Social Media SEO: Why Social Media is the New Search Engine

Do you remember back in the day when you would just Google (or dare I say, Bing!) something when you wanted to look it up? As much as it pains me to say, back in my day, I feel like Google-ing was the answer to everything. We didn’t have any other options online to find answers.

However, a TON of new data has come out around the world of SEO, and BOY is it changing! In fact, these days, people aren’t just using Google to look things up anymore. Social media platforms are seeing a huge rise in usage as their own search engines, and that’s truly a game changer if you’re a content creator, influencer, brand, or business on social media trying to grow! 

What is Social Media SEO? 

What’s up, guys? I’m Keely, social media manager here at ClickBank and long-time social media user. If we haven’t met before virtually, hello, and nice to meet you!

So, what’s the deal with this whole idea of “social media SEO?” Well, new statistics and data have revealed that Gen-Z uses Google for search 25% less than their Gen-X counterparts. There are a TON of nuances in the world of social media. As I’ve said in our past videos, blogs, and content, the internet (and social media in particular) is sort of like the Wild West of marketing right now: Always changing, always evolving, and always with some new sheriff in town!

From dances on TikTok to the “Boomer-fication” of Facebook, there’s so much going on that it can feel impossible to know where to even start on social media and figure out what will work best for you. So, let me lay out all of your options for social media channels so that you can make an educated decision based on this information. 

Social Media Search

Social media has been around for 20 years now, but one of the latest shifts in the marketing world is HOW people utilize social media! Namely, more consumers are searching on social platforms to find what they’re looking for, including products to purchase.

Since I’ve worked with and utilized social media since its inception (minus MySpace, which was right before my time), I’m here to educate you on all things social media to help YOU build your business and watch it grow, whether you’re an influencer, content creator, ecommerce brand, or other business trying to reach an audience on social! 

The fact is, social media has turned into so much more than just a place where people can connect and post super cool pictures of their awesome travels, life events, and everything in between. According to Forbes, there has been a notable decline of 30% in the use of search engines for brand discovery amongst the Gen-Z audience. 

This suggests a shift among consumers toward finding brands directly through social media channels. In fact, Forbes added that TikTok has become a rising resource over the empire that is Google for Gen-Z, who lean more toward preferring quick, visually driven content that can be found on TikTok and even Instagram reels! That same study said that a quarter of people claimed they only use or primarily use social media to search online. 

In other words, gone are the days of finding new products from Google search alone. Now, as a brand, entrepreneur, or business owner, one of the best ways to build your business is by marketing on social media channels. 

In fact, places like Pinterest have been doing this for years, with content being delivered to consumers based on what they searched. Bloggers, recipe sharers, and outfit posters truly found a way to capitalize on long-tail keywords on a social media platform. Now, other platforms like TikTok and Instagram have caught on, and this is making a huge impact on the world of search engine optimization beyond just Google. 

This trend drives a more interesting point, and one of the main reasons I’m here talking to you today. Since social media channels are now being used as search engines, do the same sort of search engine optimization rules apply to me on social media? 

In short, YES! Let’s talk about it! 

Examples of Searches on Social Media 

With this information, it’s safe to assume that no matter your business, you should be building an in-depth social media strategy into your plan. But what does that look like? 

While no one is going to be beating out the king of the mountain that is Google – at least not YET – it’s also likely that more people are going to be gravitating toward social media channels for their searches. 

People are using TikTok, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, and even LinkedIn to search to their heart’s content! From recipes, to jobs, and everything in between, the world of digital search has grown exponentially.

Setting Up Social Media

Before we dive any deeper, if you haven’t set up your social media channels, namely Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, I would suggest doing so!

If you do have them set up, but you’re not sure how to create content and keep your business’s social media content going in the right direction, we have a really awesome video you can check out on how to create reels and shorts for social media, which you can watch here:

Now, if you need to set up your social media channels, that’s super easy! Your first step is going to be deciding which channels you want to promote organically on. This depends a lot on your overall business strategy, niche, and audience. 

