Bloggers Get Social

Download your free toolkit: http://www.bloggersgetsocial.com/audio-training/ ? You are about to receive your toolkit to create a year of audience growth and income with your bloggy biz. I’ll be your cheerleader every step of the way, and you will receive emails from time to time. I’ll share with you my favorite resources and ideas for content creation and social media. Here’s what your free blog biz toolkit includes: Annual Bookkeeping Spreadsheet Audience Growth Spreadsheet Goal Setting Worksheet Goals To Do List Daily Planner Weekly Planner Monthly Planner Download your free toolkit: http://www.bloggersgetsocial.com/audio-training/ ? Learn how to use these tools in this quick audio training. The spreadsheets are located on Google Drive. I love using this to connect with my clients, and it is easy to keep everything organized. Connect with Bloggers Get Social Facebook Group: the best place to network, participate in our daily threads, and find out what is going on. Blog: our weekly posts and podcasts share trends and stories about blogging as a business. Social Media: You can also follow along on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. http://facebook.com/groups/bloggersgetsocial http://www.bloggersgetsocial.com http://twitter.com/getsocialblogs http://facebook.com/bloggersgetsocial http://instagram.com/bloggersgetsocial

Do you need a plan to get back on track? Or, are you still struggling with social media? Learn about this newly launched 23 page workbook that features actionable ideas, and our EXACT social media calendar. You will learn the tools that we use (both free and paid) along with my ideal social calendar. I walk you through what content to share, where to find it, and how to repeat this process week after week. Learn more: http://www.bloggersgetsocial.com/product/social-media-calendar-workbook/ Bloggers Get Social: Social Media Calendar Includes: 23-page editable PDF: You can TYPE in the workbook! Print it out and use it in a binder with paper and pen or use it digitally on your computer. An Excel spreadsheet to create a monthly social media calendar Create a Weekly Social Media Calendar Automate #Hashtag Research Your Event Calendar Content Themes Recycle Old Content How to Curate Content Our Social Media Calendar Learn more: http://www.bloggersgetsocial.com/product/social-media-calendar-workbook/

Have you ever created a budget for your blog? Between hosting, photo services, social media scheduling tools, and virtual assistants, running a blog can be expensive. Let's chat about blog budgets: what you are buying, what you want to buy, and what you don't need. Read more :: http://www.bloggersgetsocial.com/blog-budget Resources: 01. Hosting: We use A Small Orange. 02. Copromote: This tool lets you boost Facebook posts, Instagram photos, Vine, tweets, and Tumblr shares. 03. Buffer: Upgrade to the $10 a month place to schedule retweets easily. 04. Convertkit: Obviously the best newsletter service around. 05. Link in Profile: For $9.99 you can add a dynamic link in your Instagram profile that will take readers where you want them to go. 06. Tailwind: Schedule your pins and join tribes. 07. Edgar: A very robust social media scheduling tool. 08. Likestagram: This app automatically likes Instagram photos so you don't have to. 09. Post Planner: A tool for scheduling Facebook and Twitter. 10. Dropbox: Don't forget to back up your files or share documents effortlessly. The extra paid space is worth it! Royalty Free Music from Bensound

Weekly Announcements: New webinar alert! Sign up for Opt In Obsession: a one hour free workshop where we talk about Mailchimp, ConvertKit, and other plug ins to help collect email addresses. SIGN UP NOW! Streamline Your Online Space is an online party for blog organization, and it's available for you right now! It's a fun event which features a 50 page workbook, live calls, and online accountability! Our free workbook is live! Are you on our mailing list? Sign up to grab our free blog workbook about creating great content. Bloggers Get Social has a Facebook group! Join us to network, participate in our daily social share threads, and chat about our podcast. If you like Bloggers Get Social, pretty please rate & review us on iTunes. The November Instagram AND Periscope challenge is still going on! SHOW NOTES: "It depends on your industry and what you're trying to sell when you decide what social media networks to use." "The brands that I work with expect certain social media shares which is why bloggers who are trying to make money off of their blog need to create accounts on multiple platforms." "Not only do you need to have social media accounts on a variety of networks, they should be updated and kept active." "It sounds overwhelming, but once you get into the habit of using social media intentionally it's easier than it sounds." WHAT'S NEXT: Get ready for Blog Bliss, our new podcast! Subscribe on Soundcloud today or join our Facebook group. Hop in our Publish + Promote webinar event or catch up with Streamline Your Online Space. Catch our next #BloggersGetSocial Twitter party on Wednesday, November 11th at 9 PM Eastern. We are talking all things Periscope!

