Therefore, a lot of things have to be considered when setting up an automation process and choosing a suitable tool.
- Don’t just broadcast your blog post to all of your channels, without promoting it.
- Tailor your posts for each network and add personal comments to encourage engagement.
- Use tools that help you customize your posts and choose the best times to post on each network
How Blog2Social can help with smart cross social media sharing
The WordPress Plugin Blog2Social automatically turns your blog post into the optimal format for every network. The plugin allows you to customize each post for each network individually with personal comments, hashtags or handles on a one-page preview page for all networks. You can also schedule your post on network-level or use the best time scheduler to share your posts automatically at the best time to post on each network. You can schedule your post on a one-time or recurring basis.
Blog2Social automatically cross-shares and cross-promotes your posts on Facebook (profiles, pages), Twitter, LinkedIn (profiles, pages), XING (profiles, pages, groups), Diigo, Delicious, to Tumblr, Medium, Torial for re-publishing your post, as well as your images on Instagram, Flickr and Pinterest.
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Melanie Tamblé is co-founder and co-CEO of Adenion GmbH. She is an experienced expert in content marketing and social media.
Adenion GmbH specializes in online services and tools for bloggers, businesses and agencies of any size to support their online marketing and content seeding tasks on the web.
Blog2Social as WordPress Plugin and WebApp enable fast and easy auto-posting, scheduling and cross-promotion of blog posts, articles, links, images, videos and documents across multiple social media sites.
Social media posts will be automatically turned into a customized format for each social platform and auto-scheduled for the best time. Social media post can be previewed and tailored with individual post formats, images or personal comments – all in one easy step.
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