Social media tips for bloggers you may not have tried yet

I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what else I can do to increase my following and get more people checking out my blog, but everywhere I look it's basically the same set of advice. I'm already doing the majority of all that and of course we all know it takes time to develop a loyal and steady following, but I felt like there had to be MORE! If you're a blogger, especially a newbie one like myself (am I still considered a newb?), then you know how difficult blogging can actually be. There's much more than just "writing" and even that is a harrowing task itself. So I set to brainstorming, usually in the middle of the night when I can't sleep, and came up with this list. Some of these may be obvious and you're already doing them, but if you're like me these things didn't even occur to you! I'm hoping this list will help some fellow bloggers out.

• Share your Instagram photos on your Twitter account - I've been having a hard time getting more Instagram followers, which sucks because it's my favorite social media platform. It's not my go-to method for advertising my blog, but it'd still be nice to increase my following. I have a lot more followers on Twitter and the other day I realized "why don't I ever share my Instagram photos on Twitter?!" It's a good way to connect social media accounts (which is always a must for your social media plan) and people will be intrigued to see what the picture you posted is, so they'll get directed to your Instagram. The trick here is to write a good caption to go along with your photo!

• Use hashtags for your pins - I usually only think of using hashtags for Twitter (and sometimes Insta) but with Pinterest's new search method hashtags can really come in handy when trying to get your pins out there! Also, if someone pins your image and leaves your description (which usually tends to happen) the hashtags remain as well so you get even more exposure! As usual when it comes to using hashtags, though, do not go overboard because it's not aesthetically pleasing and people are more likely to avoid your pin like the plague. 

• Interact on everything - You always hear tips from other bloggers that you should leave comments on other blogs and always respond to the comments you get in order to build a solid and loyal fan-base, but there's more to it. You should be interacting with other bloggers as much as possible and there are easy ways to do this (that probably take even less time than leaving comments!) Liking someone's Instagram photo or leaving a comment, favoriting a tweet or replying to one, liking someone's Facebook link, etc. These are things you can easily do while scrolling through your various social media feeds. In the past I'd scroll through and in my mind I'd be like "oh that's a nice picture" or "yeah I totally agree with that tweet!" but I'd keep on scrolling. I think by interacting more on these social media platforms, you're letting other bloggers know you exist!

• Add links to your social media profiles at the end of every blog post (as a signature) - I'll admit this little project is still underway for me, but I definitely plan on creating a signature for all my blog posts in the near future and including links to my social media profiles. Most bloggers already have their links up on their sidebar, but to get even more exposure I absolutely recommend having a signature that includes these links along with every one of your blog posts. Someone may come across one of your posts and really like it, but they won't think of looking at your sidebar to follow you (I feel like this is more of a blogger thing to do) but if they see it literally right there once they are done reading your post, I guarantee they're more likely to follow you. It doesn't even need to be super fancy (in fact, I recommend keeping it as simple as possible). 

• Don't disappear - I am a wee bit guilty of this one. While of course quality reigns over quantity, sometimes you hit a lag and aren't really posting on your blog or social media accounts. This is when it's crucial that you still give your followers something. Use programs like Buffer or Hootsuite to plan your tweets and Facebook posts ahead of time! Things you should be sharing: old blog posts, links to sites you find interesting, pictures that are sure to get some form of interaction, etc. Don't let your followers forget about you.

Do you have any other "uncommon" social media tips to share?