Social media continues to evolve, and so have customer search habits. Traditionally, people have turned to search engines like Google, Bing or Yahoo as a means of finding information about products or a brand. Nowadays, an increasing number of people are turning to social media platforms for information. In fact, YouTube is the second most popular search engine after Google with over 1 billion hours of video watched each day. Facebook is the fourth most popular search engine with over 2 billion searches a day. So, how does your brand stand out as customers use social media platforms as search engines?
The great thing about this growing trend is that it won’t cost you many resources to adjust. You’ll simply want to update your current social media strategy. Here are four tips to help you get started:
- Captions
Don’t skip captions for your social media posts! Captions are an important factor in determining if your post gets served to a customer’s search. For example, Instagram uses artificial intelligence (AI) in their algorithms to filter through captions on posts to decide what to include on a user’s Explore page. You want your captions to serve your overall story, so spending the extra bit of time to create strong captions can really help. - Titles and descriptions
Similar to captions, titles and descriptions attached to your video content can help you get discovered. YouTube’s algorithm factors in title and description when recommending relevant content to its users. So, making sure your keywords are included in these areas can help your videos rank in different searches. - Hashtags
These are the easiest way for people to find your page and so using the right hashtags for your post is important. Focus on the most relevant hashtag categories to your content and hashtag usage best practices. For example, while it’s important to use your branded hashtags, you’ll also want to include other relevant hashtags for each individual post and avoid using overly broad or spamming tactics. Make sure to come up with a hashtag strategy that helps you get noticed and makes the most of the algorithm. - Shareable content
Word of mouth and sharing are so powerful on social media. Ensure content is engaging enough for people to share to their own social pages. Think of them as a type of social backlink. When followers share your post, then all their followers see it as well, even if they don’t follow you.
Rev the social media search engine
Social media is much more than just posting photos and engaging with your current followers. Your social media strategy should be about growing and expanding your reach to new audiences. In order to do that, you need to know how each social media platform’s search feature works and create a strategy to make sure your brand is served in relevant results.
If you’re ready to take your social media to the next level, our social media experts at BeyondFifteen can help!