What is Social Media Optimization and How to Do It Right
We’re here to help your social media optimization efforts to ensure your content reaches and strikes a chord with your audience. Learn how to create content that makes a real impact.
Posted 4 months ago
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Guest PostPosted 4 months ago
Psst: Did you know using just one hashtag can increase social media post engagement by 12.6%. Success in social media now requires smart strategies and effective tools to differentiate your content.
And utilizing advanced social media monitoring tools can deepen audience connection, making your content visible and impactful (and this is what you really want, right?).
We’re here to help your social media optimization efforts to ensure your content reaches and strikes a chord with your audience. From picking the right hashtags to figuring out your social media goals to posting when your audience is the most active. Learn how to create content that makes a real impact.
What Is Social Media Optimization?
Social media optimization (SMO) is a strategy that boosts your social media impact. It ensures your posts engage and resonate with your audience by:
- Timing your posts for peak engagement.
- Choosing targeted keywords and hashtags.
- Actively engaging with your followers to foster loyalty.
5 Benefits Of Social Media Optimization
- Drives more targeted traffic to your website or online store, potentially boosting conversions and sales.
- Builds stronger relationships with your audience by fostering a sense of community and loyalty on social media
- Enhances engagement by encouraging likes, shares, comments, and direct interactions with your audience.
- Improves search engine ranking as social signals from social media networks become an increasingly important factor in SEO.
- Boosts brand awareness and reputation by consistently presenting your brand’s message and values across social media.
18 Proven Ways To Optimize Your Social Media Presence
Optimizing your social media company’s online presence isn’t just about posting regularly; it’s about posting smartly. Follow this strategic approach to make sure your social media efforts help achieve your business goals.
1. Identify & Define Your Social Media Goals
Start by pinpointing what you aim to achieve through your social media channels. Do you want to:
- Increase product sales?
- Boost your brand’s visibility?
- Drive more traffic to your website?
Setting SMART goals will help you tailor your content to meet these objectives.
Consider this social media goal:
2. Be Active On Social Media Sites That Add Value To Your Business
It’s tempting to mark your presence on every available platform, but this approach can dilute your social media optimization efforts and impact. Instead, focus on platforms that align with your business objectives and where your target audience is most active.
Understand your audience’s habits and preferences. Let’s take golf enthusiasts aged 18-39, for example, who are interested in golf cart accessories. This demographic is known for their love of golf and active engagement with golf-related content on social media.
Current research and trends highlight Instagram and Facebook as the favorite platforms for the 18-39 age group.
Instagram, with its emphasis on visual content, is an ideal space for showcasing the stylish design and practical features of your golf cart accessories. Its appeal lies in its ability to attract younger adults who appreciate the aesthetic and lifestyle elements associated with their interests.
On the other hand, Facebook allows for a wider reach. It provides an opportunity for businesses to engage with their audience through in-depth posts, share customer experiences, and foster community groups dedicated to golf enthusiasts.
3. Fill Out Your Profiles In Their Entirety
A complete profile is like a firm handshake; it makes a strong first impression. Make sure that every field is filled out with up-to-date and relevant information. This includes your contact details, about section, and any other information that can help potential customers understand your business at a glance.
4. Use A Consistent Profile Picture Across All Social Media Channels.
Consistency makes it easier for your audience to recognize you, regardless of where they interact with your brand.
5. Create An Attention-Grabbing Bio
Creating an attention-grabbing bio on your social media account is like laying down a welcome mat for potential followers and customers. It’s your chance to make a memorable first impression and succinctly communicate what your brand stands for.
An effective bio combines clear, concise language with strategically chosen keywords that help you get discovered by the right audience. Think of your bio as your brand’s elevator pitch on several social media platforms. In just a few seconds, you should convey who you are, what you do, and what value you offer your audience.
For example, the bio for Transparent Labs on Instagram perfectly captures what makes an effective attention-grabber. It starts with the brand name for instant recognition, followed by a clear industry identifier: “Vitamins/supplements.”
It promises value by “Fueling long-term results,” appealing to those seeking lasting health benefits. The term “science-backed” assures customers of product credibility, an important factor in the supplements market.
Finally, it includes a call to action with a website link, encouraging immediate engagement. This bio is a concise, active invitation to potential customers, clearly stating what the brand offers and why it matters.
