Bloggie Wednesdays: How Not To Shove Your Blog Down Your Readers’ Throats Via Social Media

Twitter on iPad

Happy Wednesday, fellow beautyholics! Hope you’re had a stellar beginning to the week.

Here’s a hump day question for you. How often do you encounter this scenario?

You see a blogger tweet in the morning announcing that a new blog post is up. Two hours later, another tweet goes up telling you about that blog post. For the next 14 hours, 10 more tweets appear on the timeline, again telling you about that blog post. Some of them begin with “in case you missed it“. In 24 hours, that blogger would have tweeted at least 12 tweets just informing her followers about that bleepin’ blog post.

Would you like to join me in exclaiming “okay we get it! We didn’t miss your post!“?

Okay, I know I was being sarky there and I’m really not trying to be mean. It’s just that, all that tweeting about that new blog post of yours isn’t necessary. Now I understand the need to update different times of the day to cater to different timezones for international readers. But 12 tweets a day, averaging about one every 2 hours with the same content is a bit much, don’t you think?

How many times should I tweet a day to promote my blog post?

There’s no strict rule or formula as to when the best times to post on social media are or what the ideal number of tweets to post is. This depends on the geographic locations of your readers. Most of my traffic (excluding Google searches) comes from Australia, Malaysia and the Philippines so I prefer to cater delivery of content to their time zones. Check Google Analytics and Facebook Page Insights to see where the bulk of your readers are from. It might be something you’d like to consider when creating content for your social media platforms instead of post every couple of hours.

Google Analytics Geographical Location

It’s not mandatory to tweet that many times a day to let your followers know about your latest blog post. Or tweet 5 more times consecutively for the next few days. I find that it turns readers off and they end up leaving your blog altogether. I like to promote mine twice a day. Rarely do I go to three tweets unless it’s necessary (e.g. to remind readers about competition/giveaway deadlines). It’s not a rule, of course, it’s just what works for me. I’ve seen tweets from bloggers who tweet blog updates about 5 times a day and they find it effective. These tweets are scheduled through the 24 hours which means readers from the other side of the world like US or Europe will be able to read them when they’re awake.

A good way to keep the blog update tweets interesting is to mix it up with different sentences in the tweets. For example, you’ve blogged about Rimmel’s Apocalips Lip Lacquers. You can organise your tweets to go something like this:
1. New on the blog! Rimmel’s Apocalips Lip Lacquers [insert link] 2. I discovered 5 gorgeous new lip colours today! [insert link] 3. Have you tried Rimmel’s Apocalips Lip Lacquers before? What is your favourite shade? [insert link]

These are just some examples of how to go about tweeting about that new blog post. Personally, I find it more interesting than just “in case you’ve missed it” because after a while, it gets a bit old and you just want to go “no I didn’t but I wish I did“. It’s more fun to mix it up and keeps your timeline more intriguing.

Go ahead and promote that new blog post. Just try not to talk about it 12 times a day, pretty please? 🙂

Bloggie Wednesdays is a series of articles just on blogging. They contain tips, how-tos, discussions about anything and everything you need to know about blogging and how we can be better bloggers. If you have any suggestions, tips and tricks about blogging you would like to share with us, or if you have any questions you would like me to address, please let us know in the comments.

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27 comments… add one
  1. Chelsea

    So true! The one thing I struggle with is finding a decent tweet scheduler! One that’s simple to use. Ugh.
    Chelsea recently posted..Review: Australis Blush BFFs & Lip & Cheek ComboMy Profile

    1. Tine

      I use Buffer. It’s not exactly the most reliable; it has missed a couple of scheduled tweets. But it’s easy to use so I put up with it. There’s also Hootsuite for Twitter and Facebook scheduling if you’d like to check it out.

  2. Evelyn (cotton candy diva)

    I am exactly the same, tweet it twice a day (one is scheduled in the morning, the other I tweet manually in the afternoon/night) once or twice a day for a giveaway.

