Optimizing your social media posts with the ever-evolving landscape of social media can seem daunting. Each platform has its algorithm, user base, target engagement numbers, and more, making it seem nearly impossible to target these key metrics. Thankfully, there are some key ways to optimize your posts for each social media platform. 

From creating an overarching social media marketing plan to unifying your social media platforms with a cohesive aesthetic, there are some crucial overarching ways to make optimizing your posts easier from the start. Once you set up your social media accounts correctly, tweaking individual posts for maximum engagement is much easier. Proper post optimization can, in turn, greatly improve your marketing return on investment (ROI) and engagement numbers. 

With this in mind, let’s first look at the importance of social media optimization. Then we’ll analyze how crafting a uniform social media aesthetic across several platforms can make future optimization much easier. Finally, we’ll cover some tips and tricks on engaging your audience on some of the major social media platforms and optimization strategies that work regardless of the social media algorithm you’re working with. 

Importance of Social Media Optimization

As of 2021, 4.26 billion people use social media, which is expected to increase to 6 billion by 2027. With this large user base, social media is an incredibly powerful marketing platform that small businesses should take advantage of. While social media marketing may seem overwhelming initially, this platform is a goldmine for small business owners, allowing them to reach customers at an incredible rate.

Ensuring your social media is optimized for maximum outreach and user interaction has several benefits. First, it puts your business in front of users, making them aware of your products. Second, it adds legitimacy to your business, encouraging future customers to work with or purchase from your company. 

Optimizing your social media posts ensures you get the best ROI per post while engaging with more customers. As discussed in another blog, marketing is more than a one-and-done purchase. Instead, each step of your marketing campaign guides customers down a sales funnel to craft loyal repeat customers. With this in mind, let’s optimize your social media posts across all platforms. 

Conduct a Social Media Account Audit

Your first step to optimizing your social media posts is to take a long, hard look at your current accounts. This applies to all forms of social media associated with your company, including your website. Your accounts should be easily recognizable.

Similarly, check to ensure a recognizable aesthetic and brand identity across each page. Your profile picture, social links, images, and more, should all follow your brand guidelines. If you still need to write a brand style guide for your company, now is a good time to do so, as it can increase your brand’s overall authority. 

Once your social media pages are consistent, keep them that way. For example, if you’re working on a marketing campaign on your website, mention it on your social media accounts. The same concept applies to product releases and new services. A little consistency goes a long way online, especially in this scammers and fake profiles era. Remember: the more you can do to show potential customers your accounts are the real deal, the better.  

Hashtags V.S. Keywords

Before we dive into optimizing the posts themselves, let’s take a moment to discuss the difference between hashtags and keywords. Yes, we promise there is a difference, and using each tool correctly can go a long way toward optimizing your social media posts. 

Think of hashtags like a filing cabinet or a chest of drawers. Each hashtag places your post into the right category or drawer for a customer. Well-organized hashtags may help with post optimization on an algorithmic level, but mostly hashtags help customers find what they’re looking for.

Keywords generally target an algorithm. While some customers may directly search by keywords, what shows up happens due to an algorithm. A good set of keywords is like a helpful store employee. For example, if a customer goes into a store looking for a red shirt, it may be tough to find. But with the help of an employee, they can find all the red shirts in stock with no problem. 

The same concept applies to customers: customers may not know they’re looking for the best small business in your field. With clever use of keywords, a search engine or social media algorithm will show them your business even without them searching those exact words. Using keywords in your post helps search algorithms help your business and future customers, so pay attention to these keywords and experiment to find the right ones for your target niche.  

Have General Social Media Post Guidelines

This loops back to ensuring you have synchronized social media platforms, but setting a general guideline or rule for your social media posts can make things much easier in the long run. Write up company language, key brand identity phrases, slogans, and more to integrate into your posts. If you have a certain tone you want to convey for your business, ensure it comes across in your social media posts. 

It doesn’t matter which platform you’re working with; keeping things consistent across the board can make a huge difference in brand authority and recognition. Once you have a general set of guidelines, you can mark out exceptions. For example, if you’re aiming for a younger audience or specific niche on a social media account, note keywords, hashtags, and language to use on that page. That way, you have a set of rules you can follow when posting.

Optimize Each Individual Post

Now that you’ve looked at your social media accounts, it’s time to work on optimizing each post. While this may seem daunting, it’s as simple as remembering all the things we’ve talked about as general guidelines and applying them to your posts:

• Use the right target hashtags to organize your posts
• Include keywords that target your niche
• Stick to your style guide and keep your tone consistent across all platforms
• Note new products or features across all social media accounts
• Include engaging questions or prompts in your posts

While some key optimization features are unique to each platform, because of the unique nature of social media algorithms, keeping your approach consistent and searchable can go a long way toward optimizing your social media ROI.

If you feel overwhelmed by your social media accounts, Planted Marketing can help. Our team has experience optimizing social media accounts and crafting unique, engaging posts, and we would love to take your online presence to the next level. Contact us today if you’re interested in learning more or getting started.

Planted Marketing is a full-service digital marketing agency created for small to mid-size businesses. If you’re ready to take your social media strategy to the next level, send us a message to learn more about how we can help – info@plantedmarketing.com. Talk soon!