SMO

Social Media Optimization: 6 Tips to Steal from SEOs

Most marketers are familiar with search engine optimization (SEO) at an amazing level. Making your marketing campaign successful using the ability of search engines like Google or Bing has been a successful approach for years. But as social media grows as one of the top platforms to approach customers, new approaches to digital marketing have developed. One of the top strategies used by manufacturers to maximize online influence is social media optimization (SMO).

What Is Social Media Optimization?

Social media optimization is using social media as an incentive to improve your company's online appearance. Where some companies set up only one profile on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.

• Strengthen your brand
• generate leads
• Get more visibility online
• Connect with your audience

Why SMO Is Important?

The groups between social media marketing including search engine marketing are growing more. In the past, both were seen as separate and different aspects of marketing. But the reality is that they are more interconnected than they think.

 A survey found that 50% of companies that are not successful with SEO do not combine social media marketing.

Also, the advantages of social media marketing have been well documented. If you want a solid holistic appearance to online marketing, then you need a strong balance of SEO and SMO.

1. Optimize Your Strategy
The need for a social media strategy has done an obstruction for companies for some time. Somewhat because it is still reasonably new, and also because social media is continually changing. Twenty-eight percent of brands feel that a need for strategy prevents them from growing social businesses.

A social media optimization strategy should converge on increasing its appearance and achieving moderate results. This post describes how to set your strategy in  steps:

• Ensure your social goals, solve challenges
• Drive efforts across your organization
• Focus on networks that add value
• Create Engaging Content
• And Many More

When you have a documented strategy, you measure where you stand and make improvements wherever necessary.

2. Do Keyword Research

One of the core competencies for SEO is the ability to conduct keyword research. Keyword research is about knowing all the slogans and topics that your target audience is looking for, so you can create relevant content for them. The same applies to social media optimization.

You need to know if the topics, hashtags, and keywords used by your target audience can you share content that is relevant to their interests. Keyword research will help you learn which hashtags and phrases to use in your social media posts so that you have a greater chance of getting when people search for content related to your brand.

Most brands use this report to track trends in their branded keywords and hashtags. But you can also use it for doing some social media keyword research!

Now, you will be able to see the keyword volume of all your targeted phrases over time. Pay attention to the phrases with the highest volume, then start adding them to your social media posts.

3. Optimize Your Profiles

Creating your profile seems like a very simple task, yet it is one of the first areas of SMO where businesses are few. Think of your company's profile page as your foundation. If it is weak, it is difficult to make anything over it.

Profile photo: Your profile photo should be your company's logo. If you are a freelancer, consultant, or personality, you can use your headshot.

Username: Use your company name. When they choose a business name, social media username availability starts to be a big factor for brands. Using your brand name makes it easy for customers to find out if they are searching for your profile on social. You can use the tool to find out if your company name is available on various social media channels. Bio: Explain clearly what your company does. If possible, place a trackable link back to your website within your bio to drive more traffic. Using relevant keywords in your bios will give your page more visibility in search.

Most importantly, fill your profile. Sites like Facebook and LinkedIn allow you to enter a lot of information about your company. 

4. Optimize Your Content

When it comes to SEO, you've probably heard the saying, "Content is King". 

There are two types of content that you can publish on social media:

• Original material
• Curated content

Ideally, your strategy should have a mixture of both.

Original content is content that is created specifically for social media and is usually part of a campaign. For example, when Netflix started its #NetflixCheating campaign, they created original graphics to share on Twitter.

Curated content is content that is shared from various sources around the web. Content curation is more than tweeting links. To optimize it for the best results, you should only share content that is valuable and relevant to your audience. Quality always beats out quantity. Determine which topics your audience finds most relevant by measuring engagement for each post.

Guy Kawasaki is one of the top Twitter users/experts in the world, and his tweets include largely curated content.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when you are getting published on social media:

Test headlines

When you send a tweet or Facebook post, do not use the same title every time. Some headlines will work better than others. In addition, using different types of headlines refreshes your feed. 

Use images

A study by a B2B marketing mentor found that images were the most important strategy for optimizing content for social media.

Incorporate high-quality images into your social media updates whenever likely. You can use our very own image resizing tool, Landscape, to ensure that all your images are the right size for each social media site.
Pro tip: include a painted image in all your blog posts. Whenever people share your content on social media, the image will be automatically included. 

#Hashtags

The hashtag is synonymous with social media marketing. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and all other top social media sites integrate hashtags in some fashion. 

Hashtags help in social media optimization by giving your posts more reach and making your content easily available by people following you.

• Look at what people using hashtags are doing in your industry. Use these tools to help.
• Search for trending hashtags, and see if you can relate them back to your industry or brand.
• Create your own hashtags to track specific social media marketing campaigns. Just avoid failing like these.

Post length case

Twitter gives you up to 280 characters per tweet, but that doesn't mean you have to use them all. 

5. Optimize Your Posting Schedule

The time you post is as important as the time you post. What's the point in sharing an amazing picture on Instagram if no one sees it? 

Best time to post on social media

The optimal posting time depends on your audience and the social media site you use. Fortunately, tools like Sprout Social are able to make this process a lot easier by calculating the best time to post on their social media accounts for the highest engagement. 

How Often to Post on Social Media

The second part of the time for your social media posts is choosing the right frequency. 

• Facebook: 3-10 times per week
• Twitter: 5+ times per day
• LinkedIn: 2-5 times per week
• Pinterest: 5-10 times per day

Get organized by creating a social media editorial calendar for your business.

6. Track & Improve With Social Media Analytics

 SEO, you should track your SMO efforts with social media analytics. Some of this can be done through Google Analytics using UTM code. UTM code and short URL allow you to attribute traffic to your website from social media to a specific channel or campaign. 

In addition to tracking traffic, tie in social media-specific metrics as well. A great place to start is Avinash Kaushik's four social media metrics. Kaushik's metrics are good because they are straightforward and focus on the main aspect of social media- engagement.

Conversation Rate: The average number of comments and replies your posts receive

Amplification: The average number of times your post was shared and retweeted

Applause: The average number of "votes" your post has (+1, favorites, likes)

Economic Value: Your Social Media ROI

Social media optimization can greatly improve the way marketing is done on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media sites.