Did you know that 5.17 billion people, or 63.7% of the global population, are social media users?
Yes, that’s how crucial social media is in the present scenario.
Every day, internet users worldwide (particularly Millennials, Gen-Z, and Gen-Alpha) use multiple social media channels as their go-to search engines. Social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, X, Pinterest, and YouTube are not only means of entertainment but also great platforms for interacting with brands, discovering new products/solutions, and connecting with a larger network of like-minded people.
Considering social media’s strong foothold in our lives, digital marketers and brands are using social media SEO to build a compelling online presence.
Now, you might wonder, aren’t social media and SEO two separate aspects of digital marketing?
While that might have been true earlier, social media SEO is the new trend!
In this blog, we’ll explore social media SEO in depth and offer proven tips on how to increase brand visibility with social media SEO.
What is Social Media SEO?
Social media management traditionally involves posting and optimizing content across different social media platforms. On the other hand, an SEO strategy focuses on enhancing the visibility of your website or content, making it easier for people to discover you through search engines when they’re looking for topics, products, or services related to your industry.
Although these two strategies may seem distinct, they can function cohesively to create a solid digital marketing plan. When social media strategy is SEO optimized, it can drive traffic from multiple sources, broadening your brand’s reach.
Social media SEO focuses on optimizing social profiles, making it easier for potential customers to find brands or suitable solutions through platform-specific search functions. While SEO best practices may differ across channels, the primary goal remains the same – connecting with the right audience and showcasing products they might be interested in.
Social media SEO impacts your brand’s visibility in three ways:
- First, it focuses on enhancing your brand’s visibility on search engines like Google and Bing, particularly for branded keywords like your company’s name.
- Second, it aims to boost the visibility of your individual posts within the search functions of social media platforms. Optimizing your content with relevant keywords ensures that your posts appear on top when your audience searches for specific topics on these channels.
- Third, social media SEO can drive traffic to your website. While social media activity doesn’t directly influence search engine rankings (with the exception of Bing), you can still leverage it to attract visitors. For example, by repurposing your content for social media and including links, you can guide your social audience back to your website, increasing the site’s footfall.
Read more about: Local SEO for Multi-Location Businesses: Strategies for Growth in 2024
It is an established fact that people now prefer discovering brands on social media rather than traditional search engines. More and more online users are making purchases directly through social media apps, choosing social media channels over a brand’s website.
Furthermore, as the young population gains financial independence, this demographic becomes a crucial target for marketers. With a well-devised social media SEO strategy, B2B brands can expand their market reach to cater to a broader clientele.
Thus, trending statistics clearly establish social media as a key touchpoint between businesses and consumers.
Social Media SEO vs. Social Media Algorithms
Both social media SEO and social media algorithms serve a common goal – to increase your social content’s visibility.
However, despite some overlap between the two, the methods for succeeding in social media SEO and algorithms vary. Let’s explore how.
Social SEO focuses on optimizing your content for discoverability through relevant keywords, alt-text, and other SEO techniques. The goal is to ensure your posts rank higher when users search for specific terms within your niche.
In contrast, social media algorithms rely on platform-specific rules and calculations to enhance your content’s visibility. Success here means appearing on feeds like “For You” or “Recommended” pages, driven by factors such as user engagement and trending topics.
For social media SEO, factors like keyword usage and a defined niche determine whether your content ranks well in searches. On the other hand, your appearance in algorithm-based feeds often hinges on broader variables—many outside your control—like publishing consistency, viral trends, and platform-specific nuances.
However, making your content SEO-friendly can positively influence social media algorithms. For instance, using trending hashtags in Instagram SEO can help categorize your posts for better search visibility while enhancing your chances of being featured by the platform’s algorithm, which rewards engagement and niche-focused content.
How Does Social Media Boost SEO: What You Need to Know
While social media doesn’t have a direct influence on search engine rankings, its increasing relevance and popularity inevitably bring numerous indirect SEO benefits:
- Boosting online visibility and traffic
Social media is a powerful channel for amplifying your content’s reach and driving traffic to your site. When your content is shared across platforms, it has the potential to be seen by a larger audience, including industry influencers and potential customers. This visibility boost can ultimately contribute to higher web traffic.
- Building brand awareness and trust
A consistent and active presence on social media can help strengthen your brand’s recognition. When users frequently encounter your brand in their feeds, they become more familiar with it, leading to increased trust. Higher recognition translates into improved click-through rates (CTRs) from search results, as people are more inclined to click on a brand they recognize.
- Prolonging content exposure
Unlike traditional SEO efforts that often result in short-term traffic boosts, social media can give your content a longer shelf life. Posts shared on social platforms can be rediscovered and reshared over time, leading to ongoing traffic long after the initial publication.
- Expand social channels faster
Social SEO focuses on reaching individuals who aren’t following you, offering a more efficient way to grow your audience than relying solely on platform algorithms. An influx of new visitors and followers is vital for scaling a brand’s social presence.
