Social Media Optimization
Unless you lie under a rock, you know that social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter and My Space have become immensely popular by almost everyone. From children to senior citizens; you can bet if nothing else they have a Facebook page. Using the popularity of these sites as a way to draw targeted traffic to your website is what is known as social media optimization.
The proper use of the powerful search engine optimization tool can help to generate a lot of traffic to your website which can help to increase your online businesses bottom line. 
While other SEO techniques are equally important, if you want to keep up with the competition then you must learn how to harness this powerful marketing tool as well. These social sites offer you an outlet to advertise your websites product or services to a targeted audience based on similar likes, location or other factors such as age or gender.
What you need to know about this channel of SEO marketing is that it is much harder to measure and is also much harder to determine the proper strategies for which you should use. The main goal that you should keep in mind when using social media optimization is that your goal is to increase the visibility of your website within the social networks as well as in social media searches. You want to ensure that the methods which you use are going to help make linking to your site easier, make bookmarking and tagging your website easier, and become a valuable resource in order to gain the trust of consumers. Using this type of marketing is typically referred to as pull marketing.
SEO and Social Media Optimization
One thing which you should keep in mind when using social media optimization is that you need to actively participate and communicate in the ongoing conversations on the social media network. By communicating with consumers you are keeping the line of communication going which is going to help to spread the word about your business much faster. Another thing that should not be underestimated is to study and learn your target audience so that you know how to target his group of individuals. If you have yet to do so it is very important that you identify the target niche which your product or service appeals to and then learn all you can in regard to what motivates these individuals. You can use this knowledge to help you to specifically target individuals who are more likely to be interested in your products or services.
Once you have established your target niche and taken the time to understand them; you should now be able to determine the best type of content to use which is going to be appealing to your market. Depending on your target niche you want to create content which is going to be invaluable to their needs so that they trust you as a valuable source of reliable content. This can be in the form of a white sheet, widget or even a comical content article depending on the target group which you are addressing. You can always experiment with different types of content in order to determine which type gets the best response from your targeted group. Whatever form of content which you plan to use be sure that you are honest and real; know how to talk to your target niche in a way which they will respond to.
Social Media Optimization – Implementation
You also want to be sure that you pay close attention to the available options which you are going to offer for content sharing. You want to provide people with options; however, you want to keep these options to a minimum in order not to overwhelm them with choices. Choose to offer content sharing on some of the more popular social media networks which are going to allow you to gain the most exposure. You also want to consider using a widget which allows them to share your content without being redirected to another website; this makes it much more convenient for the consumer.
Another great way that you can make the most out of social media networks is to allow consumers to use a social sign-in option which will allow them to sign in with the click of a button; this decreases the amount of work required on their end as well. Many people are often detoured by websites which want them to enter all of their personal information before being allowed to access the website. One of the most preferred methods for social sign in is through the use of a Facebook account. Facebook beats out all other forms of social sign in with consumers. The bottom line is; the easier that you make the process for the consumer the better chances you are going to have for success.
One good example of how social media can help you to promote your product or service is through the use of Facebook’s “like” button. When someone clicks on this button they are automatically given the option to share the post which they have clicked on. If they choose to do so, your content is then able to be seen and discovered by all of the Facebook “friends” of that person. The more people who share your content, the further this chain is going to grow allowing you more and more consumer exposure. The good thing about this technique is Facebook “friends” typically have similar tastes and preferences, therefore you are targeting your content to an audience which is likely to find it appealing as well.
For more information check out our latest on Social Media Strategy.
With the incorporation and integration of social networks into so many aspects of marketing you definitely need to take notice of this trend. If you take the time to maximize your social media optimization efforts they are going to pay off for you in the end. So make sure that you fully understand the techniques that are going to be the most beneficial and implement them into your search engine optimization and marketing strategies in order to increase your businesses chance at success. Social media optimization and implementation is crucial today to your SEO success. Social Media Management and Social Media Optimization is a crucial element and worthy of proper planning.
