How to Promote Your Blog Without Social Media

Hey, guys, in this article, I will tell you how to promote your blog without social media.

Here is a question that I have been asked several times in recent months on No Tuxedo: can you promote your blog without social networks? Is it possible to gain visibility if you don't want to invest in Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and so on?

In this article, I suggest you think about this fundamental question: why do you want to do without social networks? And how to compensate for their absence when you want to make yourself known despite everything?

DO WITHOUT SOCIAL NETWORKS TO PUBLICIZE YOUR BLOG: POSSIBLE?

How to Promote Your Blog Without Social Media Best Hidden Tips

Why do you without social networks?

People who choose not to get involved on social media often have very valid reasons.

The refusal to expose oneself

On certain themes, keeping a blog involves a part of revealing oneself. This is for example the case with lifestyle, beauty, fashion, family, travel, and decoration blogs.

Of course, it is possible to treat these subjects in an impersonal way, but most of the time, what will forge the link with the reader is precisely the fact of slipping in a few more “intimate” elements. Some people are not comfortable with sharing personal photos, with the fact that we know where they live, that we see their standard of living, their activities, their consumption pattern.

The “blog” format is by nature less spontaneous than a social network because it does not fit into the same temporality, the publications are often more thoughtful and more anticipated, which offers better control.

They require full expertise

It is no coincidence that community management has become a profession. Since their creation, social networks have gained a lot in complexity and it is no longer enough to post to be seen.

It is a question of understanding how the algorithm of each network highlights certain publications rather than others but also of fully appropriating the codes specific to each platform: we do not communicate in the same way on Facebook and on Instagram. , we do not adopt the same behaviors to manage an account if we are on Pinterest or Twitter.

All this is real expertise and some people do not want to acquire it, either because they are not interested in it or because they are already spending a lot of energy learning to master their blogging platform.

The desire to disconnect

If you open social media accounts, you will inevitably receive solicitations from your community. And today, everything is often done by default so that you are aware of it in real-time!

You receive notifications, Facebook reminds you to respond quickly to messages so that your page maintains a high response rate, you must generate engagement on your Instagram photos as soon as they are published to keep the favors of the algorithm… In short, we make you understand that your availability and your investment are the keys to success.

It is of course possible to configure all this but social networks nevertheless remain a concern that we keep in the background at all times, which not everyone wants. To do without social networks amounts to concentrating the requests on a single medium, his blog.

THE NEED TO DISCONNECT FROM SOCIAL NETWORKS

Social networks do not belong to you

It is a reality that certain episodes of the news sometimes come to remind you a little harshly: you are not the owner of social networks. Not only do their general conditions of use generally give them very extensive rights over your content, but in addition, they can decide overnight to close your account, to turn a deaf ear if you get hacked, to restrict your visibility. thanks to a change of algorithm ...

A blog, especially if you have your own domain name and your own hosting, belongs to you. It's your space and your rules of the game, I had spoken about it in this article: “  Why blog in the age of social networks?  "

Too time-consuming activity

This is another criticism that some people make about social networks: they are very time-consuming and sometimes you feel that the return on investment is not commensurate with the energy spent.

Sometimes social media doesn't get a lot of traffic, doesn't generate as many interactions as you would like, and doesn't provide as much visibility or benefits as you might expect compared to the time spent creating content.

For all these reasons - there are surely others, you may want to promote your blog without social networks. Does this necessarily mean that we must give up having visibility? I do not believe that.

How to promote your blog without social networks?

In my opinion, the absence of social networks can influence three major dimensions in the development of a blog:

• Traffic - Some bloggers receive a significant portion of their traffic from social media, especially Pinterest which can be a very large traffic provider. To publicize your blog without social networks, you must therefore consider alternative sources of acquisition to gain visibility.
• The social link - Social networks constitute a privileged opportunity to discuss with your community on subjects often a little broader than those which you treat on your blog. Depending on the age of your audience, the debate often shifts to social media to the detriment of blog comments. We must therefore think about other ways of forging a link with our community… and of forming a community, rather than publishing a simple succession of articles.
• Partnership opportunities - Today, many brands swear by social media, simply because it's a visible number where your blog audience is known only to you. We may denounce the reign of false influence, the purchase of followers, and all these practices, the reality is there: if you are not present (or that you do not get involved) on social networks, you will have a thousand times fewer opportunities than people who invest in them.

