From keeping first impressions in mind to remembering the all-important hashtag, here are 18 answers to the question, “What are your best SEO writing tips that boost social media success?”
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- Treat Every Post as a First Impression
- Use Natural Language
- Improve Your Website for Mobile
- Crack the Algorithm With Zero Click Content
- Transcribe Your Video Content
- Focus on User Experience
- Tag Popular Pages on Your Posts
- Learn How to Write Meta Titles
- Boost Social Media Success With Facts and Figures
- Create Content for Both Search Engines and Social Media
- Make All Products Shoppable
- Experiment Then Experiment Some More
- Make a Killer Title Without Using Fancy Language
- Incorporate User-generated Content (UGC)
- Optimize Your Videos for Search
- Prioritize Relevant, Interactive Content
- Write in Relevant Keywords
- Don’t Forget About the Hashtag
Treat Every Post as a First Impression
Always stay on brand, since you don’t want to accidentally go viral sharing posts that go against your company’s principles. Viral posts don’t go away unless you delete them. When someone searches for your business on Google, you want a consistent message representing your brand to appear.
When sharing a post, imagine that text being the first thing a potential customer learns about your company. Is that how you would like a first impression to land? A safe rule of thumb is to treat every post as if it were a first impression you want to be excellent.
Jonathan Zacharias, Founder, GR0
Use Natural Language
Google’s algorithm has and will continue to better read, process, and understand text. Through algorithm additions like BERT (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers), Google can more efficiently and effectively match search intent with the right results.
With this, Google has encouraged marketers and publishers to write content for humans and not for the algorithm and has emphasized using natural language (instead of keyword stuffing). So when writing social media posts, keep it natural and use human-centric messaging!
Ryan Jacobsen, Director of SEO, LaneTerralever
Improve Your Website for Mobile
There are more and more people using their mobile phones to access the internet, so I think it’s crucial that your website is mobile-friendly.
If your site is optimized for mobile use, you’ll see greater search engine optimization (SEO) and social media sharing success. Make sure your site is mobile-friendly by making sure it loads quickly and is easy to navigate. Check the mobile-friendliness of your website with the use of tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.
Max Whiteside, SEO and Content Lead, Breaking Muscle
Crack the Algorithm With Zero Click Content
To get the desired success on social media, first, you need to understand how their algorithm works. Without cracking the algorithm, you’ll just be shooting arrows in the dark. Most social media platforms prefer you stay on their platform as much as possible, so your content strategy should be framed accordingly.
For example, on LinkedIn, create informative long-form posts, adding no external links to them. This is called Zero-click content (coined by Amanda Natividad of Sparktoro). On Instagram, the best way to do this is through Reels. The goal here is to empower your users with information without leaving the platform.
Sangeeta Kumar, Vice President of Marketing, Healthcare DMS
Transcribe Your Video Content
Based on my experience, transcription services can help generate text-based content that can be published on your social media profiles and indexed by search engines. By transcribing audio and video content and posting it on social platforms, businesses can increase their reach and visibility by targeting relevant keywords.
Moreover, transcriptions can also improve engagement on social media by making content more accessible to those who prefer to read rather than watch or listen. Additionally, transcriptions can be repurposed as captions for social media posts, which can improve engagement by making the content more shareable and accessible to a wider audience.
Overall, transcription services can help to optimize social media content for SEO and improve the overall effectiveness of social media marketing efforts.
Beth Worthy, President, GMR Transcription
Focus on User Experience
I feel that user experience is critical for SEO and social media success. You can give your visitors a better experience with your site if you make it simple to use, quick to load, and aesthetically pleasing.
Write in simple, straightforward language and arrange your points so that they are easy to follow. Use social evidence like reviews, testimonials, and shares to increase your audience’s confidence in you.
Matt Magnante, Director of Content and SEO, Fitness Volt
Tag Popular Pages on Your Posts
Don’t be shy to tag popular pages so your posts will reach a wider audience. This increases the visibility of your posts because it has the potential to be seen and interacted with by the followers of these tagged accounts.
So long as their niches are aligned with yours, then their followers will appreciate your content, which can increase engagement and reach. Essentially, you are manually hacking the algorithm by manually going to where your target audience is already congregated.
Garrett Smith, Head of Local SEO, GMB Gorilla
Learn How to Write Meta Titles
The headline of a social post is like the meta title of a webpage; while a meta title is important for keyword optimization, it is also essential for boosting the Click-Through-Rate of a webpage.
When a searcher is presented with a list of results, the meta title has a vital role to play in generating a click-through. A social media timeline is a similar landscape to a search results page, where every post is battling for the attention of the user and waiting for engagement.
By making the first line of your social media post as enticing as possible, you are much more likely to receive a click and generate engagement, in the same way as a web page.
While the focus isn’t so much on the keyword you’re using, it is important to use emotive language and smart phrases to grab users’ attention and lure them into engaging with your posts.
Joe Cowman, Head of SEO, FATJOE
Boost Social Media Success With Facts and Figures
One SEO writing tip to boost social media success is to use more detailed facts and figures in your content. Try to include statistics from reliable sources relevant to the topic you’re discussing and back them up with valid citations. Another helpful tactic is to write with more semantic richness by using a variety of synonyms, adjectives, adverbs, and other descriptive words.
This will not only help your content appear more interesting, but it will also make it easier for search engines to understand the context of your message and rank it accordingly. Be sure to link out to related content, as this can help improve the authority of your post and offer readers more insights into the subject they’re interested in.