Top Ten Social Media SEO Strategies For The Win
If you’re thinking, “how do I combine SEO and social media?” we’ve got you covered. Here are ten tips to boost brand visibility in the era of social media.
1. Set clear KPIs for social media SEO
Like any other marketing strategy, it’s essential to establish clear, actionable goals, i.e., KPIs for your social media SEO. While metrics like reach and likes are important, they don’t paint the full picture of your strategy’s success.
For a more comprehensive evaluation, track metrics that directly tie to your business goals, such as website traffic and conversions from organic social activity. Social listening is another useful tool for monitoring brand mentions and sentiment. Regularly generating reports will help you analyze how well your content is performing in terms of discovery and engagement.
Some key discovery metrics include:
- Visibility: Impressions, views, post reach, follower growth, and audience expansion
- Engagement: Social signals like comments, shares, saves, and the average engagement rate
- Conversions: Metrics like click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, cost per click (CPC), and overall sales revenue
- Customer Satisfaction: Review ratings and customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores
- Share of Voice: Brand mentions and the use of branded hashtags
Tracking such vital metrics can help you evaluate the performance of your social media SEO and adjust the strategy accordingly for optimal results.
2. Develop an integrated keyword strategy
Since social media channels and search engines function hand-in-hand, applying your website’s keyword strategy to social media is an excellent place to start.
You can start by researching platform-specific keywords that are popular in your niche.
Once you have a list of top keywords, incorporate them naturally into your captions and even verbalize them in video content to improve visibility via transcriptions. However, be mindful not to overload your posts with keywords.
To identify the right keywords for each platform:
- Think of phrases people might use if they can’t remember your brand name. For instance, for a fitness app, users might search for terms like “workout tracker” or “exercise planner.”
- Opt for more specific, long-tail keywords to avoid heavy competition. For example, using “pet-friendly hotel” in your ad or caption may get better traction than a simple “hotel.”
- Align your keywords with the brand image you want to project.
- Revisit past SEO research to find relevant terms that work across both web and social media platforms.
Adapt your keyword usage to fit each platform’s unique context. Also, tap into the inbuilt analytics insights of social media tools. For example, tools like Facebook’s Audience Targeting and LinkedIn’s Marketing Solutions provide valuable insights into campaign performance, key metrics, and paid search optimization. Similarly, Pinterest offers a trends dashboard.
Leverage these analytics to refine your strategy and boost results.
3. Insert links in social profiles
Just as with traditional SEO, high-performing social media content has a greater chance of being discovered and linked to, which can result in more backlinks pointing to your site. These backlinks indicate to search engines that your content is credible and worthy of higher rankings.
To ensure higher rankings, optimize your social media profiles with relevant links. For instance, treat your bios as digital business cards—include essential company details, contact information, and links to key pages on your website.
For social media posts, incorporating clickable links varies by platform. Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn allow links in posts and captions, while Instagram and TikTok do not. However, for such platforms, you can use engaging CTAs in captions to direct users to the links in your bio.
It’s also crucial to understand the role of nofollow links. These links, common in social media messages and forum posts, don’t pass SEO authority but can still drive traffic and potential customers.
Contrary to popular belief, nofollow links are not detrimental to your site and, when used correctly, can help improve your search ranking by preventing penalties. For example, comments on social networks or forum posts should include nofollow links, signaling to search engines that these links aren’t intended for advertising purposes. However, the URL in your social media bio is a follow link, which can positively influence your SEO.
4. Optimally place social sharing buttons
When placed strategically, social sharing buttons can be quite effective, especially on blog posts. They encourage readers to share your content across platforms and boost its visibility.
However, in certain areas, social sharing buttons may not add any value. A study found that removing them from landing pages increased click-through rates by 11.9%. This suggests that while blog posts benefit from social sharing buttons, pages with a specific goal (such as driving conversions) may perform better without them.
You can consider running A/B tests to determine what works best for your website. Experiment with the placement and visibility of social sharing buttons to see where they add value and where they may not work. It’s also important to customize the design and placement of the buttons to match your website’s branding and layout while ensuring they are compatible with all devices.
5. Infuse local SEO into your social media strategy
Leveraging social media can significantly boost your local SEO efforts. A key first step is sharing your Google Business Profile on your social platforms, ensuring your business appears accurately across Google’s products, like Maps and Search. This helps users find your business more easily and strengthens your local presence.
As you build a following and collect positive reviews on social media, Google is more likely to rank your local brand higher in map results, making it easier for potential customers to discover you.
Additionally, location tagging is essential if you offer local products or services.
Including location tags on platforms like Instagram or Facebook makes it easier for users to find your business based on their location or search queries.
Each platform has different steps for setting up location tags, so make sure to follow the platform-specific guidelines to maximize your visibility. Implementing these strategies allows you to better connect with local audiences and improve your overall SEO ranking.
6. Maximize the impact of your social profiles
All your social media profiles must be updated and optimized to increase online visibility and deliver desired results.
