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Social Media Optimization: Checklists and Good Practices

Kinga Edwards
Written by
Kinga Edwards

Is there a way you can increase your social media presence and improve results almost overnight? Although there is no magic wand for this, there is another way – social media optimization can put an end to your struggles.

This blog post will discuss social media optimization methods to help you reach more people and engage with them more effectively. By following these tips, you can develop a social media strategy that works for your brand and allows you to achieve your marketing goals.

What is social media optimization?

Social media optimization is the use of a variety of techniques to improve the visibility and reach of content published on social media platforms. Social media optimization involves optimizing content for better visibility on social networks, using promoted posts ads to grow reach, and crafting a strategy with focus on boosting your metrics.

Some common social media optimization tactics include optimizing your profile and/or pages for search engines, regularly sharing content that is selectively targeted to specific audiences, using relevant keywords and hashtags in your posts, plus participating in relevant discussions and communities. Overall, the goal of social media optimization is to increase traffic to your content so that you can better engage with your target audience.

Why should brands work on social media optimization?

#1 Better engagement

When a brand’s social media content is optimized for visibility and reach, it becomes easier for people to discover and interact with. This can lead to better engagement rates and more opportunities to connect with potential customers.

It goes without saying that with better engagement comes the potential for increased sales and conversions too.

#2 Improved brand awareness

Social media optimization can also help improve brand awareness. By increasing the visibility of consistent content and reaching more people, you give people the chance to learn about your brand and what you have to offer. And, if your profiles are well optimized, this enhanced exposure can lead to more website visits, customers, and deals down the line. Don’t forget that you need to produce quality content on social media to achieve this.

#3 Consistent strategy

When you have a social media optimization strategy in place, it becomes much easier to create and publish content that is aligned with your overall marketing goals. This can help to improve the effectiveness of your social media campaigns and give you greater return on investment (ROI), meaning better results in turn.

Social media optimization: before you start

Now that we’ve covered what social media optimization is and why brands should work on it, let’s take a look at how you can go about setting up an optimization strategy for your business. But before we jump into that, it’s important to first audit your social media profiles and pages.

A very small audit will help you identify any areas where your social media presence could be improved, as well as give you a better understanding of what tactics are currently working for you. In order to conduct an audit, ask yourself the following questions:

  • Are my social media profiles and pages correctly optimized? Evaluate your profile information, the type of content you are sharing, and how you target your audience on social media.
  • Am I regularly sharing content on social media? This includes both original and curated content.
  • How is my social media content performing? Check the engagement rates of your posts and track the number of website visits, followers, and customers you are acquiring from social media.
  • Is my content targeted to the right audiences? Analyze the interests and demographics of your social media followers, plus use relevant keywords and hashtags.
  • Is my social media strategy consistent? Evaluate the overall tone and voice of your social media content, as well as the frequency and best timing of your posts.
  • What are the areas for improvement at first glance? Check your social media profiles and pages to see where you may need to make some changes straight away.

Once you have a good understanding of where your social media presence could be improved, you can begin to put together a social media optimization strategy that will help you achieve your marketing goals.

In the next section, we’ll take a look at some of the most common social media optimization techniques in the form of our original framework. You can use this to improve visibility and reach for your brand.

Social media optimization framework

We have developed a framework that can be used to create a social media optimization plan tailored to your specific needs.

Performance social media optimization

What is it?

Performance social media optimization is an umbrella term that encompasses everything we’ll discuss below. You need to take a look at your entire social media strategy and mark the boxes that need optimizing in this step.

Why is it important?

When running a social media presence, you’re aiming for the best possible performance. Ensuring that each element has the greatest chance of being seen by as many people as possible and that it engages and intrigues those who see it are key to success here. 

Performance social media optimization requires a deep understanding of how each social media platform works, as well as what makes people click on or share content. This is an ever-changing process, since new algorithms and features are introduced on a regular basis. But with careful planning and execution, it can be an extremely effective way to reach a large audience with your message.

What does it include?

Pretty much everything. 

  • verifying content lines and their appearance
  • checking social media campaign performance
  • aligning results with goals
  • evaluating the workforce and resources dedicated to social media
  • keeping an eye on compliance and consistency
  • reassessing the role of social media in the overall strategy

Performance social media optimization resembles an audit during which you simply check if everything is in order.

Kontentip: You can generate some reports from Kontentino that could be used in a further performance social media optimization audit. 

Search social media optimization

What is it?

