Social media Optimization: Have you ever considered how social media and SEO are two super intertwined strategies? Both are inbound and focus on building a solid online presence to engage the target audience for your product/service organically.
And having a solid presence on social media directly increases how you appear in search rankings. That’s why you should invest your time in Social Media Optimization, or social media optimization (SMO).
What Is Social Media Optimization?
Social media optimization is improving your content on networks to achieve the best possible results: accelerated growth in the number of followers, higher levels of engagement, more clicks, conversions, etc.
Social media optimization can happen through many different techniques and tactics. Still, it will always be based on a few principles: analysis of metrics and research/analysis with the audience or competitors.
Social Media Optimization Guide
Nowadays, “everybody” has a social network, so it may seem simple for a brand to have a digital presence. However, a whole lot of work takes place to ensure that the networks are actually giving their greatest possible return.
Understand The Best Day And Time To Post
Each page has its dynamics. For example, a bar that only opens at night will probably have more engagement in the afternoon and close to the weekend. A doctor’s profile will have a completely different dynamic.
Figuring out the best day and time to post on social media is a lot of work. But social networks offer insights into the best time for your brand to post. And like everything else, the ideal is to experiment and analyze the metrics.
An online scheduling tool extensively ensures consistency on the perfect day and time. There are paid tools like Hootsuite and MLabs, and free tools like Facebook’s own Business Facebook Planner.
Optimize Your Bio
Your bio on social networks is your business card, the first thing new users will see. It is critical that this potential lead quickly understands who you are and what you offer. Some information for you to include in your bio:
- Who are you
- What is your product/service?
- Topics you deal with
- Your brand tone (who you talk to, how you talk, etc.)
- How to contact you
- CTA – a call to action for visitors to go to your website or online store
If you need to share more than one link, create a link tree with a tool like One Click Bio or Link tree.
Optimize Your Links With UTMs
As we have already stated, measurement is one of the pillars of optimization. Could you track how your audience interacts with your links? Metering your customer behavior allows you to see which posts drive the most traffic from your links and which don’t.
Make Sure Your Images Are The Perfect Size
Social media is highly visual. So make sure your profile pictures look professional, are the right size, and are high resolution, connect your brand and communicate what you need.
Using a logo in images will help create visual consistency. But be careful: this must be done correctly to avoid polluting your profile.
Another tip is to use images with the predominant color of your visual identity. Nothing better than a visually harmonic feed, right?
Publish In The Right Measure
What is the frequency of the posts? You don’t want to be excessive and bombard your followers, but you don’t want them to forget about you. Finding this middle ground is not trivial and varies from profile to profile.
For example, a news page will post essential news throughout the day. But does the profile of a flower shop, for example, need to make more than one post daily?
Developing a good posting schedule is the cornerstone of success on social media. Another critical point is that each social network has a different dynamic. On Instagram, for example, a post performs for about 24 hours. On LinkedIn, content can receive engagement up to a week after it is posted. Logically, your posting schedule should take this dynamic into account.
Review Your Social Media Strategy
Periodically check your social media strategy. We separate a list of questions that you should keep in mind:
- Are you reaching your goals and objectives?
- Are my social media goals aligned with my brand marketing strategy?
- Am I posting in the correct format? (images, videos, carousel, reels etc.)
- Are my posts having good engagement with my audience?
To gain further insight into how your social media strategy is performing, most platforms have built-in analytics. There are also paid tools on the market for this, such as Hootsuite and MLabs, that we have already mentioned.
Always Keep Your Target Audience In Mind
Each profile has a different audience. Understanding the specifics of your audience is critical to optimizing your content. Some points for you to understand about your audience:
- Demographic data
- Age range and gender
- Habits on social networks
- Consumption habits
- interests
Tip: develop a persona for your profile. This will help you better visualize who you want to reach and strategize how you will do it.
Optimize To Be Found
This is a step you can take with only some of your content. After all, only some of your posts need to be discoverable through search, for example, if you’re posting to communicate exclusively with your audience.
Be Consistent With Your Username
Your name is critical to who you are and what you do. Therefore, it must be the same no matter which social network.
Write Compelling Titles And Captions
It may seem simple to write a copy for social media. But it is not. Each social network has a specific language added to the specifics of your brand. Golden tip: hire a copywriter to develop your verbal language.
Another challenge with text is finding the sweet spot between conversational and promotional language.
Add Tags To Your Posts
Remember the social factor in social networks. Add tags to your content. You can tag a content contributor, a partner, an influencer who participated in some way, a customer who gave feedback, etc. In addition to being kind, this creates openness for natural conversation in your post.
Also Read: How To Create A Social Media Strategy
