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I consider this to be a fair question to ask of yourself.
Do you blog like a blogger? Do you spend most of your time sending people to your blog? Do you promote old blog posts on social media? Do you promote new blog posts on social media?
Consider the honest answers to the above questions.
Proceed based on your genuine feedback.
Why Write this Post?
I came across a social media update stressing the importance of building an email list. You and I own our lists. The blogger professing this knows what’s up. He ain’t wrong. Yet I consider the power of blogging to be beyond building a list. Far more laws, regulations and rules factor into email marketing. Unfortunately, less reputable marketers do ridiculous things forcing the drafting of specific laws to protect privacy…..and to maintain subscriber sanity.
Anyway, blogging is beyond email marketing because you have pretty much limitless options here. No government – at least no sane government – restricts the number of blog posts one writes and publishes. That’s good for bloggers. We possess unlimited potential in this regard.
This is why thinking like a blogger not an email marketer or social media user makes sense. Think like one who blogs to spend most time blogging and promoting blog posts.
OK; back to why I wrote this post.
Bloggers think like social media users a fair percentage of the time. Check X. Check X replies. Send out Facebook updates. Check your inbox on Facebook. Check Instagram. Check YouTube. What about your blog? How about your blog? Why would you back burner your real estate?
I spent 5 minutes on one Facebook Page glancing at metrics. After a few moments I said to myself:
“I am thinking like a social media user not a blogger right now. Time to open my back office, write and publish a new blog post on Blogging From Paradise Dot Com.”
I literally said that to myself. The inner dialog guided me to write these words.
I need to be aware of the temptation to think like a social media user not a blogger. Scanning metrics. Checking replies. Peeping inside of my inbox. Attempting to optimize content for social media. Testing, tweaking and adjusting. Doing these things is all well and good. I guide bloggers to follow these simple steps.
But the issue becomes the matter of time.
How much time do you spend on social media versus your blog?
How much time do you spend on list-building versus your blog?
What is the number?
Do you spend 3 hours daily on Facebook and X? How much time do you spend daily within your back office or promoting blog posts to social media?
Let those numbers sink in.
What I Do Well
I promote the living stuffing out of Blogging From Paradise blog posts on:
- X
daily.
I go above and beyond in this regard.
Some pros deem my approach to be too high octane I suspect. Great fear arises the moment one drops blog post links on social media.
I experienced this: developing an abundance mindset makes it easy to promote a heavy volume of blog post links and text-only updates via social media. You care less about returns and more about giving of your time, talents and knowledge.
At the end of the day, my blog traffic increased by sending a steady volume of social media users to Blogging From Paradise Dot Com because I think like a blogger who uses social media to send people to Blogging From Paradise Dot Com. I do not think or behave like an X user and Facebook user who tries to get as many users to spend time on my profile. Last I checked, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg appear to be doing OK for themselves financially. More power to ’em yet I do not need to get more people to visit their site to boost their net worth.
I definitely prefer to send people from X and Facebook to Blogging From Paradise Dot Com. Business….not personal.
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How do I reach that goal?
I pepper in blog post links here and there as I share content to Facebook and X. I also publish ample text-only updates to both platforms to prevent outright link blindness. Like it or not, the typical social media algorithm severely limits views if a user account shares only links. Billionaires do not remain in business by sending people and money away from their websites. This is why sharing text-based content appeases the social media algorithm.
Never Be Shy About Your Blog
Bloggers seem ashamed of their blogs.
Some sheepishly mention being a blogger. Others rarely mention their blogs on social media. Dropping a blog post link on Facebook? Perish the thought! Sharing a link to your eBook on X? No way! The algorithm will bury everything over there the moment you share links consistently, as the voice of limits proclaims.
I am not too sure about that one. My X account keeps on humming along. Facebook works OK for me too. People visit my blog from X and Facebook. I feed each social media stream a heavy volume of:
- text-based content
- blog post links pointing to Blogging From Paradise Dot Com
Doing this consistently sends people to my blog from these sources.
Rocket science this ain’t, folks.
Yet I had to think like a blogger – not a social media user – to reach this point.
How Do You Think Like a Blogger?
Keep these ideas in mind.
Practical Tips to FollowÂ
- record the time you spend on Facebook and X for a day
- record the time you spend on your blog for a day
- note how many blog post links you share to Facebook and X for a day
- review these numbers to assess whether you think like a blogger or social media user
- remember why you blog; write the reason on a piece of paper to keep it before your eyes every day
- remember why you use social media; to send people to your blog
- catch yourself the moment you emphasize social media over blogging; consider wearing a rubber band bracelet and snapping it once to snag your attention span
Social media is not the enemy.
Blogging is the priority.
Bloggers blog.
Bloggers use social media to publish some text-only updates and to share blog posts pointing users back to their blogs.
Think like a blogger not a social media user.
