Vice President, Search Engine Optimization, Hennessey Digital

Steven Guberman

As businesses increasingly rely on their digital presence to succeed in 2023 and beyond, search engine optimization (SEO) has become a key component of any successful marketing strategy. While SEO used to be all about keywords and link building, recent developments have shown that social media plays an increasingly important role in boosting SEO performance. At our agency, we have found that understanding the crucial role of social signals in SEO can give businesses a powerful edge over their competition.

In this article, we will explore how social signals impact SEO and why they are becoming more important than ever before. We will also offer tips for engaging with your audience on social media, measuring your success, and integrating your social media presence with your overall SEO strategy. By the end of this article, you will understand how to leverage the power of social signals to boost your business’s online visibility and drive results like never before.

The Evolution of SEO Strategies

The evolution of SEO strategies has undergone significant changes since the early days of keywords and meta tags. The rise of content quality over quantity, the mobile revolution, and adapting to changing user behavior have all contributed to how we approach SEO today. AI, voice search, and user intent will likely shape the future of SEO.

The Early Days: Keywords and Meta Tags

In the early days of online content, keywords, and meta tags were the go-to strategy for getting your website noticed by search engines. Websites would stuff their pages with as many relevant keywords as possible, hoping to increase their keyword density and search engine rankings. Meta descriptions and alt tags were also important for providing additional information about a website’s content to search engine crawlers. However, these early algorithms were fairly simplistic, and it wasn’t long before webmasters started gaming the system using tactics like backlink building.

Despite their flaws, these early SEO strategies proved effective at getting websites noticed by search engines. However, as algorithms became more sophisticated, Google prioritized quality over quantity when ranking websites. In our next section, we’ll explore how this shift led to the rise of content marketing as a key component of successful SEO strategies.

The Rise of Content: Quality Over Quantity

You may have noticed that creating high-quality content has become increasingly important for getting your website noticed by search engines and standing out in a crowded online space. In today’s digital landscape, it’s not enough to produce large volumes of content – you need to focus on developing engaging and relevant content that resonates with your target audience. This means curating content that speaks directly to your customer’s pain points, using visual storytelling techniques such as infographics and video, leveraging influencer marketing strategies to amplify your message, and mastering the art of brand storytelling.

To help you better understand the importance of these tactics in boosting SEO rankings, we’ve created a table below outlining each strategy along with its corresponding benefits:

As you can see, each strategy offers unique benefits that can help improve your website’s SEO performance. By incorporating these tactics into your overall content marketing strategy, you can create high-quality content that resonates with your target audience while improving your search engine rankings. Our next section will explore how mobile devices have changed user behavior and why adapting is crucial.

The Mobile Revolution: Adapting to Changing User Behavior

As we navigate the mobile revolution and adapt to changing user behavior, it’s important to remember that our digital presence reflects ourselves and our businesses – and we want to ensure that reflection shines in the best possible light. Mobile optimization has become a top priority for businesses looking to stay ahead of the curve, but it’s not enough to have a responsive design or develop an app.

Here are four key considerations for adapting to changing user behavior:

1. User experience: With mobile-first indexing becoming increasingly important, businesses must ensure their websites provide a seamless experience on mobile devices.
2. App development: As users spend more time in apps, developing an app can be a great way to increase engagement and provide value.
3. Responsive design: A website with responsive design ensures that content adapts seamlessly across all devices.
4. Speed: Users expect pages to load quickly on their mobile devices, making speed one of the most critical factors for success.

As we focus on optimizing for mobile, it’s important not to lose sight of the bigger picture – providing value through quality content and building strong social signals. The next section will explore how AI, voice search, and user intent will shape SEO in 2023 and beyond.

The Future of SEO: AI, Voice Search, and User Intent

Get ready to be blown away by what the future holds for your online presence – AI, voice search, and user intent are set to revolutionize how we connect with our audience. With AI-powered optimization, we can now analyze vast amounts of data to gain insights into how people engage with our content and use that knowledge to improve our SEO strategies. Voice search is becoming increasingly popular, meaning understanding how people speak and anticipate their intent is critical for ranking high in search results.

But it’s not just about text-based searches. Visual search is also on the rise, so optimizing images and videos will become more important than ever before. The key takeaway is personalization – by tailoring your content to match your audience’s needs, you can provide a better user experience that will keep them coming back for more.

Understanding social signals plays a significant role in this new era of SEO because they reflect how people interact with your brand outside of traditional website metrics. In the next section, we’ll dive deeper into why social signals matter and how you can leverage them to boost your organic traffic.

Understanding Social Signals

Understanding social signals can greatly impact your content distribution success and authority in a niche, ultimately improving your SEO performance. Social media algorithms are designed to promote engaging content while burying low-quality posts. Engagement metrics such as likes, shares, and comments are crucial indicators of how well your content is received on social media platforms. However, it’s important to note that fake accounts and spam can skew these metrics, making it difficult for Google to identify real engagement from bots.

According to Google’s spokespeople, social signals can improve your SEO by strengthening content distribution despite not being an official SEO ranking factor. When you establish yourself as an authority in a niche through consistent engagement on social media platforms, you speak directly to the E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) that Google seeks in websites. Additionally, a strong correlation exists between social signals and Google Discover traffic – a significant source of organic traffic for many businesses today.

Proper content distribution is key to successful linkbait content – pieces designed specifically to attract backlinks and generate buzz on social media. The more visible your content is on various channels and mediums beyond just the website itself, the more likely users will share it with their own networks. It’s worth noting that native content performs better than posts containing links back to the website because platforms earn more money by keeping users within their platform longer.

While identifying authentic engagement may be difficult due to spam or fake accounts on most platforms today, establishing oneself as an authority figure through consistent posting across multiple channels can significantly improve visibility on search engines like Google. In our next section, we’ll explore how exactly social signals impact SEO so you can take actionable steps toward optimizing your online presence today!

How Social Signals Impact SEO

Understanding how social signals impact SEO is critical for businesses looking to improve their search engine rankings. As we discussed earlier, social signals are engagement metrics such as likes, shares, and comments that reflect content distribution success on social media. While Google has stated that social signals are not a direct ranking factor, they are important in improving SEO by strengthening content distribution and indicating authority in a niche.

One way social signals can impact SEO is through link bait content. Link bait refers to content designed to attract backlinks and generate buzz on social media. Properly distributing this type of content can increase backlinks and higher domain authority, positively impacting search engine rankings.

Another way social signals impact SEO is by correlating with Google Discover traffic. Google actively pushes popular content (such as blog posts) on social media posts to the top of its Discover feed, making it more likely for users to discover and click on your website, which helps with improved search rankings for your target audience. This makes it crucial for businesses to have a strong presence on relevant social media platforms.

To optimize your company’s presence on social media platforms, it’s important to follow best practices such as choosing the right platforms for your business and letting experts handle organic and paid campaigns. Social media specialists are experts in multiple channels and can provide valuable insights into creating successful campaigns that align with your brand’s goals.

In summary, understanding the impact of social signals on SEO is essential for optimizing your online presence. By improving content distribution through link bait strategies, becoming an authority in a niche, and mastering best practices for each platform you use, you can drive more traffic from Google Discover while strengthening your overall search engine rankings. In the next section, we’ll explore the connection between social media optimization (SMO) and SEO in more detail.

The Connection Between Social Media and SEO

While social media and SEO may seem like separate entities, the truth is that they work hand in hand to elevate your online presence. Social media algorithms are essential to content distribution, which plays a crucial role in SEO. It’s important to note that not all engagement metrics on social media are created equal; spam and fake accounts can skew these numbers. However, high-quality engagement signals from real users can signal authority and expertise (E-A-T) to search engines.

To fully leverage the connection between social media and SEO, businesses should consider hiring social media specialists who understand how to navigate different platforms’ algorithms. Navigating algorithm changes requires knowledge of platform-specific content creation and distribution best practices. Native content performs better than posts containing external links because platforms want users to stay on their site longer. By creating engaging native content that encourages shares and comments, businesses can boost their visibility on both social media and search engines.

Another way that social media can impact SEO is through its ability to help build brand authority and trustworthiness across different channels. Interlinking website profiles with schema markup helps Google reconcile authorship signals across multiple platforms while cross-promoting relevant sources increases the chances of getting backlinks in return. Furthermore, businesses that drive much of their traffic through Google Discover should note that strong social media performance is strongly correlated with success on this platform.

Understanding social media and SEO’s relationship is essential for boosting online visibility in 2023. While spam and fake accounts remain challenging, high-quality engagement metrics from real users can signal E-A-T to search engines. Hiring social media specialists who understand platform-specific content creation and distribution best practices can help maximize exposure across different channels while building brand authority over time. In the next section about the future of social signals in SEO, we’ll explore how emerging technologies will continue to shape this important relationship moving forward.

The Future of Social Signals in SEO

As we look ahead to the future of online visibility, it’s clear that social media will continue to play a vital role in helping businesses establish themselves as industry authorities and build trust with their audiences. However, some challenges come with this. For one, social algorithms are becoming increasingly sophisticated, making it harder for businesses to get their content seen by real users. Furthermore, fake accounts have flooded social media platforms, making it difficult for Google and other search engines to identify genuine engagement metrics.

Despite these challenges, social signals still hold great value for SEO in 2023. Here are some reasons why:

1. Content distribution: Social media is an excellent channel for distributing content quickly and efficiently across multiple channels.
2. Niche Authority: By consistently producing high-quality content on a particular topic or niche, businesses can establish themselves as industry authorities and boost their E-A-T score.
3. Brand awareness: Social media allows businesses to increase brand awareness through organic reach and paid advertising.
4. Google Discover traffic: Given that Google pushes popular content on social media to the top of its Discover feed, having strong social signals can lead to increased organic traffic from this source.

To ensure that your business maximizes the benefits of social signals in 2023, it’s important to follow best practices for social media optimization (SMO). These include creating engaging native content tailored specifically for each platform; working with experts who understand how each platform works; interlinking your website with your social profiles using schema markup; repurposing content across different channels and mediums; and focusing on building relationships rather than just promoting products or services. With these strategies in place, your business can optimize its use of social signals and achieve greater success in SEO in the future.

Best Practices for Social Media Optimization

To fully leverage the potential of social media for your business, you must implement effective strategies for Social Media Optimization (SMO) tailored to each platform’s unique nuances and algorithms. One of the key components of SMO is creating a social media content calendar that aligns with your broader marketing goals and target audience. This helps ensure consistency in messaging and improves engagement rates by keeping your followers informed about upcoming promotions, events, or product launches.

Another important aspect of SMO is influencer marketing. Partnering with influencers with a large social media following can help increase brand awareness and drive traffic to your website. However, choosing influencers who align with your brand values and have an engaged audience is more important than focusing on follower count alone.

A hashtag strategy is also crucial for improving organic reach on social media platforms. Researching popular hashtags within your industry and incorporating them into your posts can help increase visibility among relevant audiences. Creating branded hashtags specific to your business or campaign can also encourage user-generated content and foster community engagement.

Paid advertising is another way to boost the effectiveness of SMO efforts. Social media platforms offer various ad formats, such as sponsored posts, promoted stories, or display ads, allowing businesses to target specific demographics or interests. Effective community management is also key in maintaining a positive online reputation by responding promptly to customer inquiries and feedback.

Implementing these best practices for SMO can significantly impact the success of your SEO efforts by increasing brand authority signals through improved social signals. In our next section, we will discuss choosing the right social media platforms for maximum impact on SEO results.

Choosing the Right Social Media Platforms

Picking the perfect social media platforms can make or break your business’s online presence, leaving your target audience either captivated or disinterested. When choosing a platform, it is essential to consider factors like content suitability and engagement potential. For instance, if you’re targeting young adults, Instagram may be the best option as it boasts 71% of users aged 18-24. In contrast, Facebook has a more diverse age demographic, with 69% of users aged between 30 and 49.

Platform popularity is another crucial factor worth considering. While new platforms may seem exciting and trendy, they may lack the reach and reliability established platforms offer. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have better-established algorithms that ensure content reaches your desired audience effectively. Additionally, it’s easier to find social media specialists who are well-versed in these mainstream platforms.

