Anyone with a brand, business or project will know that social media is a crucial part of marketing strategies. Social media helps businesses connect with potential and current customers, build brand awareness, and boost sales.
But what you might not know is that social media can also help your website rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This process is called social media optimisation (SMO).
In this blog, we’ll explain what SMO is, how it works, and why it’s so important for businesses. By the end, you’ll gain a greater understanding of how social media can benefit your business and how to start using SMO to improve your performance for better results.
What is a social media strategy?
A social media strategy is a plan of action for how you will use social media to achieve your business goals. It should include what platforms you will use, what kind of content you will share, and how often you will post. Your social media strategy should also align with your overall marketing strategy for your brand.
What is social media optimisation?
Social media optimisation is using social networks to manage and grow your business and its message, as well as its online presence. SMO is excellent for increasing awareness of new products and services, building a loyal customer base and community, and creating a brand identity.
Most social media platforms have built-in features that allow businesses to optimise their social media presence, such as Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics. However, there are also third-party SMO tools available, like Sprout Social and Hootsuite Insights, which provide more in-depth data analysis.
For many years search engine optimisation (SEO) has been the standard for digital marketing optimisation efforts. However, now social media has taken the world by storm, SMO has become a very prominent element of any marketing strategy.
Both SEO and SMO have similar goals (generate traffic and increase brand awareness, for example), but they go about achieving these goals in different ways. While SEO is focused on optimising your website for search engines, social media optimisation is all about optimising your social media profiles and content for your target audience.
People are using social media more than ever before, so you must be visible where they are spending their time. Not only that, but social media can be a very powerful tool for driving traffic to your website and generating leads.
Here are four reasons why social media optimisation is so important for businesses:
-
Helps you connect with your target audience
When you optimise your social media profiles and content for people (not just search engines), you’re able to better connect with your target audience. This is because you’re speaking their language and using the platforms they’re already using.
-
Increases brand awareness
Social media optimisation can help increase brand awareness for your business. When people see your content on social media, they’ll start to become more familiar with your brand. And if they like what they see, they’ll be more likely to share it with their friends and followers, which will help increase your reach even further.
-
Drives traffic to your website
SMO can also help drive traffic to your website. Every time you post something on social media, you can provide a link back to your website. If people like what they see, they’ll click through to your website to learn more.
-
Helps you generate leads
Social media can also be a great way to generate leads for your business. When people see your content on social media and visit your website, they may be more likely to sign up for your email list or contact you about your products or services.
Why it’s important to optimise your social media strategy
If you’re not already optimising your social media content, now is the time to start. Social media optimisation is important for businesses because it can help to achieve several goals.
If you’re wondering how you can exactly optimise your social media content, follow these tips:
-
Post at the right place and time
To maximise your reach, it’s important to post your content at the right place and time. This means posting when your target audience is most active on social media. You can use social media analytics tools to figure out when your audience is online so you can adjust your posting schedule accordingly.
-
Use relevant keywords
Just like with SEO, using relevant keywords in your social media content can help you reach a wider audience. When people search for those keywords on social media, your content is more likely to show up in their search results.
-
Make sure your profiles are complete
When someone visits one of your social media profiles, they should be able to quickly and easily find out what your business is all about. That’s why it’s important to make sure your social media profiles are complete and up-to-date.
-
Include a call-to-action
Your social media content should always include a call-to-action (CTA). A CTA is an instruction that tells people what you want them to do next. For example, your CTA could be something like “click here to learn more” or “sign up for our email list.”By including a CTA in your social media content, you can increase website traffic and leads.
-
Always think of your audience
When creating social media content, it’s important to always think of your audience first. What are they interested in? What would they like to see? By creating content that appeals to your target audience, you’re more likely to connect with them and achieve your business goals.
Social media users are different for each platform, like TikTok which is predominantly used by Gen Z’s, so make sure you’re using relevant social media platforms for your target audience.
-
Use hashtags
Hashtags are a great way to reach new people on social media. When you use hashtags, your content is more likely to show up in searches for those hashtags. For example, if you’re a business that sells eco-friendly products, you could use hashtags like #sustainability or #eco-friendly.
And don’t forget to use relevant branded hashtags as well! By using your business’s branded hashtag, you can make it easier for people to find and connect with your business on social media.
-
Post visual content (especially videos)
Posts with visuals tend to perform better on social media than those without. That’s because people are more likely to stop and look at a post if it has an image or video.
User attention span has decreased over the years so it’s important to make sure your content is attention-grabbing.
Videos are especially effective on social media. In fact, social media users are more likely to watch a video than read any long-form content. So if you’re not already posting videos on social media, now is the time to start.
And don’t forget to optimise your videos for each social media platform. For example, Instagram users are more likely to watch vertical videos while YouTube users are more likely to watch horizontal videos.
-
Use social media ads
Social media ads are a great way to boost your reach and get your content in front of new people. With social media ads, you can target specific demographics, interests, and even behaviours. This ensures that your content is being seen by people who are most likely to be interested in it.
Running social media ads can be a great way to increase website traffic and leads. But it’s important to make sure you’re using the right social media platform for your business goals. For example, LinkedIn is a great platform for B2B businesses while Snapchat is a great platform for Gen Z audiences.
-
Be active on the channels your audience value the most
Activity on social media is crucial if you want to improve your engagement rate. It’s hard to stand out when so many businesses are marketing on social media, so it’s important to stay up to date with the algorithm and understand when and how often is best to post. You can do this by looking at your channel’s insights.
-
Regularly check and test
To fully optimise your social media content, you need to regularly check your analytics to understand how well your content is already performing. You can then optimise the content that isn’t doing so well to try and make improvements. Whether that be the graphics you’re using, the video, or the copy you are writing in the captions, ensure you optimise them all to ensure your content is valuable to your audience and solves their problems. Keep trying and keep testing until you start to see the results you want and when you do, you’ve mastered optimisation!
Creating social media content can be time-consuming, but it’s worth it. By following the tips above, you can create social media content that’s optimised for success. If you need help reaching your social media marketing goals, contact us today.