Why Twitter Is The Best Platform For Bloggers

When you want to interact, gain a following and promote your posts on social media, it can sometimes be hard to work out which platform is best for you and what will bring you the most traffic to your blog. After a good few months of blogging and using different types of social media for my blog, I think I have finally found one that happens to be the best platform for us bloggers. 

It may or may not come as no surprise to you as to why I think Twitter is the best platform for bloggers. But in many ways I believe it has proven to be a really beneficial and useful social media network to link with your blog. It doesn't only help you to gain followers, share your random thoughts with others and check out what other people are up to. But it also can really help your blog grow, give you the chance to meet new people, work with brands and other bloggers, build relationships and so much more!!! 

Community:

Twitter is great for getting involved with a community and particular one that shares the same interests as you. It is also such a good way to meet new people. The blogging community on twitter is great for not only social interaction, but to also gain advice and knowledge on things you might be struggling with, whether that's online or offline. One particular great way to get involved in the community is by joining in the blogger chats that happen almost every night each week. There's also a series of different types of chats to suit different bloggers that all have their own specific topic each chat. Just search whatever hashtag the chat is using into the search bar when a chat takes place and follow the chat that way. Also make sure you're joining in by asking questions, responding to them and chatting away to others.  A list of some of the blog chats and times can be found here. Blogger chats have been proven to bring in lots of traffic to your blog, because not only are you chatting to others, but you're also promoting your blog and the posts you have produced. 

The whole reason behind twitter is to follow others. The same applies for when you're a blogger, you can easily follow all your favourite bloggers to keep up to date with their latest posts, have a little nosey what they're up to behind the scenes and get to know some of the thoughts they experience daily that they are willing to share online. But you also can gain followers. To do this, make sure you include your social media links, in your posts or somewhere on your blog. This is a quick and easy way for people to follow you back. Also twitter is so easy for you to build relationships with your followers. They can really feel like they get to know the person behind the blog.

Promotion:

These days it's takes quite a big effort and hard work for your blog posts to get recognised. We'd all be lying if we said we didn't care whether or not we got views or comments. Because let's face it, we all do that little squeal of excitement when we gain a new follower, hit a milestone in our views and see that someone has took the time out to comment on our most recent post. It's so rewarding when that happens. Because the blogging community is so competitive, you have to be willing to use promotion as much as you can to gain that response you desire for your blog. 

Twitter is amazing at getting the word out there about your blog and the posts you have created. It has a large audience, with people all over the world of different ages, cultures and lifestyles using this social media platform. With Twitter you are able to write a 140 character tweet, that also can include a picture, any links and hashtags of your choice. You can easily promote your latest post or blog within that requirement! Adding pictures to your tweets that are used in your posts can help you to stand out. It's more than likely people are going to click on a pretty picture, as opposed to a tweet that simply has a load of writing on it. Also using hashtags is a really easy tool to getting the word out there! The most popular ones to use are #bbloggers, #fbloggers, #lbloggers etc. People will search these tags to find relevant content that they are looking for and will more than likely see your posts pop up there.

Collaborations:
If you're lucky enough, brands or other bloggers might possibly reach out to you to work with them. In terms of brands, this could include anything from helping to promote a product or service, offering you a discount code off their services or products, to sending you free samples for you to try and review on your blog. This side of blogging definitely has it perks and can be very rewarding for not only brands, but also yourself as a blogger. Twitter can enable you to be recognised by brands who are on the look out for new bloggers or people to spread the word about their services/products to others of a similar audience. Some brands might even offer the opportunity for you to work with them simply by putting out a tweet advertising for bloggers. A great way yet again to keep an eye out is by having a look through the #bloggerswanted hash tag again. Those blooming hashtags! They're everywhere, aren't they? 

Also other bloggers might want to work with you and be on the hunt for some collaboration styled posts. This again can be a great way to support one another by working together to promote posts, but also to promote each others blogs to their own following. Not only is it beneficial, but it can also help you to build relationships with other bloggers and have lots of fun whilst doing so! The same as before, if you want to collaborate with someone, then why not be on the look out for anything that might pop up or you might even decide to seek others to collaborate with you? 

Being Active/Social:

Seeing your blog grow is such a rewarding thing to happen to you when you are putting so much hard work into your blog. I have found Twitter the quickest and easiest way to improve my blog traffic through promotion and interaction. But twitter is a social platform. So making sure you're being social is essential. Making sure you are regularly talking to people, whether that's by answering any questions, asking questions of your own or even just letting people know that you loved their recent post can be some of the simplest ways to bring in growth all whilst being active. If people can see the hard work, dedication and that you are honestly genuine, then they will more than likely take an interest in you and the work you've produced.

Also if you find you cannot always be around your phone or laptop to promote your tweets, using websites like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck to schedule posts can be really helpful. It is basically pre-promoting your posts before hand, to suit around the times you've chosen and it means you can still continue doing those daily activities you have to do without worrying about needing to write a tweet. It does it all for you once you've scheduled it into place. This saves time and worrying. But also ensures traffic is coming in even when you're busy. 

Research/Previews:

When you  have a following on Twitter or any social media account for example, you can quite easily use the following you have to create any research you might necessary need to track your progress or see what it is your followers enjoy. Twitter has recently given you a polling option when tweeting. Setting up a poll about a topic that you might have been stuck on and need the help from others, can be great for reaching a decision that suits not only you, but the people who read your blog too. Although you can still just as easily, tweet a question and wait for others to respond back. This is great for more in-depth discussions! You can also use the response you get from promoting a tweet, whether they got more likes, mentions or retweets on them. This can enable you to see what most people enjoy. Twitter is also great for finding inspiration for posts ideas or photos.

Also it can be great for sharing previews of posts with your readers. You can give them a teaser of a photo, maybe even a short snippet of the introduction of your post or what your next post is going to be about! This will help to increase the drive towards your blog and will make people aware of what to expect from you. 

As a whole, it is pretty evident to see why Twitter is a really useful, easy to use and traffic driving social media platform for bloggers to use. All these points that I have mentioned, can help bring in growth to you and your blog. Whether you want to meet new people, create a discussion, seek some advice, build your following, gain inspiration and feedback, collaborate and get yourself out there, Twitter gives you the chance to do all of this and much more!