I first started blogging when I was around eleven years old and by ‘blogging’ I mean writing down who I fancied and who I hated in my padlocked Forever Friends diary… Fast forward twenty plus years and I have my very own ‘diary’ on the world wide web for all to see.
I absolutely love blogging. I love sharing my social media tips along with my house renovations and motherhood journey BUT sometimes it’s hard to be inspired! An idea for some cracking content may pop in my head but it’s no way near my 300 word minimum word count… so where do I put that content?
Back in February I attended the BBC’s Digital Cities Day at Quay House in Manchester. It was absolutely amazing! I came home buzzing and excited to put all the things I had learnt into my actual job and my little space on the web. Instagram superstar Onyi from Mossonyi shared all her tips on becoming Instagram famous and We Blog North founder Holly aka Holly Goes Lightly shared her knowledge about all things SEO & blogging which included MICRO BLOGGING… I had never heard of Micro Blogging! But its actually a thing!?!
Millions of people engage in micro blogging every day; many unaware that those short status updates on Twitter or those longer than average meaningful captions on Instagram are, in fact, micro blogging. And by long and meaningful captions, I mean something that is Forever Friends Diary worthy and not a quote from The Hills or lyrics from ‘I don’t need a man’ by the Pussycat Dolls.
So all that ‘wasted’ blog content can be utilised into valuable content and shared across Social Media.
I wrote a blog post all about about my blogging journey and how to start you own blog. I’ve had so many DM’s over on Instagram with fellow ‘grammers who want to start their own blogs but don’t have the time, they have a specific niche or they feel it won’t work for their business model.
Out of all the social media platforms currently out there, Instagram as a micro blogging platform is excellent. You have 2200 characters to play with rather than the measly 280 characters over on Twitter so it’s ideal to start a discussion, share tips, thoughts / feelings or write a ‘behind the scenes’ on the image you have just posted!
However there are 2 downsides that come to mind when Micro Blogging. 1. YOU DON’T OWN IT and 2. If you start collaborating with brands they may want a blog post to accompany social media activity BUT hey give a go…
Get those captions long, interesting and relatable. Ask questions, share tips and more importantly ADD PARAGRAPHS. (Press return after your full stop DON’T add a space then return.
Let me know if you venture into the world of micro blogging…
Photos featured:
Cover photo by Le Buzz on Unsplash / Photo by Nicole Honeywill on Unsplash
