Social Media Optimization: 8 specialist Tips for Businesses
In 2024, brands across the globe are predicted to spend more than $234 billion on social media advertising. Undoubtedly, social media ads can pay dividends and impact your final profit. But ads are only one facet of a well-rounded social media marketing schedule. Another way to view supporter growth and boost engagement is by using social media optimization—a way to focus your efforts, and make them as impactful as feasible.
With almost 90,000 followers on TikTok, skin worry brand Dieux knows a thing or two about social media optimization strategies. Read on for social media optimization tips to supercharge your social media accounts, including valuable insights from Dieux CEO Charlotte Palermino that can assist provide your social media profiles that much-needed personal touch.
Table of contents
What is social media optimization (SMO)?
Social media optimization (SMO) is a digital marketing tactic that focuses on improving social media’s effectiveness as a sales channel.
A social media optimization schedule is about establishing obvious goals for a social media account, implementing strategies for advancement, continuously tracking metrics using social media analytics tools, and iterating until your goals are reached.
Goals you might try to achieve using social media optimization techniques include:
objective | Measured by |
develop your reach / boost awareness | Impressions |
develop your following | supporter count |
boost engagement with your spectators | Likes, comments |
boost website traffic | Website visits from social platforms |
develop profits | Dollars attributable to social media traffic (first touch or last touch attribution) |
enhance overall content act | Month over month, quarter over quarter, or year over year transformation in social post engagement and CTR from social |
8 social media optimization tactics
- make optimized, recognizable accounts
- Make your profile readable and accessible
- Optimize for social search
- Maintain a consistent cadence
- construct and maintain robust tracking infrastructure
- leave deeper
- Be yourself
- make obvious CTAs and drive traffic to your website
Social media optimization means improving your social content according to best practices and taking an iterative way for continuous advancement. Here are eight SMO tactics to supercharge your social media efforts and reach your business goals. Plus, advice from Charlotte Palermo, founder of Dieux, a viral skin worry brand that has amassed 90,000 followers and eight million likes on TikTok.
make optimized, recognizable accounts
Your brand should be instantly recognizable across every social media site you use. For instance, Dieux uses the same profile picture, handle (@dieuxskin), and the bio line (“Clinical science for ethereal skin”) on both Instagram and TikTok.
The principle of consistency applies to more than just your static profile—it extends to every visual resource (from typeface to color) and the voice you use in your captions. make a visual and voice navigator as part of your content marketing schedule to make sure that you have powerful brand recognition between accounts.
From there, ensure that all links in your bio and posts point to the correct place, so that you capitalize on every click you get.
Make your profile readable and accessible
Users will comprehend and engage with your content in a range of ways, and you desire to make sure you maximize accessibility for all audiences. Include descriptive subtitles, captions, and hashtags.
Put your hashtags in camel case (#PhotoOfTheDay instead of #photooftheday) to boost readability. Include descriptive alt text on your posts to allow consumers who use screen readers to quickly comprehend your images. And of course, make sure your profile image, post images, text, and subtitles are the correct image size for each platform. Just a couple of tiny touches can be the difference between increased engagement and a lost supporter.
Optimize for social search
Social media is quickly becoming the recent search engine, especially among younger users—for instance, 64% of Gen Z TikTok users use the platform as a search tool. One-quarter of US adults preferred to use social media platforms as their primary selection for online search.
To capture some of this search volume for valuable leads and boost your brand’s visibility, optimize your profile bio, your post captions, and your hashtag usage with keywords that are strategic to your business. For instance, Dieux’s Instagram profile is tagged within the “health/beauty” category and mentions the keywords “clinical,” “skin,” and “dieuxskin.com.” With these keywords, users on multiple networks searching for Dieux or for general skin worry accounts can discover the profile.
Another priority for your social media optimization efforts should be to list your product on social media stores, utilizing functionalities like TikTok Shopping and Instagram Shopping. This helps make products especially searchable on social apps (and makes conversion many steps easier for potential customers).
You can also optimize for social media search by getting more people to make social posts featuring your name or product. This might cruel partnering with content creators, influencers, or affiliate marketers—all of which will link back to your page, boosting your search rankings with high-engagement content.
Maintain a consistent cadence
Posting consistently isn’t just a way to boost engagement—it directly affects the way a social media platform will recommend your content. The Instagram algorithm favors recent content over ancient when showing search results or serving recommendations. This means, if you’re not regularly posting recent content, you could get lost below the throng of others who are.
