Social Media Optimization is essentially using social media as a catalyst to grow your company’s online presence. Where some companies tend to just set up a profile on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter to be where their customers are, SMO is about strategically creating, building and maximizing your social media plan to connect with your target audience. SMO allows you to:
Strengthen your brand
Generate leads
Get more visibility online
Connect with your audience
Why SMO Is Important
The lines between social media marketing and search engine marketing are becoming increasingly blurred. In the past, the two were looked at as separate and distinct aspects of marketing. But the reality is that they’re more intertwined than you might think.
While getting 1,000 Tweets on an article won’t magically boost your rankings on Google, social media marketing and SEO are both stronger together. One survey found 50% of companies that aren’t succeeding with SEO aren’t integrating social media marketing.
A lack of social media strategy has been a roadblock for companies for a while now. Partly because it’s still fairly new, and also because social media is always changing. Twenty-eight percent of brands feel that a lack of strategy is the top barrier keeping them from becoming a social business. In order to optimize your social media marketing campaigns, you have to have a strategy with clearly defined goals and objectives. A social media optimization strategy should focus on growing your presence and achieving measurable results. This post outlines how to setup your strategy in seven steps:
Ensure Your Social Goals Solve Challenges
Extend Efforts Throughout Your Organization
Focus on Networks That Add Value
Create Engaging Content
Identify Business Opportunities Through Social
Engage Instead of Ignore
Track, Improve and Market Your Efforts
When you have a documented strategy in place, youo measure where you stand and make improvements wherever necessary. We’ll touch on that topic more toward the end of this post.