Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for websites has been fine-tuned with numerous companies now devoting considerable effort to defining best practices and touting the value of SEO on organic search listings. While there is power in SEO, there is a new offering that businesses are demanding – Social Media Marketing Optimisation (SMO). The concept behind SMO is simple: implement changes to optimise a site so that it is more easily linked to, and more visible in social media searches on custom search engines.
Social media marketing optimisation encompasses building your brand, loyalty, customer base and much more. Some of the customised social media marketing optimisation services that we offer include:
- Social networking profile selection and development.
- Relevant blog research.
- Blog commenting and reply campaigns.
- Community outreach programmes.
- Online reputation management, tracking and improvement.
- Online brand loyalty programmes.
- Blogger outreach programmes.
- Online viral video promotional campaigns.
- Overall social media marketing.
- In-house training.
SMO tactics can drive huge numbers of visitors to a website and can also determine whether a start-up, website or idea will succeed or not. It involves driving traffic to a website through new channels because search engines aren’t the only sites that drive traffic any longer.
- Increase your ‘linkability’ – The first and most important priority for websites. Many sites are “static” – meaning they are rarely updated and used simply for a storefront. To optimise a site for social media, we need to increase the linkability of the content.
- Make tagging and bookmarking easy – Adding content features like quick buttons to “add to del.icio.us” is one way to make the process of tagging pages easier, but you should also make sure pages include a list of relevant tags and suggested notes for a link.
- Reward inbound links – Often used as a barometer for the success of a blog (as well as a website), inbound links are paramount to rising in search results and overall rankings.
- Help your content reach – Unlike much of SEO, SMO is not just about making changes to a site. When you have content that can be portable (such as PDFs, video files and audio files), submitting them to relevant sites will help your content reach further, and ultimately drive links back to your site.
- Encourage the mashup – In a world of co-creation, it pays to be more open about letting others use your content (within reason). YouTube’s idea of providing code to cut and paste so you can embed videos from their site has fuelled their growth.
- Be a ‘User Resource’ – Add value to users, including outbound links to areas that could help them with their goals and purposes. Deployed corrected, even if you link to competitors you stand to gain as the community’s first source of information found.
- Reward helpful and valuable users – Often helpful or popular users will be influencers and champions within your social site, devise ways to elevate them by promoting their works on the homepage.
- Participate – Join the conversation. Don’t forget that social media is a dialogue. By conversing with the community you are creating awareness and prolonging your buzz. Participation helps your message spread further and faster.
- Target your audience – If you don’t even know your target audience you are in trouble
- Create content – There are certain kinds of content that just naturally spread socially. It does not matter what industry you are in and what boring products you sell, there is always some kind of content that can be created that will work.
- Be authentic – The community does not reward fakers.
Two criteria of a successful social media marketing optimisation programme are:
- Engage in a two-way conversation with their audience.
- Allow and encourage user-generated content.
Case Study
FinTech Social Media Marketing Optimisation
I recently led a successful social media marketing optimisation (SMO) initiative for a disruptive FinTech start-up aiming to grow its visibility and trust in a competitive digital marketplace.
At the heart of this strategy was a multi-faceted SMO plan designed to improve brand visibility, encourage user engagement and build authority across selected platforms. We began by auditing and refining the start-up’s existing social media profiles to ensure consistency, relevance and linkability. Static content was replaced with dynamic updates, short-form explainer videos and infographics – all tailored to resonate with the target audience of digital-first professionals and SME decision-makers.
We implemented a tagging and bookmarking system to make content easily shareable and boosted reach through blogger outreach, relevant community engagement, and tailored content for niche LinkedIn groups. Importantly, user-generated content was actively encouraged and reshared, creating a two-way dialogue with followers and building loyalty around the brand.
Inbound link opportunities were enhanced through strategic blog commenting and partnerships with financial influencers. Portable content – including downloadable guides and demo videos – was distributed across relevant platforms, driving qualified traffic back to the company’s main site.
Within three months, the start-up saw a 120% increase in social referrals, a significant uplift in engagement rates, and a measurable improvement in online sentiment. I feel that my approach highlights how effective SMO can complement broader marketing goals – not only attracting attention but nurturing a sustainable, interactive community around a brand.
Social media marketing optimisation made easy
The social media marketplace is large, ever-growing and quite complex. Whilst you do not need to partake in all community networks, you do need a sufficient presence.
You should, however, not over-stretch yourself – it is better not to commit to being involved than to do something half-hearted.
Jack Marketing Solutions™ can help you devise a strategy to optimise your social media marketing optimisation activities and train your staff to maintain their presence. We can also track and monitor your social marketing activities, or train your people to do this and report back to you. Contact us today to find out how we can help release your potential.
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