8 Social Media Optimization (SMO) Strategies for Business Growth

As a business owner, you know that social media is a powerful tool to reach new customers, grow your brand, and boost sales. With billions of users across platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and more, social media has given businesses a unique opportunity to reach their target audiences whenever they please.

In order to make the most of the growing social media platforms and see substantial results, businesses need to focus on social media optimization (SMO).

Optimizing your social media profiles and posts can catapult a business and lead to significant customer acquisition and retention. In this blog, we’ll cover social media optimization techniques companies can use to improve their social media presence, increase customer engagement, and drive growth.

Related: How to Get Started with TikTok Ads

What is social media optimization (SMO)?

Social media optimization is the process of configuring social media accounts and content to be as search-friendly and engaging as possible. Like traditional SEO, SMO focuses on improving visibility and click-through rates by using techniques like keyword research, link building, and audience engagement. The priority of social media optimization is also similar: to attract and retain customers, drive traffic to a company’s website, and generate leads and sales.

Now that we’ve answered the question, “what is social media optimization?” let’s look at a few SMO techniques businesses can use to improve their social media presence and drive growth.

Social Media Optimization Techniques 

1. Account and Profile Optimization

The first step in social media optimization is to audit your social media account’s appearance and content.

Building a brand story and aesthetic that is appealing to your target audience is essential for social media success. In addition, your social media accounts should be visually cohesive, so make sure to use the same profile picture, cover photo, and brand colors across all platforms.

This also includes perfecting your social media bio since it’s one of the first things a new visitor or lead sees when browsing your profile page. So keep your social media bios short, sweet, and to the point. The bio can also be used to support our second social media optimization technique, searchability.

In the end, what your audience sees when they visit your profile should accurately represent your brand.

2. Searchability

Like Google and other search engines, social media platforms use algorithms to determine which posts appear in a user‘s feed.

You can increase your social media posts’ searchability and, consequently, their engagement rate by including relevant keywords and hashtags. For example, if you’re a real estate agent in Los Angeles, you would want to use hashtags like #losangelesrealestate, #LArealestate, and #LArealtor.

Your content and social media posts should be tagged appropriately and written to ensure the right people see them.

3. Testing Your Strategy and Content-Type

After you’ve built a social media presence and increased your post’s searchability, it’s time to start experimenting with the types of content you post.

There are many different social media content types businesses can use to engage their target audiences, including:

●      Text-Only

●      Various kinds of Images and videos

●      Infographics

●      Blog posts and articles

●      News stories

●      Live video

●      User-generated content

By testing different content types, you can see which pieces of content your target audience responds to the most. You can then adjust your social media strategy accordingly.

4. Posting at the Right Time

In addition to the type of content, it’s critical to test different posting times to see when your target audience is most active on social media.

There are a number of social media tools that can help you determine when your target audience is online. Instagram, for example, has an “Insights” feature that allows business users to see when their followers are most active.

By posting consistently and reviewing your social platform’s analytics dashboard, you can determine the best time to post on social media, see when your followers want to engage, and more.

5. Being Consistent & Using Tools To Automate

Once you’ve determined the best time to post, it’s important to be consistent with your social media posting schedule. The best way to ensure social media consistency is to use social media management tools like Sprout Social and HootSuite.

These social media automation features allow businesses to schedule social media content in advance, so they can focus on other aspects of their business and social media strategy.

6. Make Your Images and Videos the Right Size

Images and videos are key components of social media optimization since they help break up text-heavy posts and make your content more visually appealing.

When posting such content, ensure they’re the right size for each platform. If the files are too small, they’ll appear pixelated and low-quality. If they’re too large, however, load times will increase, and users may lose interest before the content has a chance to load.

Instagram, for example, has various options:

●      Landscape: 1080 x 566 pixels

●      Portrait: 1080 x 1350 pixels

●      Square: 1080 x 1080 pixels

●      Supported aspect ratios: Anywhere between 1.91:1 and 4:5

●      Recommended image size: Width of 1080 pixels, height between 566 and 1350 pixels (depending on whether the image is landscape or portrait

Each platform has its requirements for profile pictures, header images, newsfeed content, and more, so it’s important to ensure your images are the correct size.

7. Engage With Your Audience

Social media is a two-way street, meaning businesses need to engage with their target audiences as much as possible, just as they will engage with your content.

Make sure to like, comment, and share other users’ posts, especially if they’re relevant to your industry. Not only will this help increase brand awareness, but it will also establish social media relationships that could lead to future business opportunities.

8. Use UTM Links

Finally, businesses should use UTM links to track their social media marketing campaigns and understand which social media channels and links are driving the most traffic to their website.

UTM links are simple pieces of code that you can add to the end of your URL. Then, when a user clicks on the link, the UTM code is sent back to Google Analytics, providing valuable data about your social media marketing campaign.

Businesses can use this data to assess which links receive the most clicks and adjust their social media optimization strategy, ensuring they use the most effective techniques.

Related: How to Create Snapchat Ads

The Bottom Line

Social media optimization is necessary for businesses that want to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to their website, and generate new and exciting customer relationships.

By following the social media optimization tips outlined in this article, you can create social media content that is more searchable, engaging, and effective.

At Intensify, we offer Social Media Marketing & Management services to help businesses of all sizes reach their social media goals. Our social media experts will work with you to create and execute a social media strategy tailored to your unique business needs. Contact us for a free consultation today.

What social media optimization techniques do you use to grow your business? Let us know in the comments below!