    It is annoying seeing the same tweet like 5+ times a day and a lot don’t change the wording! I will unfollow people if they promote their blog TOO much
    Evelyn (cotton candy diva) recently posted..10 Cute Christmas accessories to get you in the festive moodMy Profile

    1. Tine

      Me too. After a while it gets annoying. I’ve seen some that just goes on and on all day! I may have missed it a couple of hours ago or even 6 hours ago but after that, oh I sure didn’t miss it any more. In fact, I don’t even want to see it any more! 🙁

  3. MissCarole

    What about the “From the archives” posts? What’s your stand on those?
    MissCarole recently posted..The Picture of the Month – November 2013My Profile

    1. Tine

      I’m on the fence about this. I’ve seen some done well. Once in a while, every few days, there’s an old post to tweet. That’s absolutely fine, especially if you have relatively new followers and readers who haven’t read your content from years ago. On the other hand, I know of blogs who use the Tweet Old Post plugin where every couple of hours, a “new” post is tweeted but is actually months or years old. I find the clogging of timeline more annoying than a misleading new post, I guess, but that’s just me.

  4. Paris B

    HAHA Love this one! I could be guilty for all you know but I mix it up and space it out over the day to catch different market segments. So hopefully I’m not just pissing lots of people off 😀 Oh and if Twitter is only for promoting blog posts and not for conversation, then might as well not bother using it at all.
    Paris B recently posted..I have intense love for the Clinique Chubby Stick Intense Lip Colours. Such. Intense. Love!My Profile

    1. Tine

      Haha nah you’re all right 😉 Will be thick-skinned and tell you if you weren’t. 😛
      I noticed a whole lot more post promoting than conversations on Twitter these days. It’s getting boring. :-/

  5. Norlin

    Hahahaha yes!!! I’ve seen that! That just makes people unfollow you on social media actually. Normally I tweet twice a day…sometimes though my stupid networked blogs thing shares it on twitter unexpectedly a few seconds after I’ve shared it on twitter, so I’m going to have to get rid of that function. But yeah, twice a day for me – afternoon or morning and then followed by once at night.
    Norlin recently posted..Health & Lifestyle: Guilt-Free Quick Foods And SnacksMy Profile

    1. Tine

      Oh yeah, I know what you mean. I used to link my Facebook to Twitter, so every time I post on Facebook, it’s also posted on Twitter. But for some reason, Twitter tweets it as a tweet of their own, and then tweets it again with the FB extension. So for a while I was sending duplicated tweets on Twitter which got bloody annoying. Had to unlink it. It was on PB event last year, I think, that I learned that different platforms should have different content depending on your followers. So I’m more candid on Twitter with short sentences and ask longer questions on Facebook that I won’t ask on Twitter. Works better for me that way.

  6. Allison

    Tine, I know you are blogging on another topic today, but I am so upset that I am going to ask you about my problem anyway. Hope you understand. As you will see below, I wrote a product review on Hada Labo Tokyo Anti-aging Hydrator on my blog on Nov. 25. I just got a message about a new comment via Wordpress. It was a link, and I’ve never gotten anything like that before. I followed the link: http://busymama.net/2013/11/25/hada-labo-tokyo-anti-aging-hydrator-triple-hyaluronic-acid-facial-serum/ and I found that another website had appropriated part of my post and published it under someone else’s name. There is no place to comment, and there is no Contact Us on the website. I googled the “author”, and it turns out she’s a Christian writer of romances. Is there anything I can do about it? I have a copyright widget that I use, but I don’t know what good that’ll do me. Any advice?
    Allison recently posted..Hada Labo Tokyo Anti-aging Hydrator: More of the Good StuffMy Profile

