How To Boost Views of Sponsored Posts: Blogging Lessons Learned

Here’s a little roundup of lessons learned about sponsored post reach.

I’ve run sponsored posts on this blog for several years, starting off with posting them randomly via digital agencies.

In 2016 I was taken on by Nuffnang as one of their Bloggerati talent team, that was a big step up in both payment and in expectation of post performance.

(N.B.  In this post I’m only talking about sponsored posts on blogs and Facebook sponsored posts, NOT about selling follow text links in ‘guest posts’ or posts written by the blogger.)

The disclaimer above is how readers know posts are sponsored, it’s Nuffnang’s standard disclaimer

Sponsored Posts – Issues

When brands pay bloggers, they need ROI, return on investment. I have to say that I know I’ve had posts which have simply not achieved  the eyeballs expected.

This hasn’t worked well for the brand, nor, clearly for the readers. Nor for me… it’s very stressful feeling that a job hasn’t gone well.

Most of the time, I’d say that I know what readers love and what they will respond to.  However, not 100% of the time.

It’s sometimes hard to tell how a post will do… I can make mistakes, and so can agencies and brands.

What to do when a post is just not going as well as expected?

With some determination and hard thinking, here’s how I ensure that eyeballs get to the posts.

Advertise on each blog post and page

Using a handy plugin called Post Adverts, I can make an advert for the sponsored post, using an image from it, and place it into each post and page on the blog.

Since I get a minimum of 1000 readers every day, usually spread over hundreds of posts, this is one way to lead them back to the latest post.

I might leave an advert there for a day or two, or for a week.

It’s easy to switch these Post Adverts off on some individual posts too e.g the actual sponsored post itself shouldn’t have one.

Here’s an example of a Post Advert at the head of each post, I ran these recently when I felt this sponsored post about a hilarious movie wasn’t getting the views it deserved.

Here’s an example of a Post Advert at the bottom of each post and page on the blog. This one is for an affiliate rather than a sponsored post though.

Use Facebook Ads/Boost Facebook posts

I’m paid well for sponsored posts via my agent and I’m very comfortable with using some of that income to promote the posts. In fact, I tend to do this with every sponsored post.

I prefer to go into my Facebook Manage Ads section and create ads rather than to boost posts. It seems to be better value for money.

Often I will simply make sure that all my Facebook page likers see a post. But if I can think of a better readership then I will create that.

This is an example of advert using a Facebook post. The client also paid to boost this post to ensure it got plenty of views.

Use a link in my email signature

I send dozens and dozens of emails a day. So I’ll often add a link with some text to my email signature.

I’ve no idea if this works or not, but it feels a sensible thing to do.

Promote to email list

Of course, no brainer…. and I’ll always put the sponsored item first in the email newsletter.  Occasionally I might send out an email newsletter just mentioning a sponsored post, if that feels appropriate and I think readers would welcome the info.

This is an email with the sponsored content at the very top. Images are so important, and I always make sure there’s a link to the post from the image.

Create or adapt a list post that’s already popular

This works very well for some sponsored posts. Recently I did a terrific sponsored post for a shopping centre in Western Sydney, it featured the cool free school holiday activities being provided.

Since I have a general post about free school holiday fun in Western Sydney, I could easily add in all the shopping centres, with a link to my post.

Here’s the post. This always gets heaps of traffic and some readers clicked through to read the sponsored post.

Mind you, it got good traction anyway, as expected.

Post to my personal Facebook page

Generally I don’t post link to my blog into my personal Facebook. Lots of my pals with children follow the Hello Sydney Kids page.

However, when a sponsored post is more personal, other friends might be interested to read whatever I’m spouting about.

And they’ll let me know if they’re not!

Final thoughts

I know well that brands come to we bloggers to tap into our organic reach… but when things don’t work out as well as we expect, at least we can give the post some extra oomph using these methods.

My agent is now being very open with brands, they have a minimum post views promised.

For me, this is great, I know what’s expected.

Nowadays, I’m better able to assist posts that aren’t getting the reach I thought they might.

I’d rather never have to use these methods…. but…. blogging doesn’t always go as I expect. Like life, really.

I’d love to add any ideas other bloggers have.

Please do reveal all your top tips and tricks int he comments and I will add them to this post.

Happy blogging,

PS Thanks for reading. I hope you find something useful here for yourself. I know I will be popping back to it if I need to boost a post that  isn’t getting the organic reach hoped for. As with most of this blog, it’s for me to use as much as other readers!