5 tips for using keywords to get found on social media

Increasingly consumers are performing searches for products, services and companies directly on social network sites.

How can your company rank high on a social media search page? It’s not that complicated and (guess what?!?) it’s largely about using the right keywords.

Here are 5 tips for using keywords to get found on social media:

1.       Choose the right keywords

Remember that the keywords you decide on should differ across social media accounts and that a “one keyword fits all” policy will not work. Here are some tips to identify the keywords for your accounts.

Lay terms: Think about the common words that customers use to describe your company. If someone couldn’t recall your company name, what would they type in the search bar of a social media site?

Product/service association:  Consider choosing keywords that associate well with your offerings. If you want to show up when people type “mobile app download”, then incorporate the phrase into your page content.

Check the competition: Once you think of a keyword, type it into the search bar and see what comes up. Depending on the results, optimize the keyword for search engines and if required, make it more specific (aka “longtail”) so you can rank higher in search results.

2.       Photo captions

Use keywords to describe your company’s photos on social media platforms. Most companies deploy photos on their profiles but few actually give thought to the captions. It may take some creativity, but the more you incorporate keywords in the caption the better it is for search ranking.

3.       Headlines

Headlines are important traffic drivers for search engine optimization any time. When you can incorporate keywords into the headlines of social media posts, you should.

4.       About section

Use your keywords in the about section of your social media pages. Use all primary keyword search phrases such that they blend in with the text and don’t seem like spam. Your summary/about sections should not sound strange or unnatural. As always don’t keyword stuff.

5.       Status updates and tags

When you updates the status of one of your profiles, use the keyword (provided a human reader won’t be insulted or weirded out if you do).  We know this is often impossible when linking to an external web page, but you can describe the link using the keyword and or use a hashtag where warranted.