If you’re going for Facebook, you can create a business page by going to Facebook.com and selecting the “pages” option on the left-hand side of your screen. From there, select “create new page” and enter in your business’s information to create the page!

Make sure you have a good bio describing your business, a nice header and logo for the profile photo, links to your website and other social media channels, and anything else that may be pertinent to your company’s mission on social media! 

If you’re going to use Instagram, all you have to do is go to Instagram.com and sign up for a new account using your preferred business email address. Same as above, enter in your business information in the bio, have a nice profile photo, and important links to your website and such! It’s also helpful to follow other people, influencers, and businesses in your niche so that your feed is full of like-minded individuals! 

Instagram’s version of Twitter, AKA Threads is super easy to sign up on, and great to integrate into your Instagram strategy.

Just head to Threads.net and login with your Instagram login information! 

Signing up for an account on Pinterest is the same! You can enter in your preferred email address to sign up on Pinterest.com. Add a captivating bio, follow brands and niches that are pertinent to your business, and make sure you’ve got links everywhere! 

If you’re going for TikTok, simply go to TikTok.com and click sign up! As is true with every other site, add your login information, your pertinent business information, and you’re off to the races!

Lastly, on LinkedIn, you should have a personal LinkedIn account in order to create a business page. You can do so by clicking the “for business” drop down on the right-hand side of the home page. From there, you can select the “create a company page” page, and enter in all of the pertinent information! 

Developing Your Social Media Strategy

Once you’ve gotten your social media channels set up, the next thing you need to do is to build social search into your overall social strategy.

This means that the exact same keyword research and search engine optimization work that you’ve done for your website is transferable to social media as well! Most of the information you’ve gleaned from keyword and competitor research should be ready to implement in your social media strategy! 

This step in and of itself requires a few extra micro-steps. First, you should have a fully built-out social media strategy by now. This includes your demographics, key performance indicators, the type of content you’re aiming to post, your frequency of posts, and the overall goal of your social media use.

If you don’t have this stuff, that’s totally okay! Hit pause, take some time to dig in deep, and develop your social media strategy. We have a great video on our YouTube about how to dig into your niche, which talks a lot about how to utilize your data and information to develop your brand, which can really help you with your strategy!

Feel free to watch that video below! Once you’ve done that, come back and check out the rest of our tips on how to optimize for search on social media. 

Combining SEO and Social Media

NOW, it’s time to build out your social media strategy with SEO in mind! Essentially, what this means is combining your social media strategy with your SEO strategy to craft the ULTIMATE social media strategy! 

In more technical terms, it’s about implementing your long-tail keyword strategy into all of your social media posts. Say your ideal customer logs onto Instagram and searches something that pertains to YOUR brand or business. 

What kind of keyword(s) would they enter? And ask yourself, are those keywords in the copy and content of your posts? For instance, if you’re in the women’s health niche, your audience may be searching for things like “best supplements for skin health” or something to that effect. You could be publishing the best content in the world for your niche, but if it’s not discoverable to new followers and customers through search, you’re still missing out on one of the biggest benefits of marketing on social media.

So take the time and start consistently adding in long-tail and short-tail keyword phrases into your content. You should be planning your content in conjunction with your audience’s questions and interests while optimizing your strategy for maximum discoverability for your brand! 

Understanding Your Audience on Social Media

Next, it’s time to start considering the younger generation of decision makers. I know to some, it may seem like Gen-Z are still babies who eat Tide pods and play too many video games, but I’m a Gen-Z (barely) and my knee can tell the weather! 

But seriously, Millennials and Gen-Z audience make up such a HUGE portion of consumers on the internet right now. If you haven’t implemented these demographics into your strategy, it’s time to do so! Take their search history and behaviors into account and ensure that your content speaks to how they engage with key topics in your niche.

On top of that, make sure that you’ve done your due diligence across the board with your targeting and demographic research. You should know exactly the audience you’re talking to and how to get your messaging to reach them. 

