You optimize website content for search engines, but do you optimize social media content for the platform where you post it?
Optimizing for social media complements search engine optimization as well as paid digital marketing, such as search ads and paid social media ads. Here’s how to improve business results by practicing social media optimization.
The Goal of Social Media Optimization
The ultimate goal of social media optimization is to increase your business profits and enhance your business growth. Social media sites are marketing tools that help you promote, market, and sell your products and services.
A study of social media optimization as used by the Indian company Trupay found that the combination of optimization and paid digital marketing increased social awareness of the company and drove more app downloads.
In this case, the company targeted Facebook because of the large number of consumers who use the platform. It simultaneously targeted LinkedIn with content for merchants that Trupay hoped to acquire as participants in their cash transfer app. In both cases, social media optimization enhanced paid digital marketing.
How Social Media Optimization Helps Business
Social media optimization is a process where what you get out of it depends heavily on what you put into it. Post mediocre content at random intervals and you will probably get disappointing results.
But if you optimize content, post it at optimized times, and coordinate it with your website content and your paid digital marketing, you can expect much better results.
Just as you have a content plan for your website, so should you have a content plan for your social media properties. Often, social media content can highlight recent blog posts or other new web content. It can also help you get the word out when your company launches specials or new products.
If you publish ebooks, white papers, or case studies, showcasing them on social media can bring in leads at multiple stages of customers’ decision process.
Select the Best Social Sites for Your Business
If you run a B2B company, then you will probably want to put the most effort into your LinkedIn content. By contrast, if you run a B2C business that is highly “visual” (clothing, grooming products, jewelry) you will probably want to place your focus on a highly visual platform, like Instagram.
There are many social media platforms, but don’t feel like your business needs a presence on all of them. It is better to focus on two or three than to spread yourself too thin by trying to put content up on every platform in an effort to reach more people.
Optimize Social Media Profiles
Social media optimization begins with optimizing your social media profiles. Choose a branded cover photo and profile photo. Link your profile to your website and to other social media profiles.
Be sure to fill out each social media profile as completely and accurately as you can. Ideally, the information that is contained on your Google Business Profile should match what you put on social media profiles exactly.
If you don’t have social media sharing buttons on your website, add them. In WordPress, you can find free plugins to do this easily.
Optimize Social Media Content
The content you put on your social media properties should be keyword optimized just like the content you put on your website. In many cases, the first two to three sentences of your latest blog post can go on your social media sites with minimal revision. This will usually take care of keyword optimization at the same time.
It would be hard to overstate the importance of using great imagery with your social media posts. Posts with great images or videos almost always outperform text-only content. If you have an image optimized for your blog or website, it will often work just as well on social media.
Another type of optimization that social media demands is time optimization. Tools like Hootsuite and others can help you determine when your social media posts are likeliest to get attention and will help you schedule posting at those times.
It all goes back to knowing your audience. Who are they? Which social media sites do they prefer? What days and times are they most active on social media? Knowing these things helps you get more mileage out of your social media posts.
Optimize Social Media Marketing
Businesses – especially small businesses – love organic social media posting because it is “free.” However, doing it correctly requires an investment of time and strategy.
At the same time, coordinating organic social media posting with your paid social media advertising can help you extend the reach of both. For example, a blog post, an organic social media announcement, and a paid social media advertisement about a new product line can be mutually reinforcing.
You have more control over who sees your paid social media advertisements than you do with your organic social media posts. But don’t neglect your organic audience. Sometimes the audience for organic and paid social media overlap. And sometimes people who see your organic content end up becoming part of your digital marketing audience.
Practices to Avoid
With social media, knowing what not to do is just as important as knowing what to do. Here are some proven concepts in social media optimization:
- Do not stray too far from your “brand voice” on social media
- Be careful which social media trends you latch onto and how long you do so
- Do not butt into social media conversations where you come across as barging in where you aren’t necessarily welcome
- Never exploit tragedy on social media in an attempt to get more leads or customers
- Stay far away from social media arguments and “troll wars”
Put Social Media Optimization To Work
Having and maintaining social media properties requires time and effort, so it only makes sense that you optimize your content on the platforms that you use. Social media optimization can be the difference between social media that does nothing for your brand and social media that amplifies your brand and your paid advertising.
The things you do in your SEO efforts make sense for your organic social media efforts. The right keywords, tone, images, and branding touches create a brand “ecosystem” that interested parties will recognize whether they are on your website, LinkedIn, or Twitter. In that ecosystem, every post or ad is another drumbeat encouraging people to follow.
We understand organic and paid social media advertising inside and out. If you need help, or if you need an agency to take care of your social media optimization, set up a call with our team.
Digital marketing, aligned with a great website and optimized social media posting, maximizes your good results. We know you want every digital marketing dollar to work its hardest, and we know how to make that happen.