We continue to travel with the motorhome along the Swedish west coast, and we'll tell you more about that soon. But first, some thoughts on blogging and social media. Happy Friday!
Table of contents
Thoughts on blogging and social media
Now that we're travelling with our motorhome in Sweden, we meet many readers and other motorhome owners. We talk about everything from motorhome life and travelling to social media, and a thousand other things. This - and the fact that we've been doing a lot of computer work - has made us reflect and think about a lot of things related to blogging and social media. Here are five thoughts we have right now...
1. Bloglovin is not working ... What is the easiest way to follow blogs today?
I (Helena) have always followed quite a few blogs, mainly those related to travel or motorhome life. To be able to easily keep track of everyone I follow, I have used Bloglovinwhere you can "subscribe to the feed" of the blogs you want.
A while ago, pictures stopped previewing on some blogs (including our own). Then my Bloglovin app on my phone stopped working, so I had to rely on my computer. Now it's also glitching on the computer and only occasionally does the feed show up for me.
Does anyone else have these problems? What's the easiest way to smoothly follow blogs today? How do you do it?
2. Instagram shows a lot of adverts ... we have a tip!
Many people love Instagram, but many are also annoyed by the way the feed looks and by all the adverts, such as reels appearing even from accounts that you don't know. not follows. Men, there is a solution to this. At least for some. It seems, strangely enough, that Instagram has rolled out this feature for some, but not for all.
If you click on "Instagram" at the top left of the app, you will (hopefully) see two options: "Follow" and "Favourites". If you select "Following", you will see posts in your feed. only from accounts you follow, and they also come in chronological order. The only catch is that the setting doesn't "stick". That is, if you exit Instagram and re-enter, you have to click "Follow" again to get the same feed.
3. on Facebook we only reach a fraction of our followers ... what should we do?
We use our Facebook page (@freedomtravelnews on Facebook) to tell you about new articles on FREEDOMtravel, and sometimes also to share other pictures/news/questions. We have over 3800 followers on the site, but when we share something (which we do every day) we often only reach a fraction of them.
If we want to reach more people, we have to pay. Facebook is a business, so it is perhaps natural that they want to charge for their services. Sometimes we also pay, but we can't pay to reach everyone who follows us. We may have to accept this, but sometimes we meet readers who wonder why they are not reached by our posts, or ask if we have stopped posting because they don't see us in their feed, and then you start to wonder.
As well as paying to reach out, you can reach out by getting lots of likes and comments on your posts. We don't want to hunt likes, but we want to reach those who wool be reached. What should be the approach?
4. Facebook doesn't always show what you want... but you can control it!
What you see in your Facebook feed is controlled by an algorithm based on what you have liked and interacted with in the past. Sometimes it's good, but sometimes it feels like you're seeing a lot of things you're not interested in, while at the same time it seems like you're missing out on things you want to see. would like to see. But it can be controlled, at least to some extent.
Are there certain friends and pages that you willingly wool see in your feed? You have the option to select 30 favourites, which will appear higher up in your feed. Just do this:
- Go to the news feed
- Click on Favourites in the menu on the left. You may need to click on See more to see this option.
- Click on Managing favourites. Find the friends and pages you would like to see in your feed and click on the star next to the name.
5. We have decided to use our newsletter in a new way.
A while ago we started a newsletter and Peter sends out a letter (almost) once a month. This letter is usually quite personal, but also contains some news.
During this motorhome trip in Bohuslän we have met several people who want updates on our articles, but can't be bothered to look for them. This has led us to decide to send out a short automatic newsletter once a week - with links to the week's articles. To those who want it, of course!
In addition to this, Peter will probably write more personalised newsletters from time to time, but not as often as before. What if someone doesn't want a weekly newsletter? Well, then it is of course easy to unsubscribe in the footer of the newsletter! We will try this soon (not ready yet though), and we will see how it is received! You can register for the newsletter here:
#mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } /* Add your own Mailchimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */Subscribe to our newsletter!
Best this week
The best thing about this week is that the west coast delivers! Sure, we have had some rain and wind at times, but also fantastic sunny days. It's incredibly picturesque everywhere and the seafood is amazing. so good!
Now it's your turn ... What can you highlight as positive from your week?
The week ahead
We will continue our journey north along the west coast and here at freedomtravel.se you can expect reports about, yes, the west coast! We wish you a wonderful Friday and weekend!
Did you miss the last Happy Friday? Read the Visitor records, West Coast idyll and everyday life on the move
Annar Aas says:
Never have a hard time following you. Go to the motorhome blogs and you are at the top... Don't miss a day. The best part of my week is that I got to sail around Kullen. The skipper and his assistants lifted me on board with the main halyard and the county council's sails for lifting the disabled... an absolutely magical evening with porpoises around the boat and the western sun on the land. Check my facebook page, I will try to post pictures there. Thank you for writing so nicely and well every day🥰!
12 August 2022 - 9:04
Helena says:
Good to hear that it is not difficult! And interesting to hear HOW others do to follow! 🙂 How fantastically wonderful it sounds with the sailing!!! I tried to check on Facebook, but did not find?
13 August 2022 - 6:55
BP says:
You use WordPress, so I don't know how that works. But I have my "favourite blogs" in a list on the right side of the blog. Then I have collected a number of "less important" blogs under "Other bookmarks", a folder I created under the address bar in Windows.
I have never used FB and Insta, but you have a completely different "blog genre" than me so...
12 August 2022 - 20:18
Helena says:
Yes, that's right, I've seen some people have a list on their blog. Bookmarks are not a bad idea either!
13 August 2022 - 6:56
Goatfish says:
You are never difficult to follow. It's more like I don't have the time. How can that be?
I have thought about this a lot.
The west coast is the best coast for me.
12 August 2022 - 21:26
Helena says:
Good to hear that it is not difficult! And maybe it's good to be (somewhat) busy anyway? Thanks for your comment! 🙂
13 August 2022 - 6:57
Daniel on Flying Dryden says:
I've never got hooked on Bloglovin, often a hassle both to read and have an account. I use Feedly instead to follow RSS feeds. Available both as an app and browser.
12 August 2022 - 23:17
Helena says:
Great tips, thank you! Maybe I'll check it out and change it!!!
13 August 2022 - 6:58
Anna in Portugal says:
1. stopped using Bloglovin and other blog portals a while ago. They just don't work.
2. switched off my Instagram this week
3 & 4. Only use FB privately and more and more rarely.
5. I have had a weekly email for my followers for a long time, it works very well.
14 August 2022 - 0:00
Helena says:
Thanks for the comment and input Anna! It might be wise to choose how and how much to use social media. Glad to hear that weekly emails work! We will try to get started with this soon!
14 August 2022 - 9:44
Ann says:
On FB, it can be useful to create a group instead of a page. There, all followers can choose how they want to receive notifications.
14 August 2022 - 13:01