This week #BloggersGetSocial opens the doors to interviews and collaborators on the weekly podcast! We talk with Jamie Molnar, wellness coach, this week about self care and letting go of numbers. Weekly Announcements: 1. Streamline Your Online Space is an online party for blog organization, and it's available for you right now! It's a fun event which features a 50 page workbook, live calls, and online accountability! 2. Our free workbook is live! Are you on our mailing list? Sign up to grab our free blog workbook about creating great content. 3. Bloggers Get Social has a Facebook group! Join us to network, participate in our daily social share threads, and chat about our podcast. 4. If you like Bloggers Get Social, pretty please rate & review us on iTunes. 5. The October Instagram photo challenge is still going on! www.bloggersgetsocial.com SHOW NOTES: "Just focus on your message and connecting with the people who getit." "Blogging is like networking and business. It is ALL about relationships. It's not just content and numbers. "If you want to grow your blog and you work all week, you need to use your weekends intentionally." "Blogging requires discipline and time management to make it work." Find Jamie Online: Free Webinar: http://www.jamiemolnar.com/de-stress/ Email jamie@jamiemolnar.com to get on the list for the free upcoming Yoga For the Busy Woman challenge. WHAT'S NEXT: Hop in our Publish + Promote webinar event or catch up with Streamline Your Online Space. www.bloggersgetsocial.com Catch our next #BloggersGetSocial Twitter party on Wednesday, October 14th at 9 PM Eastern. We are chatting about building engagement and creating a rabid fan base! www.krystalskitsch.com www.jamiemolnar.com www.instagram.com/bloggersgetsocial www.instagram.com/krystals www.twitter.com/krystals

Live streaming apps are quite popular now with Periscope and Meerkat, but have you tried Blab yet? Blab lets you live stream with a group of up to four, and you can access a chat room and record it as well. You can also download the video and audio files from your computer. You can Blab on your smartphone or your computer too! www.bloggersgetsocial.com www.krystalskitsch.com www.thefoodiepatootie.com www.facebook.com/bloggersgetsocial www.facebook.com/groups/bloggersgetsocial www.instagram.com/bloggersgetsocial *Connect with a group easily using Blab. *Create your own podcasts on Blab since you can download the audio files after the show. *Network with other bloggers in a friendly environment. *Want to learn about bloggers on Blab? #BloggersGetSocial has tips to use this app!

Instagram recently added a few new updates (including an awesome discover tab for trending hashtags and the ability to upload horizontal or vertical pictures without cropping or using an app to "make it a square"), and we talk about Instagram tools like Crowdfire, Hootsuite for Instagram, and Latergramme.

If you're constantly feeling behind or overwhelmed, this week's podcast is for you! We tackle the never-ending struggle to find balance with a few ideas to maintain a calendar, new tools to try, and a few stories about what works for us. Get Organized Podcast 1. We are LIVE! We launched Streamline Your Online Space which is an online party for blog organization. It's a fun event which features a 50 page workbook, live calls, and online accountability! 2. Our free workbook is live! Are you on our mailing list? Sign up to grab our free blog workbook about creating great content. 3. Bloggers Get Social has a Facebook group! Join us to network, participate in our daily social share threads, and chat about our podcast. 4. If you like Bloggers Get Social, pretty please rate & review us on iTunes. 5. Want the FULL Bloggers Get Social program? It's a self-study with 21 days of in-depth lessons covering social media, blog content creation, and it includes a free call with us! 6. The September Instagram photo challenge starts soon! Don't miss a day! KRYSTAL SAID: She only checks email three times a day (morning, noon, and maybe night). She likes a pacing schedule and tries to keep the same work hours every day. She does her blog work from 9 a.m. to noon and again from 3 to 5 p.m. only. She tries to take all of her blog photos in one day for the week. JEN SAID: Jen works a full-time job, but she also manages a blog with frequent updates. She finds the time to do her blog on lunch breaks and in the evenings. She uses Trello to track due dates and income. She sets reminders when she should be receiving a blog payment and follows up if she doesn't get one.

