Wouldn’t it be great if you could simply put up a post and have instant engagement that turns your audience into paying customers? Generally speaking, it doesn’t work that way, but if you put a little elbow grease into your social posts, you can increase brand awareness and convert followers into customers.
For those who have yet to experience the rewards of social media marketing, you may be wondering, “What’s the point?” Well, for starters, 88% of companies use social media channels to reach existing and new audiences. This means two things: First, you can’t afford to ignore social media marketing. You’d be leaving a lot on the table if you avoid targeting audiences on the most popular platforms. Second, there’s no room to be “bad” at social media marketing because your competitors will surely be watching and waiting to swoop in and steal your followers when the opportunity arises.
With all this in mind, let’s take a look at the importance of social media marketing, especially when it comes to optimizing your social posts.
How Brands Use Social Media
Social networks allow you to interact directly with your customers and followers. They also give your audience the chance to interact and engage with your brand. This is different from old-school methods of advertising, which were essentially a one-way street of communication – one in which the brands put out a message, and their audiences had no way of actually engaging with them.
In the social sphere, companies often use influencers to reinforce their marketing efforts, review and promote new products, and grow their following or reach.
The goal of social media marketing is to create sharable content. In doing so, you’ll be able to reach a wider audience without spending your entire advertising budget because users find your brand organically. As a bonus, organic content shares are also likely to influence the purchasing decisions of future customers.
Social media isn’t just about getting shares and likes, though. It also helps you gain customer feedback and build brand loyalty. These, in turn, can help you increase your market reach far beyond anything traditional marketing methods can.
Why Is It Important to Optimize Social Posts?
Social media optimization (SMO) is important in ensuring your brand has a strong web presence. It also establishes your internet authority. Often, social media is a consumer’s first introduction to your brand, which is why you need to make sure your posts are optimized and refreshed regularly to improve brand visibility, credibility, and relevancy.
SMO allows you to manage your brand’s messaging and online presence while simultaneously growing your business online. As part of your digital marketing strategy, consider using SMO to bolster recognition of new products and services, connect with your customers, and leverage influencers to reach new audiences.
How to Optimize Your Posts: SMO Techniques to Try
Now that you understand the importance of SMO a little more, let’s talk about how you actually go about the process of optimizing your social posts.
Identify Your Social Media Goals
Before you can begin optimizing your posts, you need to understand what you’re trying to achieve. Once you identify this, you can take steps to reach these goals.
For example, let’s say your goal is to utilize social media platforms to boost sales. That means you’ll need to:
- Improve audience reach
- Increase engagement
- Gain more prospects
- Generate leads
- Convert those leads into paying customers
Once you determine your end goal, you’ll be able to formulate smaller milestones that will help you get from Point A to Point B. Then, craft a strategy around them. Be sure to get specific with your goals and use numerical values to easily measure your progress.
Use Best Practices on Individual Posts
Some posts are going to require more care than others. For instance, if you’re embarking on an influencer campaign, you should know those posts are going to require more fine-tuning than memes or simple daily updates.
For the posts that need that extra attention, consider these best practices:
- Write captions that reflect your business’s current promotions and initiatives.
- Include appropriate hashtags, keywords, and calls to action (CTAs) for each post.
- Maintain a distinct tone and brand voice throughout your campaigns, finding a balance between promotion and personality.
It’s important to make sure your social media optimization efforts are lending themselves to each post and working toward your ultimate goal.
Post at the Right Times
To win big on social, you have to consistently post content that’s not only exciting to your audience but at times when they’re most likely to engage.
We’ll be honest – it can be pretty difficult to figure out the perfect time to post. You’ll want to fine-tune your content strategy optimization times based on analytics. A good rule of thumb is to post at 10:00 am on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. From there, you can begin to look over data that tells you when your audience is most active on each platform.
Consider using an online scheduling tool with a “best time to publish” feature. The key is to understand the times when your audience is most likely to be engaged so your content actually reaches these users.
Conduct Keyword Research
Keywords work similarly in social media strategies as they do in search engine optimization (SEO). You need to know which topics, keywords, and hashtags your audience uses to find information about your industry. Once you understand how your audience searches on social, you can optimize your strategy to get more engagement from them.
Level Up Your Social Media Strategy with Zero Gravity Marketing
Our expert team of social media strategists can take your brand to the next level. If you’re ready to build brand awareness and boost engagement, reach out to us!
