Facebook is a brilliant tool for aspiring writers to attract new readers. Through the social networking mechanic, blog publishers can generate incremental page views without the need for technical knowledge or costly marketing. With a few quick tips, you can use Facebook to drive traffic to your blog.
"Like" and "Recommend" buttons
Through its now-ubiquitous "Connect" service, Facebook has added social networking integration to external websites. Every major blogging platform now includes the ability for Facebook users to highlight specific blog posts to their friends. As a blogger looking to generate traffic, be sure you have turned on the social networking and promotion features available through your blog publisher.
Enabling these features will automatically embed Facebook buttons onto the bottom of each blog post. Readers who appreciate a specific post will be able to "Like" or "Recommend" the post. Your post will then appear on the Facebook wall of the reader and be displayed throughout the newsfeed of the reader's network. The Facebook "Like" and "Recommend" buttons are free advertising that require no effort on your part and will help drive traffic to your blog.
Cross-posting headlines
Facebook is also effective at driving traffic to your blog through its unique newsfeed. If you post a new item on your wall, your Facebook friends see your activity appear on their newsfeed. In addition, the newsfeed will show a blurb about the post and can include a direct link to your blog. You can take advantage of this feature to drive visitors to your blog.
By posting a headline from your blog onto your Facebook wall, all of your friends will see that teaser in their newsfeeds. Anyone who is interested in the headline will be able to click on the embedded link and be driven directly to your blog and the relevant post. The key to driving traffic to your blog through Facebook is to post only a headline or teaser sentence. You want your Facebook wall to be advertising that entices readers to click through to your blog for additional information.
Targeted Facebook Ads.
If you are willing to invest a few dollars to drive traffic to your blog, consider placing targeted Facebook advertisements. With the simple Facebook Ads Manager, it will only take a few minutes to setup an ad campaign. Facebook ads can be run with an investment of low as $10 and you can target your ads to a very specific audience. If, for example, you blog about being a single mother of two children, you can target your Facebook ad to be displayed only to single mothers who have two children.
The Facebook Ads Manager allows for even further level of detail if you want an even more restrictive audience to view your ads and be drawn to your blog. You could, as an extreme, run an ad campaign focused on single mothers who are fans of Canadian football, raising two children, and attending a community college in northern Arizona. While this would clearly decrease the potential size of your audience, it also substantially reduces the cost of an ad campaign and can be very effective to match your blog with a specific demographic audience. In addition, your new audience will be very receptive to your blog since they were pre-screened by the Facebook Ads Manager.
Social networking allows even small, amateur bloggers to generate significant traffic on a shoestring advertising budget. By using "Like" and "Recommend" buttons, cross-posting headlines, and running targeted Facebook ads, you can use Facebook to drive traffic to your blog.
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