Demographic reach should also be considered when choosing a platform for your business’s social media marketing efforts. LinkedIn is an ideal platform for B2B businesses as it attracts professionals seeking industry-related information. On the other hand, Pinterest is popular among women looking for lifestyle inspiration, with over 70% of its user base being female.

In conclusion, selecting the right social media platform for your business requires careful consideration of various factors, such as your target audience, content suitability, engagement potential, platform popularity, and demographic reach. By considering these elements when creating a social media strategy, you can ensure maximum visibility among your target audience while avoiding wasting resources on unsuitable channels. The next step towards improving SEO through social signals involves creating quality content that resonates with your target audience on these platforms.

Creating Quality Content for Social Media

Creating quality content that resonates with your target audience on the right social media platform is key to captivating them and building a strong online presence. Visual content, like images and videos, can increase engagement rates and improve brand awareness. Influencer marketing can also be a powerful tool for increasing reach and credibility by partnering with individuals with large followings in your industry or niche. Hashtag campaigns are another effective way to get users involved in promoting your brand by encouraging them to share their own user-generated content using a specific hashtag.

When creating content for social media, it’s important to remember that each platform has its own unique audience and tone. For example, Instagram focuses more on visual content, while Twitter is more text-based. Understanding these nuances will help you tailor your messaging and visuals to maximize engagement on each platform. Additionally, consider incorporating social media advertising into your strategy to expand your reach beyond organic posts.

User-generated content (UGC) is another valuable asset for building trust and authenticity with your audience. Encouraging users to share their experiences with your brand or product can create a sense of community and belonging around it. Reposting UGC on your own channels can also serve as social proof of the value you provide.

Incorporating these tactics into your social media strategy can increase engagement rates, improve brand awareness, and improve SEO through strong distribution channels of high-quality content across multiple platforms. However, it’s not enough to post content – engaging with your audience on social media is equally important for fostering relationships and building loyalty among followers, which we’ll explore further in the next section.

Engaging with Your Audience on Social Media

Moving on from creating quality content for social media, engaging with your audience on these platforms is just as important for boosting SEO. Building a community around your brand involves more than just publishing great posts. It requires consistent interaction with followers by responding to comments and messages, asking for feedback, and initiating discussions. By doing so, you are strengthening the relationship with your existing audience and attracting new ones.

Influencer marketing is another effective way of engaging with potential customers on social media. You can partner with influencers with a strong following in your niche and create sponsored content promoting your brand. This will help you reach a wider audience and improve brand awareness while building credibility among users who trust the influencer’s recommendations.

User-generated content (UGC) is a cost-effective way of engaging with your audience on social media while promoting your brand. Encouraging users to share photos or videos using a branded hashtag allows them to become an integral part of your marketing efforts while providing authentic content that resonates well with other users.

Social listening involves monitoring social media conversations about your brand or industry and using insights to inform future strategies. By paying attention to what people say about you online, you can identify areas where improvements can be made and respond appropriately to negative feedback.

Engagement metrics such as likes, shares, comments, and clicks are crucial indicators of how successful your engagement efforts are on social media. In the next section, we will discuss how measuring these metrics can help you determine whether or not they translate into improved SEO rankings.

Measuring Your Social Media Success

Understanding key social media metrics is essential for measuring the success of our social media campaigns. Beyond likes and shares of inbound links from social media profiles, we need to track engagement through comments, shares, and interactions. Analyzing follower count, and demographics can also help us understand our audience better and tailor our content accordingly. Moreover, tracking conversions and sales can provide invaluable insights into the ROI of our social media efforts.

Understanding Key Social Media Metrics: Beyond Likes and Shares

The discussion on comprehending key social media metrics goes beyond the surface-level engagement of likes and shares, revealing a deeper understanding of content distribution success. Metrics analysis is essential for businesses to evaluate their social media performance accurately. Companies can make informed decisions about their engagement tactics and platform optimization by measuring each metric’s impact.

Sentiment analysis provides insight into audience targeting by determining how users perceive a brand or product. This information helps marketers adjust their messaging to better resonate with the audience. Additionally, tracking engagement rates helps determine which posts resonate with followers and which do not. Understanding these metrics allows marketers to tailor content to drive more interactions and improve overall platform performance.

The Power of Engagement: Tracking Comments, Shares, and Interactions

Engagement on social media is a powerful tool for businesses, as data shows that posts with high levels of comments, social shares, and interactions have a 4.5x higher chance of being seen by new audiences. Measuring engagement goes beyond likes and shares; it also involves tracking authentic interactions from users who are genuinely interested in the shared content. This social proof can help build a community around the brand and create viral content that resonates with the audience.

To ensure that engagement metrics reflect real interactions, businesses must focus on community-building efforts rather than simply trying to go viral. Authenticity is key in building relationships with followers and creating sustainable growth over time. By analyzing engagement data and demographics, businesses can begin to unravel their audience growth patterns and develop strategies for reaching new audiences while keeping current ones engaged. In the next section, we will explore how follower counts, and demographics are crucial in understanding audience behavior on social media platforms.

Unraveling Audience Growth: Analyzing Follower Count and Demographics

Analyzing engagement metrics is crucial to maximizing social media content visibility. However, it’s not the only factor that matters. Another important aspect to consider when developing your social media strategy is targeting demographics and implementing follower growth strategies.

To effectively target demographics, you first need to identify fake accounts in your audience. This can be done by analyzing follower count and comparing it to engagement metrics. If you notice a significant discrepancy between the two, it may indicate that some of your followers are fake accounts. Once you’ve identified these accounts, you can focus on attracting real followers by creating content that appeals to your target audience and using tactics such as influencer marketing and paid advertising. By implementing these follower growth strategies, you’ll increase your reach and improve your audience’s quality.

ROI on Social Media: Tracking Conversions and Sales

You’ll be excited to learn how tracking conversions and sales on social media can help you understand the ROI of your efforts. Social media conversions are no longer just about engagement metrics but also about actual sales attribution. By tracking conversion metrics like click-through rates, add-to-cart actions, and completed purchases, you can measure the effectiveness of your social media campaigns in terms of actual revenue generated.

Converting followers into customers is a crucial part of any business strategy, and measuring the ROI from those efforts is equally important. With the right tools and analytics, you can track which social media channels drive the most sales and adjust your strategy accordingly. By understanding the value each channel brings to your business, you can make informed decisions about allocating resources for maximum impact. The next section will explore how integrating social media with your SEO strategy can further enhance these efforts.

Integrating Social Media with Your SEO Strategy

To fully optimize your online presence, it’s important to integrate social media into your strategy – did you know that businesses that use social media as part of their marketing mix see a 66% increase in lead generation compared to those that don’t? Social branding is one way to incorporate social media into your SEO strategy. By consistently using the same colors, fonts, and imagery across all platforms, you can create a recognizable brand that stands out from competitors.

Cross-channel integration is another key aspect of integrating social media with your SEO strategy. This means linking your website with social media profiles through schema markup and using the same keywords in both places. By doing this, you help Google reconcile author and brand signals and build entities in Google’s Knowledge Graph.

Social media optimization involves creating content for social channels and monitoring engagement metrics like likes, shares, and comments. Native content generally performs better than posts containing a link to the website because platforms earn more money by keeping users on their site for longer. Social content marketing also involves repurposing existing content for other channels and mediums.

Social media engagement is crucial for successful organic and paid campaigns. Letting experts handle social media can help generate engagement because they are familiar with multiple channels and can tailor content accordingly. In short, integrating social media with your SEO strategy requires planning ahead of time. Still, it has many benefits, including increased lead generation, stronger branding efforts through consistent visuals across channels, and cross-channel integration through schema markup or keyword usage that helps Google recognize author signals better than ever!

Staying Ahead of the Curve in SEO and Social Media

If you want to stay ahead of the competition and be a trendsetter in your industry, it’s time to start thinking beyond social media and SEO integration basics. The landscape is constantly evolving, and keeping up with the latest trends and technologies is crucial. For instance, social media algorithms are becoming increasingly sophisticated, making it harder for brands to achieve organic reach. Influencer marketing has become such a popular strategy – by partnering with influencers with large followings, you can boost your brand’s visibility on social media.

Content curation is another area where brands can differentiate themselves from their competitors. Instead of creating their own content, they can also curate relevant content from other sources and share it with their audience. This helps establish them as thought leaders in their industry and provides value to their followers.

Finally, brand storytelling is an increasingly important aspect of SEO and social media strategy. By telling authentic stories that resonate with their audience, brands can build trust and loyalty. This means going beyond simply promoting products or services – instead, they need to create narratives that capture what their brand stands for.

Overall, staying ahead of the curve in SEO and social media requires experimenting with new approaches while remaining true to your brand’s values. Whether you’re exploring influencer marketing or experimenting with different types of content, staying focused on building relationships with your audience rather than just chasing short-term gains is important. By doing so, you’ll be well-positioned to thrive in an ever-changing digital landscape.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can businesses identify and weed out spam and fake accounts on social media to improve their social signals?

Businesses can take a few key steps when identifying and weeding out social media spam and fake followers. First, they should prioritize account verification by requiring authentic profile information such as a verified email address or phone number. Additionally, content curation is essential for maintaining an engaged audience and avoiding promoting low-quality content that could attract fake accounts. Engagement tactics like responding promptly to comments and messages also help build trust with real users while discouraging spammers. By taking these proactive measures, businesses can improve their social signals and ensure their online presence remains credible and authoritative in the eyes of both followers and search engines alike.

What are some effective strategies for repurposing content for different social media platforms and mediums?

Visual storytelling is a powerful tool that can be used to repurpose content for different social media platforms and mediums. By creating engaging visuals, businesses can capture their audience’s attention and deliver their message in a way that resonates with them. Cross-promotion is another effective strategy for repurposing content, as it allows businesses to reach new audiences by sharing their content on multiple channels. Influencer collaboration can also be a game-changer for increasing engagement and expanding reach. Hashtag optimization is key to ensuring that your content reaches the right people, while interactive content can increase engagement and encourage users to spend more time on your page. By incorporating these strategies into their social media marketing efforts, businesses can create a cohesive brand presence across all platforms and maximize the impact of their content.

How can businesses ensure consistency and accuracy in their entity descriptions across different online channels to build their entity in Google’s Knowledge Graph?

Consistency and accuracy in entity descriptions across various online channels are essential for building a strong entity in Google’s Knowledge Graph. It is crucial to ensure that the company and product descriptions on the website and other pages match, as this helps search engines understand and represent content better in search results. Incorporating schema markup also aids search engines in comprehending the content’s context accurately. Linking to authoritative and relevant sources opens up a conversation, which can result in getting something valuable in return. Therefore, maintaining consistency and accuracy across all online channels can help businesses build their entity in Google’s Knowledge Graph effectively.

What common mistakes do businesses make in their social media content distribution, and how can they avoid them?

Regarding social media content distribution, businesses often make common mistakes that can hinder their optimization techniques and fail to engage their target audience. One of the biggest mistakes is not curating content effectively, resulting in low engagement metrics and a lack of interest from followers. Another mistake is failing to tailor content specifically for each social media platform, leading to poor visibility and a disconnect with the intended audience. Businesses should focus on strategic content curation and platform-specific content creation to avoid these pitfalls. Additionally, they should use engagement metrics to measure success and adjust their strategy accordingly. When done correctly, social media can be a powerful tool for businesses looking to establish themselves as authorities in their niche while creating a loyal following among their target audience.

How can businesses effectively measure the impact of their social media efforts on their SEO and overall online presence?

Measuring the impact of your social media efforts on your online presence and SEO is crucial for effective brand management. To track metrics, businesses can use social media analytics tools to monitor engagement metrics such as likes, shares, and comments. These insights can help you identify which content resonates with your audience and adjust your strategy accordingly. Additionally, monitoring your online reputation through social listening tools can provide valuable feedback on how customers perceive your brand. By regularly measuring these metrics and adjusting strategies accordingly, businesses can strengthen their content distribution and improve their online presence.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the intertwined nature of social media and SEO cannot be ignored regarding digital marketing strategies in 2023. As businesses seek ways to improve their search engine rankings, they must prioritize engagement on social media platforms to boost their online presence.