The perfect rhythm to post your content is a delicate balancing act. Too seldom and you can misplace followers, momentum, and brand awareness. Post too often and your social media presence might commence to annoy your following (and burn out your social throng.) In general, brands should try to shoot for between three to five times a week, depending on the platform.
To really optimize, tailor your calendar to your spectators. Track metrics to discover when your Instagram posts or Facebook posts perform the best. With some trial-and-error and enough data, you can discover the period when your target demographic is online and willing to engage. Once you’ve optimized for your target spectators, you can set a consistent posting schedule with your golden period slots across several social media platforms.
construct and maintain robust tracking infrastructure
You’re probably tracking analytics on your social media sites, but how well is that data actually being captured, evaluated, and actioned on? Audit your social media tracking infrastructure for frail points and potential improvements. Look for ways to optimize toward converting your various demographics and to boost brand awareness.
For example, how many of your links to a website or landing page are trackable to the specific social account? Do you recognize which hashtags you use are bringing in the most recent followers?
If you’re in the dim about your data, you might require to consider using recent or updated analytics tools that track more than just your followers and likes. Your recent best partner? AI social tracking tools that can analyze trends and make reports with suggestions for advancement. You can also use these AI social media optimization tools to make and recycle evergreen content so you can maintain a consistent posting schedule.
Don’t overlook to look beyond your account—use social listening tools to scan for social media posts and valuable content relevant to your business. AI social media optimization tools can even make suggestions about what moves you should make next.
leave deeper
If your content isn’t going viral yet, the first thing to assess is the content itself. Does it leave deep enough to really provide worth for your spectators? Might it feel artificial or gimmicky? Charlotte has found that in-depth, authentic storytelling is the key to achievement on any social network.
For example, one of Dieux’s most viral videos isn’t flashy or scripted; it’s just Charlotte discussing the packaging trip for a product.
“It’s just, like, a five minute video about plastic and aluminum,” Charlotte says. “It’s about how the way we use plastic sometimes isn’t the way it should be used—now that we have more information on it.”
To leave deeper in your own content, ponder about the conversations users are having on social media—even those that your brand might be afraid to have. inquire yourself: What do my customers desire my brand to level with them about? Which of their questions have the most complicated answers?
Charlotte notes: “It’s much easier to provide a straightforward respond to something that’s definitive versus saying, well, it depends.” But the gray area is where the richest storytelling can happen.
🌟Out of content ideas? Try some strategies from our list to assist enhance your brand’s social media marketing.
Be yourself
Audiences recognize when you’re not being authentic, and they may not respond well if they ponder you just desire them to buy what you’re selling. How do you optimize your social media channels to be more you? Do some brand soul-searching to discover a voice that not only matches your brand identity, but also resonates with your spectators. Test and iterate on your social media pages until you can make your content stand out and your followers recognize your brand voice the instant they scroll to your post.
For Charlotte, this means being utterly herself on Dieux’s social feeds.
“When I met somebody that I was friends with on the internet,” Charlotte recalls, “they said: ‘Oh wow, you really are exactly like you are on social media.’” This is exactly the result she wants.
Her advice for business owners who desire to cultivate something similar for their brand?
“I can’t inform you to emulate me,” she says, “but I can inform you to benevolent of strengthen who you are.”
make obvious CTAs and drive traffic to your website
Having followers is great, but having customers is better. A powerful call to action (CTA) will assist your followers make the shift to paying customers, so assess the wording, placement, and effectiveness of the CTAs you’re currently using.
CTAs for social media can receive many forms—captions, spoken words during a video, a subtitle on the screen, a link to landing pages in your bio. Wherever the CTA, shoot for powerful verbs, a sense of urgency, and a short-but-sweet length.
For instance, this Instagram post from Dieux gets straight to the point: “Comment FOREVER to get on the waitlist.” Other CTAs might direct followers to “Shop the sale” or “Subscribe now.” For more ideas, receive a look at our navigator to writing the best CTAs.
Social media optimization FAQ
What is SEO and SMO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a digital marketing content schedule that uses strategies like link optimization and keyword research to boost rankings on search engines. SMO, or social media optimization, focuses on engaging with users on various platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and X, and turning followers into customers of your products or services.
What is an example of SMO?
An example of SMO is using social media analytics to gain insights into how much more engagement you’re getting on different types of content your post to your accounts. You can then narrow down what types of content performs best and enhance what isn’t.
How do you do SMO step by step?
To optimize your social media schedule, assess the act of each social account using social media analytics tools, tracking metrics like spectators engagement, supporter retention, and conversion. You can then implement SMO strategies like creating high-standard content, using relevant keywords and relevant hashtags, and creating obvious CTAs.
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