Your blog can open a lot of doors. While your blog is a fantastic place to share your ideas, thoughts and opinions, it can be so much more than that. Blogging can open you up to some amazing networks, helping you connect with other businesses and bloggers, as well as connecting with your readers. As a way to create your own special community, your blog is the perfect way to network and share the things that interest you with others.
If you want to expand your blogging network and learn new ways to connect with others, take a look at the advice below. There’s a big community out there, and we’re here to help you find them.
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Connecting with your readers
Your readers are an important part of your blogging life. Finding people who like your content and share your interests can provide you with a lot of motivation and help you come up with new and exciting ideas for blogs. Developing those connections with your readers is an incredible thing, and there are a lot of ways you can do it.
Get personal
One of the things that endear bloggers to their readers is the personal angle. People respond emotionally when writing is more personal and upfront, and it helps your readers to learn more about you too.
There are different ways you can get more personal through your blogging. Sharing some more about you, your likes and your journey to where you are now can help you connect with a lot of people who would leave to hear what you think about a range of topics. Treat your readers like friends – it will make blogging more enjoyable for you and become a great outlet for your thoughts and feelings.
Be selective with collaborations and partnerships
It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of blogging and writing about everything and anything that comes your way. As you develop your blog, you could be offered a lot of sponsorships and collaborations, but taking on too much could show your readers that you’re willing to post about every brand and product on the marketing – making your content less sincere to your readers.
Being selective with collaborations and partnerships will help make your content more honest, and show your readers that they can trust your opinions. It will also help to make your content more interesting, as you’ll believe in what you’re writing.
Promoting everything and anything is one of the things that can make your blog look untrustworthy, so focus on quality over quantity to help keep your blog and socials genuine.
React and respond
Engaging with your readers can help you grow your community. They take the time to look at your content, so if they comment and respond, you should make an effort to reply. Whether your followers are engaging with your blog or on your social media, take time to reply. Keep an eye out for any content you’ve been tagged in too – it’s good to share and highlight your followers.
Use your knowledge to help others
Many people seek out blogs and social media content to help them make more informed decisions about products and services. They are also good places to find tips and tutorials about everything and anything. Sharing your knowledge about the things you know can be very valuable to others – and that is what it means to be a true influencer.
Share some how-to guides, as well as tutorials that will provide some useful information and advice to your followers. This content is easy to replicate across platforms, so your blog can provide longer, in-depth content, while social media posts can provide tasters or broken-down versions to appeal to your audiences across all platforms.
Get them involved in your content
One of the best ways to connect with your readers is to involve them in your content. Some of the best bloggers have an engaged and loyal community that thrives on being included in their blogger’s content.
From Q&As to live content on your social media, there are different ways to involve your readers directly in your content.
Want to reward your followers for being a part of your community? Why not host a giveaway? Readers can get very excited about a giveaway, and it’s a fantastic way to treat someone to something special.
Connecting with fellow bloggers
The blogging community is an incredible one to be a part of. Finding bloggers you share a connection with can help inspire you, get support and even develop some lasting friendships. Maintaining connections with fellow bloggers is also a great way to stay up to date on what’s happening in the blogging world, keeping your content fresh and exciting.
Follow bloggers with similar niches and interests
One of the easiest ways to get started with blogger networking is to follow bloggers with similar niches and interests. Some blogging niches like fashion and lifestyle are huge, making it very easy to find people to connect with. If your niche is even narrower, you may need to dig a little deeper to find other bloggers to network with or find other bloggers who live locally to connect with instead.
Start following other bloggers by signing up for their blog notifications and their social media profiles. Blogging communities are amazing for sharing and supporting each other’s content, and you’ll find that a lot of the bloggers you connect with will be happy to support you in return. Reaching out to say hello is a simple and effective way to start.
Reach out for guest posting and collaborations
If you want to be able to grow your followers and be an active part of the blogging community, then guest posting and collaborations could be a fantastic way to do it. Guest posts can be a simple way to grow your following, and have your content seen by a wider audience, while helping your fellow blogger make that connection too. It’s not always easy to find bloggers who are willing to accept guest posts, but it’s worth asking anyway.