Search social media optimization is focused on making your company’s social media profiles as visible and searchable as possible. 

Why is it important?

Simply put, the better optimized your profile is for social search engines, the more likely it is that people will find and connect with you. This means that more people will see your profile and be likely to follow you or interact with your content. From here, you are very close to converting them.

What does it include?

  • ensuring your profiles are complete and up-to-date with elements such as bios and company details (address, contact forms, vision, etc.)
  • regularly updating your “About Us” section on every platform you use
  • verifying the consistency of your profile in terms of URLs and social media handles (do they all use the same name?)
  • ensuring you use the same and enough keywords in your bios and descriptions
  • checking each profile’s cover photo and profile picture for compliance with your strategy
Kontentip: use tools like Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or Answer The Public to identify phrases and keywords for you to use or tools like Serpple keyword rank tracker to get accurate keyword rank tracking details.

Content social media optimization

In the context of social media, content optimization is the process of tweaking content to make it more appealing to social media users and more consistent across all of the social media profiles that you run.

Why is it important? 

Content optimization can help to improve click-through rates, organic search rankings, and social engagement metrics. By following the best practices for content optimization, businesses can make sure that their social media profiles are as effective as possible in reaching their target audiences.

Your business’s professional image can also be affected by this. You could confuse potential clients or irritate existing customers if your social media profiles lack coherent content. 

In order to optimize content on social media, there are five factors that should be considered.

#1 Communication lines optimization

This step is to check the state of your social media communication lines. 

To do so, you should:

  • verify whether your content is divided into topical clusters and, if not, why?
  • check how many posts of each type were published (for instance, if 80% of posts were of a salesy nature, do you want that?)
  • put your current posts in an overview calendar to check the regularity, performance, and frequency of publication (do posts published on Sunday mornings perform well?)
  • make sure that the lines don’t need a rework, makeover, or just refreshing (e.g. including seasonal discounts)
  • check that you use the right social media image sizes for each platform
  • review Stories, Highlights, and album covers

#2 Particular social media post optimization

Sometimes it takes just a single post to gain a new customer for life. Therefore, you should pay extra attention to how your posts look and perform. 

Do this by:

  • checking if your posts have the same storyline everywhere
  • verifying that you adjust your posts to particular platforms (are Tweets short enough, do you add all hashtags, and are posts adjusted to each platform they appear on?)
  • reviewing the formatting of each post (e.g. bulleted lists may look good on Facebook but not on Pinterest)

#3 Links optimization

Links are an important part of your social media optimization strategy. In many cases, you want your social media presence to drive traffic to your website, landing page, online store, or blog.

This is why you regularly need to:

  • review if you have any broken links (links that don’t work)
  • check if you link to the right subpage (i.e. having links to summer discounts right when you start your Christmas campaign may not be the best move)
  • see if your shortened links are consistent (if you use link shorteners, make sure your links follow one distinct pattern)
  • assess that all links are clickable (for example, links in posts on Instagram are not clickable so you may consider encouraging your followers to click on the links included in your Bio section instead)

Otherwise, you may be missing out on quite a huge amount of traffic that could be going your way.

#4 Products social media optimization

This applies to e-commerce businesses using social media In particular. Social media profiles are used as a driving force for boosting sales of their products. 

Therefore, it’s important to:

  • review the lines of your products that are shared on social media
  • make sure each product is tagged and linked in the right way (if you promote a certain product, make sure the link leads to exactly that and not to a homepage or category subpage, for example)
  • check that the products or services you offer are available in store and on each device
  • pick what products you need to promote beforehand so you there’s no guesswork when it comes to setting up your content plan or campaigns

#5 Hashtags social media optimization

Hashtags can be a useful method for generating exposure if used correctly. What can be done to ensure they are utilized effectively within social media optimization strategies?

  • check the set of hashtags you use on each platform – you should have a set of “brand” hashtags you use for each post, and unique hashtags reflecting each and every post.
  • verify whether or not the hashtags you use still apply/are relevant – if they feel worn out, consider using new ones
  • compare your posts re: how many hashtags you’ve been using and if you should stick to that number

Here’s your key to social media optimization

You can guarantee searchability, visibility, and engagement on social media with well-curated, up-to-date, and valuable content. Use our short checklists every couple of weeks to examine how you’re doing and what else needs to be optimized. As social media is a dynamic medium, optimizing your social media account is a continuous process rather than a one-time event. Best of luck!


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