6. Add Social Media Links To Your Website
Make sure visitors can easily find your social network or media profiles by including icons or links to your social media channels. This enhances the user experience on your website.
For instance, Focl’s website showcases a seamless integration of functional wellness solutions with social connectivity.
Right in the footer, alongside essential site navigation, are the iconic symbols for Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, which serve as direct gateways to their social community. This practical and strategic integration invites visitors to explore and connect with the brand’s social platforms for a more interactive experience.
Incorporating social media links into your website is crucial if you sell products or services, such as online courses.
For instance, websites that offer a range of competency courses can benefit significantly from this strategy. Adding social media icons or links provides a pathway for potential customers to explore additional content, engage with your brand on various platforms, and join a community of like-minded individuals.
This approach broadens your reach and significantly contributes to building a loyal customer base by leveraging social connectivity as part of your brand’s digital presence.
7. Optimize Your Posting Schedule
Posting when your audience is most active ensures your content doesn’t just float unseen in the vast digital sea but reaches and engages the right people.
Start by diving into the analytics provided by your social media platforms. You can find them on your professional dashboard like this:
These tools are like your fishing guide, showing you when your followers interact with content online. Look for patterns over days and times that indicate peak activity.
Are your followers more active in the early morning, during lunch breaks, or late at night? Each audience is unique, and their online habits can vary widely based on factors like demographics, time zones, and personal routines.
Once you’ve identified these peak times, tailor your posting schedule to align with them. This strategic timing increases the chances of your content appearing at the top of your audience’s feed for higher engagement rates.
Many social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, offer their own version of analytics tools.
For instance, Facebook Insights provides detailed graphs on when your followers are online, while Instagram Insights offers a breakdown of active hours and days for your audience. Twitter and LinkedIn provide engagement metrics that can help you infer optimal posting times through experimentation.
To implement this strategy:
- Regularly review your engagement metrics to adjust your strategy since audience habits can change over time.
- Consider using social media scheduling tools that allow you to plan and automate your posts in advance. This ensures that your content is published at the most effective times without the need for manual posting.
Experimenting with different posting times and closely monitoring the results will help you refine your schedule to maximize reach and engagement on your posts.
Remember, social media platforms often use algorithms that prioritize content based on its engagement rate. Posts that receive immediate interaction are more likely to be seen by a broader audience.
8. Create Valuable Content That Solves Your Follower’s Problems
Understand your audience’s challenges and needs and create content that addresses them.
Use tools like social media management tools, surveys, and talking directly in comments to learn what your followers like.
This way, you get to know who your followers are and what content they’ll enjoy most.
Once you’ve identified your audience’s pain points, tailor your content to offer solutions. This could be through informative blog posts that answer common questions, how-to videos that walk viewers through a process, or inspirational stories that offer motivation and a new perspective on a problem.
9. Use Attention-Grabbing Headlines
A headline is often the deciding factor between a post that gets clicked on and one that gets scrolled past. To craft headlines that compel users to engage with your content, focus on sparking curiosity, addressing specific needs, or offering clear solutions.
Effective headlines tap into the emotions or interests of your audience. They promise value or insights that are just a click away.
For example, instead of a generic headline like “Tips for Social Media Marketing,” a more compelling version could be “10 Proven Strategies to Triple Your Social Media Engagement Overnight.” This headline is specific, offers a clear benefit, and creates a sense of urgency and exclusivity.
Moreover, questions can be incredibly effective in headlines because they invite the reader to learn the answer. Phrasing like “Do You Know the #1 Mistake Most Marketers Make on Social Media?” piques curiosity and suggest the reader will gain valuable knowledge by reading on.
However, make sure that your headlines accurately reflect what is in your content. Clickbait headlines that promise more than what the content can deliver will harm your brand’s credibility and decrease your audience’s trust. Your goal is to create headlines that grab attention and make promises your content can keep.
10. Use Right-Sized Images
Posts with images receive higher engagement than those without. Use high-quality, relevant images that align with your brand message. Visuals should complement your content and help tell your story more effectively. A photo editor can be invaluable in refining these visuals, allowing you to adjust lighting, enhance colors, and add creative elements.
