Use Twitter and Blogs to Compliment Each Other
Of people who both blog and tweet, the majority would overwhelmingly prefer to have more blog readers than followers on Twitter. This is according to surveys conducted by Darren Rowse who runs ProBlogger and TwiTip.
Would you prefer more blog readers or Twitter followers? Tell us.
This is not entirely surprising, since generally, much more effort is put into a blog post than a 140-character or less tweet, but there is certainly a gold-rush for Twitter followers. Jason Calacanis for one is willing to pay a pretty penny for them.
Rowse polled both his ProBlogger audience (which is presumably comprised mainly of bloggers) and his Twitip audience (which is made up of Twitterers). As expected, the Twitip crowd favored Twitter followers slightly more, but there was still a very clear majority wanting more blog readers. Rowse provides the following graphs:
There are certainly arguments for the value of both categories, and Rowse covers them pretty well here. There are some pretty obvious ones for blogs:
- they require more time/effort
- they provide more info
- they are most likely not going anywhere, while Twitter may be hot right now, but who knows where it will be in the future?
- the more blog readers you have, the more times your posts are likely to be linked to on Twitter anyway
There are obvious benefits to having Twitter followers too though, particularly for marketers.
- More followers is a good indication that there is demand for what you offer as a business, and that people are interested in your product(s)
- relationships easier to form (yes blogs have comments, but typically not the real-time conversation factor, and people are at Twitter to talk...they're not necessarily at your blog to do so)
Of course people who both blog and tweet know they don't have to choose between one medium or the other. They compliment each other, and ideally can work to each other's benefits. Twitter can gain you more blog readers, and a blog can gain you more Twitter followers.
It's all in the execution. Write good content that Twitterers want to link to. This has plenty of potential for getting you more readers. Include chiclets on your posts, making it easy to share your content (this shouldn't be limited to Twitter). Include a prominent link for people to follow you on Twitter (a Twitter logo here will help draw attention).
Link to good content from others when you Tweet. If people like what you're pointing them to, you'll likely gain more followers. Who would've guessed it all comes back to content? You could also mention your blog casually from time to time. This may increase awareness of it. Just because someone follows you on Twitter, does not mean they know about your blog. That said, you probably don't want to ram it down their throats either.
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