By understanding the impact of social signals on SEO, businesses can take actionable steps toward integrating these two key components of digital marketing. From engaging with audiences on social media to measuring success and optimizing content distribution, there are numerous ways in which businesses can leverage social signals to boost their SEO performance.

As we look toward the future of digital marketing, it is clear that staying ahead of the curve means embracing the connection between social media and SEO. By prioritizing engagement metrics on social platforms and integrating these efforts into a comprehensive SEO strategy, businesses can achieve greater online visibility and drive more traffic and conversions.

Social media has become one of the top ways people use to connect with friends, family, and coworkers. As such, it’s important to ensure that you stay in control of your social media presence, especially since it plays such an integral role in marketing.

With over 2.934 billion daily users around the globe, Facebook is the largest social network. In addition to having a large user base, it also offers a variety of features that allow brands to interact directly with their customers. But despite its popularity, Facebook isn’t without its flaws. Many marketers struggle to manage the platform effectively, leading to missed opportunities and wasted resources.

Twitter, by comparison, has 200 million daily users, however, much of the content posted to Twitter is influential, shaping many things about culture, politics, and other world issues around the globe.

Instagram has around 2 billion active daily users, and LinkedIn has 822 million users, and although it has not been reported whether they are daily or monthly, that’s no small potato.

As a marketer, you want your brand to stand out from the crowd. That means ensuring that you’re taking full advantage of every aspect of the platform. By avoiding these mistakes, you will be able to increase organic reach and boost conversions.

You Tend to Focus on Quantity Over Quality

Learn from our experience: We weren’t just sharing a ton of stuff; we were sharing a lot of stuff that wasn’t really helpful. Because we were sharing so much, it became difficult to keep track of what was working and what wasn’t. And because we were sharing so much content, we didn’t always make sure to curate it properly.

In addition to being too busy, we were also posting way too much. In fact, we were posting four or five times to our Facebook page and tweeting up to 14 hours daily. This meant that every post was competing against each other for attention and engagement.

So we stopped sharing so much. Instead, we focused on creating great content that people wanted to read, watch, and listen to. We began to focus on telling stories about real people doing real things.

And we’ve found that focusing on quality over quantity has helped us grow our audience and increase engagement.

You Are Acting Like a Robot

People who follow businesses on social networks and ask questions in that area want to receive a reply. While it doesn’t seem like much, people are willing to wait up to three weeks for a response on Twitter. And while some companies do respond within hours, most take days or even weeks.

If you want to answer the questions of your customers via your Facebook pages, then you need to act like a human being. Most people say that they prefer brands that interact with them on social media.

The same goes for Instagram. Users on Instagram prefer brands that post photos and videos regularly over those that never post anything.

But what does it mean to act like a real person? People want to see emotion behind the brand’s posts. They want to feel cared about. So, avoid stiff, robotic responses and try to connect with your audience when you engage.

You Are Careless With Posts on Social Media

Whether you are posting about your personal life, work, hobbies, travel experiences, or anything else, it is important to remember that what you share on social media contributes to the image of the brand you represent. As such, you need to take care to ensure that you portray a positive, professional image.

As part of this process, you must consider whether your posts meet certain criteria. For example, does your post include information that is relevant to your target audience? If so, it is likely that people will find it interesting and useful. However, if your post includes irrelevant information, it could easily come across as spammy or unprofessional.

You should also think about how much detail you put into each post. People generally prefer longer posts because they feel like they get more out of them. On the other hand, shorter posts tend to attract more attention, especially on social media platforms where there is less room for text.

In addition to considering the length of your posts, you should also consider the context in which you post. In particular, you should avoid posting messages that contain negative or offensive language. This type of language tends to turn off potential readers and can damage your reputation.

Finally, you should always keep in mind that what you share on different social media channels contributes to the overall image of your brand. Therefore, it is important to select the channel(s) best suited to your needs and goals.

For instance, if you plan to use Instagram to promote your blog, you might want to choose a theme that matches your blog’s style. Otherwise, you risk coming across as disingenuous or dishonest. Similarly, if you wish to build your brand’s authority on LinkedIn, you should focus on creating high-quality profiles and engaging in conversations.

You Are Being Too Impersonal With Your Posts

A common mistake that businesses make is the use of auto responders to help speed up the response process to their followers – or their potential customers. This is a great way to keep up with what people are saying about your brand, but it doesn’t give off the feeling that you care about them. When people see a generic message, they assume that you don’t care about them, and they won’t trust you.

Customers want to feel like they’re talking to a person that genuinely cares about their issues, questions, and needs. They want to know that you’ve thought about their situation, and that you really do understand how they feel.

However, if you own a small business and you reply to every single comment, question, and inquiry, you’ll quickly find yourself overwhelmed with work. You might even start getting sick of answering the same questions over and over again.

And if you own or run a large company, you probably have dozens of employees working behind the scenes to handle customer inquiries. But, you still need to take some time out of your day to respond to each and every one of those messages.

For the best of both worlds, why not invest in a good chatbot that can answer most of your customers’ questions without having to spend hours manually handling each request? And then also take some time to personally reply to those questions that can’t be answered by a bot.

You Post Content That Doesn’t Spark Social Engagement

Social Media Marketing is about converting your followers into buyers. This happens when your followers are interested in what you’re posting. Your posts must be engaging enough to encourage your followers to want to read more.

If you post boring content on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., then your followers won’t engage with it and they’ll probably not click. They might even unfollow you.

On the other hand, if you post interesting content, your followers will be more likely to click and share it with their friends.

You Tend to Go Off-Topic

When starting out in Social Media Marketing, many people focus too much on growing their audience, while neglecting the quality of what they publish. This leads to low engagement and poor rankings. To avoid this pitfall, make sure you are covering interesting topics that relate to the type of business you run. You don’t necessarily need to write about your product every single day, but you should definitely be posting something relevant regularly and engaging with your audience.

While ensuring your posts are always informative and keeps the follower informed, you should also try to keep your information posted on your social media platforms relevant to your niche. If you own a business that focuses on financial products, your followers likely don’t care about hearing about how cute your dog is or reading about that delicious recipe you found. They want to learn about ways to invest in stocks or read up on the latest news regarding interest rates.

You Collect Followers For the Sake of Having Followers

A lot of companies tend to focus solely on how many people follow them on social media platforms. While numbers do matter, it is not a good idea to put too much emphasis on follower count alone. After all, there are thousands of accounts out there with millions of followers. In fact, some of those accounts are bots which are able to generate huge amounts of fake followers.

In the end, it is really about engagement rates. If you want to increase your engagement rate, make sure that you post engaging content, particularly on Instagram, where the majority of your audience hangs out. You could even use Instagram Stories to engage with your followers.

You should also consider utilizing different types of posts. For example, you might choose to post videos more often than photos. Or perhaps you could post a mix of both video and images.

The important thing to remember is that you shouldn’t just rely on automated systems like Hootsuite or Buffer to help you manage your social media presence. Instead, you should take control of things yourself. This way, you’ll be able to ensure that you’re reaching out to the right people, at the right times, with the right messages.

You Post Outdated Content

Millennials are the most brand-conscious consumers in history. They grew up with technology, and they don’t like being sold to. They’ve been bombarded with advertising since birth, and it’s hard to break out of that mindset. A good number of millennials say they “never buy anything online.”

Furthermore, they are America’s biggest consumer group. According to Nielsen, millennials make up about one quarter of the total population in the United States. And, as a whole, they spend more money than older generations do.

The problem is that brands often think that because millennials are tech savvy, they’ll just follow along with whatever marketing campaign they throw at them. But, the truth is, millennials aren’t interested in what you’re selling unless they feel there’s something in it for them personally.

If you want to win over millennials and other people, then you have to prove that you’re worth following. You have to consistently provide useful information that will help them achieve their goals. And, you have to show that you care about them enough to give them special attention.

This special attention therefore means making sure that you post content that’s relevant and timely for your audience. If you post news content, you don’t want to post content that covers something that happened 2 months ago. News stories have short life cycles, and if you’re beyond that life cycle, the likelihood of engagement resulting from those news stories is slim to none.

You Avoid Feedback That’s Negative or Harmful

On social media, there will always be those who give negative feedback about your products and services, regardless of what you do for them.

Many companies involved in this negative feedback tend to ignore it, rather than stoking the fire and risking further negative results.

However, there are some things you can do to avoid being negatively impacted by such comments.

First, you should always remember that every person has the right to express his or her opinion. You don’t have to agree with someone else’s opinion, but you must respect others’ opinions. Second, you should never try to silence anyone or force him or her into submission. Third, you should always keep in mind that everyone has different needs and wants. Your product or service might work perfectly fine for one person, while another person might find something wrong with it.

You should always make sure that you understand why someone is giving you negative feedback. Try to figure out whether he or she is just complaining because he or she doesn’t like your product or service, or if he or she is actually experiencing problems with your product or service.

If you believe that someone is providing you with negative feedback simply because he or she doesn’t like your product or service and isn’t experiencing any problems with it, you should ask yourself why this person is choosing to complain about your product or service instead of praising it. This could mean that he or she is trying to look good in front of others. In addition, you should consider asking the person directly if he or she is willing to provide positive feedback.

Finally, you should always take the time to listen carefully to what the person is saying. Don’t jump to conclusions and assume that everything the person says is true. Ask questions to clarify certain points. For example, you could say something along the lines of “I’m sorry I didn’t hear anything you said.” If the person continues to complain, you should politely tell him or her that you already heard them and that you appreciate their input.

You Aren’t Being Transparent

Being transparent is a tricky thing. You don’t want to give away too much information about yourself or your products, but you do want to let your audience know what you’re doing. In fact, according to a recent survey conducted by the American Marketing Association, transparency increases customer loyalty. Companies that are transparent with their consumers tend to have more loyal customers than those that aren’t.

But how does transparency work? Transparency involves publishing your company’s information online, such as on a blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, Instagram feed, etc. This allows your followers to see your company’s activities and learn about your brand. While some companies choose to keep everything behind closed doors, others decide to be open about their actions.

The problem with being completely transparent is that you run the risk of giving away information that could hurt your reputation. For example, if you post pictures of your product without permission, someone might steal your idea and start selling it under your name. Or, if you reveal something embarrassing about yourself, you could lose potential clients. However, if you make sure that you disclose important, relevant information in a timely manner, you’ll increase the likelihood that your followers will view you as trustworthy.

You Are Working Without a Plan

Social media is one of those things that sounds easy enough, but many businesses fail because they don’t know exactly what they’re doing. They think they’ve mastered social media, but they haven’t really done anything.

They might have followed a few guides or even read some articles about how to use social media for business, but they didn’t put everything into practice.

And that’s why most companies end up wasting money and resources because they didn’t understand what they needed to do.

The good news is that there are plenty of free resources out there that will help you figure out how to start using social media effectively. But before you dive headfirst into learning how to do it yourself, you’ll want to develop a clear idea of your objectives.

You’ll also want to identify your target audience, set realistic expectations, and decide whether you want to build brand awareness, increase sales, or both.

Once you’ve got that figured out, you can move forward with creating a social media strategy.

You Assume That Your Audience is Everybody

Knowing your audience is integral to developing an effective strategy. This includes understanding what type of person uses your product or service. What do they want? How do they like to consume information? Do they prefer reading articles or watching videos? There’s no one way to reach your target market; there are many ways to connect with them. But knowing your audience well enough to build a successful marketing strategy requires some research.

Your audience is defined by demographics, interests, behaviors, and attitudes. These characteristics help define your ideal customer. You might think that all customers are the same, but they aren’t. Your audience is very different depending on whether you’re selling shoes online, running a restaurant, or designing a webinar. If you don’t know your audience, you won’t be able to develop a strategy that works for them.

The best way to identify your audience is to look at how they behave. For example, let’s say you run a shoe store. You could survey your current customers about their shoe preferences. Or you could ask your friends and family what types of shoes they wear. Another option is to conduct a focus group. In this scenario, you bring together random samples of your audience together in a group, and have them focus on a couple of aspects of your offering to see how they respond, whether it’s positively or negatively. If they respond positively, you have a winning strategy. If they respond negatively, then you may want to make adjustments.

