Social Media Optimization: 7 Tips to Accelerate Your Business
It should be simple right? Obtain the most followers, have the next viral video, or be the next big influencer. Wrong. For the average person, this just isn’t feasible. Don’t worry, by the end of this article you’ll be left with the tools in social media optimization and enhance your digital marketing.
What is SMO?
SMO or social media optimization is defined as the process of deciding on the right social media platform to market your business and the process with which you select and create content. Great SMO increases traffic to your website, improves your SEO (search engine optimization), and improves brand awareness across all networks.
In 2021, the most effective digital marketing strategies combine both optimized SEO and SMO strategy. In this guide, we will share some ways you can get off the ground in optimizing your SMO.
Spend your time on the Right Platforms
The most challenging part of a great SMO strategy is deciding on the best social platform. There are so many statistics, best practices, and gurus that swear by each social media platform. Unfortunately, there is no easy answer or one size fits all when it comes to social media marketing.
The truth is a combination of a few social networks is probably the best way to get started. Below is an overview of what each social network is best at from a digital marketing perspective.
2.3 Billion active monthly users, Facebook is the most popular social media website
74% of business utilize a Facebook account for brand management for products and services
40% use Facebook for quality social media content using videos to optimize engagement
Overall – Facebook is just the best place to drive traffic for B2B or B2C target audiences. Everything is on Facebook content marketing on this platform should be diversified use hashtags, share blog posts manage your social media presence by building a campaign that connects with your target audience.
1 Billion online social media users
65% of Businesses utilize an Instagram account
500million daily Instagram stories
81% of users have used Instagram when making a purchasing decision on products and service
Instagram is the strongest social media with women and millennials and gen Z
Overall – Instagram is phenomenal for B2C marketing utilizing searchable hashtags. Trending hashtags allow for more detailed marketing through search relevance and to share your content with your audience.
Voted by 73% of social media users as the most trustworthy social network
60% of Linkedin users are aged 25-34 with 57% male and 43% female
80% of B2B content marketers use LinkedIn to target audience
40 million searches for job listings every week
Overall – This is where B2B content on social media is strongest for strengthening a business’s online presence. Whether you are sharing content, engaging with your clients, employees, or potential new customers a LinkedIn page is the powerhouse in social media brand awareness and hiring for businesses.
YouTube
Second most popular website and search engines worldwide (No coincidence Google is first)
Only used by 55% of marketers for social media optimization
1 billion hours of video media watched daily on YouTube’s website
1/3 baby boomers research buying decisions on YouTube content
YouTube reaches more 18-34-year-olds than television
Overall – Not always everyone’s first go-to when considering Social Media but the power of YouTube speaks for itself! Across all social platforms, video content ranks best across several platforms as one of the best places in optimizing your social media.
One of the oldest social media outlets over 90% of people in the US recognize what twitter is
70% male and 30% female using social media on Twitter
82% of B2B content marketers use Twitter for content social media optimization
17% of Americans get their news media from Twitter
Overall – Twitter combines the power of hashtags and B2B engagement in one platform. Twitter is one of the best social media sites for creating or capitalizing on trends and news. In a marketing strategy twitter, social media optimization can allow you to tailor your marketing around what is happening in the world. Depending on your products and services this can be powerful on social media.
While these few social media content platforms only scratch the surface in building traffic through social media optimization strategy. Figuring out which of the above social media pages will give you the most return on investment can quickly improve your social media optimization.
Optimize your social media profiles
Your business social media profile is the first step to social media optimization. On average, users that complete 100% of their business page on social media profiles see at least 5X more views in just one easy step. That’s before creating the most engaging page, content and posts!
Make sure you have a profile photo and banner in your profile. People want to see your company logo and a banner that speaks to your brand. Make sure these images are optimized for your social media website and introduce you to your followers.
Don’t skip the bio! A quick bio can include your company website links (for some social media websites) introduce your brand to your target audience, and set expectations for your customers. Social media optimization within the bio can assist in targeting keywords so search engines can link to your social media sites.
Digital marketing starts with a great foundation, and without it, your brand page can’t even get started on social media.
Social Media Strategy – Post optimization
Social media optimization is best with applying multiple media optimization techniques to get the most out of your post. Search engines continue to utilize social media content in ranking your online presence. Your brand can enhance its marketing strategy using social media through these easy steps:
Use varied social media content posts. Images, graphics, videos, carousels, and linked blog posts all work together to create a content marketing strategy.
Measurable results don’t lie. Track your posts and the results. If a post type, timing, or style works keep it! If it doesn’t work then try something else. The process of media optimization social media content continues to change over time, and a successful business needs to be ready to try new strategies.
Quality content posts should be relevant and curated for your target audience that use social media. Know who, when and what you are targeting. Start with simple graphics, images that engage your audience. A post should include a copy with a call to action and the next steps for your client. Why bother creating company content that doesn’t lead to a sale?
Social Media Optimization – SMO is one of the easiest ways to create backlinking search results with SEO from a search engine. Ensure you are creating content that is relevant to search queries.
Create a social media content calendar. A great campaign has a strategy. Take time to understand the posts your company prefers. Identify a voice, a target audience, a promotion, or share content that is relevant to your customers. Your customer wants to connect in a way that benefits them. Let’s say you are a bakery specializing in creative cookie designs, share content such as a video that showcases how you make the cookies. Your customers want behind-the-scenes! A campaign that utilizes multiple social media posts will create relevant engagement with your followers.
Use Hashtags within your social media for products and services. A hashtag serves as a search engine through social media keywords. Like SEO (search engine optimization), hashtags summarize your relevant content engagement and make it easy for your customers. Create your own hashtags and hop on to relevant trending hashtags to increase your online presence. In today’s search engine driven environment your hashtags will show as search results in search engine optimization (SEO).
Connect with a social media post at the right time. Post time matters to your audience. Through your content calendar make sure you connect with your audience at the right time. Various businesses will see more results from a post in the morning than at night. For example, if you own a movie theater. Why would you want to connect with your audience on a Tuesday morning featuring a new release movie for Friday evening? Apply a strategy that tests different posting times and days of the week to find what best suits your business.
At Lane Digital Marketing, we offer social media marketing to management to manage your online presence through all social media platforms. Your audience expects the best content engagement and we are available now to manage your strategy. Social media marketing is time-consuming and we want to #handlethehassle. We are ROI-focused and ready to take on your digital marketing strategy. Reach out to us today or email cameron@lanedigitalmarketing.com.