Today, social media is big business and you can use the major platforms to promote your travel articles and cash in on the fun. Small and large publishers alike use social media sites and apps to get the word out about their articles. For me and many other travel writers, this is a dream come true and it is a way of paying the bills.
1. Facebook Instant Articles
More and more people are consuming content on their phones these days. Facebook Instant Articles was built for the purpose of speeding up mobile web pages. To make it an effective tool for publishers in the travel niche and others who want to reach many people, the company integrated an array of features specifically designed to bring stories to life on mobile devices. Among the various features that the app carries are image galleries with a built-in zoom activated by tapping, and auto-play videos. You can place a link back to your travel website inside the article and thus drive traffic to your site.
2. Twitter
Probably the most recognizable platform on this list, Twitter has millions of users registered on it today. Using Twitter to highlight your travel articles is easy, but there are a few tricks to getting the most out of your promotional tweets. At its most basic, your tweet should contain a link to the article hosted on your website or blog. To keep traffic coming, use these steps:
- Tweet your article link multiple times.
- Place “Click to Tweet” links inside the article.
- Repurpose your article into new tweets by using related photos or images of quotes from the article.
- Re-tweet your article and/or ask people in your group to do it for you.
- Place your latest written post at the top of your timeline.
3. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a top performer when it comes to driving traffic to your travel website because of the over 450 million users it has today. To promote your travel pieces, you can choose to use the platform free of cost or pay a monthly fee through their paid advertisements to get the word out. Usually I post my articles for free and still receive clicks.
To further take advantage of the free service, LinkedIn has an array of writing groups that you can gain access to. These groups can give you valuable article feedback once you make your work available to them and thus boost your portfolio as a writer as well as send some traffic to your website. Below are some of the writing groups on LinkedIn that you can use to get your travel articles in the limelight:
- The Writers’ Network
- Writers’ International
- Writers World
- Books and Writers
- LinkEds and Writers
Social media is here to stay and you can reap great benefits each time you use it to drive traffic to your travel website.