If you’re not leveraging social media to boost your business’s presence online, you’re not only missing out on new followers but also potential customers. Social media algorithms are designed to prioritise content based on various factors, such as relevance, engagement, and popularity. However, relying solely on these algorithms to get your content seen may not be enough to reach your target audience. That’s where social SEO comes in.

By optimising your social content for search engines, you can ensure that it’s visible to people who are actively searching for businesses like yours or the products and services you offer. Social SEO helps you reach a broader audience, including those who may not be following you on social media but are interested in what you have to offer.

Keep your business from falling behind this year and start incorporating social SEO into your marketing strategy to increase your visibility online and attract more customers. Keep reading and learn how you can effectively implement social SEO into your social media AND SEO marketing plan for 2023.

What is Social Optimisation?

Simply put, Social SEO involves optimising your social media posts to enhance their searchability online.

While social networks are not typically categorised as search engines, they do offer search functionality through their search bars and as social media platforms continue to evolve, they are beginning to integrate more features commonly associated with traditional search engines. This is aimed at enhancing their ability to connect users with the specific content they are seeking, which can be utilised by today’s businesses.

The concept of social optimisation revolves around increasing visibility to users who are actively searching for specific content, as opposed to those who are simply scrolling through their social media feeds.

In the past, social platforms were primarily used by people to view a personalised feed of content from individuals and brands they followed. However, with the evolution of social media platforms, users are increasingly using these networks to actively search for information like:

• Brand Suggestions
• Product Recommendations
• Local Businesses
• Customer Reviews & Testimonials
• Insight Into Business Operations
• Brand Events & Social Causes

A typical consumer journey in the modern digital age might involve hearing about a brand from a friend, then instead of conducting research through a search engine like Google, users jump to social media to learn more about the brand, product, or service.

Who Is Using Social Media As A Search Engine?

Recent research from Hubspot has shown that millennials and Gen X tend to discover new products through social feeds or story posts on social media. This could be anything from a TikTok post, an Instagram reel, or a Facebook story.

Right now, short-form video content is taking over, with 41% of both Gen X and Gen Z preferring to discover new products through short-form videos. The same goes for Millennials at 36%.

When it comes down to optimising your social profiles and posts, it’s a good idea to focus on the platforms with audiences that already align well with your brand. Something like LinkedIn might be better suited for B2B marketing, while product tutorials or customer testimonials will perform better on YouTube.

How To Optimise Your Social Profiles

If you want to get your content found on each social network, here are several key strategies with which you can begin:

1. TikTok

Adding relevant keywords to your TikTok user profile is a great way to improve the SEO of your entire account. To add keywords to your TikTok user profile, go to your profile and click on “Edit Profile.” From there, you can add keywords to your bio, username, and other relevant fields.

Include all relevant keywords and hashtags in your video captions. This means both the video description, and if possible for your video, saying them out loud to generate relevant speech captions and in-text overlay captions.

2. Instagram

To improve the SEO of your Instagram profile, start implementing keywords strategically in your content, handle, and bio. Adding a relevant location to your profile can also be beneficial, particularly if your business is location-specific. You can also tag locations on Instagram Maps, which functions as a search engine for local businesses. Users can then find your business within a particular region and view content that others have tagged you in.

The age of hashtag stuffing has come to an end, nowadays it’s all about adding keywords in your captions to help your content appear on keyword search pages.

Did you know that Instagram also has subtitles and alt-text? By setting up subtitles, your keywords are able to appear onscreen. Alt-text helps Instagram comprehend what your content is all about, serving it to any relevant searches.

3. Facebook

To improve the social search optimisation of your Facebook Page, it is best practice to incorporate your primary keyword into various sections of your Page. This includes your page title, website link, as well as your about section and description. By optimising these areas, you can increase the likelihood of your Page being discovered by users searching for content related to your keyword.

To further enhance the SEO of your Facebook Page, it is also important to include relevant keywords in your posts. You can achieve this by incorporating the most relevant keywords naturally and organically within each post and photo caption.

Adding specific and descriptive alt text to your images on Facebook is an effective way to ensure that the platform understands the content of your post and shares it appropriately. Additionally, if you have multiple physical locations for your business, it’s a good idea to create location pages for each location. This will help users find your business more easily when searching for a specific location, helping to improve your local SEO.

Final Thoughts

Gone are the days when getting your social media content seen was solely reliant on working the algorithms to appear in users’ feeds. Nowadays, people are taking a more proactive approach to discover content that interests them, rather than passively scrolling through what’s presented to them.

This means that in addition to optimising your content for algorithms, you must also focus on creating content that is captivating, compelling, and caters to your target audience’s interests. By doing so, you can increase your chances of attracting their attention and encouraging them to seek out your content actively.

It’s important to recognise that not all potential customers will find your business through traditional search engines, like Google, regardless of the product or service you offer. This is where social SEO becomes critical in connecting with your target audience. By optimising your social media presence, you can tap into a customer base that may not have discovered you through search engines alone.

If you’re struggling to reach potential customers through traditional search engine optimisation or just want to give your business the boost it deserves, social SEO may be the solution you’re looking for.

Finsbury Media specialises in both social media marketing and SEO, providing you with the digital marketing expertise and dedication necessary to take your business to the next level. Contact us today to learn more about how social optimisation can help your business reach new heights this year.