4 Tips To Optimize Your Website For Social Media

The debate over whether or not your business should have a social media marketing strategy is over.  Your customers and prospects are online, and they expect to find you on social media sharing information, answering questions, and addressing concerns.  However, in the world of social media marketing, having active social media channels are only part of the equation.  In fact, it is your business website that is the focal point of all social media marketing.

Consequently, your business website needs social media optimization (SMO).  It is through these techniques that your website becomes more linkable and shareable.  Moreover, search engine algorithms are starting to use social signals to rank web pages.  Therefore, SMO is first and foremost concerned about the quality of your website's content.  Is it authoritative? Does it address a want or need of your ideal customer?  Is the content unique?  That said, much like search engine optimization, SMO's overarching goal is to increase visibility and drive traffic to your business website.  Below are 4 SMO Website Tips.

1. Create Valuable Content - Both social media and search engine marketing require producing unique content that has value to       visitors.  Therefore, good content is identified as linkable and shareable.  In order to accomplish this, you must understand your ideal customer and create the content they want to read.
   
   
2. Add Visual Elements - The most shared content on social media are those which are visually compelling.  Add videos and eye-catching photos to your content.  This will aid in harnessing the power of going viral.  For example, 80 percent of Pinterest user activity is "repinning" what others have initially shared.  This only happens with compelling images.
   
   
3. Make Sharing Easy - Within your website design, ensure you have social sharing buttons.  It is surprising how many websites still do not have this essential element.  You have gone to a lot of work creating great content, but it will lose most of its value if users are not sharing it.  Moreover, make sure social sharing buttons are obvious.  They sometimes get lost in the design.
   
   
4. Become Mobile-Friendly - Smartphones are dominating the internet.  The majority of internet users are using multiple devices to access social media and make search queries.  When a mobile user clicks on your link from Facebook or Twitter, it is essential they reach a website that is easily viewable on their device.

By utilizing these 4 tips to optimize your website for social media you can increase SEO, lead generation, engagement rates, and ultimately conversion.

Want to learn more? Check out our On-Demand ASAE LUNCH LEARNING WEBINAR: SEO + CONTENT: THE PERFECT MATCH TO GENERATE NEW REVENUE