Either way, no successful social media campaign just “starts.” It’s backed by data, analysis, and a thorough understanding of your audience’s wants and needs.

You Don’t Use The Right Tone for Your Social Posts

Social media platforms are designed to be fun, lighthearted places where we connect with our friends and family. But brands must respect that there are rules to follow when posting on social media.

A recent study found that consumers trust companies that take themselves seriously less than those that don’t. This makes sense because people tend to like brands that are authentic and approachable. Brands that try to play up their corporate image could come across as disingenuous or arrogant, especially online.

In addition to looking professional, brands should choose a voice that feels natural and relatable. If a brand doesn’t feel genuine, it risks coming off as fake or annoying.

Brands shouldn’t make jokes unless they’re relevant to the conversation. And if they do joke around, they should use humor sparingly.

Finally, avoid anything that might offend anyone. Even if it’s just one person, it’s worth avoiding. Because you don’t know which person will be an amplifier of that one negative post, which can then snowball into an avalanche uncontrollably, inflicting irreparable harm on your company’s reputation.

You Use Irrelevant Hashtags

The number one mistake brands make when using social media is posting something without including relevant hashtags. Hashtags are used to categorize posts into topics. They allow you to follow conversations and find out what people are talking about. When you include a hashtag, you’re asking people to join a discussion around your topic.

If you just start typing random words into a chat window, no one will pay attention. You’ll end up getting lost in the sea of posts. Instead, choose a few keywords that relate to your product, event, or campaign. Then add those tags to your post. People searching for those terms will find your post.

You don’t even have to use the exact same tag every single time. For example, you could say #foodie, #dinnerparty, #cooking, #eatingout, etc. Each hashtag could be related to different aspects of your life or topic, but they all help you connect with others.

Creating a Comprehensive Social Media Presence Starts With a Plan

Whenever you begin on creating that smashing social media campaign, you start by creating a plan. This plan should consider things like your audience, their pain points, and things that interest them.

Without this plan to start, you’re kind of stabbing in the dark when it comes to actually executing that plan.

By making sure that you have all of your audience’s attributes worked out, you’re doing something a lot better than stabbing in the dark.

You’re starting with a plan, which can translate into significant results down the line.
When do you plan on implementing your next social media campaign?

Maintaining a basic social media presence is relatively easy—you post a couple times a week, you reply to some comments, and you’re done. But growing your social media presence in a way that drives meaningful results (including increased revenue) is a different story entirely.

That doesn’t mean it’s not possible, though. With the help of this definitive social media checklist, you can stop wondering what you should focus your social media efforts on and start enjoying the benefits of a comprehensive social media strategy.

Table Of Contents

• Daily Social Media Checklist
• Weekly Social Media Checklist
• Monthly Social Media Checklist
• Quarterly Social Media Checklist
• Yearly Social Media Checklist
• Social Media Checklist Infographic

Daily Social Media Checklist

All major social media algorithms are tuned to reward accounts that are frequently active and receive high levels of engagement. To ensure your account is one of those that gets rewarded, you’ll want to perform some basic daily maintenance.

On a daily basis:

Make New Posts

Refer to your social media calendar and create new posts for the day accordingly.

Reply to Comments and Messages

To keep your engagement rates up, be sure to reply to as many comments and messages as possible (even if they’re negative).

Look at Competitors’ Posts

Keep an eye on what your competitors are posting each day to gauge their activity level and engagement rates.

Check Out Trending Hashtags

Especially on platforms like Twitter and TikTok, each day brings new trending hashtags you can use to stay up-to-date on what your audience wants.

Like and Comment on Relevant Posts

Part of successfully using a social media network is, well, networking. If you set aside a few minutes each day to like and comment on posts that are relevant to your vertical, you’ll soon find yourself gaining followers and making new connections as a result.

Check Your Brand’s Mentions

By engaging in regular social listening, you’ll be able to keep tabs on what people truly think of your brand.

Follow New and Relevant Accounts

Another way to grow your network is to follow new accounts you come across, whether they’re influencers, other brands or your own followers.

Schedule Tomorrow’s Posts

Finally, make sure you’re ready for the next day of social media marketing by scheduling tomorrow’s posts.

Weekly Social Media Checklist

Once you start to zoom out from daily social media tasks, you can focus more on scheduling, strategizing, and analyzing data.

On a weekly basis:

Update Your Content Calendar

To maintain a clear view of what you have and haven’t posted, be sure to update your content calendar and note which posts you’ve published.

Create a Posting Schedule for the Upcoming Week

If you want to avoid falling behind on your content strategy, then you’ll need to create an updated posting schedule each week.

Evaluate Your Posts from Last Week

Take a look at all your brand’s posts from the last week across all platforms and determine which ones garnered the most likes, comments, shares, impressions and overall engagement.

Evaluate Your Competitors’ Posts from Last Week

Also look at your competitors’ posts from the past week to see which ones performed the best. While you won’t have access to the same in-depth data that you do on your own posts, you can still see which ones got the most likes and comments.

Create New Content Inspired by Top-Performing Posts

Pick a handful of both your and your competitors’ top-performing posts from the past week and use them to inspire new content for the upcoming week.

Coordinate with Other Teams to Ensure Everyone’s on the Same Page

While social media is simple on the surface, a lot of moving parts need to come together in order to execute a successful social media strategy. To make sure everyone is on the same page, be sure to coordinate with your content, sales, design, marketing and web development teams — every graphic should be ready, and every link should work (no 404 pages, please!).

Track Your Social Media Ad Campaigns

It can be tempting to adopt a “set it and forget it” mindset for your social media campaigns, but if you want to ensure that everything is going well (and quickly fix any problems that arise) you’ll need to check their performance at least once per week.

Reach Out to Possible Partners

These could include influencers, other brands or thought leaders in your vertical—essentially, anyone who you may want to collaborate with in a mutually beneficial partnership.

Monthly Social Media Checklist

On a monthly basis:

Gather Your Monthly Performance Reports

The analytics programs you use, whether native to your social media platforms or not, will likely provide you with a report summarizing all of the last month’s most important data.

Compare the Past Month’s Performance to Other Months’ Performance

Once you have your latest performance reports in hand, compare them to all other months’ performance reports.

See Which of the Previous Month’s Posts Have Performed Best

Zoom in a bit by identifying which of the past month’s posts have gotten the most engagement, impressions, comments, likes and any other metric that matters to you.

See Which of Your Competitors’ Posts from the past Month Have Performed Best

Don’t forget to evaluate your competitors’ best-performing posts, too. Doing so will give you even more useful insights and help ensure that you don’t fall behind.

Integrate the Qualities of Top-Performing Posts into Your Strategy

After getting a clear idea of which posts (both yours and your competitors’) have performed the best over the past month, determine their common qualities so you can integrate them into your broader social media strategy.

Identify Upcoming Events and Holidays

Each month of the year is sure to have at least one event or holiday that you can plan fresh and engaging content around. Whether it’s a traditional holiday like Independence Day or a local occasion such as a festival or sports game, you should try to take advantage of the upcoming month’s unique events.

Coordinate with Other Teams for the Upcoming Month

Work with the sales, design, content writing, marketing and social media teams to make sure that everyone knows what’s on the calendar for the next month.

Evaluate Your Ad Campaigns and Make Necessary Changes

With a month’s worth of social media ad campaign data to look at, you should be able to evaluate your campaigns’ performance and make any necessary adjustments.

Quarterly Social Media Checklist

On a quarterly basis:

Compile All Three of the Most Recent Monthly Performance Reports

What’s better than one month’s worth of performance reports? Three months’ worth of performance reports, of course. Gather them all together in one place so you can get a better idea of your brand’s overall social media status.

Identify Common Features Between Your Best-Performing Posts

For instance, maybe five of your ten top-performing posts include video content. In that case, you should prioritize creating more videos. (Hint: Don’t forget to check out the common features between your worst-performing posts too.)

Check Your Quarterly Goals

It’s time to take a look at your previously set quarterly goals and see if you’ve met them. If you have, make a note accordingly. If you haven’t, try to determine why.

Set New Goals for the Next Quarter

If you met some of the current quarter’s goals, replace them with new ones for the next quarter. Your new goals could be slightly modified versions of the current ones, or they could be completely original—the choice is yours.

Perform a Thorough Social Media Audit

Now that your social media marketing tactics have been in place for several months, you should perform a social media audit. This simply means looking at all your brand’s social media accounts and noting their activity, engagement, growth and consistency.

Address Any Problems Uncovered by Your Audit

For instance, if your audit reveals that you’ve been neglecting your Pinterest SEO or using inconsistent messaging across platforms, now’s the time to fix it.

Amplify Any Positive Elements Uncovered by Your Audit

Let’s say your audit shows that your brand’s tweets perform particularly well. Now, you can continue that success by devoting even more resources to Twitter marketing.

Evaluate Your Audience and Identify New Targeting Opportunities

As your brand evolves and consumer tastes change, your audience will shift too. So, be sure to evaluate them every quarter and strive to identify new targeting opportunities you may be missing out on.

Yearly Social Media Checklist

On an annual basis:

Compile and Review the Past Year’s Performance Reports

This task can be somewhat time consuming, but it’s one of the most important ones you can do. That’s because reviewing the past year’s performance reports all at once allows you to gain a big-picture perspective of your brand’s social media marketing that you simply couldn’t otherwise.

Check Your Annual Goals

To get a better idea of your brand’s progression, check to see which of your annual goals you’ve successfully accomplished. Also take note of any you haven’t accomplished, and try to figure out how you can meet them ASAP.

Set New Goals for the Next Year

Keep your brand accountable for its success by setting new goals for the coming year.

Evaluate Your Current Social Media Platforms

It’s only natural for your brand to perform better on some platforms than others—what’s important is that you identify those you’re getting the most out of, and those which aren’t delivering the results you want.

Identify New Social Media Platforms

Although it may not happen often, new and widely-used social media platforms do emerge (ever heard of TikTok?). To ensure you don’t fall behind, set aside some time each year to look at any new social media platforms and see if your brand could benefit from joining them.

Analyze Your Social Media Ads’ Performance

Now that you have a year’s worth of social media ads analytics to work with, put it to good use by conducting an evaluation of the past 12 months’ performance.

Create an Outline for Next Year’s Strategy

You’ve just wrapped up a full year of social media marketing, so guess what? It’s time to do it all over again, but this time with new knowledge and a sharper competitive edge. The first step to doing so is creating a detailed outline for next year’s social media strategy.

Use Our Checklist to Upgrade Your Social Media Strategy

Setting up a winning social media strategy is no easy task, and maintaining one over weeks, months and years is even more challenging. Our checklist, however, can make this immense task much more straightforward and streamlined.

Infographic: Social Media Checklist

Influencer amplification may not be a widely-known concept (yet), but it’s a link building tool worth adding to your arsenal.

Here, we’ll explain what influencer amplification is, why it works and how you can use it to grow your backlink portfolio.

• Do Consumers Trust Influencers?
• What Is Influencer Amplification?
• How Influencer Amplification Can Expand Your Link Portfolio

Do Consumers Trust Influencers?

If you’ve ever seen a Kardashian peddling a product (and who among us hasn’t?) then you’re already familiar with the most well-known aspect of influencer marketing. But it’s important to know that the most effective type of influencer marketing doesn’t involve celebrity endorsements or dubious dietary supplements.

Rather, truly powerful influencer marketing involves public figures who are actually, well, influential. For instance, a tech reviewer whose viewers rely on them to give honest feedback about the latest smartphones, or a skilled makeup artist who’s known for having all the best product recommendations.

Those are the types of people who have genuine influence, and those are the influencers who people listen to and trust. Just how much faith do people have in influencers’ opinions? One survey found that 61 percent of consumers are likely to trust recommendations from a friend, family member, or influencer on social media. By comparison, only 38 percent are likely to trust recommendations from brands.

That’s especially true for consumers aged 18–29, with 66 percent trusting friends, family, and influencers over brands. (Sixty-one percent of people aged 30–44, 60 percent of people aged 45–60, and 53 percent of people over 60 feel the same.)

