Social Media Management
There’s a lot of buzz around social media – you hear it all the time, especially terms like “viral” and so on. When it really comes down to it, being successful on social media is a process.
Social media optimisation is utilizing the right combination of social media outlets to produce a desired outcome for a product, service, or brand.
Contrary to what many people may think, SMO (social media optimization) isn’t just throwing out blatant marketing messages through as many social media platforms as possible in order to (hopefully) accomplish the desired goal.
Successful SMO is part of a comprehensive, thought-out strategy. What works for one type of business, audience, and specific goal may not work for another. Utilizing one combination of social media platforms for a certain kind of company may not work for another when those same platforms are utilized.
What Are The Goals of Social Media Optimisation?
Reputation
The first goal of SMO is to build reputation – to create the perception that your business, service, and product is reliable and qualified. This is also known as “authority marketing.” By actively sharing valuable, authoritative content you are able to engage with your audience, creating discussion, encouraging sharing, and creating meaningful engagement. In other words – by simply being helpful, your reputation advances.
Leadership
You cannot have authority without leadership, which in social media optimization, comes from producing original content.
Engagement
The second goal is to engage your audience on social media by getting them to share content about your business, products, and services. This can include commenting, mentioning, sharing, liking, and plus-ones. This also works by sharing other people’s content as well. By targeting relevant networks and interacting with them, you continue to boost the reputation and authority of your brand.
Social
By building high-quality networks of hyper-targeted users who are part of your key demographic, you are able to give your brand more traction.
Authority
There are a variety of facets to authority, one of which is Google Authorship, which establishes you as an expert and displays your profile prominently in search results. Utilizing tools such as Google Authorship also creates important social proof.
Creating a Sphere
In order to accomplish the above goals, it’s best to connect the right kind of social networking platforms together to create a sphere of corresponding influence. This includes prominently displaying share buttons, social icons, and subscription options not only on your primary website, but also across all social media platforms. It’s a kind of cross-marketing that, when done right, provides outstanding long-term results.
Ready to Make Social Media Work For You?
ALEX O’BYRNE
Online Marketing Expert