Social Media optimization (SMO) implies to the use of different type of social media platforms for building company’s brand image in the market. These platforms not only help in generating a lot of traffic to the website but also help in building trust among the company. Through these social media platforms companies can reach out to their potential customers directly which makes it easier for them to know about the changing demands of the customers and adapt their company’s strategy accordingly.

Today we will learn in detail about SMO, its various approaches which help business build their presence in online world.

What is Social Media Optimization?

Social media optimization as the name suggests is an essential strategy of optimizing various social media profiles to create brand awareness and build trust and credibility among the company. Through the use of social media platforms company’s can interact and increase their reach of potential customers which in return increases their overall revenue. Social media platforms like Face book, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube are widely used today by all the popular brands.

The reason behind  the use of social media platforms as an important marketing plan are as follows:

Increasing brand awareness: Companies through their various strategies of engagement and content formulation can spread awareness about their brand and reach out to more people.

Driving Website Traffic: By formulating the content in an engaging manner and using call to action buttons a business can make their social users to their website.

Boosting Engagement: As social media handles provide various engagement tools like Like Share and Comment brands can boost their engagement with the users building trust and reliability in the brand

Improving Search Rankings: Engaging on social media gives a strong signal to Google search engines about the credibility of the brand therefore giving a boost in search engine rankings.

Why Social Media Optimization is Important

Social media optimization (SMO) importance can be analyzed by a fact that today every person is using social media platforms to stay connected with their loved ones. So it gives business ample opportunity to connect with their potential users through these platforms and build awareness about the product they are promoting. We have discussed some of the key factors relating to social media importance:

1. Increased Reach and Visibility: Having a large number of users with varied backgrounds, social media platforms gives ample opportunity to business to reach out those people. This not only benefit the business but also those people living in remote areas to connect with rest of the world and have a better standard of living. Companies through their varied social media strategies can reach out to these people and increase their visibility and followers to their website.

2. Building Credibility and trust among the Brand: As social media platforms become a medium between the users and the business they also help in building credibility and trust among the people for that brand as people come to know about companies of similar interest through social media turning them into loyal customers of that brand.

3. Increased Website Traffic: Social media is a great way of attracting users to your website. Formulating content in an engaging manner which includes links bio, stories and guest blogging is an excellent strategy for a brand to attract users of similar interest to their website and generate possible conversions.

4. Improved customer feedback: Through the use of social media brands can get knowledge about the pros and cons of their brand which helps them in providing better customer satisfaction and change their policies according to the changing demands of the user. The real time data is really effective in keeping businesses ahead of the competition.

5. Boosted Search Engine Rankings: Business that has a strong social media presence generate a lot of traffic to their website and indirectly boost rankings in Google search engine. This is due to the fact that through social media signals Google get an idea about the credibility and trust of people among the brand which results in higher search engine rankings.

Tactics for Social Media Optimization

Successful Social Media Optimization should be designed by a particular strategy for content, interaction, and social profiles. Here are some key approaches that you could turn to in order to maximize the value of your SMO work:

1. Get the most out of Your Social Media Channels

Customers interact with you through the social media links that you provide hence it is important that your social media profiles are well created. Consider the following tips:

• Complete Profiles: Make sure all the profile information is completed and include the bio, website, mailing address and office location if any.

• Consistent Branding: It means that while designing page and profile on any social media, ensure that you use the similar profile picture, same color and same tone as your company logo.

• Use Keywords: This means that you should use relevant keywords in your bio and description so that users should be able to locate you anytime they search.

2. Make High Quality Content That I Can Share

Communicating content is the leading component of any social media plan. In the case of SMO, a lot of emphasis is placed on the kind of content that will be popular and will be shared by the users. Consider the following:

• Visual Appeal: It is as expected that posts with images, infographics or posts with a video would attract more engagement than post with only text.

• Valuable Content: Post updates that your audience will enjoy receiving, whether it’s tips and tricks, lessons, or funny stories. This in turn raises the probability of getting likes, shares and comments on the posts.

• Encourage Sharing: Use CTAs that call upon your followers to share the posts with their followers thus expanding your horizons.

• Content Variety: Rotate your blog post, polls, videos, and user content to keep the audience from getting bored.

3. Use Hash tags Strategically

I can now say that hashtags can be very effective in enhancing the visibility of your posts out there in the different social media platforms. In social media networks such as Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, using hashtags aims at providing an easier way of classifying the different contents in the platform. To use hashtags effectively:

• Relevant and Popular Hashtags: Hashtags are very common nowadays so one must be certain to explore which hashtags are common in your niche then apply them.

• Branded Hashtags: Develop a personalized brand hashtag which people will relate with your company and adapt to when sharing content about your brand.

• Avoid Overloading: When implementing the use of a hashtag, make sure that you don’t overdo the use of the hashtag. According to these results, five to ten hashtags are appropriate for Instagram, but it is better to restrain its use on other platforms like Twitter.

4. Best time to Post Ads

Here it may be important not only to determine the frequency of ads posting but also the best time for that.

Consistency is key to keeping your audience engaged, but knowing when and how often to post is equally important:

• Post Regularly: It is good that your followers should get something new from your page always by posting frequently but don’t post too frequently.
• Best Posting Times: If you want your page to be have a good reach, then analyze when your particular audience is most active, and then post during those times. Instagram and Facebook provide information about your audience’s activity in particular hours of the day.
• Use Scheduling Tools: Some of the sites you can use to plan your posts include, Buffer, Hootsuite, or even Sprout Social in that you are able to schedule your posts in advance hence you do not have to always struggle to keep up with the time you need to make the post.

5. Engage with Your Audience

Social media is a process of exchange of information in which the message can also reach the sender. Companies that tend to directly relate with their followers have a better reception from their clients. Here’s how to maximize engagement:

• Respond to Comments: Always respond to the comments, even when they’re negative, in order to give credit to your readers.

• Host Contests and Giveaways: Engage your users by telling them that they would be able to win certain prizes or be able to get a certain amount of discounts for some amount of actions such as answering some of the questions you post or letting you know about your posts.

• User-Generated Content (UGC): Engage your audience and challenge them to share their testimonial about your product or a service you offer. UGC is considered to be highly effective because it contains real customers who use a brand and interact with the product.

6. Measure and Assess Outcome

To understand whether your SMO strategies are working, it’s essential to track and analyze performance metrics:

• Use Analytics Tools: Other sites such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram give information on reach, engagement or the audience.

• Track KPIs: It is crucial to track goals like follower gain, engagement percentage, website traffic sourced from the platforms.

• Adjust Strategy: According to your results, fine-tune your content, posting frequency or approach regarding engagement with audience on regular bases.

Tools for Social Media Optimization

There are various online software’s that prove to be an effective way to plan, track and schedule your social media posts. Some of the known tools are

Hootsuite: It is an effective tool in managing, scheduling and tracking your social media posts giving accurate insights

Canva: Effective graphic design software used by brands to add beautiful designs to their posts and increasing visibility

Buffer: Buffer is another tool which is used by the companies which lets you track and schedule your social media across different platforms.

BuzzSumo: BuzzSumo is a content analyzing and research tool which suggests new content topic ideas through which you can design great posts and analyze your competitors.

Conclusion

Social Media Optimization is critical for any firm that wants to increase the effectiveness of its online social media strategies. Despite all this, optimizing your profiles, creating decent content that your target audience will find meaningful, using hashtags appropriately, and being regular and consistent in your posting and engagement will help you to amass a solid fan base and direct them to your website. Social media is constantly changing and therefore businesses need to be responsive enough in order to maximize on the effectiveness of social media in the current world.