In that same vein, Edelman’s 2019 Trust Barometer report found that because of an influencer’s content, many consumers are very likely to take concrete actions. After listening to what influencers had to say about a product or brand:

• 58 percent of customers purchased a product;
• 40 percent trusted the brand; and
• 33 percent talked about the brand to other people.

Unsurprisingly, the more honest an influencer is about specific products, the more likely their audience is to view them as being authentic. According to a survey from SlickText, unbiased reviews are the type of content most likely to earn consumers’ trust. Follower interactions come in second, and insights into influencers’ personal lives aren’t far behind:

On the other hand, certain types of content can lead an audience to believe that influencers are less trustworthy. Specifically, an excessive amount of sponsored posts (cited by 31 percent of consumers), as well as politicized content (cited by almost 18 percent):

But regardless of the types of content that lead consumers to be less trusting, the truth is that many people will listen to the thoughts and opinions of their favorite influencers.
That’s an established fact that nearly all marketers and brands already know to be valid: As a 2021 report from Influencer Marketing Hub discovered, 90 percent of respondents believe influencer marketing to be an effective form of marketing:

As a result, influencer marketing has an estimated overall value of $13.8 billion in 2021. That’s more than an eightfold increase since 2016:

With those statistics in mind, we think it’s safe to say that influencer marketing is viewed as being valuable and authentic by both consumers and marketers alike. And most importantly, plenty of people genuinely trust influencers and their recommendations.

What Is Influencer Amplification?

So consumers trust influencers, and professionals from a variety of backgrounds recognize the value of influencer marketing. But we’re not here to talk about influencer marketing in general—instead, we’re here to talk about influencer amplification specifically.

To clarify, influencer amplification is an aspect of influencer marketing, but the two are not synonymous. Here’s how we define the difference:

• When you hire an influencer to promote your brand, products, or services through the use of custom-created content, that qualifies as influencer marketing.
• When you repurpose that content to extract as much value and impact as possible, all while increasing its reach to the audience you and the influencer share, that qualifies as influencer amplification.

But what exactly does influencer amplification entail? As the team at Upfluence explained, it can include multiple elements which all feed into each other. For instance, brand awareness, user reviews, lead generation, and social proof:

For many brands, one of the most attractive aspects of influencer amplification is its cost effectiveness. After all, why pay for multiple influencer marketing campaigns when you could simply extract more value out of one?

That’s the question that leads SEO professionals to see the benefits of influencer amplification. It’s not just about paying an influencer to create a handful of posts—it’s about using those posts to collect insights, gain exposure, continue connecting with a new audience, and create fresh ad campaigns that target your ideal customers.

How Influencer Amplification Can Expand Your Link Portfolio

Having a general understanding of what influencer amplification entails is one thing, but actually executing it is another.

Before you start working on influencer amplification, though, you first need to implement an influencer marketing campaign. To find influencers who might be a good fit for your brand, explore social media, and start connecting with those who are active in your niche. Which one you ultimately do business with is up to you.

Once your influencer marketing campaign is up and running, you’d be smart to begin using influencer amplification by identifying the audience that you and your chosen influencer share.

As Social Media Examiner demonstrates, one easy way to accomplish this is with Facebook’s Ads Manager.

There, the influencer you’re working with simply needs to create a custom audience with the proper parameters:

For instance, they can select every user who has engaged with their account within a given time period. Then, they can use the Share a Custom Audience feature to share the audience with you.

Note that you and your influencer can create custom audiences on other platforms too, including Twitter Ads and Google Ads, so you’re not just limited to Facebook and its properties.

From that point on, the rest of the process is straightforward: Set up an ad campaign, target the custom audience your influencer has identified and let your new customers come to you.

However, as any good SEO practitioner knows, there are always additional steps you can take to maximize your results. In the case of influencer amplification, these include:

• Customizing your content: It only makes sense to tailor your ad campaign’s content to the custom audience your influencer has shared. So before publishing anything, be sure to thoroughly analyze the audience’s demographics and interests so you can tweak your content accordingly.
• Choosing the right platform: Depending on where your brand gets the most engagement, influencer amplification may serve you far better on one platform than another. Or if your brand is under-utilizing one platform, you could implement influencer amplification there to start building a new audience.
• Treating influencers well: The Upfluence study cited above found that the most common form of influencer payment is free product samples. While this might work for smaller influencers, be sure to treat all the influencers you’re working with fairly. This is especially true if you’re asking them to do the extra work of identifying a custom audience.
• Maintaining your influencer relationships: This goes hand-in-hand with paying influencers a fair wage—since influencer amplification requires some additional effort on the influencer’s part, you should always strive to maintain positive relationships with those you work with.
• Repurposing old content: If you’re under the impression that influencer amplification requires creating all-new content, you’ll be relieved to know that the most efficient influencer amplification campaigns involve repurposing old content to suit your custom audience’s needs.
• Measuring your ROI: Influencer Marketing Hub’s study found that 33 percent of firms don’t measure the return on investment (ROI) of the influencer marketing campaigns. But because ROI measurement can paint an incomparably clear picture of a campaign’s success (or lack thereof), we strongly recommend that you always measure the ROI of your influencer marketing and amplification efforts.

But where does link building come into all this? Well, everywhere! Because influencer amplification involves promoting influencer-created content on social media and targeting a specific audience, it naturally creates a wealth of opportunities for users to talk about, share and link to your site, 100 percent organically.

And to increase the number of links you get, you can go beyond paid social ads by amplifying your content via email marketing and on-page SEO. By doing so, you’ll be able to use your influencer amplification efforts to earn links from as many sources as possible.

Use Influencer Amplification to Build Links and Maximize Marketing Spend

Because influencer amplification can effectively place your site and brand in front of an ideal audience, it’s easy to see why it has such impressive link building potential. But an additional benefit is its cost-effectiveness: Rather than paying for an entirely new influencer campaign, you can simply use the content you already have.

So for SEO practitioners and marketing pros alike, influencer amplification is the perfect way to build links and make marketing dollars go further.

Image credits

SlickText / June 2021
Influencer Marketing Hub / August 2021
Screenshots by author / December 2021
Social Media Examiner / November 2020

Compared to other popular content-sharing sites like YouTube, Pinterest, and Twitter, Reddit is in a category all its own. While much of its media comes from users linking to third-party sites, it’s also fueled by the content that users themselves create.

And yet, Reddit is notoriously difficult for marketers to fully utilize, and its users are often highly critical of overly sales-y content. But creating content that Reddit users love is far from impossible, and we’re here to show you how.

• What Is Reddit?
• Can Reddit Be Used for Marketing?
• How to Market on Reddit
• Know When to Purchase Ads
• Be More Authentic
• Research Subreddits
• Learn to Listen
• Provide Support
• Read the Rules
• Get Analytical

What Is Reddit?

First founded in 2005, Reddit can perhaps best be described as a giant collection of forums, each one of which is centered around its own topic. Broadly speaking, users can submit two types of content to a forum:

• links, which can link to either an image or a video hosted on another site; and
• text posts, which are hosted on Reddit itself.

But the types of sub-forums—known on Reddit as subreddits, with each formatted as /r/topic—vary wildly. The most popular include:

• /r/announcements, where Reddit Inc. posts official announcements;
• /r/funny, where users post humorous content;
• /r/AskReddit, where users pose questions to each other;
• /r/gaming, where users post about video, board and card games;
• /r/aww, where users share photos and videos of cute subjects; and
• /r/music, where users discuss all things music-related and share their own creations.

But those are far from the only subreddits—there are more than three million in existence as of August 2021, so there’s a subreddit for virtually every topic under the sun.

For example, there are large and active communities on subreddits like:

• /r/smallbusiness, where users ask and answer questions about starting and running a small business;
• /r/SEO, where users share SEO news;
• /r/content-marketing, where users discuss content marketing and give advice; and
• /r/blogging, where users talk about the ins and outs of blogging.

Some brands and products even have their own subreddits, which representatives from those brands may or may not participate in. Examples include:

• /r/XboxSeriesX, where users discuss Xbox’s latest video game console;
• /r/Apple, where users share news about Apple and its products;
• /r/instantpot, where Instant Pot owners swap recipes and advice;
• /r/razer, where users talk about Razer computers and peripherals; and
• /r/Huel, where users discuss the meal replacement product Huel.

Across Reddit as a whole, one of its most crucial features is its voting system. With it, users can either upvote (i.e. vote for) or downvote (i.e. vote against) posts for any reason they see fit. The more upvotes a post has, the higher it appears on its subreddit’s page. The more downvotes it has, the lower it appears.

Upvotes and downvotes affect individual users, too—the more upvotes a user’s posts get, the more karma (i.e. points) that user has. The more downvotes their posts get, the less karma they have.

Can Reddit Be Used for Marketing?

Given how active and passionate Reddit’s many, many users are, it’s only natural to wonder if you might be able to use the site for your own marketing purposes. In short, the answer to your question is a definite “yes”—after all, many brands have successfully done so already.

For instance, Toyota released a series of four Reddit ads that posed questions to users and got thousands of comments in response. This was especially true for the two ads in which they mentioned giving away Reddit Gold, one of Reddit’s virtual awards:

Similarly, the men’s grooming product company Beardbrand has found success and recognition on Reddit by creating helpful guides for other entrepreneurs and participating in beard-related subreddits without blatantly promoting their own products.

On the other hand, Reddit has seen more than its fair share of marketing failures; so many that multiple lists of them exist. Case in point: Woody Harrelson’s disastrous Ask Me Anything (AMA) open interview from 2011. The very premise of Reddit’s Ask Me Anything subreddit (/r/AMA) is that users can ask interesting people a wide array of questions.

And yet Woody seemed to be under the impression that users shouldn’t be allowed to ask him overly personal or off-topic questions, and should only make queries about his then-upcoming movie Rampart. In response to a question about his personal relationships, he responded by telling users to “stick to the film.” Users were quick to show their displeasure, downvoting his comments and criticizing the actor for “pushing” the movie:

So what’s the difference between how Beardbrand approached Reddit marketing and how Woody Harrelson did? The former had an understanding of how Reddit works and what its users want, while the latter did not.

How to Market on Reddit

You know you want your Reddit marketing campaign to see results more like Beardbrand’s than Woody Harrelson’s, but how can you ensure it does? Implement these essential tactics to increase your chances of success.

Know When to Purchase Ads

Right off the bat, it’s important to learn the difference between organic Reddit marketing and paid Reddit advertising.

With organic Reddit marketing, you’ll be posting comments and posts as an individual user. But with paid Reddit advertising, you’ll be paying for advertisements as a company.

How do you know which one you should use? Reddit’s own spam guidelines put it best:

In other words, if you’ll be using your or your brand’s Reddit account solely for promotional purposes, then you’d likely be better off purchasing ads. But if you’ll also use your Reddit account to participate in discussions and communities without promoting your brand, then organic marketing might be the best fit for you.

Be More Authentic

If there’s anything Reddit users hate, it’s disingenuity, particularly from companies and brands. There’s even a subreddit with more than 200,000 members, /r/HailCorporate, in which users deride seemingly organic Reddit posts and comments that are actually thinly disguised advertisements for products and companies:

So when you’re creating your posts and comments:

• only participate in discussions if you have something to add;
• be transparent about working for the brand you’re mentioning; and
• refrain from using overly salesy language or jargon.

When in doubt, remember that the worst thing you can do is try to trick users into thinking they’re looking at a user-generated post rather than a promotional one. Instead, you need to be authentic, stay honest, and respect users’ time by only contributing meaningful content.

Research Subreddits

Because Reddit users are so averse to inauthentic content, it’s important that you choose the right and most relevant subreddits to create your posts on.

Usually, that means avoiding the most mainstream subreddits (such as /r/funny or /r/pics) and instead choosing those that are more niche.

For instance, let’s say that you want to promote a small makeup company’s site on Reddit. Instead of posting a makeup-related meme on /r/funny, you’d likely achieve better results by posting original content on a more relevant subreddit like /r/makeupaddiction or /r/indiemakeupandmore.

