Social Media Tips for Travel Bloggers

Every once in awhile, I get people asking me about blogging and how to be good at it.

Of course, that’s a lot to do with voice and writing talent, as well as a good understanding of your niche, and how to create great, unique content that people want to read.

After this, it comes down to being strategic with how you promote that blog. Travel blogging would be much easier and have a lot more people doing it (successfully) if it was just about taking great pictures of your latest adventure and uploading them to your blog with a bit of backstory.

However, if you want to actually be successful at travel blogging, you need to invest time and energy into blog promotion. For the travel blogger, this is usually strategic use of social media and some of the tools that make the job easier and a little less of a time suck.

Platforms Available and How to Use Them

First things first, even though these are tips on how you can post to your social platforms, you need to keep in mind that social media is not a way for you to freely and annoyingly broadcast that you’ve published a new post across as many channels as possible. Social media is meant to be a conversation, so make it one!

The whole point of social media is to be social; this means responding to comments, and also includes liking and sharing other people’s content as well. If it’s a one-sided relationship, then it’s not a relationship. So don’t fall into the pattern of sharing and waiting for likes to come rolling in. Be engaged!

Because there are so many channels out there, figuring out which ones to use – and more importantly how to use them correctly – can be pretty daunting. Here is a basic rundown of what I think works best for travel bloggers and how your content should be particularly catered to each platform.

Twitter – I’m traveling

Twitter is a fickle beast. It is limited and hyperactive – kind of like a bad relationship – and yet, you are seduced by that gigantic TweetReach number, which is pretty much an illusion anyway.

Nevertheless, if you invest in Twitter and do secure a large following, it is still a good medium for that basic “I published a new post” tweet that will hopefully drive traffic to your blog. I would advise you to be careful with your time here. You kind of have to appreciate Twitter for what it is, and work it as much as you can to your advantage, but don’t expect it to be your most profitable social platform.

Facebook – I like traveling

This used to be a platform that was a lot more profitable before Facebook ads started taking over all of the digital real-estate, leaving new activity on your page to only show up for about 5% or so of your overall community. Yep, thanks for selling out Facebook.

Anyway, even with this limitation, Facebook is still a great way to build a community and promote your posts with enticing writing (certainly more so than a tweet) that persuades people to go and read your blog post. In order to be successful with Facebook marketing, you need to incorporate

Anyway, even with this limitation, Facebook is still a great way to build a community and promote your posts with enticing writing (certainly more so than a tweet) that persuades people to go and read your blog post. In order to be successful with Facebook marketing, you need to incorporate a few tips and tricks and to think a little more strategically about your posting schedule and how to optimize your content.

Instagram – Here are pictures of me traveling

Instagram is pretty much an art form. And even if it may not drive traffic to your blog per se, the engagement on this platform is incredibly high, making the community that you build on it much more profitable and loyal. Plus, you can post killer photos, which is one of the most enticing parts of travel blogging, isn’t it?

If you love traveling, check out my Instagram for adventure travel shots from all over the world.

Pinterest – Here are some ideas for traveling

Pinterest also functions like a picture posting platform, similar to Instagram, but with fewer filters. Bottom line is that it is incredibly visual. However, all of your followers do get notified when you post something new, which is incredibly beneficial.

Moreover, if you strategically include hashtags with your images, you can show up in all of the relevant searches on the platform. You can also include “Pinnable” images within your blog posts themselves, directly linking this social account and your blog, making it more likely that this community will check out your full blog posts.