Social media has given a huge customer base for any given market or niche. There are millions of active users on every social media platform who could prove to be potential customers. Brands compete with each otheron social media platforms to reach their potential clients. Be it B2B business or B2C, potential customers are present on every social media platform. But, to make your product or service reach the right clientele, you should have an exceptional Social Media Optimization strategy.
It is important for an organization to first discover a precise social media platform that will effectively help them in reaching their clients. For instance, If you are a trader, a potent social media platform is Twitter.
Talking in terms of customer service, this platform will help you contact and support your customers. Similarly, If you are into media and designing, a potent channel is Facebook. Therefore, depending on the type of business, you need to first determine an ideal social media platform.
Content is king but not every piece of great content goes viral, which makes it obvious that the way you present your content matters the most. The effect of the content is the highest when it is presented in the most engaging way. Content can be of many kinds; it could be a post, picture, video or statement.
Let’s take a look at each step of the social media optimization process.
1. Create a plan
When you are creating any marketing campaign, you want to create a plan with defined goals. It is important that your SMO strategy has clearly-defined goals that you can structure your campaigns around.
These goals should be specific and measurable. Measuring success is difficult — if not impossible — with vague goals, so have metrics in mind when you create them.
Your goals should all be based on metrics you can easily track. Then, based on the results, you can measure your success and adjust accordingly. A set plan will help you make the most of your SMO strategy.
2. Build out your social media profiles
One of the biggest mistakes that companies make is not making the most of the available space on their social profiles. Many companies rush through this process to get their pages launched and leave certain forms blank.
And while it takes time to fill out every possible piece of information, doing so is worth your time. If users find your business on social media for the first time and seek out important information, it should all be available on that platform.
Your social profiles on each platform are the foundation of your SMO strategy. You need to have strong profiles in order to see results.
Start by adding all of the necessary photos, like profile photos and possibly a cover photo, depending on the platform. These are the first things people see when they come on to your page and they should quickly grab visitors’ attention.
Your profile photo should be your logo. This will help people associate your pages with your business and is an easy to build your brand recognition with your followers.
The second step is to completely fill out your profile information. On Facebook, you can post details like your address, hours, contact information, and services. On Twitter or Instagram, on the other hand, you have a more limited amount of space. Include as much information as you can on each platform.
The more information you include on your profiles, the more helpful they’ll be to your followers. This is a great way to improve your SMO strategy.
3. Conduct keyword research
If you already use SEO for your business, you’re likely familiar with the concept of keyword research. You have to know what keywords your target audience searches in order to decide which ones you should include on your site. SMO follows a similar process.
When you are conducting keyword research for SMO, you want to focus on phrases and topics that your target audience likes. You’ll want to research any topics of interest that grab their attention and get them interested.
Keyword research is a little different for SMO. You need to focus on keywords that are trending on social media and not necessarily topics people are searching on the web.
One way to find out popular keywords on social media is through Twitter’s keyword report. This feature enables you to track keywords that you think your audience might use. You can add them to this report and track the volume of the keyword over time.
This gives you a good idea of which keywords have a high volume of interest. You can use these keywords on your social media pages and create content that includes them.
Your research might also include hashtags. Hashtags are a popular way to organize and search for information on platforms like Instagram, and being aware of the ones your target audience uses can help you effectively incorporate them into your strategy. Then, when users search those hashtags, they’ll be able to find your content.
When you know what interests your audience, you can tailor your content around those interests. You’ll want to make sure that everything is relevant to your brand, but you can take some of these trending topics and put your own spin on them. This is a great way to draw people to your accounts.
4. Post original content
After you’ve done keyword research to determine what kinds of content your audience searches on social media, you’ll need to create content around them.
There are two main types of content you can post on your social profiles: Original content, and links to content on other sites.
Original content is a great way to get people interested in your business. You can drive users to other parts of your online presence, like your website or blog. This is a great opportunity to drive traffic to places where they’re more likely to convert.
Another type of content you can share on your profiles is content from other sites. If you find articles that are relevant to your target audience, you can share them on your profiles and encourage your followers to leave comments with their thoughts. This is a great way to get your followers to interact with your brand.
When you post content from other sites, it is important that you select content that has value to your audience. Everything you share should serve a purpose and interest people in your target audience.
As you are creating and sharing content, there are a few things to keep in mind. One important habit to get into is including pictures in your content. You’ll keep your audience’s interest by having visual elements in your content and the content you share from other sites.
When you create content, you should also try out different headlines and accompanying text. The text you include will have a major impact on clickthrough rates, so it’s good practice to come up with a few different headlines and test them out to see which ones garner the most responses.
Once you write a post, you may also want to consider including hashtags, depending on the platform. This will help you track interest in the topic and see if anyone is talking about your content.
Content can have a powerful impact on your SMO strategy. By creating and sharing content, you can bring more people to your social profiles and earn new followers.
Images are for bloggers:
Blogging is more than just writing. Whether it is a travel blogger or a fashion blogger, he woos his audience more through storytelling via a series of attractive images rather than just plain text. Instagram provides this scope, which is why it has become a top social media platform for bloggers from any given industry today. Bloggers here connect with the brands as well as the audience. Plus, with the hashtag culture you can serve the audience the content they are exactly interested in.
Video posts for more engagement:
Video posts are even more engaging on Facebook these days. Added to the videos, the Autoplay feature of Facebook takes the user interaction to another level by allowing them to view multiple video, one after the other, seamlessly. In the video you post, you can inspire the audience and let them know what services you provide and how those services will help them. The impact a video can have on a viewer is quite significant. This is probably why YouTube has become the new TV for millions across the globe. The number of views for every viral video is just expanding by the day. The latest trend where bloggers are collaborating with vloggers is one of the best ways to make your content reach a larger set of audience.
5. Schedule your posts
There are many tools who can use to schedule posts in advance on social media, and you should take advantage of them. This will prevent you from having to log into your accounts multiple times per day or remember to publish new content.
As you schedule your content, you can also make sure that you’re publishing it when your target audience is active on each platform.
The time frame when you post will depend on the social site. People are active on certain social sites at different times of the day, and this also varies by demographic. You’ll need to figure out when your target audience uses each platform the most.
You’ll also want to control the number of posts you put on each platform. Each one has its own standards for normal publishing schedules, but the important thing is that you don’t overwhelm your followers with posts.
On Facebook, for example, you won’t need to post as much. Excessive Facebook posts are often annoying to followers and could lead them to unfollow your page. On a social site like Twitter, however, you could post five times a day because of the structure of the news feed.
6. Include social buttons on your website
Adding buttons which link to your social profiles to your website is a better way to encourage your site visitors to connect with you on different platforms. You can place them in the header or footer of your pages, and so that users can see them regardless of the page they’re visiting.
You can also add social sharing buttons at the end of your blog posts and articles. These buttons enable readers to easily share your content on their own social accounts — and the easier it is to share your content, the more likely they’ll be to do so.
7. Monitor your social media analytics
Monitor the performance of your posts on your social pages in order to see which methods are most effective for your business. This will give you an idea of which types of posts are successful and which ones don’t garner as much interest.
There are MANY metrics you can monitor, including impressions, clicks, and engagements. If a post receives a lot of engagement, this is a clear indicator that it is interesting to your target market. You can use this to figure out which types of posts are the most effective for your strategy.