What are some of the best practices for optimizing your posts for each platform's algorithm?

Understanding your goals and is important to then be able to analyze your results. If you don't know what your goals are then it will be very difficult to understand if a post or a campaign was successful. You need to ask yourself: What is the main reason for me putting this out? Will my target audience resonate with this post? What is the value that I am adding?

Optimizing posts for platform algorithms is crucial. Tailor content to suit each platform's unique features and audience preferences. Use high-quality visuals and compelling captions. Consistency in posting maintains algorithm favor. Utilize relevant hashtags for discoverability but avoid overuse. Engage with your audience promptly, encouraging comments and shares. Leverage platform-specific features, like Stories or Reels, to boost visibility. Analyze analytics to refine posting times and content strategy. Stay updated on algorithm changes and adjust strategies accordingly. Adaptability and strategic use of platform tools enhance post visibility and engagement.

Start with your goal, the north star. You may have one overarching goal and then a sub goal for each pillar of your strategy. Then for each, map out your KPIs. First start with your steering KPIs, they're what that tell you how you're doing (ie could be clicks, engagement, reach etc). Map out 2-3 that are your primary steering KPIs for each goal, and then map out secondary KPIs that you'll use to better inform recommendations and decisions you make. That may be as far as you go for now. As you mature, you'll want to add business KPIs which tie social activity straight through to results. Ex: You want to use social media to hire top talent Primary steering KPIs: clicks, engagements, shares Business KPIs: application completions, new hires

Understanding the platform and its users is key. Not all social media platforms are the same. Although a lot of content can be repurposed, it is also important that you think about any potential tweaks that might need to be made in order to gain better results. Think to yourself - What kind of content performs best on this platform? - Who is consuming this content? - Do I need to make any changes before I share this post on another social media platform?

Social listening is so important here. Looking back at previous posts and reading the comments and responses is an easy way to generate new content ideas. Your audience will almost always tell you what they like/don't like. Listen to them.

This is so important. Focus on platforms where your audience is. And get to know your audience personas and especially their decision making and buying patterns. Knowing this will inform the type of content you develop, so that it correctly engages them and drives them to take an action. Example: An analytical decision maker will engage differently than an emotional buyer for example. Then you can build content once and customize for each audience type, and you'll see the engagement and impact grow.

Take the time to understand your target audience completely. Key questions to answer would be: - Who they are? - What is important to them? - What are their purchasing habits? - What are their beliefs about a product/service? From there, break your audience down into four segments. 1. Demographic (Characteristics) 2. Geographic (Location) 3. Psychographic (Mind) 4. Behavioral (Hobbies) Understanding these aspects of your audience will help you create value proposition and retain customers.

This is huge! It's good to see what type of content has been working or is prioritized within the platforms' algorithm, but you have to combine that with what your brand's specific audience engages with. Tie those two insights into your brand tone and overall social strategy and you have the magic! A few notes to keep in mind: - What resonates CAN change. Continuously review and optimize as needed to keep your audience engaged. - Engage back with your audience. Don't just expect them to take action and you ignore them. - What works for one platform, will not work for another. Create platform-specific content to reach audiences on those platforms.

Not only is it important to follow their guidelines but it is also important to understand their algorithm and which type of content will perform better on the platform. Ask yourself: - what type of content does this platform prioritize? - what type of content has performed well in the past?

Cross platform posting is often a result of limited resources and wanting to cover multiple platforms. It's better to do one well and drive meaningful results, don't spread yourself so thin you are putting out mediocre content everywhere. Plus you can create negative brand experiences by showing up on a platform with the voice and approach that is really fit for purpose of another platform. That doesn't mean you can't build once though. Build once and then write your messages for each platform. Quick hack is to also set the character limits you want/or must adhere to for each platform so that it guides you as you write.

With every platform it is best to go through test phases. This will help you understand what type of content your audience is reacting to. It is important to be very strategic with your posts and go through test phases every once in a while so you can truly understand the type of content you should be producing. Test phases can be: - what post format works well? - what tone converts? - what does this post look like visually?

Be diverse, your audience is not all vanilla. Some people really are driven to consume audio, others video, some like to read, other are visual. Build for your audience and their personas, not for what you like. That said, you can build once and repurpose. Example: Record a LinkedIn Live. Now turn it into: - Linkedin live replay - audio clips highlighting key messages/insights - video clips - infographic of top 5 takeaways - blog post - document post with 5-7 headlines on sliders (carousel) and so on....

MAYA: Most Advanced Yet Applicable Do your research on what’s trending on the platform and recreate it to be applicable to your business. These have proven that they work on the platform so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. All you have to do is make it relevant to your audience. Your brand guidelines will be crucial here to help you ride trends but not fall off-brand. At first IT WILL BE CRINGY but keep at it and you’ll find the goldilocks zone for applying viral trends to your brand’s goal.

If you're making the most of organic social and want to get on the algorithm's good side, you need to play by the rules of space. Paid social is where you hold a sign up to people, but organic is about conversation and building a relationship with your followers and providing them with value. It's not for talking about yourself. To see the engagement you want on your channels, you must also invest in the community.

Golden rule of social media is that you must give in order to receive. You must build conversations and community, and in doing so share your insights and experiences in service of educating and helping others. Do this by responding to your notifications, seeking out likeminded individuals to join their conversations. We all focus so much on publishing content, be sure to have a comment strategy too. Here is an example: Create a hashtag strategy with hashtags for your brand, industry, target audience, community, employees, content specific, location. Align the strategy to conversations you want to build aligned to share of voice you want to own. Whether manual on LinkedIn, or using your martech tools you can deliberately engage with each.

Monitoring social media analytics is crucial for understanding audience engagement and refining content strategies. It provides valuable insights into post-performance, best times to post, audience demographics, and reactions. This enables informed decision-making, increased brand visibility, and maximized ROI. However, many companies overlook this due to misunderstanding its importance, lack of resources, or overwhelming data. By focusing on relevant KPIs, businesses can effectively analyze this data, adapt strategies to platform changes, and address potential issues timely. Prioritizing social media analytics is critical to achieving business objectives and thriving digitally.

Have a clear plan for how you measure, what you measure and frequency. Not everything needs to be measured daily, or weekly. There is such a thing as too much data for the stage of maturity you're at too so remain focused. With social media you can show results quickly too, which allows you to review, and change. Focus on material changes to drive shifts that will deliver material results changes. It's easy to get lost in the details and when you zoom out it doesn't affect the bottom line. I recommend having monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual reviews to understand where you're at, explore insights, make recommendations, and take action.

Equidistant locations! To gain maximum views with a boosted post on Instagram or any other platform, optimize your content creation for different locations. Research your target audience's geographic areas and tailor your content to their interests and preferences. You can increase visibility and engagement for optimal results. Remember, quality location-based content creation with algorithmic knowledge will significantly boost your post's reach and engagement when used in tandem! IT'S NOT EASY, BUT IT IS POSSIBLE!