Snapchat is so fun that in our excitement (!!!) we missed out on sharing an important feature during our last podcast – the Snapchat Snap Code! So today we wanted to update with an “addendum.” We might be hosting these every other week or so since social media changes SO quickly. For today’s update, we wanted to post this Snap Code addendum with screenshots!

It’s been two months since we launched Bloggers Get Social, but do you really know your hosts? In this mini episode, get to know your Bloggers Get Social podcasters! Warning: This might be a little bit not safe for work and a LOT of too much information. I promise that you’ll love it! Show Notes Krystal blogs at www.krystalskitsch.com Jen blogs at www.thefoodiepatootie.com They grew up blogging on DiaryLand, Xanga, Livejournal, and many other websites before finding their current homes. Podcast Category Just what exactly are we? We want to bring your social media trends for bloggers including new networks to join and how to make your blog better. However, the categories on Apple for podcasts don’t seem to fit us. We are (hopefully) a fun way for bloggers to network and learn new things. Are we marketing? Tech trends? Education? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

Topics discussed in this episode: What is Snapchat? How to use Snapchat as a blogger Can you repurpose this content? Snapchat users to follow Live streaming versus Snapchat

Wouldn’t you like to get paid to party? Trust me, it’s possible! In this week’s podcast, Krystal and Jen talk about how to get sponsored campaigns for parties with brands. While there are many ways to do this, here are a few tips for party planning, setting it up, and how to score some free party supplies to create a set up in a hurry! From party printables to affiliate networks to join, there are a few tips to get you started. Have any more questions? Leave them in the comments! We are happy to help you learn how to do more with your blog!

What’s on the podcast: Food blogging Using the tools you have Social media tips Creating and sticking to an editorial calendar Our special guest today took a holiday food challenge during 2014 and shares her experience. For each food day during the calendar year Jennifer shared a recipe on The Foodie Patootie. Out of the 365 days in the year she published over 400 recipes! While working full time outside of the home! 2014 was the largest year for sponsored posts for Jennifer. It was year three for her blog and she reached out to all the brands that she featured their products in her recipes. While sitting at work she would always see the brands post things like ‘Happy National {Cookie} Day’ and other fun food related themed holidays and those posts would get massive attention. So she decided to check online and see if anyone had blogged through the entire year and their experience. Similar to the movie Julie and Julia with Meryl Streep. Jennifer could not find anything online so she decided to take the challenge herself. Reflecting back on the challenge – it was so much fun but also so stressful. She almost quit several times because it was extremely overwhelming. Some recipes she would make the day before or even the day of which was challenging when she got behind. Then there would be some days that she had recipes prepared months in advance. The expense of making all of the recipes also added up, causing another challenge. Luckily, her husband was very supportive and even offered to cover the cost of the groceries so she could complete her challenge! What goes into a food/recipe blog post Recipe testing – it’s not always the first try! Having others taste the recipe Simplifying the recipe and instructions for non-foodies to understand Taking great photos Food styling Capturing action shots during recipe production Editing photos Creating a story to go with the recipe so people want to click over and read

Should You Have More Than One Instagram Account? This question is important to ask yourself in the beginning. Is your goal on Instagram to build a following that will transition over to your own blog and for brands to notice your reach on Instagram? If so, then you need your Instagram account to match your blog and be more uniformed than a personal Instagram account. Food bloggers may want two Instagram accounts: one account for their daily lives with family and friends and one for foodie photos. An account where they post photos of their child without their recipe could cause their readers to unfollow. The second Instagram account may be specifically for their food blog only. Some personality shown in your photos is okay, but your Instagram account should be predominantly focused on what you blog about. A lifestyle blogger has more freedom on their Instagram account. Their readers come to their blog and Instagram account to see lifestyle activities, therefore photos of your child or what you ate for dinner would be acceptable. If you are searching for brand sponsorship, just look at your Instagram profile and determine if your photos showcase what that brand would be looking for. Setting Up Instagram Profile Your bio is only 150 characters max. You may only add one link in your profile, so if you have more than one website you can switch out the link as many times as you wish. If you write a blog post that you promote on Instagram through an image, then you can change the link in your profile to direct to that specific post. Some bloggers create a landing page for their Instagram profile. You can create a page on their blog that welcomes new readers from Instagram and includes links to all their other outlets, such as other blogs they own or their Facebook page. Don’t forget to include your subscription box to your welcome page to capture new readers! Resources mentioned: PicTapGo – ability to edit your photos to make them look more uniformed, clean and organized on your Instagram profile PeekUser – free service to have someone test/review your site Camera+ – app for editing photos, many use this on the iPhone in place of the camera app that is built into the phone SnapSeed – ability to have selective editing on just one part of a photo YouTube Free Music Library – music for videos that are allowed

