Feb. 15, 2021
7 min reading time
7 min reading time
For many beginners (but also some intermediate and even advanced SEOs), the boundary between Search Engine optimization and social media sometimes blur together.
Do your social media channels support or boost your search engine rankings?
How does optimizing for social media search affect the chance of your profile appearing to new users?
And what does it mean that my tweets are displayed in the search results?
In the past, the difference between SEO and on social media, it's pretty intense.
When people search on Google or another search engine, they are actively looking for answers or solutions to their problems.
However, when you browse social media, every post your company adds may only passively reach users.
It's something that's presented to you because you're already doing what you came to this platform to do.
However, today more people than ever before are actively searching social media using hashtags and trending topics – and when they do, they want not just an answer, but a conversation.
This not only means more opportunities for marketing experts to get to know our target groups directly from their own experiences.
It also means that there is more data than ever before that we can use for our keyword search and that helps us produce more useful, targeted content.
Besides joining Facebook and LinkedIn groups to understand your target audiences on a deeper level, here are some ways to use social media for keyword research.
Because we have so much information posted on Facebook, their targeting data is extremely specific.
You may know exactly who your target market is, but you could find new or additional target groups that your company could serve.
Facebook advertising offers you the opportunity to delve deeper into your target audience:
These tools allow you to identify a similar audience or even delve deeper into the demographics of your existing audience to truly understand their lives.
While their B2B software may be aimed at Sally, a salesperson, how does it significantly improve her life outside of work?
Perhaps it means that small tasks will be automated, allowing her to spend less time in the office and travel more, if that's what people in her audience like to do.
And how can you use the information in your content to attract more visitors to your website? Website to generate leads and then convert those leads into customers?
Much of what is trending on Twitter is newsworthy, but it is precisely in the conversations surrounding these topics that marketing specialists can find the details that are important to their audience.
Furthermore, you can use the exact language that your potential searchers use.
This is especially true if you are actively engaging with the type of audience on Twitter that reflects your personality or target audience.
Your #TrendsForYou will be even more useful.
As a member of the SEO Twitter community and admin of #SEOChat, for example, I receive a lot of information on Twitter from people asking questions on behalf of their SEO clients or SEO newcomers.
I can use the questions they are asked and the way they express themselves to determine whether these types of questions are also relevant to my audience.
The key is to already be active on Twitter.
If you are not, there are social media monitoring tools that can help you delve deeper into the niche communities of this platform and understand the conversations of your target audiences.
From there, you can address the specific questions and topics that arise in these Twitter conversations and determine how best to leverage them in your SEO strategy.
Instagram is becoming its own little hashtag search engine.
You can now even follow hashtags you like.
Many industries are using Instagram as the driving force that it is – particularly in local and creative markets.
Are you looking for a newborn photographer in your area #newbornphotographychicago?
You probably want to see her work on Instagram.
Are you looking for a graphic designer to help your business #graphicdesignersofinstagram?
Get an idea of her style on Instagram.
By searching for hashtags related to your business or target audience and then analyzing the most popular posts, you can get an idea of what works well for people searching for those hashtags.
Tools like TailWind can also give you an idea of related hashtags, and Instagram itself offers a selection list of related hashtags that you can include in your research.
Interest is a minefield of good data, and I feel it has gotten a bad reputation as a "soft" or recreational social media platform.
I've recently come across a lot of useful business material at Pinterest I noticed this while searching the internet for help with my own business.
When I searched for "B2B marketing", I got content ideas for topics related to social media, marketing tactics, how to create infographics, product launches and more.
Through a lengthy search, I was able to see which more specific resources the target groups are looking for and can benefit from.
Not only can you search for specific keywords on Pinterest and get a lot of top pins for inspiration, but Pinterest also offers suggestions for search additions to give you even more ideas on how to customize your keyword research.
And just as Google has autofill options for search, Pinterest offers the same, giving you even more potential ideas for keyword searches.
Certainly, the clickbait long-form posts on LinkedIn may make you want to roll your eyes, but they resonate with users for a reason.
Find out which influencers or big names in your industry are posting on LinkedIn and see the reactions and comments they receive.
Just like on Twitter, people on LinkedIn often participate in the conversation, and these comments can also be a great source for finding out what your audience is looking for or their pain points.
Estimate which topics resonate most with the audience (what reactions do long-form posts receive?) and which advantages and disadvantages are discussed in the conversation under the post.
Use this data to inform your own keyword research.
We can learn a lot about the social from the search, and about the social from the search.
Even if they don't necessarily help each other directly, we can learn more about our target audiences and users by learning how they post information on social media platforms, interact with them, and promote them.
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