What is Social Media Optimization (SMO), and how does it affect your social media and digital presence? Is it something you REALLY have to do? Do you really need to add another thing to your plate to make your business work? We can hear you, “My social media presence is working just fine,” but is it really?
Sure, it can seem like we’re being nitpicky, but SMO can help you streamline your online presence, boost your SEO, and help you look more cohesive as a brand. It can look like a lot of work, but once you start creating and putting steps into practice, it will get easier and less overwhelming.
In this blog, we’re breaking down how Social Media Optimization works and how to make it work FOR YOU.
Build It, and They Will Come
First things first, you need to build your social media presence. Social media is held up by 3 pillars of ideas: Inspiration, Entertainment, and Education. These pillars help you serve as your foundation when you’re creating content for your brand, and you might use one or more of these pillars at a time. These are the main categories that your content will fall into, and how you can show your audience what makes your brand stand out from the others in your industry.
Now that you’ve either built your content library up or are looking to start from scratch, how do you optimize your social media to work for you?
Brand Consistency
First, you want to make sure that your bios or about sections are all similar. Use the same messaging across all of your platforms, and have your links working. On Instagram, for example, you can only share one link in your bio, so use either your main site or utilize a service like LinkTree to provide easy access to your followers to all of your platforms.
Using similar wording and bios helps boost your SEO and makes your profile easier to find and remember; it also helps share your messaging. Even using the same profile picture makes it easier to find your profiles, and keeps them united.
Platform-Tailored Approach
Next, you’ll want to tailor your content to your platforms. This one sounds silly, but not all content belongs on every platform you’re on. For example, a fun post that we like to share at Bean Media is about our office shenanigans; it works great on Instagram and Facebook, but it would not do well on LinkedIn, which is used for more serious networking.
Picking the right platforms for you to post on depends on a few things: are you a B2B or a B2C? Do you plan on using short-form content like TikTok, Reels, Twitter, etc? Or will you be relying on long-form content like YouTube or a blog? Maybe somewhere in between, like Facebook? For this step, it’s important to carefully consider the intent of your content and the platforms you plan on using.
Keywords and Hashtags
After choosing your platforms, you will need to create an ever-evolving list of industry keywords that are relevant to you and your business. Using this list, you can use these as keywords in your descriptions and as hashtags. This is an easy way to boost your SEO and make your content easily findable. These are the same keywords you can use in your “about us” sections and platforms’ bios.
Using relevant hashtags will help new followers find you in the vast space of the internet and help current followers build a community on your page. You can also have fun with them and use them to track events or major moments happening in your business.
Use Your Voice
The last thing to optimize your socials is to interact with your followers! This is the most important part and can be the most fun. Liking and replying to comments left by your followers helps build your online community and your brand. You can use these comments to establish yourself as an expert in your field and find inspiration for future content. It’s in these moments that you can build and strengthen brand loyalty, build trust, solidify your brand’s voice (what you stand for), and promote your business.
So, why does all of this even matter? Well, SMO is all about encouraging your content to be viewed, shared, and interacted with. If your content is shared, that’s a potential new customer meeting you, expanding your reach. As your content is shared, search engines are keeping track, and upon seeing your content being shared, you can rise in the SEO rankings.
Optimize Your Social Future
As you can tell, boosting SEO is a huge benefit of optimizing your social media. By using things like thumbnails, hashtags, and branded content, you can make your pages look cohesive and professional. This is the part that can feel overwhelming, especially if you have an extensive library of content. Now you do not have to retroactively apply your new look to your old content, but do mark a clear point where you consciously take your new look forward.
Social media is not going away and is always changing. By utilizing Social Media Optimization, we’ve shown that you can always keep improving on your own brand and business. To keep expanding your audience and grow, you must grow with your audience and learn from them as well. By adding small changes to your everyday content, posting schedules, and your websites, you can keep up with the changing trends, changing platforms, and new audiences.
If you own a business or know someone who does, and you need a little help, Bean Media is here to help. Contact us today, and we can get you on the path to success!