An interesting fact – in 2020, 70 million Americans used social networks. And this figure is constantly growing. And now imagine how many people around the world register on social networks. Drumroll… A whopping 3.8 billion!
In this post, we will tell you about social media optimization and several steps you can take to improve your social media presence.
What is social media optimization?
Social media optimization, or SMO, is a set of measures aimed at making your website and social media accounts follow all the social media best practices so you can reach a larger audience and grow your business.
Here are several optimization practices:
- Analyzing your existing strategy
- Researching keywords for your posts
- Updating your account information
- Understanding what content works best
- Reviewing your accounts’ metrics
These practices are basic, but there are always plenty of ways to optimize your social media account.
5 steps to do social media optimization
- Analyzing your existing strategy
Start with the question: «What goals do I want to achieve with social media?» Once you understand it, you can align all your efforts with these aims.
Next, analyze your competitors: what goals THEY have and how THEY achieve them. Are they sharing a lot of engaging videos? Are they posting about their new services to draw people to their website? Check these out.
After that, look at your content: figure out what your target audience likes and doesn’t like, and try to adapt your content based on people’s preferences.
If you share content from a website, don’t forget to track website traffic. For example, you can use a free tool such as Google Analytics.
- Researching keywords
Topic «Keywords» is relevant not only for search engines. When people search for a profile, or a hashtag, or whatever else, the social media platforms use keywords to help understand what results best serve the user.
So, let’s check an example. Imagine your name is Andrew and you run a footwear shop. Then you create an Instagram account and decide on the name. It would be a bad idea to name the account «Andrew’s». It is better to write «Andrew’s footwear store» or «Andrew’s shoes». These names would give Instagram more context and, if someone searches for a footwear shop, they may see you in the results.
- Updating your account information
Check twice, or better, even three times, all the information in your account: be sure that profile pictures and featured cover images are consistent across all channels, and that all links, phone numbers, usernames, and bios are correct.
It may seem like simple advice, but remember – even something as small as a broken link can cost you valuable leads.
- Analyzing the content you share
Does the content you share meet your company’s goals? Are your page titles interesting enough for people to click? In short, make sure that your content is fully optimized to be shared.
And to fully verify this, look at the data available – you’ll have a clear understanding of what you should create.
- Continuously reviewing your data
We are all people and our interests can change. The same applies in the case of your target audience: take notice of the popularity of your posts, which topics you should add, and which ones to get rid of.
Get started with social media optimization!
In conclusion, combine your goals with social media efforts, track your performance and your traffic, and you’ll instantly improve your social media presence,
If you want to know more details about SMO, contact us online today!