    1. Tine

      Nah, not a problem, Allison.
      I clicked on the link, looks like it’s a 404 now. She’s taken it down, which is a good thing. In future if this happens again, contact the person that he/she has used your content without your permission and request that he/she removes the post by X number of business days. If the person doesn’t get back to you, contact Google about lodging a DMCA report (https://support.google.com/legal/troubleshooter/1114905?hl=en). Google takes a long time with it but it works because I’ve done it before. If that doesn’t work (or takes too long), contact their webhost which you will find out from a whois search.
      I’m wary of websites that don’t allow comments and don’t have any means of contacting the blogger. It just screams spam site to me.
      This is a good Bloggie Wednesday topic. Will do a post on it soon. 🙂

      1. Allison

        Thank you very much, Tine. I was so upset about it that I traced the woman’s own website, and sent her a message via the email listed there. She answered quickly, though did not give me a satisfactory answer about how my post ended up on another website under her name, but yes, she did take it down, thankfully. I was not aware that Google had a process for lodging a complaint. I hope I don’t have to use it in the future, but now I’ll know what to do if the offender ignores me. Thanks again 🙂
        Allison recently posted..Crocheted Vintage Look Infinity ScarfMy Profile

  7. Michelle Beh

    Haha! I totally get what you mean Tine! Honestly saying I hate having 12 tweets saying about new blog post throughout my day on my tweet page. Once it appear on my tweet, I will take note. Furthermore, I did subscibe the beauty blog so it will send email to me when there is new post. So I don’t think I will miss out the new post. Lol

    1. Tine

      Exactly! You’ve already subscribed and then you see a gajillion tweets about it just so YOU DON’T MISS IT. It’s plain annoying! 😛

  8. hilary

    As a luddite who doesn’t twitter etc personally if a blog is any good, I tend to bookmark the initial post that google linked me in to the place (how I’ve found all the blogs I revisit regularly now), then read all the older posts back to the beginning, then visit every other day or so to see if there are new posts on an ongoing basis. Any promoting on the few places I visit, tbh, just turns me off….if I like your style/ take on things I’ll visit, if I don’t, stop bleating about it lol. I recognize that blogs can’t just rely on Google searches to bring people in but just for old fashioned me….I come from a very British background where one doesn’t yell about themselves they just are quietly humble (we are a very repressed nation lol)
    hilary recently posted..Another teaching updateMy Profile

    1. Tine

      Hahahaha you’re funny! 😛 But yeah I know what you mean. I used to do that too before learning how to use Google Reader (now defunct) to consolidate all my favourite blogs into one page.

  9. Jade

    This is a pet peeve of mine alongside Instagram clutter comps/reposts. I think three tweets spread out through the day is plenty.

    1. Tine

      Ugh it’s getting worse on Instagram nowadays. What happened to just good ol’ pictures taken with the phone? So many competitions and regrams.

  10. Jen W

    Absolutely agreed!
    Jen W recently posted..Masked Ball Makeup featuring YSL Violet Edition Glossy StainMy Profile

    1. Tine

      Right right?

  11. Evelyn (cotton candy diva)

    I just thought of another thing….I don’t understand why some bloggers feel the need to RT every tweet that mentions their giveaway (another thing that is an instant unfollow from me) especially if there is a lot of people entering! your twitter feed ends up being full of the same thing retweeted about a bazillion times

    1. Tine

      Hahahaha I think I know who you’re talking about and I find it so. Damn. Annoying!! It clogs up the timeline with competition tweets that are exactly the same but just from different people.

  12. MonicaP

    That’s what I do .. three notices on Twitter and that’s it. And I try to vary the tweet because one item may catch someone’s attention vs. “hey, new post up”, “hey, new post up, “hey new post up”.

    Monica.
    MonicaP recently posted..November Beauty HaulMy Profile

    1. Tine

      Exactly! Much better than the usual “hey new post is up”. Good to mix it up and keep your readers guessing 🙂

  13. Annabella

    I like your idea of using variation to describe a new post – thanks for the tip!
    Annabella recently posted..The Spa Bucket List: Escapes around the world for a girlfriends’ getawayMy Profile

    1. Tine

      My pleasure Annabella! It keeps your readers guessing and your updates more interesting 😉

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