The landscape of digital marketing is ever-changing.
Businesses are constantly seeking effective strategies to boost their online visibility and engagement. Online visibility is crucial in today’s digital age, where standing out amongst the crowd can significantly boost your business’s success. Imagine if you could flip a switch to light up your business on all social media platforms and web searches, making it shine bright for potential customers to see. This is exactly what enhancing your online visibility can do. With the right strategies to optimize your web pages for search engine algorithms and engage with your audience on social media, you can attract more traffic, build your brand, and increase sales.
Online visibility begins with enhancing your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy, which involves tailoring your website and content to rank higher in search engine results.
So, let’s talk about SEO when it comes to social media marketing.
SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the process of using tools and tactics in your social media posts to help get them more clicks and engagement. The more clicks and engagement your posts receive the better their search engine presence will be. This gets your content to rank higher in social media results. If someone is searching for your business, business type, an area of expertise, or relevant topics relating to your business, your ranking matters to your visibility on the web. Social media SEO optimizes your social media profile so more people discover your brand in search results, both on social platforms and search engines.
So how can we master social media marketing SEO to get these results?
And what are the tools and tactics we need to use to make it happen?
Recently there has been increased discussions circulating about the use of keywords and hashtags on social media. Anyone who is familiar with social media and social media marketing knows a hashtag when they see one. Hashtags are seen by the public, but keywords are hidden and only seen by search engines. This big question right now seems to be, are keywords overshadowing hashtags in the realm of SEO in social media marketing?
Hashtags and keywords are both important factors to consider when it comes to SEO in social media marketing. Hashtags can most simply be described as keywords with that fancy # in front of them. The purpose of both hashtags and keywords is to get your content in front of the right audience. While essentially, they do the same thing and have similarities, the purpose of hashtags and keywords yield very different results.
Despite their differences, hashtags and keywords can work together to help increase your SEO.
Let’s explore the characteristics of each and break down how they can help amplify your brand’s reach and impact.
Hashtags deliver quick, instant, and trending results.
Publishing your content with hashtags can help you get instant search results and quickly. Hashtags are generally reserved for social media sites. They don’t draw much attention outside of social media. But it’s because of the use of hashtags that your social media updates aren’t limited to your followers. ANYONE can find your business social media updates if you use hashtags. This greatly improves your brand reach. Social media hashtags allow a single post to be found on the platform it’s been posted on. Here are some ways hashtags can be used on social media:
- Find relevant audiences. Hashtags can help you remain relevant through what is trending at a given time. They can also help users find content that’s relevant to them and can help connect users with like-minded individuals and those with similar interests. Hashtags can also add context to a post and show that it’s part of a larger discussion.
- Join conversations. Your followers are instant, carry a real-time dialogue, and are gratifying to this marketing tactic. Hashtags can help users join ongoing conversations on social media and make their posts visible in those conversations. This can lead to more engagement and new followers. When they engage with your content, it generates social signals such as likes, shares, and comments. These contribute to improved search rankings of content on that specific social media platform.
- Increase visibility. Hashtags provide a means to categorize and organize content on social media platforms. By doing this they can help increase the visibility of content, which can lead to more people discovering and sharing it. The use of hashtags with trending topics can help increase the reach of posts.
- Build brand recognition. Using branded hashtags (a unique hashtag that represents a brand, product, or service) can help startups establish their presence and attract attention from potential customers. This fosters engagement by encouraging new followers to participate in conversations and enables businesses to connect with their audience on a deeper level to help build brand loyalty.
Keywords give you longevity and credibility.
In other words, keywords are KEY. Keywords are traditionally used within website content, for example on your about page or blog. However, they can also be used on social media platforms. Keywords are how you expand your reach outside of just your social media platforms. They are ideas and topics that help increase the chances of specific pages or posts on your site showing up in search engine results. Publishing your content using keywords will deliver your content to Google, which ups your ranking in SEO. Here are some ways to use keywords on social media:
- Include keywords in your profile. Use keywords in your name, handle, and bio.
- Use them in captions. Include relevant keywords and hashtags when you write your captions to help your content appear on search pages. This includes photo captions.
- Make a keyword list. Social media platforms strive to deliver personalized content to users. As a result, SEO elements, such as creating a high-quality keyword list, have become increasingly important. By integrating relevant keywords that your target audience is likely to use when searching for your product or services into social media marketing strategies, businesses can enhance their chances of appearing in search results. This helps businesses reach beyond their immediate followers.
- Consider the context. Match your keywords with the type and tone of your content, and only add a keyword when it fits naturally into the existing content. By aligning content with relevant keywords, businesses can increase their visibility and attract organic traffic to their social media platforms or website.
SEO in social media marketing has really gained traction.
In the ever-evolving landscape, keywords and hashtags play distinct roles.
The bottom line is this: The tactic of using keywords for SEO in social media marketing is more involved than hashtags.
- Hashtags are used by your audience/followers to find your content on the specific social media platform you posted on.
- Keywords help to optimize your content to determine how relevant it is to a particular search query on a larger web scale.
Social media posts tend to have a short lifespan, while the point of SEO is to get (and stay) on page one of search results for as long as possible. Therefore, more time is needed to make sure it will resonate with your audience. It’s important to strike a balance between keywords and hashtags to master your brands SEO in social media marketing. By strategically integrating keywords, leveraging trending hashtags, and nurturing community engagement, businesses can harness the power of both.
