It used to be, when we talked about “optimization for search,” that we were primarily referring to optimizing our website content for search engines like Google and Bing. Now, “search” is an essential technique to be applied to both search engine results as well as social media platforms. Research shows that younger age groups are increasingly using TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat to search for, say, the best latte in town, over Google. This reiterates, to us marketers, that while Google still remains the most heavily used search engine, we need to stay attuned to changing customer preference in order to place our communications where audiences are spending their time. Read on to learn more about social media SEO.
What is Social Media SEO?
Social media SEO refers to the use of social media platforms as a search engine. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, for example, make it very easy for users to discover content on an expanse of information, such as news, products and services, local businesses, how-to tutorials, entertainment, and so on; for most day-to-day topics, there is content available to meet the inquiry.
How Social Search Results Differ from Search Engine Web Results
While there’s a good chance you’ll find an answer to your question on social media, the results provided to you are not the same as what you’ll receive on Google or Bing. Search engine web results are different in several ways:
- Content types: Google and Bing offer a variety of content types, including web pages, articles, blogs, videos, images, and structured results like local business listings, recipes, flight bookings, events, and more. Social media platforms, in contrast, offer content types specific to the platform, like video on TikTok.
- Content breadth: Web search engines draw results from the entirety of the world wide web. Social media results, on the other hand, are limited to the content that has been added to the platform. Additionally, social media results generally lean more toward user-generated content that is more timely, trendy, and dynamic.
- Different SEO rules: Optimization works differently in social media than it does for search engine web results. Social content achieves visibility based on relevancy, yes, but social content is also ranked on engagement factors and personal user preferences, like the accounts the user follows. Search engine web results factor keyword relevance, content quality, domain authority, user experience, and other factors to determine which results to show.
Social Media SEO and Traditional SEO Have Similar Goals
Despite the differences between social media SEO and traditional SEO on search engines, we’re still aiming toward the same goals. These tactics can help boost brand awareness, target audiences interested in our products and services, drive traffic to our websites, and generate leads.
7 Tips to Optimize Social Media SEO
- Create good content: Easy enough, right? (Insert sarcastic emoji here.) Content is the heart of social media; however, it can be challenging to hit on what material your audience finds interesting and wants to engage with. Start by trying to understand your audience. Why are they on that social media platform in the first place? What is appealing to them about your brand? What content would be of value to your audience? Once you come up with ideas to answer these questions, the next job is to put that content into a format that will catch your audience’s interest—i.e., catchy writing, good visuals, videos. Always remember that people are on social media to be entertained. That doesn’t mean that all content needs to be funny or uplifting. “Entertained” means that people use social media to experience emotion—humor, joy, curiosity, motivation, inspiration, and even disgust or anger. Speak to these desires of your audience, and your content will naturally keep people interested. (Maybe lean more toward the positive stuff though please.)
- Craft consistent, detailed profiles: When filling out the “about” section in your profile(s), make sure the information is accurate and consistent with all the other places online you display this information (your website, Google Business Profile, etc.). Additionally, be as detailed as space allows with information about your company, your location, your products and services.
- Use keywords in content: Keywords are the basis of determining content relevance. Use the keyword research you completed for your web pages, and apply those keywords in captions, descriptions, etc.
- Apply research: The process of discovering keywords serves a dual purpose of market research. Trending keywords help identify topics of importance to your audience that you can post about. You learn more about how your audience speaks about your industry or products and services. Analyzing your competitors’ content can help you find where you may be falling short. In-app tools like TikTok’s Keyword Insights (on desktop) or Instagram’s Explore can help you in this research.
- Incorporate relevant hashtags: Using relevant hashtags in your posts can increase reach.
- Engage: Encourage your audience to engage with your content. The greater the engagement on a post—reactions, shares—the higher the visibility it will receive. Likewise, be a user who engages yourself. Reply to your users’ comments, engage with fellow businesses’ posts, provide helpful information in discussions. Your outreach will come back to you.
- Post regularly: The more often you post, the greater the chance that more people in your audience will see your content. And the more people that see it, and potentially engage, the greater the visibility it will receive. Posting regularly also signals to your audience that your company is “alive” and open for business. If you are reaching out to your audience on social media, your audience feels greater trust that you will be active in your relationship with them as a customer.
Conclusion
Posting on social media is no longer optional for businesses today. And if you’re going to take the time to use social media, you may as well go to the effort of optimizing your content to have the greatest reach possible. If you’d like guidance on how to improving your social media presence, reach out to us today.