Topics discussed in this episode: What is Periscope? How to use Periscope as a blogger How to use Periscope for your business Can you repurpose this content? Periscope users to follow + keep your notifications ON so you don’t miss a broadcast Perigirls.com: An online community for Periscope users Live streaming versus Snapchat “You’re really looking to connect with a wider audience on Periscope.” “I let Periscope broadcasts play in the background while I work. If it’s really captivating, I’ll give a lot of hearts and ask questions. The more you watch Periscope, the more you want to do it.” “I think that’s why I’m using Periscope more now. We are using all these other networks like Facebook that aren’t rewarding our efforts, but Periscope is instant interaction and engagement.” On the #BloggersGetSocial podcast, @KrystalS shares why she uses Periscope as a blogger JEN SAID: “My #1 tip is to get on it before everyone else is. You might as well claim your name and learn how to use it.” “Is this something that I want to live stream or is this something I want to Snapchat? There’s a time for live streaming, and there’s a time for Snapchat.” “People like to hear and SEE our content.” When to use Periscope and when to Snapchat? @TheFoodieJen chats on the #BloggersGetSocial #podcast

Blog Conference Tips Blog conferences are filling up our calendars this year, and we have a few simple tips and ideas for you! Blog conferences can be a great investment for networking and growth, but we keep it real and let you know what we liked (and what we didn’t). Listen to an hour of our silly stories, too much laughing, and some solid tips for your next blog conference! Blog Conference Tips Weekly Announcements: 1. We are LIVE! We launched Streamline Your Online Space which is an online party for blog organization. It’s a fun event which features a 50 page workbook, live calls, and online accountability! 2. Our free workbook is live! Are you on our mailing list? Sign up to grab our free blog workbook about creating great content. 3. Bloggers Get Social has a Facebook group! Join us to network, participate in our daily social share threads, and chat about our podcast. 4. If you like Bloggers Get Social, pretty please rate & review us on iTunes. 5. Want the FULL Bloggers Get Social program? It’s a self-study with 21 days of in-depth lessons covering social media, blog content creation, and it includes a free call with us! 6. The August Instagram photo challenge starts soon! Don’t miss a day! Listen Now: Audio Player 00:0000:00Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume. Resources discussed in this episode: A Beautiful Mess: Make digital business cards or add cute text to your photos. Moo: Our favorite business card company that offers expedited shipping. Feedblitz Trello: What we use to stay organized. Mirrorless Cameras: External Chargers: Conferences Referenced: IFBC Food Blog Forum SoFabUOTR Food + Wine Conference Blog Fete Izea Fest Topics discussed in this episode: Business Cards DSLR vs. Mirrorless Cameras Should your bring your laptop to a conference? What should you look for in a blog conference Networking Krystal’s Kitsch: Krystal’s food + lifestyle blog The Foodie Patootie: Jen’s food blog

