It’s no secret that networking is the key to making the best connections; connections that can lead to the best jobs, deals, bargains, hidden gems and so on. Can you get those things without networking? Possibly. Yet, it’s significantly more likely to happen if you make the effort to meet new people and keep in touch with those you already know.

The same thing is true online. Your website may be terrific, but if your intended audience isn’t introduced to it they’ll never know that, and if they do manage to find it they won’t stick around if you don’t acknowledge them.

Simply having a few social media accounts isn’t enough, but it’s a good start. Here are four ways to optimize your social media channels to achieve and maintain the best connections.

1. Know Your Platforms

All social media is similar in that it encourages interaction between users, but each platform has its own unique methods for doing that. Knowing and using these methods will help you get the most out of all of your channels.

Facebook

• Choose a URL friendly username that clearly represents you and your niche or your company.
• Include a link to your website in the “About” section, along with a brief description of what visitors can expect to find there.
• Include one of the seven available call-to-action buttons in the header section of your profile.
• Consider hashtags and links on Facebook for additional information tracking and optimization. Hashtags are no longer exclusive to Twitter.

Twitter

• Don’t get stuck in a text only tweet rut. Images and videos are much more engaging.
• Add the metatags for Twitter Cards to your website. This will greatly increase the shareability of your content.
• Use hashtags and @ mentions to foster conversations with other users.
• Follow accounts that relate to your niche, but don’t go crazy. Following too many accounts with too few followers of your own looks spammy.

Google+

• Utilize the tagline in your profile to briefly and clearly describe your company. This functions as the meta description of your profile.
• Employ hashtags and + or @ to mention other users and engage with them. Google+ will automatically hashtag terms that others are discussing. You can disable these hashtags manually if you wish.
• Add links to your website and other social media channels to the “Links” section, along with any other links you feel are important to your business.
• Link your Google+ page to your website.

2. Be Authentic

• Gauge the ideal post frequency for each of your channels. If you don’t post enough you won’t catch the interest of your followers, but if you post too much you venture into spam territory.
• There are many guides online that will tell you that it’s best to tweet in the evening and that Facebook shares increase during the weekend. That’s a good place to start, but you’ll want to monitor the activity on your channels to get an idea of what will work best for you.
• If you decide to use a tool to schedule when your content is posted, don’t rely on it for all of your posts. Relying on it completely will make your posts seem automated (because they are) which will come across as insincere.
• Additionally, when you post you should interact with the people your post reaches in a meaningful way. Posting without interaction also tends to reek of spam.

3. Make Sharing Easy

• Make the sharing process effortless for your followers by handing them the tools to do it. Link to all of your social media channels from your website and include social media share buttons on blog posts and videos.
• Use a hashtag that is unique to your brand and easy to remember. This makes it easier to find and share your posts.

4. Give Them The Good Stuff

• No matter how many share buttons or hashtags you give your followers, they won’t share content that doesn’t interest them. There’s so much content out there already that competition is fierce.
• Put in the effort and create meaningful content that actually does something for your readers. Teach them something, entertain them and give them a reason to pass your content along to others.

Of these four tips, this is by far the most important. If you put minimal effort into your content you will get minimal response, no matter what other tactics you may attempt.

By: Victoria Vener