Jamie Irwin, Head of Marketing, Privasee
Create Content for Both Search Engines and Social Media
One effective way to boost your social media success is by creating content that is optimized for search engines and social media platforms. This involves writing content that is engaging and shareable on social media, while also including relevant keywords and meta tags to improve your search engine rankings.
Use a tool to optimize your content for search engines and social media by identifying the most popular pages and topics on your website. The tool generates a report of pages with the highest number of visits.
Once you have identified popular pages and topics, use this information to create content that is relevant and engaging for your target audience. Ensure that you incorporate relevant keywords and meta tags in your content, and use social media sharing buttons to encourage users to share your content on their social media profiles.
Optimizing content for search engines and social media increases visibility, engagement, rankings, and website traffic.
Vira Shkrebtsova, PR Specialist, Netpeak Software
Make All Products Shoppable
More than half of all individuals in the US are predicted to make a purchase on social media by the end of 2022, bringing social commerce sales in the US to $45.74 billion. With two years of lockdowns compelling even the most “Internet-resistant” people to shop online, this trend has spread across the globe. That included necessities like groceries and household supplies for some customers.
For others, it also included clothing, presents, cosmetics, jewelry, and high-end items. Make use of all the sales tools available on your chosen social media sites. You can use Instagram to tag products, link to them, add an automatic checkout, a catalog, or a link tree. Make things simple to locate and alluring to buy.
Hamza Usmani, Head of Content, Believe Money
Experiment Then Experiment Some More
Every business is unique, and although there are general SEO writing tips, no one approach suits all companies. Patience is key, as it can take months, if not years, to find the best solution for your business. The most effective strategy is to experiment with formats and content. Post across multiple platforms to find what works for your target audience and their preferences.
Geoffrey Bourne, Co-founder, Ayrshare
Make a Killer Title Without Using Fancy Language
Make a killer title that includes your main keyword to attract your target audience through creativity, without failing to convey the theme of the text. Also, avoid fancy language because, as a rule, SEO writing has to be clear and objective.
On social media, users like to consume information quickly and easily, and therefore, SEO optimization must be done in simple language with a structure suitable for the channel. This will help boost your target audience’s understanding, resulting in an excellent boost in your social media success.
Leo Ye, Founder and CEO, Cubo
Incorporate User-generated Content (UGC)
Incorporating user-generated content (UGC) is a valuable but often overlooked SEO writing tip for social media success.
According to Stacklo, consumers find UGC 9.8x more impactful than influencer content, which is a great way to humanize your brand. UGC is any content made by your audience, such as photos, videos, reviews, or testimonials, that displays their experience with your products or services.
Examples of steps to include UGC in social media include:
- Creating a branded hashtag
- Encouraging the audience to share photos or videos of themselves using the products or services using the hashtag
- Supporting reaching out to more audiences with influencer marketing
- Highlighting positive customer reviews or testimonials on social media profiles.
By incorporating UGC, the brand can build a personal connection with its audience and show that it values its customers.
Muzaffar Garakhanli, Head of Digital Marketing, Planly
Optimize Your Videos for Search
When compared to reading the same information, people recall 95% of what they see in a video, but just 10% when reading text. And that’s not even half of why video is so popular. Videos allow us to see how things work in practice and get instantaneous feedback on our inquiries. YouTube, Reels, Stories, TikToks, and Facebook Live are just a few of the many social media video platforms available today. Any of them can generate substantial interest and visits.
With 2.1 billion unique visitors every month, YouTube is the world’s second most popular search engine. Over 122 million people use the site every day. YouTube is owned by Google, so videos uploaded there frequently appear in the search engine’s snippets.
To get more views, your video has to be highly relevant and rated. Your videos won’t appear in search results unless you properly tag them. Put them in categories that reflect how a user may look for them.
Daniel Foley, SEO Specialist, Unagi Scooters
Prioritize Relevant, Interactive Content
Creating interactive content such as polls, quizzes, or surveys can encourage your followers to engage with your social media posts, leading to increased visibility and reach on the platform.
Moreover, interactive content can offer valuable insights into your audience’s preferences, opinions, and needs, which can inform your future content and marketing strategies. Being highly shareable, interactive content can boost your social media reach and ultimately contribute to your SEO efforts.
To create a successful social content campaign, it’s essential to consider your audience’s interests and tailor your content to match them. Ensure that your content is created with users in mind and is easily shareable while providing genuine value to your followers.
Harsh Verma, SEO Head, Codedesign
Write in Relevant Keywords
One SEO writing tip to boost social media success is to optimize social media posts with relevant keywords. By conducting keyword research and including targeted keywords in post captions, hashtags, and descriptions, businesses can increase the visibility of their social media content to users searching for those terms.
Additionally, using eye-catching visuals and crafting compelling headlines can help grab users’ attention and encourage them to engage with the content. Finally, regularly analyzing post performance and adjusting strategies based on audience engagement can help ensure that social media efforts are effective and aligned with business goals.
Overall, incorporating SEO writing techniques into social media strategies can help businesses improve their social media success and drive more traffic to their website.
Ben Lau, Founder, Featured
Don’t Forget About the Hashtag
Although a hashtag won’t necessarily help you to widen your audience via social media, it helps greatly in appearing in relevant searches. You might not see them being used as often, but they are still an important tool in SEO. When people search for certain keywords, you want your business to appear, which is where a hashtag can help.
Try to choose words that are not too general, but have relevance to your business. The words should coincide with your social media content, so it appears when people type in those keywords.
Daniel Climans, Senior Manager, Digital Marketing and Partnerships, StickerYou
