SEO means more than just Google optimization – any savvy marketer knows that. Nowadays, users don’t go to search engines like Google or Bing to look things up. Instead, whenever they are interested in a brand, they check its Facebook page, Twitter account, or other social media profiles. Then, they scroll through their posts to get an idea of how trustworthy a brand is.
Social media is growing by the day. Twitter, for instance,
gets 2.1 billion queries every day, while Facebook is getting one billion
searches every day. Other social media platforms also get millions of searches
every day. So, although they can’t compete with Google, it will be silly not to
include them in your optimization strategy. After all, with all the noise on
Google, it can be easier to reach your audience via social media.
The problem is that most marketers wrongfully approach
social media. They post the same content on every channel, which is
fundamentally wrong since they work differently.
How to Optimize and Perfect Your Social Media Channels (It Can Boost Your Traffic!)
To help you reach a wider audience and boost your traffic,
here’s how to optimize your social media channels.
The Rise of Social Media – We live in an age
where social networks can drive more traffic than Google. Buzzfeed.com is an
excellent example – the site tripled its monthly unique visitors in two years,
growing from 4.3 million to 19.3 million. It managed to grow so spectacularly
solely with the help of social media.
Although 19 million unique visitors can seem like a dream,
you can do this too. In addition to creating engaging, valuable content for
your readers, you also need to spend some time optimizing your social media
channels.
Here’s how:
- Use
the Right Image Dimensions – First, you need to adjust the images
you are uploading to your social media profiles. The logic behind this is
relatively simple: the wrong dimension could lead to an undesired cropping
distortion (think of cover photos, for example).
Here’s a list of image dimensions for Facebook, Twitter, and
LinkedIn:
Facebook:
- Cover
Photo: 851×316
- Profile
Photo: 160×160
- Timeline
Images: 504x whatever height you choose. For shared links, the ratio is
428×252.
Twitter:
- Header:
1500×1500
- Profile
Photo: 250×250
- Newsfeed
image: 1024×512
LinkedIn:
- Banner:
624×220
- Link
Thumbnail: 100×100
- Create
Engaging Content
People won’t stick around if you only use social networks to
spread awareness about your products and services. Try to be as diverse and
exciting as possible; a digital
marketing company is very good at this. Post news about the industry,
promote educational content, hold contests, and try to be helpful. If your fans
have questions, respond to them. They will appreciate your effort and reward it
with trust and more engagement.
Use emoticons since posts that contain them usually have
higher likes, shares, and comment rates. When you share a text in your posts,
delete the link from the copy; it is pretty distracting to the reader’s eye.
- Find
Your Sweet Spot
How long should your updates be? According to different
studies, posts longer than 80 words get more engagement. However, try to keep
link titles under 100 characters and make them enticing enough, so they get
your audience’s attention.
If you want to share a link from another site to your
LinkedIn profile, try to cut off the characters in the title until they reach
70 characters. Also, keep any LinkedIn status updates under 250 characters, and
limit yourself to no more than 20 posts per month.
- Figure
Out the Best time to Post
Find out what is your optimal post frequency. Usually,
Facebook posting once every two days should be enough to boost engagement
rates. For Twitter, on the other hand, between 1 and three times an hour is
recommended.
Publishing on weekends seems to record more success,
probably because people have more time to spend on social media channels during
the weekend. Also, try to schedule your posts after work hours; again, people
tend to spend more time on social media on their way home or before they go to
bed.
- Be
consistent
Use the same photo for every social media profile that you
own. It is easier this way for people to find and recognize you. The same
applies to logos when running campaigns, for example.
The only constant thing about SMO is that social media is in continuous change, so you mustn’t think your strategy is final. Keep an open mind and test everything.
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