Social Media Optimization Increase Traffic Visibility - CoSchedule

Social Media Optimization Increase Traffic Visibility Are you familiar with social media optimization? If so, are your social media profiles and strategy optimized to help your content  rank in search and drive traffic to your blog? Its okay if your answer is I dont know. We wanted to know more about social media optimization and so we rolled up our shirt sleeves (not literally) and dug into some deep research. In this post, well share what weve found, and how to put some of that information to use. How To Increase Visibility With #SocialMedia Optimization via @bensailer What Is Social Media Optimization? The answer to this question is a little more complex and less obvious than what we expected to find. Marketer Rohit Bhargava is credited with coining the term back in 2006. According  to Bhargava, we can define social media optimization (SMO) as: The concept behind SMO is simple: implement changes to optimize a site so that it is more easily linked to, more highly visible in social media searches on custom search engines (such as Technorati), and more frequently included in relevant posts on blogs, podcasts and vlogs. Using this definition, SMO is similar to search engine optimization, in the sense that your goal is to maximize visibility and traffic to your site or blog from social media.  That sounds straightforward enough, but we also need to keep in mind that this definition is nearly ten years old. If SMO is anything like SEO,  then we can expect that some of those tactics which were relevant a decade ago, may no longer be relevant today. Our questions led to more questions before we started to find some real answers. We'll dig into optimizing your social channels in a bit, but there's something else we need to touch on first. Recommended Reading The Simple 10-Step-Guide To Better Search Engine Ranking For Writers How To Write Headlines That Drive Traffics, Shares, And Search Results Why Is Social Media Optimization Important? You have a few social media channels set up for your blog or business. You're posting content on a consistent basis (and you might even be using to help manage that process). There's always more you can be doing to make sure you're earning as much visibility  on social media as possible (and we say that because  we can always do more). Like with all things social media, once you stop moving, you start to sink. You have to keep active. Always crossing your T's and dotting your I's every single step of the way. When you stop moving on #socialmedia you start to sink. Be consistent! #blogging More specifically, SMO is  important because: Your social media profiles can rank for branded search terms, helping you hog more search result space. Paying attention to all the small aspects of SMO can add up and make a big impact. If you're not following these best practices, you may actually be hurting your social media presence and losing out on valuable referral traffic little by little. Once you've read this post, you'll be prepared to tackle the following goals: Increase the visibility of your social media profiles in searches. Drive more traffic to your blog or website from your social media platforms. Most of these recommendations pertain to small changes you can make on your  blog, website, and social media profiles. The focus here is on technical mechanics, rather than on the art and craft of creating content. Now, let's get to work. How To Make Your Blog Or Website Social Media-Friendly The first place to start with social media optimization is directly on your blog and/or website. This entails that you have a handful of items in place to make sure your site or blog displays content attractively when shared on social media. You'll also want to make sure it's easy and intuitive for users to share your content as well. You'll want to make sure your site or blog displays content attractively and is easy to share on social media. Add Social Sharing Buttons To Your Site Blog Posts If your site or blog doesn't have them already, it might be time to add social sharing buttons. While there is some debate over  the best placement for social media buttons on blogs, or whether people actually use them, they do make it easier for users to share your content. Need a plugin to add social sharing buttons to your blog?   Monarch  (paid) Social Warfare  (paid) Shareaholic  (free) Add Linkable Content To Your Static Website Pages Blog posts are inherently shareable on social media. If you didn't think your post was worth sharing, you probably wouldn't have written it in the first place. Static website pages  are pages on your blog or website that are static (like an "About Us" or "service" page). It can be difficult to make static pages interesting enough for people to share. And that isn't because they aren't important. It's because, there typically isn't much on those pages that make folks want to like, share, tweet, or pin them. What's the solution then? The solution is to  add value to your static website pages with linkable content. That means adding valuable content that can easily  be linked in social media posts. This provides something of value that people are likely to share with their followers. What can you add to your static pages to draw social media attention: White papers or e-books Videos Infographics Contest signup forms Create content that adds value to a page and gives readers a reason to share it. You could even consider creating hub pages with a ton of downloadable content all in one place. Our own Resource Library is just one example of what this idea can look like in action. Recommended Reading:  21 Social Media Engagement Tactics That Will Grow Your Audience Add Buttons In Your Blog Posts Adding a click-to-tweet button in your blog posts can  help give your content an extra push on Twitter. Pro Tip:  Pull interesting quotes or statistics that readers will likely find interesting and put them in click-to-tweet boxes so your readers can share them quickly. ClickToTweet is a simple web service that lets you create click-to-tweet links that you can copy and paste into your posts. Alternately, you can also use the awesome  Click-To-Tweet WordPress plugin  built by our very own team at . Here's what they look like in action: Are you doing social media optimization the right way? Find out here. #SMOAdd Twitter Cards And Facebook Open Graph Markup To Your Website, Blog, And Blog Posts Adding Twitter Cards and Facebook Open Graph markup to your web pages and blog posts can help you control how they appear when they are shared by others online. What Are Twitter Cards? Twitter Cards are simply a few lines of HTML that allow you to specify photos, videos, and