Top 7 Social Media Optimization Tips

It sounds like convoluted marketing jargon but social media optimization is not as complex as you might think. Simply, it’s about ensuring your social media is the best it can be. And the tips on how to do it are so painless, you could start using them as soon as you finish up with this article.

Social Media Optimization (SMO) is the use of social media to develop your brand’s influence and awareness online. SMO is about more than just setting up a ton of social media accounts. The keyword is optimization – using techniques to upgrade your socials.

Digital marketing has taken over, and every brand needs to prioritize its social media. Marketing today is about more than putting an ad in a newspaper. It’s about engaging more intimately and directly with customers and that requires you to consider digital marketing beyond search engines.

This makes social media optimization important because it:

Increases awareness of your brand
Grows your audience
Connects you to customers
Improves your brand and its image
Helps with lead generation

The lack of a social media strategy is one of the things affecting the progress of many businesses today. The truth is, if you’re looking to maximize the benefits you get from your socials, you have to have a plan!

Think about it… without a plan, you’re digging into old pictures to find something Instagram-worthy because you just don’t know what to post.

Having content to post is not the only plus side to creating a social media strategy. It also helps you focus your social media by defining your goals. It gives you something to reflect on and measure your progress against. Once you’ve implemented campaigns, you can go back and see where you started and if you’ve met your starting goals.

Another thing to keep in mind is that social media is constantly changing. There are new trends, and fresh features almost every other week. With a set plan, you can visualize better and adjust as needed.

Research Keywords

This tip sounds like something suited to SEO but it’s a principle you can use for your social media optimization. SEO experts use keyword research to find out what subjects and terms people are searching for and typing into their search engines.

It’s pretty much the same for social media. You have to know what is relevant to your audience. Research phrases, hashtags, trending topics, and terms can guide you towards what you should be sharing on your platforms.

Although social media platforms don’t have specific tools to search for SMO keywords, there are ways to discover what your target audience is talking about. Track trending hashtags and words that are vital for your brand.

For example, if you’re a boutique, you might search for “fashion”, “clothes”, “#ootd”. You can also allow your SEO research to feed into your SMO. After all, the same people using search engines are the same ones using social media.

Be Content-smart

Content! Content! And more content! There’s no social media without it so you have no choice but to think about what you’re posting.

Content creation’s no easy feat. There’s so much to think about but you can break it down into two options: the content you create, and the content you borrow from your followers or other accounts.

When in doubt:

Pick visuals: images and videos perform well on social media.
Have a call to action
Be colorful, vibrant, and engaging!
Try content-creation tools to make life easier.

#Everything!

Don’t forget hashtags! Adding one to your post helps you get discovered by other users, track the progress of a campaign, and keep tabs on different kinds of social media posts.

You can create your own hashtags to accompany your latest social media marketing campaign like Starbucks does with its array of custom hashtags. You can also use popular hashtags that are trending online, or that industry influencers are using.

Optimize Profiles

Another SMO content tool is your profile. More often than not, when users discover your social media account, they will go check out your account profile. Your profile is like the homepage and about page of your website. If your profile isn’t great and attractive, users won’t bother checking out the rest of your content.

Make sure you fill out all the details in your profile. Consistently use your business’ name as your username and in your bio. If you have a logo, use that as your profile photo. Also, make sure to constantly update your information.

Again, your profile is content. So, if you’re running a campaign, switch up your header (and link in bio, too!) to include campaign content, too. Nothing says cool like some good header art.

Know When To Post

When you post matters just as much as what you’re posting. Social media is so inundated with content that your stuff could get lost in the mix.

Finding the best time to post is a lot trickier than one would think. It’s a combination of the researched behavior of people on that social media platform and your observation of which posts perform well and when they perform well. And don’t forget about time zones.

The best time to post is a deep topic of its own so we’ve put together handy articles for the best posting times on Twitter and Instagram. Use these and our scheduling platform, and you’re well on your way to SMO optimization!

Use Analytics

Last, but certainly not least: ANALYTICS! Monitoring your metrics is the only way you can see if your social media optimization is working out for you.

How are your followers responding to the changes in your strategy? To find out, you can use free platforms like Google, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter Analytics.

See how simple it is? You can get started with these tips right away! And now, we’ll just leave you to it…

What is Social Media Optimization & Why Does It Matter?

Why does Social Media Optimization matter?