Learn to Listen

As much as you want to use Reddit to tell others about your brand, it can be equally beneficial to sit back and listen to users’ questions and concerns about organizations like yours.

To do so, you don’t even need to ask questions yourself. Instead, simply find relevant subreddits and start reading.

For example, if you were implementing a Reddit marketing campaign for a company selling cookware, then you’d be wise to check out the /r/cooking subreddit. By doing so, you might come across a post like this one, in which hundreds of users divulge what their dream kitchen would look like if money were no object:

From gadgets and appliances to decor and architecture, such a thread would provide you with a laundry list of the features your potential customers are looking for and the pain points they want solved.

Provide Support

If your brand is already established enough that users are talking about it on Reddit, then you have a prime opportunity to offer customer support.

One of the best examples of this is the electronics company Razer’s own subreddit, where its staff regularly answers users’ questions and helps them resolve technical issues.

As you can see in the example above, users often respond positively to the individual attention they receive from Reddit-savvy brands. Plus, you’ll get a chance to show other users just how stellar your brand’s customer service is.

Read the Rules

If you’re not already familiar with Reddit, you may not know that each subreddit is governed by its own unique set of rules which are enforced by its own group of moderators.

For example, one subreddit may not allow users to post images, while another may not allow them to post videos. Subreddits that see a lot of traffic are even known to prohibit users from asking certain questions because they’ve already been asked many times before.

Because of this, it’s important to get familiar with the rules of every subreddit you post and comment on. These can typically be found in the sidebar of a subreddit’s main page, as seen on /r/technology:

Note that in the above example, customer support is not allowed. If you didn’t know that and simply jumped in and started offering customer support to users, you would be promptly banned from the subreddit. In short, it really does pay to read the rules.

Get Analytical

Reddit marketing is no different from other forms of marketing in that you need to use detailed data to see how your content is performing and where it can be improved upon.

If you’re promoting your content via paid Reddit ads, this task is a breeze thanks to Reddit’s built-in ad management tools. These allow you to quickly view metrics such as:

• impressions;
• effective cost per thousand impressions (eCPM);
• engagement;
• clicks;
• cost per click (CPC);
• click-through rate (CTR); and
• conversions.

But if you’re promoting your content organically by making posts and comments just like everyone else, then things get a little trickier. Reddit doesn’t provide a way to view data on non-paid posts, so marketers must turn to third-party tools instead.

When you’re getting started posting in a new subreddit, one of the most useful is Later for Reddit. Their unique subreddit analysis tool identifies the best day and time to post on any given subreddit based on historical user behavior:

You can also use it to schedule posts at optimal times and see the best-performing post title words.

And if you’re willing to go for a paid option, you might be interested in a suite of more in-depth tools like those from Social Report. They can provide you with detailed performance metrics, make post scheduling even easier, and identify the subreddits that provide the most engagement.

Reddit Smarter, Not Harder

Creating content for Reddit is different from creating content for any other platform—the site itself is difficult to categorize, each of its subreddits is different and its users are notoriously hostile toward advertisers.

But with a little research and some knowledge of what its users want, you can transform Reddit from an intimidating enigma into a marketing gold mine.

Image credits

RedditAdvertising.com / July 2016
Observer / February 2021
Screenshots by author / August 2021

Social media platforms have become a very popular and effective way to market a wide variety of products and services. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and many others are all social networks that provide people with the ability to socialise in an online environment.

Popular social media sites like Facebook have increased traffic for businesses through their social plugins and applications. The social network has made it easy for companies to post on their accounts by using one of the social plug-ins or apps allowing users to share information from your site across your social networks.

Facebook is now a very important tool for social media as it continues to rise in use significantly over the past several years, which shows that social media sites are becoming more important in finding new customers. Various social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. Are all social networking sites that help businesses fetch good traffic.

Other social sites that can help you increase your online social presence include sites like TikTok, Pinterest, Reddit, and others. Read about them, and learn how to use them. Your social promotion will depend on it!

Why Social Media is an Important Part of SEO

Social Media Marketing is an essential part of any marketing effort. It’s about building relationships (and ultimately trust) with your target market while simultaneously promoting your brand or product. Social Media Marketing/SMM is a low-cost, high-benefit approach to marketing that can help engage your target market and drive traffic to your site.

Social media sites are all social networks that provide people with the ability to socialise in an online environment. Popular social media sites like Facebook have increased traffic for businesses through their social plugins and applications. The social network has made it easy for companies to post on their accounts by using one of the social plug-ins or apps allowing users to share information from your site across your social networks. This cross posting can help increase website traffic.

Social media plays a vital role in SEO. This social media revolution is changing the way people surf, socialize and access information online. The social networking websites have changed our social lives as well as the way we connect with various companies and brands.

Social media offers an excellent platform for promoting your website or blog to target audience without paying any money. The best part of social networking sites is that they offer free advertising opportunities which can bring huge traffic to your site, ultimately increasing its search engine rankings and popularity in no time.

There are different ways through which social media helps SEO:

Blogging

Blogs have been playing an important role in generating massive amounts of traffic, which has helped marketers to get more leads and sales. Blogging is one of the best social media marketing strategies which can help to grow your web traffic fairly quickly. Start blogging and sharing your posts on social media networking sites like Twitter, Facebook etc., in short try to post as many blog updates as you can on different social networking sites. Include some links to your website or blog below each update and use social share buttons! Ultimately, these efforts will help increase your social presence online.

Social networks like Facebook have a great way to communicate with their users by allowing marketers to put up ads about their products or services directly on users’ profile pages. In general all social networks adopted this policy of allowing companies posting their ads where they are already talking with friends, socializing and social bookmarking. It will help to promote your social networking presence online.

How to Take Advantage of Social Media if You’re a Beginner

It is a good idea to hire social media marketing consultants who can analyze social media habits of their followers, clients or customers on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter etc., so that they can target them easily with customized ads or offers while socializing online through social networks. The social media marketing companies have vast experience in advertising using various social networking sites which ultimately helps you in generating more traffic to your site.

Social media has changed the way we communicate today; it has given birth to many new words like tweetup, unfriend, micro credit etc.; these words are taking the internet by storm! You need to understand how people want to talk about you, your products and services on social networks so that you can improve social media presence online as well as search engine rankings.

It is a good idea to start socializing with people who have interests in the same things as you do to get social capital so that it becomes easy to market your company or brand on social networking websites like Twitter, Facebook etc. A great way to use social network sites is by offering users something of value for free which they can share with their friends. This will help social media influencers become more popular and ultimately will attract many potential customers toyour website or blog.

Social media has changed the tide of internet marketing completely; social networks now allow individuals and companies to communicate directly with each other without any mediators! So social media is a wonderful way to promote social networking presence online and also search engine rankings.

It is not social media that helps SEO, but social signals. And even then, we use the term loosely. Google is on record saying that social signals do not, in any way, help rankings. But, there are indirect benefits to positive social signals.

We call them indirect benefits because while they don’t directly influence rankings, they help your online presence in other ways. For example, say you made a connection on social media who eventually links back to your website. This would be known as an indirect benefit. Don’t always assume that social media is a waste of time or does not contribute to SEO. On the contrary, it can be of great benefit to SEO. The only issue is making sure that we dispel a myth at the outset: that it does not influence rankings directly. Don’t spend your time on social media all day thinking that that’s going to immediately help your rankings. It most definitely will not.

Anyway, back to our discussion on social signals. Social signals are the social interactions of your website and social media pages on the social networks.

The opinion of others can make or break your site’s ranking. Signals from other people in your social circle affect where social media places your pages. This social proof comes in two types: social authority and social richness.

Social Authority is how much influence a person has over others. The higher the social authority of the person who shares your product, the more likely those that follow them are to use your product. Social signals from Facebook likes and Twitter followers count as social authority.

Social Richness is when a product has high user engagement levels on social media, such as many people commenting or sharing content from your site. Socially rich sites like YouTube have many users interacting with each other.

SEO that focuses on search engine visibility through social media can help improve your site indirectly. Google Analytics will help you review where you stand by showing how often people visit your page compared to relevant search terms. There is also a section of Google Analytics that shows you how your social media traffic stacks up.

Social Media and Its Impact On Reviews

If you sell products and services, no doubt you have seen reviews from other competitors who sell similar products or services. While reviews are a different ball game and a different type of social media, they are still a social signal. They tell everyone else what everyone before them thought of your business.

For example: if your business does bad business, you may see quite a few bad reviews pop up regarding your business location. From a social signal perspective, while it may not have a significant impact on rankings, it will have an indirect impact as to how other people view your website and services as a whole.

How your business appears online to people is important. For example: if you have paid any attention at all to brands with large followings, you might notice that there is somewhat of a loyalty ecosystem in place. Certain brands have their own “language” that they speak, and this is often picked up by their followers. Participating in the brand ecosystem means that you must know the lingo as well. It is easy to miss, especially if you’re an outsider. But, if you become an influencer and a loyal follower of that brand, speaking their language and fitting in can be important.

Clearly, there are so many aspects to social media and how it impacts reviews that it would be a mistake for any business to assume that they do not—and should not—have a social media presence. Regular and consistent posting on social media is key. You don’t want your followers to think you have permanently stepped out.

The Benefits of Social Media Platforms

Social platforms make it easy to find new consumers. Facebook and Twitter allow users to share content with groups that are relevant for their interests, such as a local community. Consumers will be more likely to read about your business from a social network than an ad because social media is already in their hands, in the form of an app on their mobile phone.

Social media users are more likely to share your products with their social circle than email.

For some people, it can be awkward to recommend a product online, so people will be more likely to use social networks. Some social media sites, like Facebook, even display a page where you can see what ads your friends have liked on the social network. This allows you to easily find new customers and helps social media spread information faster by making it easy for customers already in one social circle to send content they like to another social circle.

Some social networks encourage users who like your site on that platform – for example liking your website’s page on Facebook or following you on Twitter—to also follow that account on other social platforms. This encourages the sharing of social signals and social interactions.

If you have a social presence on multiple social networks (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, YouTube), you can receive social signals from social networks.

Social Media Can Influence The Following

Make no mistake, there are certain ways that social media influences digital marketing.
The following are ways in which social media has a significant influence on digital marketing activities and how it can improve your SEO as a result:

• How social media users choose what sites appear for social searches [e.g., Facebook, Twitter.]
• Your social posting frequency and regularity influences how you’re perceived as an authority in your niche.
• It can also improve SEO by improving social marketing presence through increasing brand awareness.
• While social media does not affect organic rankings directly, it is a major part of the “organic page” that Google sees when ranking content. Even though Google may see it, it’s still important to note that it is not used for ranking.
• Social signals are highly important in social media marketing, as the strength of your social signals can determine your social presence.

Use social networks like Facebook (and Twitter) to create a social marketing presence for your business. Get social with Pinterest and Instagram and share content regularly on social networks to help it appear higher up in the search results and get more social shares from users.

As Your Social Media Presence Grows

The bigger you get as a business or person on social media, the more people will start paying attention to what you’re posting and promoting. When this happens, not only will more users be sharing your content on social media websites but more importantly it’ll be natural for them to link back to your website when they talk about something you posted online! This is where social marketing really comes into play—you know social media is doing its job when social shares are naturally occurring and brand mentions are following suit.

Social networks can also influence your social marketing presence by how often you post. If you want to show up more for certain searches on facebook, or another social network, the best way to do that is to post every day or multiple times a day on social networks like Facebook or Twitter. This will make your social marketing efforts seem more active.

How do You Plan on Using Social Media Next?

Social media is a great way to increase your social marketing presence, especially when you share the latest news from your company. Remember: The better the content you share via social networks, the more likely people are going to link back to it!

Social media sites aren’t just some place where people connect with their friends—social media and social networks are a great way for your business to expand your social marketing presence!

When it comes to social media marketing,beyond growing your social channels, search engines like Google want you to link in social signals. Have people mention your brand name throughout social channels and have others socially share your content on social websites such as Facebook & Twitter.

These social shares help create social signals—helping users get additional content related to what they’re searching for on these networks! Social signals are very important when creating a social media presence.

