As we all continue to make plans for our social media and online marketing in 2018, it’s critical to take stock in what’s been working for us so far (don’t forget to check Google Analytics!) while also looking for clues as to where social media is heading (you know, so we can stay ahead of the curve).
The Future of Social Media is Search Optimization
The best practices of Instagram include researching and using the right hashtags for your posts. You also need to tag a location when you can, and engage with others using the same hashtags you do.
Why do you do these things? Because it help your photos and videos to show up in more Instagram platform searches.
Pinterest is barely a social media network these days as it has pretty much stripped out all the social aspects that were part of the platform (Heck, it doesn’t even show you *who* pinned the pins you are seeing in your feed anymore, so who you’ve chosen to follow is pretty irrelevant). But what Pinterest *is* is a visual search engine, powered by strong, optimized pin descriptions, board titles, board descriptions and hashtags. You can (and have for many years) been able to find Pinterest boards in Google search results.
Now, I have to ask… when’s the last time you did a search on Facebook?
I know, I know. That may seem like a joke. Facebook platform search stinks but it’s trying to get better. A fully optimized Business Page helps you to rank internally in searches (think: your claimed username, and chosen Page categories), and in Google searches (e.g. your Page’s About section). But more so, your Facebook videos can be discovered in Facebook search if you’ve properly optimized them for Facebook search. I can personally attest to this being true as I continue to get engagement on an optimized Facebook Live video published back in May.
Developing a strong presence on YouTube – including all the views that go along with your YouTube awesomeness – is centered around the principles of search via your video titles, descriptions, tags, and playlists.
One of the most interesting aspects of the *future* of search in social is that Twitter has long been a leader in search. The reputation and usefulness of Twitter is rooted in the ability to search its platform by user, keyword(s), location, and hashtags. But now, it’s the rest of the industry that’s catching up.
After a quick review of social media platform best practices and platform changes, it’s easy to see that Search Optimization is the New Social Media Black! Yes, employing good search principles is now what’s needed to thrive and grow on your chosen social media platforms. And really, this shift of tactics is better for all of us because search optimization extends the life of the content we are posting to our social media channels.
So, keep pinning. Keep tweeting, Keep posting. Keep publishing videos. But make sure to develop a social media strategy for your social media profiles that is centered in searchability.
Searchability is what’s ahead for social media in 2018.
