Social media is a great way to connect with an audience and build a brand. But if you’re not following these social media optimization tips, you could be missing out on all of the benefits that sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have to offer.
What Is Social Media Optimization?
Before we jump into any tips for making the most of social media across various platforms, let’s define what social media optimization is.
In basic terms, social media optimization involves different methods for growing an online presence. Specifically, it could involve strategies that aim to:
- Gain exposure.
- Increase engagement with a target audience.
- Generate traffic to a website.
- Create content in line with the target audience’s desires.
- Appear more frequently in followers’ feeds.
- Rank higher in platform search results.
- Build a brand’s following.
- And so on.
What is the main problem with social media optimization? Unlike search engine optimization, the social media variety can differ significantly from one platform to another. For this reason, we’ll share social media optimization tips that are specific to some of the most popular platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. In addition, we will tell you which tools can help you expand your reach across each platform to make your optimization goals easier to achieve.
Facebook Optimization Tips
Since many see Facebook as the king of social media, we’ll start here. Facebook makes it easy to connect with existing customers, while also allowing you to attract new ones via Facebook ads or boosting posts.
To get the most out of your Facebook profile, be sure to do the following:
- Find what works – Facebook Insights can help you pinpoint your best posts. If you find something is getting great engagement and tons of shares, keep doing it with your newer posts.
- Don’t overpromote – When you pay for Facebook ads, it’s okay to promote your products or services. When taking the organic route, however, limit promotion to every third post at the most.
- Don’t link to YouTube – Uploading videos directly to Facebook can result in better engagement versus linking to YouTube or some other site.
- Interact with your audience versus silencing them – Rude comments are not uncommon on Facebook. Instead of deleting them, engage and connect with your audience to drown out the negative and highlight the positive.
The best Facebook optimization tools include:
- Iconosquare – To audit Facebook business pages.
- Facebook Ads Performance Grader – To optimize paid ads.
- DrumUp – To pick content your audience wants to see.
Instagram Optimization Tips
Since Instagram and Facebook merged, it makes sense to list this social media platform next, as both platforms work together like two peas in a pod. For example, you can maximize exposure on Facebook and Instagram by boosting posts on both, or you can automatically publish Instagram posts to your Facebook feed.
To ensure that your Instagram profile is optimized, do this:
- Don’t forget your hashtags – You can use up to 30 hashtags to increase exposure, although the ideal range is somewhere between 8-14. To avoid hashtag overload on a post, comment on the post with hashtags. This will keep the tags searchable without irritating your followers.
- Alt text your images – This SEO tip works for social media optimization as well, especially on Instagram. You can add keywords to and include alt text on a post by going to its advanced settings.
- Add hashtags and keywords to your bio – It’s one of the simplest yet most effective optimization tips you can follow.
- Try to match your username and business name – The closer they are, the better.
- If you have products, post them – Instagram is king when it comes to people purchasing products, so don’t be afraid to showcase them.
- Vary your formats – You can maximize your engagement and exposure by using Instagram’s various formats, such as posts, stories, videos, reels, highlights, and even Instagram Live.
The top Instagram optimization tools include:
- Iconosquare – To audit your profile.
- Quick Insta Checklist – To ensure you didn’t forget anything.
- Phlanx – To measure your engagement.
Twitter Optimization Tips
While its popularity may fall a bit behind other platforms, social media optimization on Twitter can help you expand your reach as well, especially if you do the following:
- Engage with your customers – Studies show that replying to Tweets increases customer satisfaction.
- Use trackable links – Whether it showcases a product or features some other call to action, such links can help you direct users where you want them.
- Choose your hashtags wisely – They’re quite powerful, but Twitter doesn’t allow for as many as on other platforms, so make your hashtags count.
- Hold digital events – Live Q&As, workshops, and video tutorials can help you build a deeper connection with your audience.
- Use a schedule – Consistent, regular tweets can increase visibility and engagement.
- Since Twitter makes it easy to schedule posts, make use of that functionality.
The top Twitter optimization tools include:
- Tweetdeck – To track and monitor your profile in real-time.
- Twinsta – To get your tweets over to Instagram for double the exposure.
- Followerwonk – To get a better understanding of your followers.