Social media is an underutilized part of SEO. By strategically utilizing Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, etc., you can increase your authority by social signals through using social media marketing by increasing things like social likes, shares, and overall customer interaction.

Social media marketing can be a powerful tool for your social marketing presence, especially when considering social sharing and social signals, which both help build social SEO and create social online content!

This content can mean the difference between the success and failure of your overall digital marketing efforts.

Instagram is all about rapid-fire visual entertainment. Users simply flick their finger to scroll past photos, occasionally stopping only to read a caption, leave a like or quickly type a comment. That concept is taken to the extreme with Stories, a feature that allows users to post pictures and videos that automatically disappear after 24 hours.

What you might not realize is that if your entire Instagram marketing strategy is based on the platform’s standard, static posts, then you’re missing out in a major way. By leveraging the hyper-engaging power of Stories, you can connect with your audience, effectively advertise your products and generate brand awareness.

• What Are Instagram Stories
• Why Use Instagram Stories?
• How to Make Your IG Stories Drive Results
• Add a Custom Call to Action
• Prioritize Video Content
• Use Text Overlays
• Take Sound Into Account
• Make the Most of Stickers

What Are Instagram Stories?

With IG Stories, users are able to post photos and videos that are automatically erased after one day. This encourages people to post more frequently and casually, since Stories’ ephemeral nature means there’s no pressure to create permanent content.

And while Instagram has been lauded for Stories’ success, the feature isn’t exactly original. After all, Instagram Stories are to Snapchat Stories what Oreo cookies are to their Hydrox counterparts: The latter may have come first, but the former is what most people know and use.

Immediately following its 2016 release, Instagram’s Stories feature was labeled a blatant ripoff of Snapchat Stories, which was already three years old at the time.

Rather than denying the accusations thrown their way, Instagram executives simply admitted the truth. In 2016, then-CEO Kevin Systrom told TechCrunch that Snapchat deserves all the credit. Then in 2017, the company’s VP of Product Kevin Weil said, “if we’re being honest with ourselves, this is the way the tech industry works.”

“Kudos to Snapchat for being the first to Stories,” Weil went on, “but it’s a format and it’s going to be adopted widely across a lot of different platforms.” (Turns out he was right—in November 2020, Twitter released its own version of Stories called Fleets.)

So what do Instagram Stories actually look like? In their current state, they’re prominently displayed at the top of the app’s home page. Facebook, Instagram’s parent company, has a page about Instagram shopping that provides a clear example:

Click on a story and you’ll see an image or video taking up your device’s entire screen, as seen on one of Instagram’s Stories-focused pages:

Stories can be as staged or as candid as the poster sees fit, and many users upload Stories to capture snapshots of everyday life they might otherwise deem unworthy of a permanent post.

As seen in the example above, Stories can also be sponsored, meaning that business accounts can pay to show their IG Stories to users who don’t already follow them.

Why Use Instagram Stories?

If your Instagram marketing strategy is primarily focused on posts, it’s high time you work on creating eye-catching Stories, too.

You don’t have to take our word for it, either. According to Instagram’s own data, 500 million accounts use Stories every day. Most importantly, users respond well to Stories (yep, even sponsored ones):

• 58 percent of users say they’ve become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in Stories.
• 50 percent of users say they’ve visited a website to purchase a product or service after seeing it in Stories.
• 45 percent of users prefer Stories for learning about new trends.

This general acceptance of brands’ Stories explains why businesses that post the most Stories are also the most successful overall. In fact, a Rival IQ study found that the top 25 percent of brands publish Stories at least 16 times per month (about once every other day), while the bottom 25 percent of brands do so just six times per month (about once or twice per week):

But how effective are Stories at actually reaching followers? As shown in the same research from Rival IQ, reach rate is inversely proportional to follower count. More precisely, Stories from accounts with less than 10,000 followers had a reach rate of 6.2 percent in 2020. On the other hand, Stories from accounts with 200,000 followers or more had a reach rate of 1.5 percent in 2020:

This is good news for small to medium businesses, since the fewer followers you have, the more of them you’re likely to reach.

While standard Instagram posts have a higher reach rate (12–25 percent in 2020, according to the study), it’s likely that some users tap through Stories much more often than they scroll down their feed. So, Stories represent a golden opportunity to connect with followers you might not have otherwise.

If you’re wondering what kinds of concrete benefits brands have seen after investing in creating Stories ads, you’re in luck—Instagram has provided a robust collection of success stories. For instance, with the help of Stories ads:

• apparel brand Bombas achieved a 2.4x higher conversion rate;
• coffee company Chameleon Cold-Brew increased brand awareness by 3.3x; and
• tortilla chip brand Doritos raised overall sales by 1.71 percent.

The bottom line is that it’s worth your while to seriously consider creating content for Instagram Stories. By doing so, you may be able to increase your overall reach, boost brand awareness, raise conversion rates and even generate more sales.

How to Make Your IG Stories Drive Results

We’ve explored how Instagram Stories came to be and how they work, and we’ve also established their value for businesses. But it’s also important to recognize that the way you create Stories will affect their success.

In other words, it’s not enough to simply snap a picture of your product and call it a day—you also need to add thoughtful finishing touches in order to achieve the results you’re after. Here’s how.

Add a Custom Call to Action

When you add a link to an Instagram Story, Instagram will automatically add a native call to action (CTA). This takes the form of a subtle arrow at the bottom of the screen, accompanied by text like “See More.” Take this Story from Adidas for example:

This built-in CTA is handy, but augmenting it with a custom one can be even more effective. One analysis from AdParlor found that Stories including a custom CTA had a 65 percent lower cost-per-sale than those which only used Instagram’s native CTA. In this example, the Story on the left has a custom CTA while the one on the right does not:

So when you want users to follow your Stories’ links, be sure to add an additional CTA they won’t overlook.

Prioritize Video Content

If you’re up to date on content marketing trends, then you already know that video is on the rise. Eighty-five percent of U.S. users consume online video content, and Google itself has provided guidance on how to optimize videos.

So it comes as no surprise that in terms of Instagram Stories, videos significantly outperform still images. As explained in a 2020 report from Socialinsider, 52 percent of Stories are videos, but users are much less likely to tap forward on (i.e. skip) video Stories:

As the study points out, this could be interpreted as a sign that users find videos more engaging than images.

What’s more, video Stories also have lower average exit rates and generate more replies.

So be sure to prioritize video content whenever possible, and make sure to squeeze as much entertainment into each 15-second Story as you can.

Use Text Overlays

Minimalism may be in vogue, but when it comes to Instagram Stories less isn’t necessarily more. According to AdParlor’s research, the more visual interest you can add, the better, specifically in the form of text overlays.

A text overlay is exactly what it sounds like: Using Instagram’s native tools, you can superimpose text in all types of fonts and colors over your video or image Stories.

AdParlor found that text overlay usage greatly reduced brands’ expenditures, leading to a 47 percent lower cost-per-sale. You don’t have to add much text, either—in the following example, the Story on the left has a text overlay consisting of just three words, while the one on the right has none:

Even if you think your Stories speak for themselves, consider adding text overlays to clearly communicate your message and enjoy a lower cost-per-sale.

Take Sound Into Account

Instagram’s own internal data shows that an impressive 60 percent of Stories are viewed with sound turned on. So even if your Stories are in the form of a still image or don’t have any sound, it may be beneficial to add some background music.

You can do so with the help of Instagram’s built-in music sticker (more on stickers in a bit). Once you tap it, you’ll be able to search for specific songs or browse music by recommendation and genre. After you choose a song, it will show up in your story in the form of a sticker you can change, move and adjust as desired:

It only takes a few seconds to do, but adding music to your Instagram Stories can truly send them to the next level.

Make the Most of Stickers

The music sticker isn’t the only one you can use to give your Stories a little extra flair. As Instagram explains, you can use their selection of stickers to add a:

• location sticker, which users can tap to view the location’s page;
• mention sticker, which will link to another Instagram account;
• hashtag sticker, which users can tap to view the hashtag’s page;
• captions sticker, which will automatically transcribe your Story’s audio for those who are watching without sound or are hard of hearing;
• donation sticker, which will allow users to donate to the nonprofit of your choice;
• gif sticker, which will superimpose an animated gif onto your Story;
• poll or emoji slider sticker, which you can use to ask users any question you wish;
• questions sticker, which users can use to submit questions or songs depending on the option you choose;
• countdown sticker, which will count down in real time to any moment;
• quiz sticker, which you can use to create multiple choice quizzes with custom questions and answers; and
• current time or location sticker, which will display the time or location according to information provided by your device.

To access these stickers, simply tap the square smiley face icon you’ll see in the upper-right corner of your screen when posting a Story:

This will bring up a menu filled with every type of sticker you can use, along with a few additional ones Instagram has chosen to feature:

From there, simply tap the sticker of your choice and you’ll be well on your way to creating engaging, interactive Stories that users will love.

Master IG Stories to Master Instagram SEO

Standard posts are only a portion of the Instagram SEO game—until you start publishing Stories that capture users’ attention, you won’t be realizing the potential of your Instagram marketing strategy.

So while it may take some additional time and effort, it will be well worth your while to invest in creating high-quality and engaging Stories. While we can’t make any promises, we predict your conversion rates, sales and follower count will benefit as a result.

Image credits

Shutterstock / May 2021
Facebook / Accessed May 2021
Instagram / Accessed May 2021
Rival IQ / January 2021
Screenshots by Author / May 2021
AdParlor / July 2020
Socialinsider / October 2020

Every segment of the population has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in one way or another, but Gen Z’s experience has been unique in that the pandemic has robbed them of many milestones and activities typically associated with growing up in the 21st century.

Understandably, young consumers are already thinking about what they’ll do once the pandemic is over. So what are their plans? As new internal data from Pinterest shows, Gen Z has vacations and parties on the brain. Marketers need to know about the youngest generation’s post-pandemic plans.

Travel Is on the Horizon

Most people haven’t taken a vacation since spring 2020, so many Gen Z consumers are eager to get a taste of travel again.

As Pinterest’s data revealed, searches including the word vacation grew by 75 percent between January 2021 and March 2021. By comparison, vacation-related searches grew by just 24 percent during the same period in 2020.

It’s not just Gen Z that’s dreaming of vacationing, either—Google’s new travel updates serve as proof. Moreover, data from Google Trends shows that the vacation topic as a whole is twice as popular in spring 2021 as it was in spring 2020:

Pinterest also provided information about Gen Z’s more niche vacation-related searches:

• Dream vacation destinations increased 13x.
• Luxury vacation increased 6x.
• Vacation fashion increased 3x.
• Travel tattoos increased by 45 percent.

Fashion and Beauty Are Back on the Table

In the midst of pandemic-related lockdowns and travel restrictions, many people opted for comfort over style—according to The New York Times, U.S. sweatpants sales rose 80 percent in April 2020.

But now that restrictions are lifting and vaccination rates are rising, members of Gen Z are ready to embrace their sartorial side. As Pinterest states, searches including the word outfit are at all all-time high and are 26 percent more prevalent in April 2021 than April 2020.

Google Trends doesn’t disagree, with searches for summer fashion 2021 and the like increasing by up to 4,400 percent:

Want to know more about the specific style trends Gen Z is loving? Pinterest’s data says that young consumers are interested in vintage-style outfits, bold accessories and transformative makeup:

• Clay rings increased 303x.
• Y2K outfit ideas increased 230x.
• 60 and 70s fashion increased 133x.
• Makeup makeover increased 100x.
• Alt makeup increased 60x.
• Puppy eyeliner increased 30x.
• Hippie jewelry increased 16x.
• Zebra pants increased 14x.
• Plaid pleated skirt increased 12x.

It’s Time to Party

Social gatherings are becoming widespread once more, and Pinterest searches reflect that—party-related queries jumped by 64 percent between November 2020 and March 2021.

In a similar pattern, Google users are searching for party-related terms more than they have at any point in the last year:

Unsurprisingly, members of Gen Z don’t plan on missing out on the fun. On Pinterest, they’re searching for party life 3x more frequently than usual. They’re also on the lookout for more specific celebration inspiration:

• Euphoria party ideas increased 43x.
• Dinner date outfits increased 30x.
• Group tattoo ideas increased 13x.
• Party food buffet increased 10x.
• Hotel room party increased 8x.
• Backyard dinner party increased 3x.

