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The Push and Pull of Blog Promotion: Part 2

After making progress with the art of pushing blog content to readers, it was time to drag more people directly to my blog.  I required readers on my blog in order to increase the odds of collecting valuable feedback about the writing content, and to build momentum for future advertising revenue opportunities.  To drag readers to my blog, I employed the strategies of pull marketing, with a ’social’ flare.

Social-izing Pull Marketing

Including the post link in a communication is intended to pull viewers directly to your content.  An interest sparking headline or lead-in prompts the reader to click to follow the content.  If the writing fulfills its promise, visitors might be motivated to read other posts and become a dedicated follower.  If there are ads on the site that entice, viewer clicks may earn income for blog ads that represent a revenue source.

Pulling readers to your blog site provides the opportunity to create more loyal followers and potential for ad clicks. Since most advertising deals pay per click, more volume equals greater revenue.   Once a viewer is on your site, they may also ‘like’, ‘share’, ‘tweet’ your content so that other members of their network learn about the blog.  Referrals are a great way to gain new readers.  Having the credibility of the source contact increases the odds of connecting with their network audience. 

The downside of pull marketing is relying on continued revisits from your readers.  Since they will not be receiving an email or RSS feed notifying of the new post, their loyalty must be relied upon.  This strategy requires them to make a decision to view each time they see notice of a new post through social media.  To increase the odds they will continue to make an affirmative choice, quality post announcements are essential.

With pull promotion, the pitch that entices a reader to click must be enticing and succinct.  For example, I recently wrote a blog post asking for opinions about telling my 8 year old how the Easter Bunny really delivers goodies to our home.  The other option I have to deal with the truth is waiting until she hears something at school and decides to ask me.   My actual question to readers was, “do I tell my daughter the truth about the Easter Bunny?”  My social media pitch, along with the blog link was, “do I tell?”

Both are truthful, which is vital.  A pitch that suggests something untrue about the content will make the reader feel they have been tricked into visiting your blog.  The second pitch is more tempting for a wider audience of readers.  If a reader is not interested in weighing in on the Easter Bunny decision, there is still the opportunity to entice them with another post on the site, since the pitch pulled them to your vast collection of content.

To Push or to pull – THAT is the question?  The answer is both.  A balanced combination of both strategies will maximize the outcome.  The size and quality of the promotion investment will be reflected in the results.  The cost of marketing your blog content is almost entirely human resources.  It takes a significant amount of time on the social media sites to organically develop relationships that are authentic. 

Each site has its communication methods, language and etiquette.  Social media experts debate the pros and cons of repeating content on multiple social media platforms.  One point all social savvy individuals seem to agree on is the inevitable importance of these platforms for any business to compete.

Next column: Tweet to Compete
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