Social media plays a key role in online strategies and is an essential part of brand positioning. At Zapiplay we implement the use of SEO tools so appearing at the top of search engine results is very important, but a company's online presence is not complete without being active on social media. This is where Social Media Optimisation or SMO comes in, another service you can find with us. Let's take a look at what it is and why your business should have it.

What is SMO?

SMO stands for Social Media Optimisation and refers to the set of strategies and techniques used to improve the visibility of a website or brand on different social media platforms.

SMO leverages social media in an environment where algorithms favour content from users' personal contacts over brands. Users are increasingly saturated with content, so creating posts that reach a specific buyer persona is a challenge.

Difference between SMO, SEO, SEA and SMM

To put SMO in context, it needs to be differentiated from other acronyms related to a brand's SEO and social media strategy.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the set of strategies and techniques used to improve a website's search engine ranking. It employs a combination of techniques related to site optimisation (on-page SEO) and improving external reputation and inbound links (off-page SEO). SEO usually takes some time to produce results, but it is an excellent investment for long-term brand visibility.

SEA (Search Engine Advertising) involves the use of paid tools to place advertisements on search engines. In most countries, the most widely used tool is Google Ads, which allows you to create advertising campaigns on Google. You pay per click or per thousand impressions, so results are obtained much faster than with traditional SEO.

SMM (Social Media Marketing) includes all organic and paid marketing actions within social media. The latter includes tactics such as sponsored posts or placing ads in different formats on social networks. One of its greatest strengths is the level of detailed targeting it provides. By having a wealth of information about users, you can easily reach your target audience.

Benefits of social media optimisation

Let's take a quick look at the benefits our network optimisation service can bring:

Greater visibility and reach: SMO is developed for a different channel than search engines, so it can reach users at different points in the customer journey.

Improved SEO: Although they are different strategies, SMO can have a positive impact on SEO. By sharing relevant content with your target audience on social media, you facilitate the creation of external links to your website, which increases the relevance of your website in search engines.

Better use of the budget: Nowadays, almost every digital marketing budget includes a section for social media. With SMO, you can ensure that this budget is used to the maximum to generate visibility and attract the best customers for your brand.

Better integration of social media into your brand ecosystem: By using SMO best practices, you can ensure that your content is distributed evenly across your brand's different digital channels.

Less risk of saturation: Content marketing has been growing steadily over the last few years, causing target audiences to become saturated with similar content. With SMO, you can find alternative solutions to make your content truly relevant and reach the audience that needs it most.

Increased interaction with customers: SMO seeks to encourage direct interactions between the user and your brand through comments, likes, direct messages and other reactions. This creates a closer bond between your brand and the user and contributes to user loyalty. At the same time, the more interactions a post receives, the more the algorithm will reward your brand by generating visibility.