If you’re struggling to see any progress with your digital marketing efforts, it’s time to do some social media optimisation. The word “optimisation” often sounds scary, doesn’t it? The good news is that it doesn’t have to be!
When we think of social media optimisation (SMO), we think about strict keyword restrictions, or even removing all sense of personality from our marketing, but that’s just not the case.
So that might leave you with a question then…
What is social media optimisation?
Good question! Essentially, it’s the process of analysing your social media content, running an audit to see what performs best, and then using that information to influence the content you make next.
It’s that simple! If you think of it as saying; “this post did well, so let’s do some more of that next time,” you’ll have a pretty good idea of how it works.
So then, why is this important?
You’ve probably seen the likes of Nike or Coca-Cola posting content to social media that looks effortless, but the reality is these big brands put a lot (and I mean a LOT) of time into social media optimisation.
But to break it own, you should be performing optimising for three primary reasons:
- To increase the reach and visibility of your content
- To analyse the overall effectiveness of your social media marketing
- And to develop a consistent content creation process that works for your brand
Where can you start with social media optimisation?
Below, we’ve got for you three simple ways to optimise your social media without spending hours and hours on it.
You learn how to:
- Optimise your accounts
- Check your content
- Perform A/B Hashtag tests
Keep reading to discover more about social media optimisation!
Optimise your accounts
The first port of call when thinking about social media optimisation is your accounts. If your accounts aren’t enticing new visitors to follow you, then you’re doing something wrong.
Additionally, with your overall goals in mind, think about the messaging that’s present on all of your social media accounts. Does the imagery (things like profile and banner images) align with your branding? It’s simple tweaks like this that will reinforce your brand image in your audience’s mind.
We’ve put together an infographic that you can use to optimise your Instagram account.
Check your content
Before you start working on your next batch of content, take a few moments to dive into the analytics of your previous posts. Each social media platform has a dedicated analytics section where you can monitor the performance of your content, so make use of it!
We recommend checking to see which of your posts got the most engagement, as that’s one of the most important factors to consider when determining if your overall marketing efforts are successful.
Once you know which posts performed the best, look into why. Ask yourself these questions:
- Which topics resonate most with my audience?
- Did posts with particular imagery perform better than others?
- Do the best performing posts use certain language?
By joining the dots and creating links between your top performing pieces of content, you’ll soon start to build up an idea of what works best with your audience, and thus what you should be keeping in mind going forward.
AB testing hashtags
Hashtags are the big one when it comes to reaching a wider audience on social media. The jury is still out on the optimum number of hashtags you should include in your posts. On Instagram, for example, some say that you should use all thirty hashtags, whilst others think that only using five is the best approach.
From the testing we’ve conducted here at Giraffe Social Media, we’ve found that the optimum number of hashtags on Instagram differs from account to account. This means it’s vitally important that you spend some time analysing what works for you.
On Instagram, for example, you can check through your analytics to see which posts get the most reach via hashtags. We’ve found this is most effective via A/B testing hashtag sets. To A/B test hashtag sets, follow the steps below:
- Create two all-purpose sets of hashtags
- When posting, alternate between them. Set A on day one, Set B on day two, and then Set A again, repeating for two weeks.
- At the end of the two weeks, analyse each post to see which ones performed best, keeping note which hashtag set was present.
When using the above method, you’ll likely see that one set of hashtags outperformed the other. Once you have a winner, take that and create two more variants, repeating the process for the next two weeks with your next batch of content.
Gradually you’ll build up an optimum set of hashtags that get you the most exposure, which you can then use as your base set for each post, of course slightly customising each time to match the theme of your content.
Need a hand with social media optimisation?
If all that sounds like too much work, we’re here to help!
At Giraffe Social Media, we’re experts in all things social, so creating and optimising content is what we do best!
If you’re ready to take your social media presence to the next level, get in touch with us today to see just how we can help you achieve your goals!