other media that appear  when a page is shared on Twitter. There are four different types of cards you can choose from: Summary Cards: These include a page title, description, image thumbnail, and an @ attribution to your Twitter account. Summary Card With Large Images: These are the same as Summary Cards, but with a bigger image. App Cards: These feature a direct download link for a mobile app. Player Cards: These include a media player for video or audio content. Here's an example of what a Summary Card with a large image  can look like: What Is Facebook Open Graph Markup? In short, Facebook open graph markup is code that is added to your blog or website to help control how pages and posts appear on Facebook when people share them. It lets you control the image, title, and description that appears when a URL is shared on the platform. How To Implement Twitter Cards Facebook Open Graph Data On Your Home Page Twitter Cards are easy to implement on WordPress sites using the Yoast SEO plugin. Follow these steps to set yours up: Install the Yoast plugin,  if you haven't already. Find Yoast SEO in the WordPress dashboard on the left-hand-side navigational bar. Scroll down to Social and then select Twitter. Here, you can add Twitter card data to your site. You can also set it up to use a Summary Card or the Summary Cards with Large Images in your default option. Now that you've enabled the Twitter Card functionality, you'll need to specify which data and images you want to appear. For this step, we'll need to open the Facebook tab and fill out the Open Graph data. This information will be used when your home page is shared on both Facebook and Twitter, so you're knocking out two birds with one stone here. How To Add Twitter Cards And Facebook Open Graph Data To Individual Blog Posts Yoast also allows you to add Twitter cards to individual blog posts. Just scroll to the bottom of your blog post in WordPress, find the Yoast box (it should be easy to spot), and then click the button shown below  to find social media options. You'll be brought to a screen where you can add or edit the Open Graph data for Facebook. You'll also be able to create a card for Twitter here. That's all it takes. Pro Tip: For additional assistance on how to implement Twitter cards in WordPress, please visit Twitter's official Twitter Card support documentation. You'll find information for other content management systems there as well. How To Optimize Your Social Media Channels For Maximum Visibility Now that we know what social media optimization is, and we understand why it's important, it's time to get down to brass tacks and start implementing some tactics and best practices. Let's get started with one social media platform (Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, and Youtube) at a time. How To Optimize For Facebook Let's get your Facebook page looking its best. Even if you've already filled out your profile, there is always room for improvement. Optimize Your Cover Photo There's more to having a good cover photo than just slapping something in there with your logo. Make your cover image 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall. Choose an image that clearly communicates what your blog or brand is about. If you want potential followers to give their email address or to visit your promotion that's currently running, consider swapping out your cover photo to promote it. Include A Relevant Call-To-Action Button Facebook gives you seven different call-to-action button options  that you can use. These include: Book Now Contact Us Use App Play Game Shop Now Sign Up Watch Video Here's an example of what these call-to-action buttons can look like: See the signup button? It takes users straight to our homepage, where they can choose to sign up for a 14-day free trial with . (P.S. Do you see how we used the cover photo to point to the sign up button?) You could share a link to: An email signup form. A customer service page. An app download. E-commerce page, or anything else that may be applicable. To get the most from your cover photo: Use a visually appealing graphic with a snappy headline. Include a visual indicator pointing towards your CTA. Write a strong image description for your cover photo (If you'd like, you can even include another link there as well). Add A Comprehensive Bio Section To Help Your Profile Get Found Don't skimp on filling out your bio (or the rest of your profile). Be comprehensive and include as much information as you can to help your audience. Make sure your biography includes relevant keywords (much like you'd use to describe your business on your website, or your About page on your blog). Be descriptive and show your personality. Being thorough in completing your profile can help your Facebook company page rank in the search results. Make Sure Your URL And Contact Information Are Up-To-Date If you have a business with a physical location, make sure the address and phone number on your Facebook page match your website. Also  make sure your website or blog URL is correct. I know, these might really seem like minor details, but you'd be surprised how often these are omitted or left incorrect. Sometimes the devil is in the details and if you aren't careful those small things will group together into something larger. Are you including links in your #Facebook image captions? #bloggingInclude Links In Image Captions This is sometimes overlooked, but remember image captions  offer another place to add a link. It's a small detail, but it can help add a bit of traffic back to your blog or website. This goes for your cover photo too. Here's an example from our Facebook page (and in case you missed it, yes, we really did give pizzas away! :) Upload Video Directly To Facebook Video is growing in importance for content marketing, with YouTube dominating as the online video platform of choice. Facebook has  taken steps to be more competitive as a place to find prime video content. For this reason, Facebook prioritizes and favors video posted directly into Facebook, versus video shared from YouTube (or somewhere else). To get the most reach from your video content on Facebook: Try posting video files directly into Facebook. Even if you usually share videos on YouTube, you still can (and should) like usual, but consider sharing that same video directly to Facebook. Pro Tip: For tips on how to upload video, follow Facebook's official support documentation. Embed Video From Facebook Into Your WordPress Posts This is another great way to increase the  reach of your Facebook video content. For tips on how to embed Facebook video into WordPress, check out this video tutorial: Here's what an embedded video from Facebook could look like on your blog: //