The Best Blogs for Business Social Media Help
Social media can be both a productivity killer and an important business tool it all depends on how you use it.
At this point, your customers expect you to be on social media. But using social media to represent a business brand effectively is an ongoing challenge, and finding and connecting with your audience on social media platforms can often feel like an uphill battle.
There’s always more to learn. And luckily, there are a lot of resources out there to help you learn the ropes and get more out of social media over time. These are some of the blogs out there providing advice and best practices for social media marketing.
1. Social Media Examiner
Social Media Examiner is one of the best known and respected blogs covering social media marketing. The blog provides actionable tips, tutorials, and case studies for all the different social media platforms. In addition to regular blog posts, they also publish original research and long-form guides on marketing for different social media sites.
Whether you’re still learning the basics of using social media for your business or wanting to dive deeper into more detailed recommendations, Social Media Examiner provides good information.
2. Buffer
Buffer both provides a product for scheduling social media posts and has an active social media presence as a brand, which provides them with a lot of data on what works.
They’re known for good long-form blog posts that provide detailed, actionable advice based on data and case studies. The blog publishes posts on all the different social media platforms businesses are likely to use.
3. Hootsuite
Like Buffer, Hootsuite provides a product to help businesses schedule and organize their social media updates, which means they know a lot about the subject of social media marketing.
Their posts cover a lot of different social media tips, best practices, and research for all of the big social media platforms. They’re another one of the main go-tos for the industry.
4. Rebekah Radice
Rebekah Radice has an award-winning blog that covers social media and other related digital marketing topics.
Her posts get into topics like social media etiquette, developing a strategy for social media, and tips and tricks for getting the most from each particular platform. She often mixes in infographics, videos, and podcasts with the written content, so those who prefer other types of media have options as well.
5. Ignite Social
The social media agency Ignite demonstrates the knowledge learned from over ten years of social media marketing in their blog.
They cover social media news and trends, tips for specific social media channels, and how to handle an array of social media issues when they arise. Their posts can both help you stay on top of what’s going on in the larger social media industry, as well as answer smaller questions you might have about how to use social media for business.
6. Sprout Social
The Sprout Social blog is another good resource that covers a lot of social media territory.
You can find posts that get into the details of doing social media marketing for different industries, hiring for social media positions, and a lot of good how-to posts on getting specific things done on the different social media platforms. Their content is consistently useful for companies of all sizes and types.
7. Social Media Hat
Social Media Hat offers a lot of tutorial posts about how to do different tasks on the various social media platforms, along with posts on larger social media trends and news stories.
In addition to publishing posts on using the main social media platforms, they provide tips and advice for blogging and email marketing as well.
8. Hey Orca
The Hey Orca blog provides a lot of the same type of content we’ve described on the other blogs on this list general social media tips, trends, and news coverage but they also mix in some less common types of social media content, like coverage from social media conferences, interviews with various influencers, and social media success case studies.
It’s a blog with a lot of good content and personality and is worth adding to your list.
9. Socially Sorted
Socially Sorted is the blog of Digital Content Strategist Donna Moritz.
The blog answers common social media questions, provides helpful tips, and collects good social media examples you can learn from. She often provides additional media like templates or infographics to make her posts more useful. She has a particular expertise in visual storytelling, so this is a great blog to turn to for tips on creating more visual forms of content for your social media channels.
10. Peg Fitzpatrick
Peg Fitzpatrick is another social media influencer who shares her knowledge with regular blog posts on how to reach and connect with your audience on social media.
While her blog touches on all the major social media platforms, she especially gives attention to Instagram and Pinterest channels that often get less attention on some of the other blogs on the list.
11. Top Dog Social Media
Top Dog Social Media is the blog of Melonie Dodaro.
While the blog includes posts on a number of digital marketing topics, its main focus is on LinkedIn marketing. You can find posts covering the range of tips and advice you need for reaching customers for B2B marketing on the professional social media platform.
12. Jenn’s Trends
Jenn’s Trends is one of the best blogs out there about Instagram marketing.
While she’ll occasionally touch on other social networks or digital marketing tips as well, the primary focus on the blog is how to get followers on Instagram and interact with them effectively. If your brand’s on Instagram, this is a good blog to keep on your radar.
13. Tailwind
The Tailwind blog is another one with a narrow focus on just a couple of main networks: Instagram and Pinterest.
It tackles questions like how to get more followers, when to post, and the types of content you should create to do well on both platforms. For anyone using the more visual social media platforms, it can be a useful resource.
14. Linked Into Business
This is another blog with a primary focus on just one of the main social media platforms: LinkedIn.
The blog does sometimes venture into broader topics like content marketing and communication tips, but most of the posts cover topics specific to the features and best practices for marketing on LinkedIn. For B2B brands that use LinkedIn as a marketing and sales tool, it’s a good blog to follow.
15. Mari Smith
With all these blogs covering specific networks, you may have wondered when we’d get to one focused on the biggest social network of them all. Mari Smith’s got you covered with a blog all about Facebook marketing.
She goes into how to use the various features Facebook offers, important news about the platform, and tips for using Facebook for marketing effectively.
Conclusion
As you can see, there’s no shortage of good resources you can turn to when learning how to use social media for your business. It can be daunting when you’re just starting or still struggling to make headway, but learning from those who already have a good amount of experience and knowledge can be a big help to moving your own social media efforts forward. Spend some time reading about what works and craft your strategy around the tips and research shared by the experts.
Kristen Hicks is an Austin-based freelance content writer and lifelong learner with an ongoing curiosity to learn new things. She uses that curiosity, combined with her experience as a freelance business owner, to write about subjects valuable to small business owners on the HostGator blog. You can find her on Twitter at @atxcopywriter.