What’s the best way to bring traffic to your blog and bring up your numbers? There is no specific formula or timeline. It is work you must do every day. Waking up in the morning, making sure you have a post ready to go. Marketing that post and make sure you have a community with other bloggers. Create a Plan Ask yourself the important questions: What can you do to double your page views and how will you do it? Create a plan to track what you do to see how it works and if it is worth doing again in the future. That takes time and page views do not double in a day. Come up with the top three social networks you want to focus on. You need to focus on what is bringing you immediate results while you grow. The top three social networks I suggest you focus on is Pinterest, Twitter (for networking and making friends) and Instagram. I look at Instagram as an open playing field. You do not have to fight with Facebook and tweets can get lost on Twitter, but with Instagram you can build a community and make sure your profile is on point so people want to click over to your blog from your bio. Use Tracking Links I use bit.ly links on all social networks so I can track my performance and traffic. I even use bit.ly links on Instagram and when I am promoting a post using one of my images I will change out the link in my profile and track how many clicks I get to my site. Traffic increase will come with consistency. Is your traffic increasing from week to week – month to month? Quality Content Content is clearly important. You need to make sure your content is relevant to your audience. If your blog has mainly featured recipes and crafts, then you switch it up and start blogging about your family weekend you may not hold the same traffic as you once had. Every blog post needs to have keywords in the title, a Pinterest-friendly image to pin, tags for Google to find you and again, great content. Recap: Focus on three social networks Always include Pinterest-friendly image Connect with a network of similar bloggers Blog Linkups If you are looking for linkups to join you can search online for blogs in the same category. For me it was more beneficial to join established linkups instead of creating my own. I have my VA add my quality content with great images to various linkups and it is wonderful when my content is featured on another blog. I get traffic from those blogs that feature me. Some of my best traffic has been to a recipe post from being added to a linkup. Linkups are important because they give people a way to find you and an easy way to share your posts.

We tackle a few things in this podcast including: Blog Tools We LOVE Rafflecopter + Giveaways Why Start a Podcast Why not?! There is really no reason not to. A podcast is an easy way to share information. It is also an easy way to learn on the go. People can listen to a podcast while they are going for a jog, driving to work or even while they are sitting at their desk. Using Tools to Assist with Blogging Blogging can get expensive. The cost of hosting your website, social media tools, graphics or images for your blog posts, a virtual assistant to help you stay on schedule and the list goes on. Although, I do not suggest you spend a fortune to run your blog, I recommend you work with what you can afford. However, some of these blogging tools are nice to have the paid feature options available to you. We put together a list of the top blogging tools we recommend. Top Blogging Tools PicMonkey – free and paid service available. The extra tools available in the pro version include extra fonts, more graphics and more options under the collage feature. This service is great for creating Pinterest friendly images for your blog posts. Buffer – scheduling tweets. In ten minutes you can schedule a bunch of tweets for the entire day. You can easily grab news stories that are relevant to your audience and add to your schedule. No need to go back all day long trying to find content to share. Passionfruit – an ad service with a flat rate for an entire year. It is extremely easy to integrate into your website. People can purchase ads directly from your blog. It will automatically format the ads for you to fit your blog. You only have to ad the code to your website once and it is a quick way to increase your blog revenue. ViralTag – a Pinterest scheduler. Pinterest is a social network that I would recommend spending money towards. It is my number one traffic source and a great social network to have your content be seen by a lot of people. Many bloggers have a lot of success in traffic for their blogs from Pinterest. I use ViralTag for all my old blog posts. Recently I just had all my cocktail posts from my blog added to ViralTag to go out on Pinterest. The right formula: great content: blog post, quality images, Pinterest-friendly main image and scheduling tool – can help your post go viral. Adobe Products – so many Adobe Products are available in the Cloud now for one monthly fee. Photoshop, Lightroom, Acrobat, Bridge, InDesign, Illustrator. It is so worth the investment. If you are not interested in all the programs you can just get the photography plan. You can edit your blog photos online through the Adobe programs. DropBox – is a wonderful storage tool for blogging needs. I use it to store printables for readers to download, host my ebooks that new subscribers to my newsletter can download, use it on my iPhone to sync images so I can easily access on my computer and when I edit a photo on my computer that is intended for my blog I save in my DropBox folder. Then I can share the photo on Instagram from my DropBox app on my phone. Hosting a Giveaway on a Blog Rafflecopter – Personally, I use the free version on Rafflecopter. For any giveaway entry you want to add to your Rafflecopter form that is only available with the paid version, you can just click Create Your Own option and type it in there. Group Giveaways – these giveaways are easier to be a part of and gain more traffic. Loop Giveaway on Instagram – these are very popular right now. Each person tags the next person in the lineup and the entrants go through a loop of photos and follow each person to enter the giveaway. Always follow FTC guidelines!

