Social media platforms are becoming the latest and greatest search engines. People no longer use social media only to connect and share updates with friends and family. They use it to seek out brands, new products, experiences, and influencers. According to Frontier research, 82% of all generations prefer to search on social media versus a traditional search engine. Users search for answers to questions or research destinations on TikTok and Instagram rather than Google. So, how can your brand effectively leverage social media as a search engine to reach and engage with potential customers in 2024? Here are three tips to consider:
1. Optimizing Content for Search: Consider how your brand’s social media content can answer questions or showcase value within your industry. Using relevant keywords and hashtags in captions, utilizing visually appealing and high-quality images, and including links to your website and products can help to achieve this. Think about what common questions people might have about your industry, offering, location, etc. and what content you can create to answer those questions. It is critical to feed the algorithms with the information needed to push your content to your target audience. As social media platforms continue to lean into SEO, optimizing your content for search will help your brand increase visibility.
2. Brand Authenticity and Consistency: Consumers today want to feel aligned with the content they’re engaging with. You can earn their loyalty through content that correlates with your brand values, offerings, industry, and overall messaging. Posts that include visually appealing images, consistent messaging and engage with other brands will help establish a community of loyal followers who know they can trust not only your content, but your products and services as well. Having consistent tones and themes throughout your posts helps followers build a relationship with your brand. But remember to keep it authentic to your brand. Viral trends can be fun and important, but just because a trend is gaining traction doesn’t mean it’s a good fit.
3. Quality over Quantity Content: Despite the belief that you should put out three to five posts daily to grow on social media, quality over quantity still reigns true. More content only provides long-lasting benefits if you also pay attention to the quality. Followers want to engage with content that answers their questions, provides them value, aligns with brand messaging, and is enjoyable to consume. Whether that be a text post, video, or photo, thought and planning is crucial. Most quality content leverages a call-to-action (CTA), urging people to purchase a product, try a service, read a blog post, watch a video, or comment on something, etc. Before posting, identify your CTA and ensure it’s clear.
As we move into 2024, the dominance of social media in our everyday lives isn’t going anywhere. It’s time to adapt your social media content to leverage the behavior of today’s users. Optimizing content with keywords, CTAs, consistency, authenticity, and quality content will help your brand continue to reach new customers, build brand loyalty, and recognition.