How to approach each of these aspects to promote your blog without social networks?

HOW TO REACH YOUR AUDIENCE WITHOUT SOCIAL NETWORKS?

Gain traffic without social networks

If you can't rely on social media for visibility, you need to rely on other sources of traffic acquisition.

The main one is natural referencing (SEO). It is, among other things, a fundamental reflection on what your readers are looking for: what subjects interest them and how they talk about it, with what words. It will be a question of writing articles that will not only answer these concerns or these centers of interest but which will also do it by using the same words as the Net surfers.

The exercise may seem quite "natural" to some bloggers, especially if you understand the expectations of your community very well ... but it often requires a minimum of training, do not hesitate to consult my articles on SEO to better understand what it is.

You can also explore other sources of traffic, which will often be more minor or more punctual:

• Guest Articles - Writing articles on behalf of other blogs, including a presentation of your own blog, may lead some readers to visit you. Thanks to guest blogging, you benefit from the existing audience of these blogs and in exchange, you offer them free qualitative content.
• “Real Life” - If you have the chance and the opportunity, mention your blog to people you meet in real life. A little nod to a colleague and friend who had registered her blog in her company departure email! Colleagues, traders, people with whom you share an activity, certain occasions can - depending on your subject - lend themselves to exchanges and enrich your reader base.
• Events - On certain themes, participating in or organizing an event can be an interesting opportunity to develop your audience. Whether it is a workshop, a training course, a conference, it is often the opportunity to mention your blog in a context where you value your expertise, in front of people who are receptive to it.

For businesses, also consider highlighting your blog in your “traditional” communication media.

Create a community without social media

In recent years, many bloggers have noticed a certain decline in the number of comments posted on their blog, and at the same time a debate taking place on social networks.

For many readers, it is indeed easier and more natural to interact with their favorite bloggers through social networks: it's fast, the environment is familiar, there are different degrees of engagement possible (a simple like a share, a detailed comment)…

When you decide to do without social networks on your blog, it is important to be able to unite a community despite everything, because it is a fundamental dimension of blogging as I explained to you in this article.

To forge links within the blogosphere, it remains interesting to rely on blog comments: systematically respond to comments that we leave you. In addition to being a mark of respect for your readers, it can initiate interesting discussions. You can also post comments (constructive of course) on other blogs on a similar theme and on the social networks of other bloggers, these exchanges can ultimately build mutually beneficial relationships of trust.

Another way to bond with them is to create a newsletter and segment it according to the concerns of your subscribers: you can ask them questions, encourage them to answer you, and then propose articles adapted to their expectations.

Hosting a podcast can also be a medium of choice for bringing together a community around you. On certain subjects, podcasts bring together a lot of people, encourage listeners to react, to talk about it around them, with, as a result, constructive exchanges.

Also think about the opportunities to partner with other bloggers: set up a joint competition for example!

Here again, “real life” can also be a source of encounters. If your blog has a local dimension, in particular, it gives you a host of opportunities to get closer to professionals in your city or region, to participate in local events.

Develop your blog without social networks

If you want to take your blog to a more “business” dimension, particularly through partnerships, it must be admitted that the absence of social networks can be a break. It is easier to know the number of subscribers or the engagement rate of an Instagram account than the number of visitors to a blog, for example ... and this reality pushes many brands to rely on social networks as a criterion for choosing a partner blogger.

However, it is quite possible if you have built a great community to canvass the brands that appeal to you and to bet on other sources of income: affiliation, for example, to monetize your traffic, or even the creation of a product or service. If you do not receive gifts, you will earn the money necessary to pay them;)

In summary, it seems to me quite possible to promote your blog without social networks. They only represent a tiny part of my traffic for me.

It sometimes involves missing out on certain opportunities ... but in general, when you make the decision not to invest fully in the networks, it is the result of a thoughtful choice and you can assess yourself what we gain and what we lose. This is what counts at the end of the day: not going there “because you have to go” but because it gives you something that suits you.

And let's not forget that not being present in a personal capacity on social networks does not prevent making life easier for your readers who are there. By offering, for example, sharing buttons so that your articles can be relayed, you can at least encourage word of mouth, it is never lost!

How are you and social media going? You devote time to it, you run away from them, it depends?

I hope you understand how to promote your blog without social media.