It doesn't matter what kind of lifestyle blog you're running: if you aren't using social media to supplement your blog traffic and audience, you're inevitably crippling your ability to grow.

From the worlds of beauty and travel blogging to documenting your entrepreneurial journey, social media has become integral to lifestyle blogs as a whole. Although the various social channels can be daunting to manage in addition to your blog, consider why a blog by itself isn't enough anymore:

• There are billions of social users on Facebook alone: you aren't going to reach those readers if you're solely sticking to your blogging platform
• Each social platform accesses a different audience: for example, beauty and travel bloggers are killing it on Instagram and YouTube while Pinterest attracts the DIY crowd
• If you want to create a full-blown business out of your lifestyle blog, you're inevitably missing out on revenue opportunities without social media (think: more affiliate offers and growing your email list)

So, how can you use the various social media channels to promote your lifestyle blog?

Create a Visual Journey via Instagram

Instagram represents one of the fastest growing social networks out there as it torpedoes toward one billion users. At the same time, social users today are in love with visual content and bloggers should likewise take notice. If you want to establish a more personal connection with your audience and capture their attention, there's perhaps no better place to do so than Instagram.

Think about it. Through Instagram, you can bring your followers along for the ride regardless of what you're documenting. Take for example these amazing digital nomad Instagram accounts which show off awesome scenery and travel destinations. This kind of imagery is a great way to attract the attention and interest of followers who want to see what you're up to next.

Promote Your Latest Posts via Facebook and Twitter

This may seem like a no-brainer, but you should definitely be promoting your existing blog posts through both Facebook and Twitter. Specifically, you should consider a blog-specific Facebook page to drive extra traffic to your blog and create a community of followers at the same time. Both of these platforms allow you to get closer to your followers beyond the confined comments section of your blog.

Transform Your Blogs into Vlogs

People are consuming video content like never before: in fact, 80% of the web's traffic will be video based on current projections. As a result, if you aren't regularly converting your blog posts into video content you're inevitably missing out a huge opportunity to grow your audience.

The best part? If you have a blog post written, you basically have the script for a video. Whether through your iPhone or a basic webcam, you can record quality videos that your audience eats up time and time again. Although you might not think of YouTube as a social platform, there's no denying the thriving community of vloggers that are amassing followers through videos alone.

Building up your lifestyle blog means going beyond your CMS. Test out each of these social channels and see what they can do for you in terms of traffic and your follower count.