Blogging may seem…scary, to say the least. The process of coming up with a relevant topic, correct terms, and the best structure possible isn’t an easy one (and don’t even get us started on the courage it takes to put your thoughts out there; social anxiety, anyone?). Good news is, We have got your back; and we are going to walk you through the process of starting a blog and integrating it into your social media marketing plan.  

Blog Posts as a Social Media Marketing Tool:

You might get the general idea that today’s bloggers might be blogging for the fun of it. While yes, blogging is an extremely entertaining hobby (you should try it sometime, it’s F-U-N), however you are probably pretty sure that corporates don’t blog for fun. To be frank, blogging ​helps your website rank higher in the search engine by offering articles about FAQs that your target audience have. Blogging is also a great way to put your business out there and gain more customers who are genuinely interested in what you have to say. Long story short: Integrate blog posts into your social media marketing campaign asap.  

General Mindset: How to Handle Competition:

We have mentioned in previous articles in this series how you need to define and research your competition, so that you are able to compete (and in most cases exceed) with them. You need to let go of that attitude when you start writing blog posts as a part of your social media marketing campaign. Let’s put it this way; there are tons of articles on the same topic that you can find online, and when you need to learn about a certain topic, chances are you are going to read a lot of them. That means that in the grand scheme, blog posts don’t ​compete rather they ​complete each other; that’s the attitude you need to adapt. Before even starting your research, you have to ask yourself:​

• Why am I writing this piece?

• What do I want to add?

• What qualifies me to discuss this topic?

These questions will define how you want your piece to turn out. You don’t need to worry that you may be repeating things you have read in another blog post, because when you think about it a lot of blog posts offer similar content. What’s going to make you stand out though, what’s going to make people want to read your blog post, are your original ideas and the way you present them. And in this regard, no genuine writer can copy another.  

Find your Voice:

This is another thing that you need to work out before you start writing and publishing anything in your social media marketing campaign.; find your voice. Your voice should reflect who you genuinely are as a person; you don’t need to try and impress anyone with it, it is the way you can write comfortably. So, do you prefer writing in first person or third person? Does your diction lean towards the sophisticated side or the everyday side? Each of these aspects has its own allure, so don’t try to fit a mold, that’s exactly what may make your piece sound redundant; ingenuity. Of course, if you are writing for a corporate then maybe you are going to have to adapt to their voice. Our advice here is to try and find a balance between the way you write and the way they want to be presented through your writings. Finding your voice is a process eerily similar to that of defining yourself as a person; if done correctly, everything else will be so much easier.  

Plan it:

DON’T WRITE HAPHAZARDLY! NEVER JUST SIT AND WRITE! This is a mistake that a lot of beginners seem to do; they just sit, write, and let their words do the job for them. While the prospect may seem fresh and alluring; what writer doesn’t want the ultimate freedom to express his thoughts? However, writing without a plan was proven to result in inconsistent pieces, which are especially frowned upon in social media marketing campaigns. We aren’t saying that you should plan every single sentence but you need to structure your piece before starting; map it out. Define your starting point and your ending point, and then you should consider how you want to guide the reader from here to there. What is the best strategy for what you want to convey? Should your piece possess a certain vibe? Will you set a theme for it? The most important aspect of planning your piece is outlining. It will make your job so much easier, and will most probably result in a comprehensive and cohesive piece.  

Write it:

You have gotten to the best part; now you can finally just sit and write. But you should know that what you write now will be considered more of a draft than a finished piece. Once you sit and write you should just let your words do the job, write according to the outline you have planned but don’t give too much attention and emphasis on grammar and structure. This is the part where you just unload your thoughts and ideas (which makes it the most fun part out of all of them). Our advice here is to enjoy yourself and let your words flow. You are a writer after all; if you don’t enjoy writing then we suggest start looking into other careers.  

Refine it:

Remember the grammar and sentence structure that you have ignored in the step above? Well, they are back to haunt you. This is the step where you reread your work, correct any mistakes, use SEO keywords, change a few words, and simply refine it. Some beginners will skip this step, but believe us it is important. Unless of course you want your piece to sound like a bunch of meaningless gibberish words, then yes you can skip this step. It will also help if you have someone with previous editing experience read your piece. Not only will they read it from the perspective of a reader, but they will also offer critical opinion and point out things that you may have not noticed. Accept and appreciate their opinion and work on their comments if you deem them fit.  

Publish it:

This step may be called ‘Publish it’ but that doesn’t mean that we encourage you to take that decision on a whim. What we actually mean is that your article is now ready to publish; schedule it. Like every other social media platform we have discussed, blog posts too will get more exposure if posted at the right time. Find out the time that works best with your target audience; and that will be achieved after posting during different times and keeping an eye on the analytics. After that, you will be able to successfully integrate your blog posts into your social media marketing campaign.  

Market it:

Posting at the right time and coming up with an epic schedule isn’t going to magically get your piece more exposure. Integrate your blog posts into your social media marketing campaign completely by posting on other social media platforms about them. Write an engaging and attractive sentence about your article, provide the direct link to it, and post it on your other social media platforms that usually get a lot of exposure.  

Growing as a Writer:

Don’t be too harsh on yourself; your first, second, or even tenth article doesn’t define you. Do you know what’s the best thing about writing? It’s that you will keep getting better and better along that way. There’s no writer out there whose first article is on the same level as his last one; so keep writing and watch as your articles keep getting better.   This article is part of a blog post series about social media marketing, through this series we aim to help you start your social media marketing campaign right now. We already have three published articles, make sure to check them out: 1. Benefits of social media marketing. 2. How to create your social media marketing strategy. 3. Getting maximum exposure on Instagram.