Building your social media plan is just one component of larger online business success, but it is arguably one of the two most important. In order to thrive online, you need to have a solid social media strategy backed by a strong understanding of some fundamental SEO skills. With that as the backdrop, below are some of the essential SEO skills you need to build a successful social media plan.
Essentials in a social media plan
Analytical Skills
Analytic skills are important for your social media plan because being able to do good SEO analysis reveals everything from what your most important sources of traffic are to what keywords you should be trying to optimize for.
Analytical skills let you make the important decisions about what, when and where to post, notice and react to incoming, passing and dead trends, and they position you for ongoing success while running your social media empire.
These are skills that are developed as you go, but they are also ones (insofar as your ability to make use of platforms like Google Analytics is concerned) that you need to put time and effort into learning.
Bear in mind that there are some things you can outsource to professionals if you find you don’t have the time to handle everything on your own. A simple Google search of something like “SEO Brisbane” will turn up professional SEOs who are able to help with everything from Analytics to your posting schedule.
Research Skills
Research skills are involved in everything in your social media plan, from planning content to competitor analysis to determining the keywords you are going to use. Being able to do good research means knowing where to go to find out about the latest content and marketing trends, being able to read and extract information quickly and also, importantly, knowing how to attribute ownership to content that is not yours.
A lot of marketing in your social media plan will involve sharing and reposting other people’s content with your followers, and it is vital that you know how to properly give credit to the originators and owners.
Good research skills also include time management, problem-solving, attention to detail and problem-solving skills. Without the ability to do good, fast research, your social media marketing efforts will undoubtedly take much longer to come to fruition.
Social Listening
Gaining brand awareness and recognition is one of the most crucial marketing goals for any company. This is due to the fact that consumers prefer to do business with brands they are already familiar with.
Many consumers have some level of brand loyalty, and that leads to long-term commercial benefits for those brands. Social media makes brand building simple and successful with an effective social media plan.
Social media has an advantage over traditional marketing mediums in that it allows you to get your brand in front of an audience much quicker and easier. It draws your audience’s attention to your brand even when they aren’t thinking about it.
If you want to target your ideal customer or audience effectively with your social media plan, you must first understand what they are interested in. You can find this out by monitoring their social conversations on specific topics.
This is called social listening, and can help you understand what’s important to your audience while identifying trends they’re following. You may also learn about their problems, which can help you generate material that addresses those issues.
Social Media Automation
Social media campaigns take a lot of time. If you want to attract customers, your social media plan of posting and content must be high-quality and, importantly, consistent. Using social media automation is the best way to maximize your return on investment.
It allows you to do things like reacting to user engagement and auto post based on a set schedule. Instead of wasting your valuable time constantly upkeeping your social media, automation allows you more time to examine areas for expansion and new content, engage more quickly with customers and handle all of the other important aspects of online business.
Cross-Posting
Cross-posting on social media is often an excellent strategy for new brands and those that, due to limited resources, don’t have the capital to invest in more sophisticated strategies.
It also makes sense in a social media plan for entrepreneurs who are handling social media on their own and are short on time; businesses who lack the ability/resources to create plenty of content, and those that only need social media to maintain an image and be visible online
Cross-posting is sharing a single piece of material or message across various social platforms at the same time, and it is an important part of SEO in that it amplifies your content and reach each time you post something new.
Link Building
From a business standpoint, social media and link building are frequently viewed independently. Although this is a fairly standard technique, marketers and influencers should strive to integrate both facets of their business. If you don’t, you risk missing out on significant opportunities for branding, SEO and organic search.
Connecting with other websites in your niche is one of the simplest and most effective ways to gain additional social media backlinks. When you communicate with other brands and bloggers on social media, depending on what you have to offer in terms of viewers or sharing opportunities, they tend to appreciate it. This involvement can pave the way for opportunities for social media link building such as guest posts, content mentions, and exchanges.
The best way to go about it in your social media plan is to make a list of the top bloggers and websites in your field. You may want to avoid direct competition now, but there are still lots of people and brands that complement your own product or service. If you offer search engine optimization services, for example, you can look for website developers or marketing blogs.
Following this initial list-making phase, add or follow the bloggers and websites you’ve chosen on your social channels. Engage them in conversation, comment on their posts, repost their information, and like their images.
Video Content Skills
Video has become one of the most crucial ways to capture your audience’s attention and should be part of every social media plan. It is far easier to digest than long-form content and is, much of the time, preferred.
We’re all guilty of browsing through our social media accounts idly, and only the most compelling information gets our attention. Video helps you to be succinct and pique your audience’s interest in the first few seconds while offering something more dynamic.
The ability to condense information into easily digestible bits of content that are long enough to hold a viewers’ attention yet short enough to leave them wanting more is the key to social media success. Before visitors may scroll away, you should include clear indicators of the video’s aim at the beginning.
Conclusion
A social media presence and eventually your own social media plan is something that progresses over time and is the culmination of many different skill sets. Thanks to the wealth of knowledge and free tutorials that exist online, it is entirely possible to build social media plan skills up as you go and teach yourself the basics.
Keep the above essentials in mind and equip yourself with the competencies and understanding necessary to build a solid social media foundation for your business and brand online.
