What is SMO & How to Optimize Social Media Content?

Social media optimization is one of the leading digital marketing strategies in social media. The primary focus of SMO is to attract online visitors from sources other than search engines. All digital marketing agencies use social media to improve the reputation of their clients by implementing ORM. Through this, you can optimize your images, videos, or content in a way that can help you improve your social media presence as well as your business. To get answers about what is SMO and the steps to optimize social media content, be with us till the end.

In this article, we’re going to discuss multiple aspects related to SMO – for instance – what SMO is, its origin, importance or benefits, how to apply, required tools to optimize, and so on.

What is SMO (Social Media Optimization)?

Marketers use social media optimization as a catalyst to manage and grow a business by optimizing social media profiles as well as page assets. It counts efforts on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn platforms.

You should understand the dynamic nature of these social media platforms while optimizing online content. Your business profile pages must have all the necessary details about your business. Using proper descriptions with hashtags, images, videos, call-to-action, and UTM codes (in links) while posting the content help to boost your audience reach.

For using SMO in the right way, you must update yourself with the various elements of the search engine’s algorithm, as it keeps on changing. Well, there is always confusion between Search Engine Optimization and Social Media Optimization since both have similar goals, and that is to ‘generate web traffic and increase awareness for a website or its content’.

In addition, search engine optimization is a digital marketing strategy you apply to your content and related factors. On the other hand, SMO strategy is being applied to all your social media profiles and business pages.

Related: Know the Importance of Social Media Marketing in 2023

Origin or History of SMO

The term “Social Media Optimization” was first used and explained by Rohit Bhargava (a famous Marketer) on his blog in Aug 2006.

In his blog, he not only described the 5 important rules of SMO but also guaranteed that this optimization could influence the levels of engagement and traffic for any online content.

Let us now taste the juice of these 5 rules: –

• Objectives: Create your brand awareness and use all your social media profiles for any external communication.
• Listening: You must monitor all the conversations related to business objectives and customers.
• Audience: With your proper research, find out who the customers are, what they do, who they are influenced by, what they look for, and what they always talk about. This rule helps to prepare relevant content, product, and services according to their needs.
• Participation: You should be engaged with users by sharing relevant and useful content on your social media platforms and establishing your presence and importance.
• Measurements: Finally, you have to make a record of likes and comments, the number of sales (Conversions and subscriptions), and the growth of your online content.

He further says in his blog that applying the above rules will never betray you and you certainly improve slowly or gradually.

Why Social Media Optimization is Important?

Applying SMO strategy is always beneficial for everyone. Let’s know some of the importance of social media optimization.

• SMO improves your reach on your social media platforms.
• It strengthens your online presence.
• Social media optimization also connects and engages you with your audience for the long run.
• Most importantly, SMO increases your brand awareness on social media platforms.
• It also improves the quality of your leads.
• It provides you with more loyal customers and better customer service.
• SMO has a wider reach and higher ROI (Return On Investment) and can help to generate more leads.

Related: How to Use SEMrush for Keyword Research and Traffic Growth in 2023?

How to Optimize Social Media Content?

Here are the top 8 steps to optimize social media content.

1. Select the ideal social media platform

The very first task is to identify what as well as where the audiences look for. Which social media offers the best opportunity to engage with the ideal customers.

Once you choose the ideal social media platform out of Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and Snapchat, you can optimize the particular platform accordingly.

2. Fill out your profiles in

• Use a high-quality profile photo/logo for your brand.
• Your profile and your page should have enough details to make customers believe in your brand.
• Let users know what kind of company you run as well as what products and services you provide.
• Provide the proper location of your business so that customers won’t face any trouble reaching you.
• Give the best details for your company’s working hours and contact information.
• Live chat , whatsapp chat, and messenger options can also be added for real-time interaction.

3. High-quality content

The content is the most important asset for your social media reach. It can create positive user experiences and compel them to come back again in the future.

It’s highly recommended to use infographic images, video animations, relevant keywords and hashtags.

4. Relevant hashtags

While posting any online content (i.e, images, videos, articles, etc.), the usage of appropriate hashtags (in the description) expands our reach beyond just your immediate followers.

The decent number of hashtags usage on these platforms are:

Using more than the above numbers, you can discourage engagements. So, it’s better to use fewer but relevant hashtags.

5. Must include call-to-action (CTA)

A call to action is used for attention-grabbing headlines for your social media profiles. It encourages the audience to respond to your online content. It also boosts our engagements and converts the audience into leads.

Without using a relevant CTA, your audience may not know the next steps to sign up for a newsletter or purchase the product or services.

6. Link optimization with UTMs (Urchin Tracking Module)

UTM parameters are the most reliable module for tracking online content. It is not affected by any third party cookies and widely used by Google Analytics for conversion and performance tracking.

In addition, link building or optimization is an integral part of optimizing your social media platforms and helps assess the ROI of your particular posts. Additionally, setting UTM parameters to your social media channels and posts is very important to track your audience behavior.

7. Be active on social media platforms to add value to your business

For this, you just need to be active on those social sites which are profitable for your business. Meta (which also owns social sites such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram), Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn are the platforms where most of the audience check in regularly.

According to the Global Social Networks ranking in 2022, Meta (formerly known as Facebook Inc.) and its subsidiaries reported 3.58 billion active users a month. Facebook alone had 2.89 billion active users.

8. Track your progress regularly

Setting up your social media profiles or being active on them is not enough to succeed. Tracking the progress is also important to know if it is optimized properly.

Following are the factors you need an eye on:

• Reach, Impressions, and engagements of your post.
• The number of likes.
• The number of times your content is shared.
• The number of comments you received on each post.

Related: What is Website Performance Optimization?

Top Social Media Platforms That Can Be Optimized

No one is away from socal media in today’s world. Whether being a person or an organization, SMO techniques can take you to your acme. Here are the social platforms that you can create an account for and optimize them through social media optimization techniques:

Also read: How to Create the Facebook Page?

What are the Required Tools for Optimizing Social Media Profiles and Content?

There are various social media tools that can be used to optimize your social profiles as well as content. Such tools play a vital role to improve your overall progress on social media.

Some of the media tools are automated that help you to create as well as post content regularly. Such tools are:

Related: Tips for Meta Tags Optimization and Their Importance in SEO

Conclusion

In summary, SMO helps to optimize your social media presence and profiles. With this you can aim to increase audience reach, impressions, and engagements at maximum. This article explains about social media optimization in detail and how it can impact your website or digital content if used intelligently.

Moreover, from strengthening your online presence to getting maximum ROI, enhancing your brand awareness to improving the conversion of the leads, and providing you with the bundle of loyal customers to convert you into a star, Social Media Marketing supports you a lot. In addition, your social media profiles and the content should be genuine and relevant and must always be updated to get maximum results.

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