Yesterday, the WordCount Blogathon hosted a day to post "second act" stories -- the stories that tell, if you've switched careers in mid-life, how you arrived there. I shared a portion of the origins of my BIKE story providing detail I may not have shared here before. I then posted a link to that post on Twitter. The post attracted a lot of readers, a lot of comments, a lot of nods -- and some sharing.
At least two of our fellow blogathoners RTd, or retweeted, that link.
Today, one of Jenny's Twitter followers picked up the link and ran it on her daily paper.li online newspaper. Then that follower posted an update on Twitter, letting Jenny know her tweet got mentioned. Jenny then posted an RT, including my Twitter handle, to let me know the link got picked up, that my story got more notice.
Right after I saw Jenny's tweet, I checked my stats. Comparing it to last night's, this particular Twitter love tripled the page views for that single post. Impressive work, I'd say. And this is why it pays to tweet, add links, and mention your friends and followers. You will gain greater visibility, everyone who participates. The graphics above will give you an example of what Twitter love looks like.
Next time you read something that you really like -- it speaks to you in some way -- chances are it will speak to others as well. By all means, share the love on your social media outlets. Most blogs now provide easy access to the icons for sharing at the end of a post that allow you to do this easily. If you like what you read, use those icons. Help your buddies out, and post thank-yous to those who help you. That's the way social media is meant to work. And you can see from the illustrations above, and from my growing numbers, it really does work.
Michelle Rafter's blogathon and others like hers offer the opportunity to learn how to make blogging work best for you. Sharing the Twitter (or Facebook / Google+ / LinkedIn) love is one way.
Signing up for a blogger's RSS feeds or following is another way. So if you like what you're reading here, consider signing up for my feed or following me. Scroll down the right-hand side of this page for three different ways you can do that. If you know someone who could benefit by reading my blog, feel free to pass my URL along to them as well.
I always appreciate your feedback and thank you for reading.
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4 comments:
This is fantastic!! It is definitely a story which needs to get out there- SO good!
Hey! That's my picture there! Twice. ;)
Which brings up 2 points:
1) How do you get cool screenshots of Twitter stuff like that and embed it in your blog post?
2) You forgot "be nice to people." Sure, you wrote a great post that resonated with a lot of people. But you also are a genuinely nice person, who's enthusiasm and generosity comes across both online and in life. And when you're good to people, they're inclined to be nice to you back@
Good point, Jenny, and thanks. Are you on a Mac? I am, and this is how I take screen shots:
Press down on the following three keys at the same time: command, shift, 4. This puts a target-looking icon on the screen.
Next, grab that icon (it replaces your arrow) with your mouse and place it at the top-left corner of the space you want to capture.
Drag it down to where you want the screen capture to end (It'll show you an outline of the space you're going to capture).
Let go of the mouse. You'll hear a picture-taking sound, and you're done. It's now a photo/graphic file that goes directly to your desktop which you can then download as a picture onto your blog.
If that doesn't make sense to you, give me a call.
To create a screen shot or screen grab, I use a free software app called Jing, from Tech Smith. Once it's installed, it appears like a little yellow bubble at the bottom of my computer screen. When I want to create a screen grab, I activate it by left mouse clicking on it, then following directions.
Michelle
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