Different platforms have different optimal image sizes. Using the correct size ensures your visuals are clear and engaging, whether they’re viewed on a desktop or mobile device.
For instance, a picture that fits well on Instagram might not look right on Twitter. It could get cut off or look blurry if it’s not the right size for Twitter. Here are some size dimensions to look for:
To ensure your images are the right size for each social media platform, you can use several tools that automatically adjust your dimensions, making your content look its best wherever it’s posted. For instance,
- Flick’s Scheduling tool. Schedule all of your content inside Flick and our editing tool will help you resize each of your images to the correct size—no matter what social media platform you’re scheduling to.
- Landscape by Sprout Social is a free tool designed to resize images for platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. It allows you to upload an image, select the social platforms and formats you need, and then resize and crop your images accordingly.
- Biteable offers a free online image and photo resizer, allowing you to easily resize images for all common social media and ad sizes. It allows you to set a focus point and download your resized images in over 50 formats with just a click.
- For more varied resizing needs, BeFunky, Design Hill, and BIRME are among the best online tools for resizing images. BeFunky is perfect for all types of images with a user-friendly interface. Design Hill provides a simple and clean design that allows real-time adjustments as you resize your image. BIRME is ideal for bulk image resizing, letting you upload and resize multiple images simultaneously.
- If you’re looking for an AI-powered tool, Pixelhunter offers an intelligent resizing option for social media images, ensuring your photos meet the specific dimensions required by different platforms.
11. Turn Your Post Into A Carousel
Carousel showcases multiple images or videos in a single post. For instance, if you’re launching a new product, you can use a carousel to showcase various features, each slide focusing on a different aspect.
💡 Flick’s tip: Create carousels in seconds using Flick’s AI Assistant! All you have to do is select a template and our AI Assistant will create a carousel post based entirely on your caption.
12. Add Alt Text Descriptions To Visual Content
Adding alt-text descriptions makes your website more accessible to visually impaired people, and it can help your website rank better in search engines.
Alt text is a brief description of what’s in an image. When you’re writing alt text, aim to describe the image as clearly as you can and use relevant keywords if they fit naturally. This ensures that even if someone can’t see the image, they’ll understand it.
Plus, search engines use this text to understand the image, which can help your content show up in search results.
For example, if you post an image of a coffee mug on a desk, your alt text could be “white coffee mug filled with coffee on a wooden desk next to a laptop.” If your website focuses on coffee products and this image is from a blog post about your latest coffee blend, you might include “arabica coffee blend” in your description.
Remember, the goal is to provide a clear and descriptive summary of what’s in the image, making your content accessible and improving your SEO at the same time.
13. Use Hashtags
Hashtags can dramatically increase your posts’ reach. Use a mix of popular and niche hashtags to get your content in front of a broader audience while still reaching those with specific interests.
In the results, we see a variety of related hashtags along with the number of posts they have. For example, “#summerstyle” has over 5.4 million posts, indicating it’s a very popular hashtag. Other variations like “#summerstyles” or specific ones like “#summerstylemen” have fewer posts, suggesting they are more niche.
Using a mix of popular and niche hashtags can significantly expand the reach of your posts. Popular hashtags, such as “#summerstyle,” have a wide audience and can increase the visibility of your posts. However, because they’re so widely used, your content might quickly get lost in the sea of other posts.
On the other hand, niche hashtags, like “#summerstylemen” with only over a thousand posts, target a more specialized audience. These hashtags can help you reach users with specific interests related to your content. While the audience might be smaller, the engagement can be more significant as your content is more relevant to them.
💡 Flick’s tip: As we originally built our brand on hashtags, we still know the importance of optimizing your hashtags! Try Flick for FREE for 7 days to see how in-depth we can go into hashtags and find the best ones for your content every single time.
14. Include Relevant Keywords In Your Captions
Like hashtags, keywords in your captions help make your posts searchable. Incorporate them naturally into your captions to attract users who are searching for content related to your brand or industry.
To identify relevant keywords for your captions, think about the main themes of your content and the terms that your audience might use to search for that topic.
For instance, if you’re posting about a summer fashion line, keywords could include “summer trends,” “beachwear,” “casual summer outfits,” or “summer style.” Use words that naturally describe the content of your post and relate to the interests of your target audience.