What is live broadcasting? Live broadcasting is similar to public access TV. You are using your smartphone to live broadcast what you are doing at any given moment to your audience. There is no editing or video-recording that you can share later. It is a live feed. Meerkat Pros: It is a stand-alone app It connects with Twitter You can add friends to easily connect Exposure for your Twitter handle – it shows your clickable Twitter ID when viewing live-stream You can upload a photo and schedule a broadcast – let people know before you live-stream what’s coming People can tweet out a live-stream while it is going on – the retweet link is auto-generated with the title of the broadcast along with the Meerkat hashtag Cons: It does not bring over your followers from Twitter You must follow people in order to see a stream Must search hashtag on Twitter to find new streams Jennifer uses Meerkat to show people what she is cooking. She is able to list a title in her live-stream within Meerkat. When she was working on a sponsored post for a food brand she was able to tweet out “LIVE NOW Meerkating [blog title] with [@brandtwitter]” and the brand actually retweeted it making it gain more exposure. People actually tuned-in interested to see the recipe be made live and it produced more exposure for the sponsor while gaining more traffic to her blog. Periscope Pros: Cleaner interface Instantly see everyone you are following Pull over your Twitter followers to Periscope account Easy to browse content and find live-streams to watch Able to ‘heart’ the live-stream you are viewing Cons: No ability to retweet or share the live-stream that you are watching with your followers Cannot schedule broadcasts – only the live option so no promotion building up to your event Comments/questions move extremely fast App is glitchy, comments occasionally disappear Krystal was able to take her Periscope video and import into iMovie on her iPhone, edit and size to 15 seconds to share on Instagram.

Social Media Simplified Social Media is not simple. It can even be frustrating because of how often things change. It is time consuming to stay up-to-date with the constant changes on Pinterest and Facebook. You have to read social media blogs, do research and test out what is working best each day. Before I hit 10,000 likes on Facebook my shares were high and things were going great. My analytics showed awesome reach. Once I hit 10,000 my stats just dropped off. Although I found this very strange, it took more time to work at it and figure out what was different. Frequency of Social Media Posting On Facebook I post six to seven times a day. When I see something I like, I will share it to keep content on my wall. I pay someone to help me with scheduling which includes my Buffer scheduling and my pins for Pinterest. Pinterest takes a lot of my time. I add my recipes to several group boards to drive a lot of traffic to my site, but is time consuming. If you are not passionate about using social media all day and if you do not want to take the time to do it, then hire a VA to help for $10 an hour. It is worth the investment to get it done. Facebook Ads I always start with $5 on a Facebook ad. If it is doing very well then I will increase my budget. I personally do not mind paying Facebook to drive traffic to my website. If it is relevant traffic for an article I really want to get exposure on, then I believe it is worth it. IFTTT I setup a rule on IFTTT to post my Instagram photos to my Facebook wall. My Instagram photos get the most reach on my Facebook page. Embed Social Media Status Updates I recommend embedding tweets and Facebook status updates within relevant blog posts. For instance if you have a cupcake recipe on your blog and you start a conversation on your Facebook page asking your followers what their favorite cupcake is, embed that Facebook status within the blog post. This will encourage your readers to hop on over to your Facebook to join the conversation. It’s an easy and natural way to promote your social media networks to your blog audience and new readers that come over from Pinterest. By embedding a tweet you are encouraging them to retweet your message without blatantly asking them. Don’t Delete Pins on Pinterest Some articles will go viral about social media but the content is not always accurate or what is best for you. For example, there was an article that went around like crazy about how if a pin is not doing well on Pinterest you should go through to delete them and add them again later so it doesn’t bring down the reach on your Pinterest and hurt your other pins. When I was at a conference I asked a Pinterest employee about this “trend,” and she said that was simply not true. Leave your pins alone and don’t worry about deleting them. No one has the time to pin, delete, and then repin. Don’t worry about deleting pins. It’s a huge waste of time. Images for Social Media When taking photos for your blog posts always remember to take both vertical as well as horizontal photos for your posts and social media shares. On Pinterest you need a vertical image yet on Facebook it must be square or horizontal to be clearly visible when scrolling through the newsfeed.