What’s up everyone? I want to share with you a personal story about using social media as an advertising tool.

My name is Austin. I am in college. Thus equating to the fact that I have no money.

I know that it is cliché to say that I have no money as a college student, but seriously, I have less money than Nicolas Cage right now. My only job is two days a week at my church, which means I don’t have a lot of money because you didn’t tithe last time you went to Sunday School.

Where am I going with this?

Two years ago I started a comedic sports blog called Korked Bats. A buddy of mine and I both loved sports and we both loved making people laugh so we figured, why not start a blog that is primarily jokes about sports news.

The popularity of our website spread like wildfire. We currently have 5 writers and accumulated over 40,000 hits internationally in less than 10 months last year. Not to mention we capped off a great 2009 by being named “Site of the Day” by ESPN’s SportsNation. I don’t mean to toot my own horn (yes, I do), but Korked Bats has blown up faster than Tiger Woods after slicing a tee shot.

Now, I know what your asking yourself, “Did I remember to TiVo Dancing With The Stars?”

I can’t answer that.

But you should be asking yourself, “How did Austin grow his blog to what it is today?”

That, my friend, I CAN answer.

In fact, I can answer that question in three words:

“SOCIAL MEDIA, CHACOS!”

(I figured the “chacos” part would add a nice effect. Obviously, I was wrong.)

If you were to search “Korked Bats” in Google, you will see that Korked Bats has a Twitter account, a Facebook Fan page, a YouTube account, etc. I have branched my website out to as many social media outlets as I can manage. Through this, I am able to Tweet or update my status whenever Korked Bats releases a new article or video. Over 80% of our normal hits come from social media websites.

What’s the best part of reaching out to various social media sources to advertise my website? It’s 149% free. That’s right, it’s more free than Willy. Which, as I was saying earlier, fits perfectly in my budget.

So if you have a website, a YouTube channel, or even just a casual blog, get yourself set up in social media, trust me, you won’t regret it.

• Sign up for a Twitter account.
• Set up a Facebook Fan Page for your site.
• Comment on other blogs or website with your site’s URL on it.

Every time you update your site, Tweet about it, update your Facebook status, and spread the word in any other free way possible. So far that is the only way Korked Bats has grown.

However, it’s not something that will happen over night. So don’t be discouraged if you don’t see a quick change in your site’s analytics. Continue to work hard, stay consistent and ALWAYS post your work on your social media outlets. Eventually, this word of mouth word of keyboard advertising will work. Take it from me.

Hopefully, soon Korked Bats will attract advertisers on our site to eventually help pay for us to advertise on other sites. See how that works? It’s like a chain reaction.

If you have any questions about advertising with social media, Korked Bats, professional sports, starting a website from the ground up or states and capitals, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Twitter: @TheAHuff

E-Mail: austin@korkedbats.com

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For more information about Korked Bats, check us out:

korkedbats.com

Or follow us on Twitter:

@KorkedBats

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-Austin H.