Collaborations are another good way to increase your following and make some strong connections online. For example, some bloggers get together to put on giveaways and increase the value of the prizes on offer, while helping to introduce each other to their followers too.
Join online blogging communities
Online blogging communities are groups that support and engage with each other, and even offer helpful advice on blogging and content. They could consist of Facebook groups, email chains or Instagram group chats. It’s worth doing a search to see what’s out there and get involved. If you can’t find anything that appeals, you could always message a few bloggers and start your own group – it’s easy to do and this could help you develop some amazing connections with other bloggers.
Once you delve into the world of online blogging communities, you’ll get a deeper insight into how blogging works, and discover a new side to blogging that can make it more fun and interactive for you.
Enjoy meet-ups with your fellow bloggers
Blogging events are a fun way to connect with other bloggers. Many blogging relationships take place online, so it’s nice to meet some people face-to-face. If you’ve been invited to an event, try to make an effort to go, even if it’s out of your comfort zone. You could meet some amazing new people and have a great time.
Your local blogging scene will likely have some meet-ups too, and if there isn’t anything in place – create something! It’s fun to meet up with fellow bloggers and compare notes, and even develop a supportive new social circle. Many people turn online friendships into real-life ones, and could help you meet someone who has a lot of the same interests as you.
While it can be scary to put yourself out there, the rewards are absolutely worth it.
Always be supportive
Blogging can be lonely – it’s a very personal thing. It can take a lot of guts to put yourself out there publicly, so it’s nice to be able to receive some valuable support from others. Being supportive of your fellow bloggers by liking and sharing their content creates a fantastic online community, and is an easy way to network with your fellow bloggers.
Help keep online communities a positive, safe space – avoid leaving negative comments and simply be nice. If you don’t like what someone’s posting, unfollow them – you’d want someone to do the same for you instead of ruining your day with a negative comment.
Connecting with brands and businesses
Connecting with brands can have a lot of benefits as a blogger. It can be a way to grow your blog and your audience, and can be a way to monetise your blog too. Brand collaborations can give some credibility to your blog, taking things to a whole new level. You never know what doors might open up.
Create honest, engaging content about the brands you love
It’s naive to think that brands will be breaking down the door to offer you freebies or money for posting about their content. Brands will want to see what you can offer them, so a good place to start is to start creating content about the brands that you love and providing some value to your readers.
Show how your voice can promote their brand. Your content should be honest and authentic – don’t just write to praise brands if you don’t really believe it. Create the content because you want to and because you think your readers will be interested – if you write content just to try and get a brand’s approval, you run the risk of your content feeling forced, which can be a turn-off for your readers.
Join a blogging network
Blogging networks are the perfect place to introduce yourself to brands and to see the partnerships that are available. At Blogger Tuesday, we help connect brands and bloggers with some incredible paid partnerships, taking care of a lot of the hard work for you.
A blogger network can serve as the perfect introduction to brand networking. Not only is it the place to find out about the latest partnership opportunities, but when you create a profile, it can help brands reach out to you too.
When you sign up to a blogging network like Blogger Tuesday, you can join an established online community that will easy for you to work with brands.
Reach out to brands
Another route to working with brands is to reach out to them yourself. There are a lot of great ways you can do this, including contacting the PR reps at their brands. Some websites will have specific information about influencer collaborations that can give you an idea of what they’re looking for.
When making your pitch, really sell to the brand the value you can bring them. Having a large following helps, but what most brands care about is that you have an engaged following. Show them some of your stats, including any content you have related to their brands. Brands may have specific terms you’ll need to agree to before you work for them, so make sure you’re happy and comfortable with the terms and can deliver what they ask from you.
Make content that stands out
Brands love content that stands out, so the more creative you can be, the better. Keep an eye out for social media trends that could serve both your audience and the brands, you’re working for – it could be the perfect formula to see some results. Your content should be creative and unique, so plan your content carefully and put the effort in to develop quality content that puts both you and the brand you’re working with in a good light.
Networking and connecting can help you take your blog to a whole new level. There are great communities out there if you know where to look, so take those first steps to reach out and connect with your audience, fellow bloggers and brands to help you get the most from blogging.
Learn more about Blogger Tuesday and discover some of the amazing brands we work with.