Keywords should be specific to your brand or industry and resonate with the content of your post. If your brand has a unique name or if you’re discussing a specific product, those can also serve as keywords. For example, if your post is about a new coffee blend your brand is launching, relevant keywords might be “artisan coffee,” “organic roast,” “morning brew,” or “fresh coffee beans.
15. Include Calls-to-action (CTA)
Including Calls-to-Action (CTA) in your posts transforms passive browsing into active engagement. Each of your social media posts should serve a purpose, guiding users to a specific action.
This means getting them to check out more on your website with a “learn more” link, guiding them to buy from your online shop with a “shop now” button, or getting them to talk by asking for a “leave a comment.”
A good CTA is clear and grabs attention, making it easy for people to know what you want them to do next and encouraging them to act. To make your CTAs stand out, use words that push action, like “Offer ends soon,” “Limited availability,” or “Join our community.” This kind of language can make people act right away.
16. Tag The Accounts You Feature In Your Posts
When you mention other users or brands in your social media posts, make sure to tag their accounts. This gives them proper credit and can spread your content to a wider audience, including their followers. It’s a simple way to boost your brand’s visibility and show appreciation for collaborations or inspirations from others in your industry.
17. Connecting With Influencers
Partnering with influencers and social media marketers who align with your brand can help you tap into their loyal following, bringing more visibility, customer loyalty, and credibility to your brand. Here’s how to do it:
- Identify the right influencers: Start by looking for influencers who already appeal to your target audience. Their followers should be potential customers for your brand.
- Engage with them: Follow their content, engage with their posts, and understand their style and what makes them popular with their audience.
- Reach out: Send a personalized message explaining why a partnership would be beneficial for both you and the influencer. Be clear about what you admire in their work and what you are offering.
- Collaborate on content: Work together to create content that feels natural to the influencer’s style while also showcasing your brand’s message.
- Promote across channels: Share the content across your social media channels and encourage the influencer to do the same. This will help in reaching a broader audience.
- Track and analyze: Use analytics to track the success of your partnerships. Look at metrics like engagement, reach, and conversions that come from the influencer’s content.
18. Make Offers That Your Audience Wants
Exclusive deals, discounts, or content that can incentivize your audience to follow you closely and engage with your posts. Understand what motivates your audience and create offers that are irresistible to them. Tailor these offers to the interests and needs of your followers for the best response.
Let’s take a practical example to illustrate this:
Imagine you’re a business focused on health and nutrition. You could offer your followers personalized meal plan templates or exclusive access to a series of interactive nutrition workshops. These could be exclusive to your social media followers, giving them a direct incentive to stay engaged with your brand.
What Is The Difference Between SMO & SMM?
Social Media Optimization (SMO) and Social Media Marketing (SMM) are 2 crucial strategies in the digital marketing playbook, but they serve different purposes in building and enhancing your online sales presence. Here’s how they’re both different:
| Aspect | SMO | SMM |
| Definition | Optimize social media profiles and content for visibility. | Market and promote through social media. |
| Focus | Brand presence and content discoverability. | Audience engagement and content distribution. |
| Tactics | Keywords, hashtags, profile optimization. | Content creation, ads, analytics, engagement strategies. |
| Goal | Increase engagement and reach. | Build brand awareness, generate leads/sales. |
| Measurement | Shares, likes, comments, visibility. | ROI, conversion rates, leads, sales metrics. |
| Platforms | Social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. | Organic and paid efforts on social media and external tools. |
Conclusion
SMO is about boosting your presence on various social media platforms with purposeful strategy, not just sporadic posts. Focus on high-quality content and actively engage with your audience, utilizing the right social media management tool for greater efficiency.
In the complex social media management landscape, whether you’re developing a social media marketing strategy or enhancing your social media pages, the aim is to make your brand noticeable.
Flick, an AI-driven platform, streamlines managing social media accounts across multiple social media platforms, assisting with everything from content creation to analytics, ensuring your social media strategy and campaigns are coherent and impactful. Check it out today.
Burkhard Berger is the founder of Novum™. He helps innovative B2B companies implement revenue-driven SEO strategies to scale their organic traffic to 1,000,000+ visitors per month. Curious about what your true traffic potential is?
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