Social media optimization

I mean, you have your social media properties set up. Can’t you just continue posting content as per the schedule you set? Why the change of heart, yet you have made the bold first step?

Well, you have looked at your social media properties and noticed something, didn’t you? In comparison to other social media properties, you are not getting the traction you set out at the outset. Social media optimization (SMO) will help your corporation generate the publicity it has been working hard to get. Result, increased awareness.

So let us break down the 12 steps you need to take in order to optimize your social media properties aimed at boosting your social interaction and increase awareness. If you are ever having trouble, optimizing your social media properties, come back here and re-read this post to get a handle on the practice. Let us get started, shall we?

What are these 12 steps?

Start by defining your objectives and goals.

The decision to execute a social media program should not be treated casually. Similar to all other corporate programs, know exactly what it is that you want to achieve. Determine cues that will be used to measure progress.

As Lee Odden says, ‘Know your desired outcome at you start – for example, reputation, sales, influence, credibility, charity, traffic/page views.

Offer Value

Millions of social media programs exist in the social realm. But not all of them realize their set goals. Why? They fail to utilize this chance to share new knowledge with their audience. Do not make that mistake. Be there and be ready to share the most valuable content.

If apiece of content makes people seem smart, they are more likely to share it with their friends. And people like being the first to share information because it makes them seem cool and in the know – Mashable

Increase Linkability

To optimize a site for social media, we need to increase the linkability of the content. Adding a blog is a great step, however there are many other ways such as creating white papers and thought pieces, or even simply aggregating content that exists elsewhere into a useful format – Rohit Bhargava

Tag your content

Enable your content to reach a wider audience by using tags. A tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information (such as an Internet bookmark, digital image, or computer file). – Wikipedia. They help describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching. 

Make your content easy to access

Our audience have limited time to spend. Capitalize on that. By using short links that drive users to the exact location of your content prevents them from getting bored.

Content that is easy to view through short links (PDFs, video files, and audio files); travels further and is more trackable in proving it is driving visitors ultimately to your site – Rohit Bhrargava

Use permalinks in blogs for keywords and sharing

When you blog, permalinks automatically capture keywords in the URL titles that search engine look for when the crawl your site; at the bottom of your blog, they make it easy for readers to copy and share – Barn Raisers
 

Be Rewarding

In social media, we cannot go at it alone. We need to formulate a strategy, to court influencers, who help push the brands agenda. Whenever, you come across the content of these influencers, share it. This will give you visibility.

Show Humility

You are on a journey. Once you make it to the top, remember all the people that made it possible. Always show respect.

Let Go Of an Idea and Let Others Own It

In the spirit of social media principles, the idea of Social Media Optimization is now out there and belongs to the marketing and PR community. I strongly believe the future definition of this emerging marketing practice will come from the group – Rohit Bhargava

Know Your Targeting

Going into social media blind is not wise. Prior to anything, determine beforehand whom you intend to communicate with. Once you determine the audience you can appeal to, stick to that demographic. Those who you cannot let them be.

Be Useful

Add outbound links to areas that could help others. Folks will link to your social site and tag is as helpful or the ‘ultimate’ guide in that space. As this adds up, it will become more and more relevant in search engine results – Jeremiah Owyang

Stay On Top Of Your Game

With all the technological advances, you need to stay up-to-date. Learn of any new tool sin the industry. Know what the social media channels are up to. Never let any new development pass you by. It could be the break you have been waiting for to reach a million page views.

Over to you now reader. Give it a go and let me know how it goes.

This post originally appeared here.

How are you fairing on in LinkedIn?

To those of us working to break a niche in the world of digital communications – marketing, we should be curious. On my part, my curiosity has led me to severally observe how businesses doing so well on the social sphere go about it. To essentially find out what makes them tick.

I do not stop there, as should you. I delve further to observe those that are not doing so well, and find out why. Yet the two companies under observation could be in the same industry, netting same amounts in revenue, have almost equal numbers of employees, why the huge difference?

While on my fact-finding mission, I came across a blog post by Krista Neher, of kristaneher.com. Her post, quite informative, helped me reach a conclusion rather quickly.

In her post which she states bluntly: ‘…While I do not have all of the answers, one thing has become clear: Most businesses that do not get results from social media do not do it right.’ It then became clear, that those using social media, yet fail to get the desired results owe those bad results to themselves.

To continue she lists, some of the aspects that these businesses fail in and as a result fail their social media program. I will categorize them for simplification:

Content Strategy

• The content is not strategic
• They have no strategy                                            
• The content is not very interesting
• The posts are not structured well
• The audience is not clearly defined

 Copywriting

• The headlines are mediocre
• They do not post consistently

Incorporating talented graphic designers

• The posts do not have great visuals  

Krista's advise is to go all in when it comes to social media. I agree.

Many a times we have seen poor images used on corporate social media sites, unprofessional graphics, unattractive headlines and so on. Feel free to use the list to iron out areas of weakness as you revamp your social media program.

Post consistently. Use the best images in your image library (you should have one of these). Ask your colleagues to chime in on your headlines, if it works, keep it. If not, re-write it. Depending on the feedback, adjust accordingly.

Corporations cannot afford to stay on the sidelines anymore. The social media games are on. And whoever dances his feet off, will take home the pot of gold. Taking part is becoming a must-do. With that in mind, deploy your resources fully towards your social media program and watch as the magic happens.

I would like to hear from you on this. Leave a comment.

To read the original blog post, click here.