How To Optimize Your Social Media To Go Ahead Of Competitors

A lot has been said about Search Engine Optimization, especially when Google keeps rolling out algorithm updates. we are not going to be talking about Search Engine Optimization (SEO); we will be talking about Social Media Optimization (SMO).

Social Media Optimization refers to all the tactics or strategies that is used in ensuring social media accounts of a business generate enough awareness or leads that could sell its products and services and also bring traffic to the website.

We are going to talk about the five Social Media Optimization techniques that would put you ahead of your competitors and increase your brand awareness and sales.

1. Integrate Social Icons into Your Website

It is not uncommon that some well-designed business websites do not have social media icons integrated; some have the icons integrated, but the icons point to invalid social media profiles or wrong social media profiles. This is not a good practice, and if your business website does not have social media integrated, you are missing out on any things.

Firstly, you are not providing an avenue whereby people who love your business and what you do, to follow you keenly. Secondly, you are missing the backlinks from these social networks. By putting social icons on your website and putting your website URL on your social media profiles, you would earn no-follow backlinks, which indirectly impact your website’s ranking on Google.

If your social media account is well optimized, they would popup on Google when people search for your brand name. Another side of social media optimization technique (SMO) that is related to integrating social icon into your website is adding social media share buttons to your blog page. By so doing, this would allow people to share your posts easily and that would likely bring in more traffic to your website.

2. Complete Your Social Media Profile with Constituent Information and Images

The more the information you provide about your business on social media, the more people get to know what your business is all about. So it is good you do not leave any stone unattended to in completing your social media account profiles. You should provide all the necessary information in the profile of each of the social media account you registered on, and ensure the information is consistent throughout all the social media accounts.

It is recommended you use the logo of your business. if you do not currently have a logo, it’s time you hire a good graphic designer who would create a company logo to make your business look professional. The cover photo of your social media account should be of high resolution and professionally portray your products and services.

Most importantly, you should follow the recommended resolution for each social network’s profile picture and cover photo.

3. Develop and Implement a Posting Schedule

Besides having social media accounts with filled profile and good images, the Social Media Optimization technique that would put you ahead of your competitors is developing and implementing a posting schedule. The posting schedule allows you to consistently share relevant contents with your followers and engage them with your products and services.

It builds your relationship with them, shows them you are good at what you do, makes them visit your website, and makes them patronize your business.

4. Use Relevant Hashtags

Hashtags are a way of categorizing related posts on social networks. Lots of social media users use hashtags to find what interest them. By researching trending hashtags in your industry and using them when sharing posts on social networks, you increase your chances of making people who are not following your accounts see your posts.

The caution about hashtags is that you should not go overboard by stuffing your posts with too many hashtags – as too many hashtags would overshadow the texts carrying the message in your posts. You should use only the very relevant hashtags – especially on Twitter and Instagram.

You should also create personalized hashtags for your brand. Your followers would soon come to identify with the hashtags and might start using them while sharing posts about your products and services. That gives way to user-generated content.

5. Track and analyse

The time a post is shared has its impact, impression, reach, and engagement. A Social Media Optimization technique you should try is experimenting with different posting time and see the time your posts have the highest impression, reach, and engagement.

The prime time that most people are online on social media is from 6 PM  when they would have come back from work or school. Some are always online within the period of 8AM to 12PM. However, depending on your followers, the prime time might be different; so experimenting with different posting time – or using paid social media management software like Hootsuite, Buffer, etc, that could analyse when followers are online and it would help you determine the best time to post.

In-built analytical tools like Facebook Page Insight, Twitter Analytics, etc., also provide some insight into the best time to posts.

Apart from finding the best time to post, you should also use tools like Google Analytics UTM codes or parameters and URL shortener like bitly to determine which social media sharing channel is bringing the highest traffic to your website.

Conclusion

Well-optimized social media accounts not only give your business a strong online presence that translates into awareness and sales but also helps you build a formidable brand that’s ahead of your competitors. By following the above tested-and-trusted Social Media Optimization techniques, you can get to the level of being formidable and having a strong online presence in no time.

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