Blogging is different from article writing; you have to sense your audience, in order to engage it.
When I first started to blog many years ago, I used to reference other writers’ blog posts. I then used the available technology, in the form of vanity RSS feeds and trackbacks, to stay up to date on mentions or opinions about our own blog. Nowadays, however, the volume of the published content is so massive that vanity RSS feeds and trackbacks are essentially useless.
As a result, on one hand there is massive output, but on the other hand, nobody seems to be listening. And if there are no receivers, there is no engagement. Engagement is nothing to look down on. It’s what reputations and relationships are built on.
You may find it hard to believe, but Facebook could be the solution when it comes to increasing your blog’s engagement. It’s a well-established fact; to find people on the internet, you have to go to a website with a large pool of people, all different ages, locations, interests, etc., and today that website is Facebook.
So, what do you have to do to increase your blog’s engagement through Facebook? Dave Winer (@davewiner), entrepreneur, technologist and a blogger for almost 20 years, wrote that he began posting his full blogs on Facebook. And engagement is why. He wrote:
“There is zero engagement on my blog, to start with. I have switched comments off. The situation is almost identical on Medium, excluding three hearts and one highlight that my post got – still no comments.”
On Facebook, however, regardless of the primitive typography and the absence of links, my post has a few comments and twenty reactions. I can’t tell how many the views are, since Facebook doesn’t offer that information to users, to my knowledge.”
Winer makes a valid point on the need for engagement adding, “There is an explanation behind my need for connection. I missed looking at people’s thoughts, and receiving feedback from readers who go through my stuff. Facebook offers that.”
Why Putting A Full Blog Post on Facebook Could be Your Ticket to Success
I have been following the same strategy. I either put my whole post, or at least a large part of it, on Facebook, so that my readers get what I am trying to say. This way, readers can show engagement (share, like or comment) without having to go to my blog.
The best things about blogging are thinking out loud, expressing ideas, addressing opinions I read somewhere else, meeting new people, knowing people better, making friends or, when that’s not possible, building respect, and becoming better in subjects I am really interested in. With Facebook, you can have this, but if you are blogging without exposing your posts to the world for engagement, you can’t.
By publishing blog posts on Facebook, there’s no need to feel like you’re slighting your independent blog. As a matter of fact, owning your own blog is probably the most important part of using Facebook effectively.
While you build and enlarge your social network on Facebook, you will need a place of reference where you can showcase your work to the community. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can just do it all on Facebook. You need to be in control of your content and of how your site looks, which can have a lot to do with your office and how you stay in control. You also need to make sure that your content can be accessed in numerous ways: email sharing, search engines as well as social media.
I agree with Winer on making my blog more engaging through Facebook. My blog is poor with comments; however, my Facebook presence is way more popular. Learning, collaboration, friendships and other blogging goodness combined with Facebook. Try it, and then let us know what you think in the comment section below!
How to Moderate Blog Comments
Do you truly know yourself?
Your FREE personalized Moon Reading explores the secret depths of your personality, relationships and true purpose in life.