Creating Content on Social Media

From here, it’s time to make sure that the social content you’re creating is optimized for search. Like I mentioned above, with some good diligent research, a solid social strategy, and phenomenal content, all thats left is making sure that the content you’re posting is fully optimized for the searches your audience makes on social media! 

You can ensure your content is optimized for search by creating engaging content, with high-quality, well-researched copy, and even the use of appropriate hashtags. In my experience as a social media manager in multiple different niches and on multiple different channels, this is always top of mind! The content you put out should be creative and new, but it should also be relevant to your audience and align with your audience’s needs, wants, and interests.

Take time to actively address growing trends that align with your brand as well, as this will keep your content optimized across social channels. Also, make sure that any video or images you publish are high-quality; blurry, fuzzy, or low-quality content will keep you from trending! Lastly, use location tagging where applicable, and ensure that all of the copy in your posts contains highly relevant long-tail and short-tail keywords that apply to your audience! 

Make sure that you’re doing everything you can to maintain your brand presence on social media. This is EVERYTHING to ensuring that your content ranks well on social media. The same way that great engagement and lots of visits on a web page or blog post will help you rank in Google, trending content, visually appealing photos and videos, and an engaged audience on your social media pages will help to ensure that your optimized content ranks well on your social media channels of choice. 

There are a lot of ways to do this! Whether that be using relevant keywords and hashtags, staying up to date on algorithm changes, or even working with other relevant influencers and brands, take the time to make decisions that are best for you and your brand or business on social media! 

Optimizing Your Social Channels for Search

Now, the biggest question remains: HOW do you optimize your social media channels for search? Using everything you’ve learned above, let’s dive in!

By this point, you’ve got your social media channels lined up, your business information ready to go, your social media strategy prepped, and you’re ready to truly optimize. The best way to do this is by creating content that applies to all of the research you’ve done. So, if someone were to look up something that pertains to your niche, what would they look up and what would the content be that’s delivered to them?

Let’s go back to our women’s health supplement brand. Say I’m trying to optimize my social channels for search, with my niche as women’s health and my target demographic as women in the fitness industry. I would begin posting content that pertains to what they might be looking for that would bring them to my page. For instance, maybe an educational graphic on the benefits of vitamin B, or exercises for pre-natal care. My goal is to create content that is directly applicable to the target demographic, with search terms both in the actual content of your post, as well as the copy of the post.

It’s not simple, but it is as simple as that! Using all of your research, knowledge, and tools as a business, you can optimize your social channels for search to ensure that people will find your content based on popular searches within your niche – the same way you would when you optimize your web pages based on keyword research.

FAQs

What Social Media Channels Should I Be Using? 

This truly depends on your business needs, audience, and niche. Personally, I recommend cross-posting across platforms. When you post across all platforms, this ensures brand presence and a larger message reach across the internet. This is great for search, even on Google, as Google is now bringing up social media pages in search results, depending on performance and keyword impact. 

Does This Mean I Should Stop Optimizing for Google?

Absolutely not. You should always optimize across each channel that you market from. Remaining present on Google as a website is just as important as ranking well on social media platforms. A high-performing and clear message on your website will help with brand recognition as well.  

How Do I Create Good Content for Social Media? 

There are lots of different ways to create good content, especially depending on your channels of use! We have a really great blog on how to create video content for social media, which you can use to help guide your content creation efforts.

Social Media SEO Wrap-Up

Well, now you’re ready to take on the wild west of social media… for now!

Before you go, if you’re looking for tips on how to create reels and shorts for social media, you can watch our how-to below! 

Utilizing social media to target more of your audience through long-tail keywords is a HUGE help in reaching the demographic you’re looking for! As social media continues to ramp up with great search tools, and more and more people utilize it for just that, you won’t wanna miss the boat on this one. 

Lastly, if you’re building your social media content and you don’t yet have a way to monetize your following, I encourage you to look at affiliate marketing on ClickBank. Be sure to sign up for a free account to get started.

Good luck and happy scaling!