By ARWB’s All Things Bloggy Gal Alison Chino, Photos photo by Whitney Loibner

I know I was here all last month sharing my journey of blogging, but I am super excited about showing back up at Arkansas Women Bloggers to talk some more about blogging once a month-ish.

So if you have questions about blogging or topics you wish I would cover, shoot me an email (alison at alisonchino.com) or tell me on Twitter!

This month, I want to talk about Social Media, and since there are eleventy million opinions in the world about all the different social media platforms, I’m not going to try to define the right way to go about it. Instead, I’m just going to tell you what I’m doing with social media.

Last fall, I was introduced to the idea that maybe we should view social media a little differently.

Maybe we should work on being social instead of doing social.

Here’s a group of Arkansas Women Bloggers being social! 

I was challenged to stop publishing the same exact content to all of my social media channels, but instead to look at social media as a circle and to give people a reason to follow me in more than one place. Since this approach requires a little more creativity and time, I have found that I have narrowed the platforms I”m really using. For example, I have practically abandoned my Facebook page, which I feel ok about since Facebook rarely shows it to anyone anyway.

So here are my favorite platforms and what I use them for, plus a little bonus link to a post from a real expert!

1. Instagram

Instagram is my very favorite social platform. It’s where I put my favorite discoveries, my happiest moments and my most beautiful finds. I often use my Instagram photos later on my blog, but I don’t usually promote my blog on Instagram. I might mention about once a month that I have a blog and the link is in my profile, but for the most part I find that people follow me on Instagram to see the pictures and they don’t really care about my blog.

However, lots of folks have had loads of success using Instagram to build a brand. Katja of Skimbaco Lifestyle has done a great job doing just that and has released a free eBook (when you opt in for her email list) about using Instagram for travel that has a lot of great tips about Instagram in general.

2. Twitter

I publish most of what I write on my blog to Twitter, but I try to make it slightly more interesting than just listing the title of the post. I also tweet other things I read that I find helpful or enjoy. I almost think it means more these days to share someone’s post than it does to leave a comment on it. It validates your content when someone shares it with their friends!

I’m trying to really use Twitter to talk to people. I participate in a couple of Twitter chats about travel and I have several lists in Twitter where I keep up with what is happening in my industry. Then I have another list of Arkansas gals! I also have a list of folks I’m a big fan of and I engage with them when I’m feeling brave. I can be as shy on Twitter as I am in real life though! 

Here’s a great tutorial on using Twitter lists.

3. Facebook

I mentioned that I am over the whole Facebook page season of blogging. Now if you want to talk to me on Facebook, I just want you to become my friend. Every once in a while I will share a blog post I wrote on my personal Facebook, but I don’t do it all the time because I feel like it starts to seem like noise. Facebook is where I share pictures of my kids and my family. It’s where I check in with friends back home.

One new way Facebook has been really helpful for me in the last year is in the common use of Facebook groups. I belong to several blogging groups that basically act as forums and are wonderful for sharing information. Arkansas Women Bloggers Facebook group is one of them. I also started my own Facebook group for the #48walks project I am doing on my blog this year. This has been so much more effective than my Facebook page because people are engaged with groups that they join. Of course, if a group member gets tired of the group’s notifications and turns them off, then you lose that engagement, so you have to be careful not to abuse this platform.

Here’s my favorite post from a company on why they are breaking up with Facebook.

4. Google+

These days I use Google+ like I used to use Facebook. I put my photos in Google+ albums, which for a non-Photoshop user like me is handy since you can do simple edits of your photos right in Google+. I also share my blog posts, as well as other ones I enjoy on Google+. I have not learned how to be super engaged with my Google+ feed, but I would say this is the platform that I am growing into the most right now.

Here’s a great beginner’s guide to Google+ for blogging.

5. Pinterest

I go in seasons with Pinterest. I really love how visual it is and so I always pin my recipe pictures. But I also use Pinterest like Evernote and pin lists I want to remember or articles about blogging to a board called Learning. This is very counter productive to keeping my Pinterest boards pretty, which is the expert advice I often hear about this platform.

Since I’m probably doing it all wrong, here’s a tutorial on using Pinterest for Blogging.

Tell me in a comment or on Twitter what your favorite social media platform is and why! I would love to know.

And if you want to follow me on any of these platforms, I’m @alisonchino everywhere.

Here’s a bonus read about why you want all those handles to match.