SMO, or Social Media Optimization, is a concept whose main idea is to use social networks to expand the digital presence of a brand and improve the performance of its positioning strategy, based on optimizations that make Social Media channels have the optimal performance for the fulfillment of your objectives.
By using it, you can reduce the total cost of your marketing actions, strengthen customer relationships, and maximize SEO focus .
The use of SEO techniques to increase the reach of the content produced for the Internet is an essential practice for any Digital Marketing strategy .
By understanding the criteria of the search algorithm, it is possible to ensure that the material created by the company is among the first results of the SERPs.
However, being in the first places of the results pages is not enough for a brand that seeks to make the most of its relationship with the digital audience.
The constant growth of social networks makes them essential to consolidate the company’s online presence. Therefore, a strategy aimed at them can be valuable.
This is where SMO (Social Media Optimization) comes in, a concept that, if implemented correctly, can optimize and maximize the impact of the use of social media.
Did you find it interesting? So, keep reading the article to learn more about the following topics:
- What is SMO?
- Why invest in SMO?
- What are the main differences between SMO, SEO, SEM and SMM?
- What are the main SMO techniques?
What is SMO?
SMO is the acronym for Social Media Optimization, in Spanish translation it would be something like: Optimization for Social Media.
Using specific techniques, the idea is to use social media as a catalyst to grow and consolidate your brand’s online presence .
To understand what SMO is, we must take into account the unprecedented growth that social media has shown in recent years.
Networks like Instagram , for example, where 80% of profiles follow at least one brand account, increasingly attract investment from companies that see their potential.
As such, these channels are becoming central to Content Marketing strategies around the world, which has a side effect.
That’s because the volume of content production has reached stratospheric levels, making it difficult to write original and truly relevant posts for the buyer persona .
What’s important is that with this growing wave of companies investing in social media, Google has adapted its algorithm to consider page engagement as a ranking factor.
This means that, in addition to the classic SEO techniques, it has become necessary to produce content that gets more “likes” and is more shared than your competition. For this, the SMO was developed.
Why invest in SMO?
Just a few years ago, it was easy to see the difference between marketing focused on search engine optimization (SEO) and targeted marketing for social media (SMO). This line today almost does not exist. The two strategies are not only allied, but essentially complementary.
Therefore, the first reason to apply SMO techniques is their importance for SEO approach. This is made even clearer in this study , which found that 50% of companies that do not have good results with SEO do not integrate both strategies.
Let’s imagine that your company has a high level of engagement on Twitter . Although this does not guarantee a good ranking in Google, adding it to a good SEO strategy will improve the results obtained.
In other words, a balance between SEO and SMO is critical to the success of your Internet Marketing strategy .
Next, let’s go deeper and detail the benefits that an investment in SMO can bring to your business. Continue reading!
Total cost reduction in social media marketing
Today, any budget that addresses a business’s marketing and advertising efforts must have a separate part for use on social media.
After all, the advertising platforms offered by channels like Facebook and Instagram, although they are paid, allow to launch efficient campaigns.
It turns out that this efficiency is only possible from studies related to consumer behavior , demographics, and interests.
This is because the ads work together with a targeting tool that makes it easy for you to target an extremely specific audience.
However, there is no point in attracting qualified audiences to your page if you are not up to the expected quality. You know why?
Advertising platforms charge for meeting objectives. If someone sees the ad, performs the engagement action we expect, but is not interested in the content, it means a wasted investment. As we have already said, we need to establish a good conversion rate.
So, whether it is organic or generated by ads, the fact is that the application of SMO techniques increases the probability of attracting people interested in the content offered by the page.
As a result, the return on investment increases, which, in turn, lowers the total cost of social media marketing.
Better integration between social networks and other channels
If you have experience in the application of Content Marketing strategies, you should know that it is essential to diversify the channels through which you are going to distribute content and that, at the same time, it does not make sense to have a plurality of channels if they are not integrated in a coherent.
This ranges from the tone of the published content to the page design decisions.
After all, both the message transmitted by the brand and the visual identity are fundamental elements for a good Branding action . Therefore, it is essential to maintain cohesion in all the channels used.
If you optimize your social networks, this integration will be much easier. This is because the SMO can establish best practices for managing your pages and ensuring quality delivery.
With the certainty that social media posts are aligned with other company channels, you can target your blog or website posts , for example, to your profile.
In this way, highly qualified traffic will be generated, increasing the efficiency of investments in the area.
Reduced “content shock” risk
Do you remember that we mentioned that content production is experiencing exponential growth globally and represents a challenge for professionals in the field?
Along with this, we have the human limitation, which makes it impossible to consume all the materials produced by the Internet.
This phenomenon was addressed by Mark Schaefer in the book “The Content Code”, published in 2014. In it, the author introduces the concept of content shock, which describes exactly what you read in the last paragraph.
Therefore, with supply far exceeding demand, you need to find smart solutions to ensure that your content is consumed. The best way to achieve this goal is by applying SMO.
With optimized and truly relevant content you will be one step ahead of the competition and put your brand in a top of mind position . This means that when you and your competitor clash, consumers will not hesitate to click on what your brand represents.
Maximize audience engagement and engagement
We are currently dealing with an audience profile called Consumer 4.0. According to Philip Kotler , this means that the relationship between the brand and its customers is an increasingly critical factor for business success.
This is because today’s public sees companies as equals and therefore requires their humanization .
Upon understanding this demand, many brands have already begun to invest in strategies to be closer and more accessible to their customers.
This is why many email marketing campaigns use the sender’s name in an attempt to bond with their leads.