Treat your social media profiles as an extension of your website. Ensure your profiles clearly represent your brand by filling out key sections like “About Us,” “Services,” and “Products” with SEO-friendly keywords. This helps search engines better connect your profiles with relevant search queries.
Follow these tips to optimize your social media profiles:
- Use a professional, high-quality profile picture that represents your brand.
- Regularly update your cover photo to highlight upcoming events, promotions, or announcements.
- Include social media badges on your website and in email signatures to drive traffic to your profiles.
- In the “About” section, use important keywords within the first 140 characters to ensure they appear in search results.
- Link your website in bio sections, ensuring it’s mobile-friendly for seamless user experiences.
- Include your business locations (if relevant) and add links to your website or online store.
It also helps if you can get a “verified” badge on social platforms (Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn offer badges) because online users tend to favor verified profiles and businesses. This can increase brand credibility and user engagement.
7. Make video content more engaging and accessible
Short-form videos, like those on TikTok and Instagram Reels, have become incredibly popular for driving engagement. Sharing links to these videos on other platforms is a great way to reach a wider audience.
But this strategy isn’t limited to TikTok and Instagram. For instance, on LinkedIn, you can use carousels to present key points from a blog post in an engaging, slide-based format with links directing viewers back to the full article.
To add links, you can either embed them directly into the video or presentation (if the platform allows) or include them in the video or slide description, giving viewers easy access to further information or resources.
Additionally, enhancing accessibility by adding closed captions and alt text can significantly boost engagement. Captions make your content more inclusive and help social platforms better understand the context, ensuring it reaches the right audience.
Many platforms, such as TikTok and YouTube, automatically generate captions, and Instagram lets you add alt text to images to improve accessibility.
8. Boost your organic social media presence
While SEO focuses on driving traffic through inbound links to your site, social media reach is crucial in increasing search visibility. The more people that share your content, the more exposure you get, which can enhance your overall search traffic.
Growing your follower base is essential to expanding your social reach—but don’t be tempted to buy fake followers or likes. It might inflate your numbers, but engagement will remain low, and platforms can penalize accounts with inauthentic followers. Having 100,000 followers but only 2k likes per post is a clear red flag that hurts your credibility.
Instead of using shortcuts, focus on building genuine connections through high-quality, engaging content. This will organically boost your reach, improve social engagement, and generate valuable inbound links from genuine users or followers.
9. Turn your social media insights into content ideas
If you’re running low on fresh content ideas, look within your social media data. Social platforms are filled with real-time conversations, trends, and audience interests, making them an excellent resource for discovering new topics to explore.
Whether you’re brainstorming blog posts, new campaigns, or trending keywords, social media offers instant access to what your target audience is buzzing about.
One effective way to tap into these insights is through social listening tools. These advanced platforms allow you to track trending topics, phrases, and emerging discussions across various social channels. Instead of guessing what your audience wants to hear, you can quickly identify what’s trending now and churn out fresh content assets that align with your target audience’s needs.
By regularly monitoring your social feed, you can identify shifts in your industry, adapt to new trends, and even catch early signs of viral content. Social data isn’t just about metrics — it’s a source of creative inspiration that helps you stay ahead of the curve.
10. Partner with Influencers
An active and engaged user community is crucial to attracting quality traffic and driving meaningful engagement.
One effective way to do this is by collaborating with influencers who already have established credibility and a loyal following in your target market. Influencers play a significant role in shaping consumer behavior today, and leveraging their reach can boost your content visibility and amplify your brand’s presence.
At present, global influencer marketing is valued at USD 24 billion.
When influencers share or promote your content, they expand your audience, increasing the likelihood of conversions. In fact, many consumers make purchasing decisions based on influencer recommendations.
There are multiple ways to collaborate with influencers:
- Offer paid partnerships for brand promotion.
- Feature them in your advertisements.
- Provide free products in exchange for reviews.
- Co-create new products or launch exclusive lines together.
- Host joint giveaways.
- Invite influencers to your events.
- Set up a long-term brand ambassador program for ongoing collaboration.
Partnering with influencers is a powerful strategy for enhancing brand awareness, engaging your target audience, and driving tangible business results.
Implement Social Media SEO Tips Into Action: Get Started With The Smarketers
Consumers are no longer limited to the Google search bar when seeking information online. Social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram have become go-to resources for answering queries. Furthermore, the seamless integration of social channels with shopping giants such as Amazon, ASOS, H&M, etc., social media now encompasses the complete customer journey—from discovery to consideration, and ultimately, conversion.
This shift makes it crucial to include social media SEO in your digital marketing strategy. You have the tools, content, and platforms at your disposal; now, it’s time to implement them effectively by fostering cross-team collaboration and consistency.
Is it a tad overwhelming for you?
Worry not, for The Smarketers is here to help!
As a trusted agency in the digital marketing landscape, our team of experts will design customized social media SEO strategies that drive your brand’s visibility, engagement, and conversions. With our guidance, you can maximize your social media impact and boost your SEO efforts, ensuring long-term growth and success.
Reach out to us today, and let’s get started!
