The blogosphere is a close-knit community. You simply cannot survive on your own, so to speak. It is a unique environment where competition has minimal effect and content support has maximum impact. Netizens devour content and the demand for it is the very thing that sustains the blogosphere. This is where guest blogging comes in. Guest blogging is basically lending your content to another site; it will not hurt your blog or other people’s blog to have new and fresh articles posted from different sources. Don’t look at other bloggers as competition. Instead look at them as partners in providing more relevant content to your readers.
Having said that, there are many ways by which you can effectively widen your guest blogging outreach. One of them is through Twitter, the infamous 140-characters social media site. You don’t need a marketing course to tell you just how influential this social media site has become over the past years. If you want to be able to fully utilize this site, here are simple tips to help you out.
1. Twitter Search
If you’re a newbie to guest blogging then using Twitter Search is the best way to kick off this venture. Just type “guest bloggers needed” or variations of that phrase and you’ll see real-time mentions of that. Click on the profile of the users who need guest bloggers to know them more. You can also type the industry of your blog such as “SEO blogger” or “fashion blogger” or “marketing blogger” for a more targeted search.
2. Twitter Network
One of the purposes of guest blogging is building relationships with other bloggers. Twitter provides you with an effective way to connect with them. Follow the blogger you want to offer your content to. Look at the people he/she follows and see which ones belong to the same industry as yours. You can follow them, too. The best way to increase your network is through connecting with like-minded bloggers.
3. Twitter Engagement
After your guest blog has been posted, tweet it to your followers. Engage with them by replying to their questions and thanking them for retweeting your guest post. Do the same for the guest blogs posted in your site. Tweet them so that your followers can see new material coming from another author who has the same expertise as yours.
4. Twitter Reach
The blogosphere thrives in the give-and-take cycle. Whatever you post gets shared. Whatever gets shared creates a demand. This demand will then be supplied by new content again. Same goes for social media reach. You retweet your fellow bloggers’ post so they will do the same to you. Even if you already tweeted your guest post, you can still retweet what other bloggers have said about it.
5. Twitter Mentions
Mentioning other bloggers is a big thing. It shows genuine interest on what they write about. It also shows that you value your connection with them. Thank your fellow bloggers for allowing them to post your article in their site. Give a shout out to them for their contribution to your blog as well. Use mentions and hashtags (#) not only for promotion but also for appreciation.
The great thing about Twitter is its real-time update. Your guest blog can easily become viral in a couple of minutes or so. The challenge though is the influx of updates coming in. You can address this by retweeting what your followers tweeted about your post so that your update comes right back up again. Your guest blogging outreach will go a long way with Twitter as long as you establish good relationships with other bloggers and interact consistently with your followers.