However, there is no better tool to create this relationship than a social network. Instagram brand posts, for example, encourage audiences to leave a comment or “like.”
In addition to showing the algorithm that the person is interested in your page, this possibility leaves room for interaction.
Since the SMO aims to increase the likes and comments received per post, we can say that it increases the chances of interaction.
An audience that dialogues with the business is easier to retain . Therefore, the strategy results in the generation of true advocates for the brand .
What are the main differences between SMO, SEO, SEM and SMM?
If you read this far, you already know what SMO means and you understand the importance of aligning this strategy with SEO. Also, we briefly talk about the fine line between such concepts and SEM.
Lots of different acronyms, right? This situation is very common in Digital Marketing and requires a lot of attention.
Therefore, before we focus on explaining the most effective Social Media Optimization techniques, we are going to explain in detail what the main acronyms related to Internet marketing mean.
Read on and understand the differences!
SEO
The acronym SEO, as we mentioned at the beginning of the article, refers to the set of organic techniques used to optimize the position of a web page in the results pages (SERPs) of search engines .
SEM
In turn, SEM techniques have a broader scope than SEO techniques. Search Engine Marketing, translated as Search Engine Marketing, includes all the techniques, paid or organic, used to optimize search engine results.
It may sound similar to SEO, but the concept has fundamental differences.
While SEO focuses on things such as scannability and keyword usage , SEM can include practices like Google Adwords campaigns or the use of sponsored links.
SMM
The relationship between SMM and SMO is the same as between SEM and SEO. Do you find it complicated? Let’s explain it to you!
Remember that Search Engine Marketing has a broader scope than the techniques used in Search Engine Optimization? In the same way, the SMM – which stands for Social Media Marketing – is broader than the SMO.
Therefore, the acronym SMM stands for all marketing actions focused on social media, whether organic or paid. The idea is to find ways to put the brand in a position that generates engagement and commercial opportunities.
What are the main SMO techniques?
As it could not be different, it is useless to understand the entire theory of SMO without knowing the best techniques for its application.
After all, it’s fair to assume that your competition will adopt a similar strategy, so it must be executed excellently.
Below, you will find the techniques, practices and strategies that give the best results in the optimization of social networks.
Find the ideal posting frequency
It’s no secret that knowing the correct posting frequency on your social media profiles is essential for an effective strategy. Posting too much can tire your buyer persona, while a low volume of posts can make you forget about it.
Of course, there is no magic formula to find the perfect balance between too many and few posts. So there is only one solution: test and test.
To perform the experiments, you can adopt the following strategy:
- For each network you are testing, schedule your posts with a predetermined frequency, two hours, for example.
- Maintain this frequency for a week, during which time you should closely monitor your metrics, such as the number of times it is shared, the level of interaction and clicks.
- The following week, reduce the frequency and continue to monitor the metrics.
- Do this week after week until you have enough data to compare and find out which posting frequency shows the best results.
From this procedure, you will better understand the behavior of your buyer persona and identify the frequency levels that provide the best results.
Discover the best time to post
In addition to calculating the ideal frequency to post, it is essential that you look for the best days and times for each social network. To do this, you can follow a similar procedure to identify the best frequency for your posts.
To get started, create a list of all your past posts, their top metrics, and their post date and time. By evaluating this list, you are going to identify trends regarding the timing of publication.
For example, if you notice that 7 of your 10 most popular Facebook posts were published between 1:00 PM and 2:00 PM, this is a good indication of the best time to post.
Strategically repurpose content
Doing SMO also means being smart about your content on social media.
The concept of content shock has shown us that creating satisfying material to post on your channels is an increasingly challenging task.
This is because only with really “sensational” content we could get the same performance as a few years ago, we would get with “good” content. That said, we know it’s great to produce great posts every day and maintain your desired level of frequency.
Therefore, you must reuse your content wisely.
That article to which you devoted a lot of research and time can serve as the basis for producing content in other formats, such as infographics , webinars or ebooks.
That way, you can better distribute the focuses of your materials.
Integrate social networks with other marketing channels
We have already said that integration with other channels is critical for the success of your social networks and vice versa. And when we talk about other channels we are not restricted to your blog or website.
Incorporating a button that links your social networks to your email will increase your open and conversion rate.
Plus, it will make it clear to your contacts that there are other places on the web where they can interact with you.
Another cool place to enter a social media link is the landing page’s thank you page . Here, it is worth remembering that the text of the landing page itself should not have any type of link.
Its sole purpose is to obtain the lead’s contact information . In the thank you pages, however, the idea is valid.
Create your contents thinking that they are shared
Sharing the content published by your page is essential to increase the reach of your publication.
Therefore, viral content creation is a strategy often adopted by companies in their digital approaches.
That said, be careful not to show your audience that you are looking to go viral.
At the slightest sign of this intention, the public can have a negative reaction and distance themselves from your brand. Therefore, always focus on meeting the needs and wants of the audience.
After all, there is no need to despair to encourage them to share our posts.
The use of visual elements such as images, gifs and videos makes it easier for us to capture the attention of the audience and increases the possibilities of interaction with the publication.
So as long as it’s in context with the rest, feel free to use this feature.
Another interesting technique to cause viralization is simply to use a CTA , that is, a short text that encourages public action.
Add a share button directly to your page and suggest that your audience do so. It is true that not everyone will respond, but asking subtly costs nothing.
It does not matter if the most used social network in your Digital Marketing strategy is Pinterest , Facebook, Instagram or another.
Using the concept of SMO to guide the management of the page is essential to increase ROI, reduce the effects of content impact and maximize relationships with the audience.
So, are you ready to optimize your social networks? Download our Social Media Marketing Kit to increase your results!