Renovations Are on the Rise

Organization may have been the name of the game in 2020, but renovations are where it’s at for 2021. Pinterest says that searches for renovations are at an all-time high, with queries made in Q1 2021 being 28 percent greater than those made in Q1 2020 and 65 percent greater than those made in Q1 2019.

This mirrors a comparable phenomenon from summer 2020, perhaps because the first COVID-19 wave was waning then and many felt that the end was in sight.

As Google’s data shows, renovation-related searches were higher in summer 2020 and spring 2021 than they’ve been at any other point over the past five years:

And even though many Gen Zers may not yet have their own homes, plenty of those on Pinterest are still interested in sprucing up their spaces:

• Indie room increased 132x.
• Sage green aesthetic increased 32x.
• Eclectic home increased 9x.
• Home renovation ideas increased 5x.
• Grand millennial decor increased 3x.

Want to Reach Gen Z? Strive to Inspire

As post-pandemic life gets closer and closer to becoming a reality, Gen Z is becoming increasingly interested in preparing for fun and celebrations rather than trials and tribulations. This is greatly affecting their search behavior, not just on Pinterest but on other platforms too.

So if you’re marketing to the younger generation, their latest Pinterest search habits can help you inform your Gen Z SEO strategy, and give them the inspiration they’re seeking as the pandemic’s grip loosens.

Image credits

Featured Image: Shutterstock / May 2021
Screenshots by author / May 2021

The YouTube algorithm is critical to creators’ success, but this doesn’t make it any less difficult to understand. As we all know, YouTube and Google don’t divulge the secrets of their algorithms. They do, however, give you guidelines to follow which can tip the algorithms in your favor.

Even if YouTube won’t reveal its algorithm’s nuts and bolts, you can still discover them through old-fashioned research. Here, we’ve done all of the heavy lifting for you: Read on to learn everything you need to know about the YouTube algorithm for more views, subscribers and audience engagement.

Table of Contents

1. Why Does the YouTube Algorithm Matter?
2. The YouTube Algorithm’s Illustrious Past
3. The Videos YouTube Loves
4. Flash in the Pan or Long-Term Success?
5. Tips for Lasting YouTube Relevance
6. Five YouTube FAQs Answered

Why Does the YouTube Algorithm Matter?

As one of the premier social networks for videos, any SEO would be remiss not to include YouTube marketing in their digital marketing stack. Because you’re on iloveseo.com, we think you either have some interest in pursuing YouTube marketing, and you may be slightly familiar with how a typical search engine works:

1. A user submits a query.
2. The algorithm returns a selection of results it believes are relevant to that query.
3. The user chooses a result to click on.

While modern search engines have added machine learning, human quality raters and user feedback into the mix, that basic formula remains.

But on YouTube, the algorithm works differently. While it may behave similarly to a standard search engine, it also adds content curation to the mix through its auto-generated recommendations.

It does so by displaying videos it thinks users will be interested in on both the homepage and in the platform’s sidebar:

The YouTube algorithm doesn’t just answer users’ needs—it proactively addresses them before they type so much as a single keyword. Of course, this assumes that you are subscribed to the platform and logged in.

That’s why YouTube SEO is unique: You’re aiming to get your videos in front of users who may not have made a query to begin with.

The YouTube Algorithm’s Illustrious Past

As of January 2021, YouTube is the second most used social media platform in the world, surpassed only by Facebook. The site also gets billions of views per day—by comparison, it was receiving 100 million daily views in July 2006.

But YouTube was no small fry, even upon its first release in 2005. Started by three PayPal employees, the site quickly saw its user base skyrocket and was purchased by Google just 18 months later.

Despite Google’s involvement, YouTube’s recommendation system remained rudimentary for years. The site didn’t begin recommending related videos until 2008, and even then it did so based on simple metrics such as click count and watch time.

The tide turned in 2016 with the implementation of machine learning. As explained in a white paper from Google, YouTube’s neural networks provide recommendations by analyzing each user’s history and context alongside other, video-specific metrics:

Although most of us may not understand exactly how it works, you only have to watch an hour or two of YouTube videos to see the results: An almost-endless, highly-personalized supply of videos presented to you at every turn.

The formula clearly works—at the time of this writing, more than 500 hours of content are uploaded every minute. The site boasts over two billion logged-in users a month, and YouTube is used in more than 100 countries.

Translation? YouTube presents one of the best opportunities to connect with your audience, and you’re seriously missing out if you don’t take advantage of it.

The Videos YouTube Loves

If you want to get on the YouTube algorithm’s good side, start by analyzing the types of videos it already favors.

YouTube’s own documentation states that its algorithm “follows the audience”. It does so by observing users’ viewing habits, including:

• what they watch and don’t watch;
• their watch time;
• likes and dislikes; and
• any “not interested” feedback previously given.

When users are actively watching a video, the algorithm will also recommend videos that are topically related, uploaded by the same channel or similar to other videos the user has already watched.

While the algorithm isn’t perfect (remember when it was recommending that everyone watch videos about 1,000 degree knives?), it is effective at identifying content users will likely find engaging.

All that is to say, if users engage with a video—either by viewing it, subscribing to its parent channel, liking or even disliking it—then the algorithm is more likely to recommend it to other viewers.

Flash in the Pan or Long-Term Success?

As with the aforementioned 1,000 degree knife videos, having one video heavily recommended by YouTube’s algorithm doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll enjoy lasting success.

After all, if they’re going to keep giving you views and clicks, users have to be just as interested in the rest of your channel’s videos as they were in the one originally recommended to them.

Take for example Jennelle Eliana, a van-dwelling YouTuber who amassed over one million subscribers after uploading just two (yes, two) videos. One year later, those two videos are still the most popular on her account, with 18 million views on one and ten million on the other:

But most importantly to Eliana’s long-term success, each of her videos still gets hundreds of thousands of views—at the time of this writing, most new uploads garner one million views or more. Her subscriber count has grown as well, sitting at nearly 2.5 million as of April 2021.

The lesson here is: by consistently creating unique and engaging content, YouTube channels can turn 15 minutes of fame into a steady stream of interested viewers.

Remember, quality is always better than quantity when it comes to long-term success. While you probably shouldn’t release a video every few months, don’t feel pressured to release one every day either.

Tips for Lasting YouTube Relevance

If you are looking to take advantage of the many benefits of YouTube’s algorithm, it’s a good idea to pay attention to the following guidelines:

Prioritize Engagement

In the eyes of the algorithm, a video’s engagement is a better indicator of its quality than its raw view count. Engagement includes views, but it also takes into account likes, dislikes, comments, share, watch time and the like. Remember to encourage your viewers to like, subscribe and share your video non-intrusively.

Include Keywords

First, navigate to the traffic sources section in YouTube Analytics. There, you’ll see a list of the words people are using to find your channel. Be sure to incorporate those words into your videos’ titles and descriptions. While you’re at it, brush up on your keyword research skills to proactively identify important keywords.

Write Intriguing Titles and Descriptions

In the competitive world of YouTube, an eye-catching video title is as good as gold. Plus, your videos’ descriptions are a perfect place to optimize for keywords, send viewers to certain links and add even more valuable content. YouTube recommends that your titles be 60 characters or less and your descriptions be one to two paragraphs.

Create Custom Thumbnails

Stand-out thumbnails are an indispensable way to draw in more viewers. To make yours as effective as possible, add custom thumbnails that clearly show users what your video is about.

Add a Strong Call to Action

When you use calls to action (CTAs) at the end of your videos, you’re increasing your chances of getting more views, engagements and conversions. Luckily, YouTube makes it easy to do with cards and end screens.

Cross-Promote Your Videos

Don’t just rely on YouTube’s internal system to drive views—instead, put your social media marketing savvy to good use and link to each new video from other platforms.

Five YouTube FAQs Answered

Who better than YouTube’s own team members to answer your most burning algorithm-related questions? In an October 2020 video from Creator Insider, two employees did just that:

Don’t feel like watching the whole thing? Here’s a transcript for your convenience:

If one of my videos under-performs, is that going to hurt my channel? Could a few poor videos pull down better videos in the future?

Is there a point at which the number of videos per day/week on each channel is so high that the algorithm is overwhelmed and videos slip through?

My channel has been around for quite a few years and I think I may have lots of inactive subscribers, should I create a NEW channel and then re-upload the videos in order to appear more acceptable to the algorithm?

How important is external traffic for driving recommendations?

I’m getting lots of traffic from external websites which is causing my click-through-rates and average view durations to drop, is this going to hurt my video’s performance?

The YouTube Algorithm Is Your Friend

When you’re struggling to get your videos to perform how you want them to, it’s easy to get frustrated with YouTube’s algorithm and its seemingly mysterious ways.

But, when you know how the algorithm works and why it recommends some videos over others, your path is made clear. More viewers, higher CTRs (click-through rates) and higher conversion rates are all within your grasp—all you need to do is put in the legwork to achieve them.

Image credits

Screenshots by author / April 2021
Google / September 2016

Some view it as a learning resource, some as an entertainment venue, some as a social media platform. It’s a digital wonderland called YouTube, and you’d be hard pressed to find a netizen who hasn’t been touched by its pervasive presence. Even if you’re not a regular visitor to Google’s video titan, who among us hasn’t seen something in the news about a famous YouTuber?

The site’s not just for aspiring online celebrities, though, and for brands looking to leverage video content in their digital marketing, building a successful YouTube channel can be daunting. But don’t despair just yet. Using a suite of powerful (and proven) YouTube SEO tactics, you, too can build a following with your target audience, strengthen brand and site authority, and convert viewers to customers.

YouTube SEO: The Difference Between Flopping and Flourishing

As the second most-used social media platform, and with a staggering two billion logged-in users per month, YouTube’s marketing potential is apparent.

But this internet juggernaut presents marketers with both opportunity and frustration. More than 400 hours of fresh content is uploaded every minute. With thousands of hours of new video published each day, it’s hard to grab viewers’ attention—and even harder to keep it.

The answer for channels large and small is to stop gambling on organic growth and start implementing SEO for YouTube. And when we say gambling, we mean it. The majority of videos get fewer than 100 views, and 85 percent of all views go to the top three percent of channels.

With strategies like smart keyword research, detailed descriptions and widespread promotion, you canmaster YouTube optimization, grow an active audience and earn more conversions.

Understand YouTube’s Unique Ranking Factors

Since YouTube is owned by Google, you won’t be surprised to learn its algorithm is based around serving users’ needs. In YouTube’s words, the primary goals of its search and discovery system (i.e., algorithms) are to:

• help viewers find videos they’ll enjoy; and
• maximize users’ long-term engagement on the platform.

YouTube’s purpose is to give users what they want and keep them coming back. If it didn’t, Alphabet’s shareholders would likely have a few choice words on the matter.

Complexity enters the equation when we dive into the specific ranking factors YouTube uses to determine which videos will most effectively attract and retain viewers.

A study from the marketing agency Briggsby found the most important ranking factors to be:

• watch time;
• channel authority (i.e., cohesion and completeness);
• positive sentiment and engagement; and
• broad match keyword targeting in the title, description and tags.

What about subscriber count? A Backlinko study of 1.3 million videos found a channel’s total number of subscribers only moderately contributed to higher rankings, whereas videos driving a high number of new subscriptions also generated correspondingly high rankings.

So don’t spend too much time stressing over subscriber count. Instead, focus on driving engagement, encouraging new subscriptions, establishing channel authority and performing thorough keyword research.

Choose Your Keywords Carefully

YouTube SEO is, well, SEO, so keywords will play a major role in your optimization efforts.

Get started using one of the easiest keyword research tools available: YouTube’s own search predictions feature. Type in a keyword, phrase or beginning of a sentence and YouTube will display a variety of suggested queries based on frequently used search terms:

With a quick search, you gain immediate insight into the specific topics people are looking for within your vertical. If you’re willing to pay for a longer list of search predictions with additional information about search volume, cost per click and more, Keyword Tool Pro may be right up your alley.

Want to get a more in-depth look at the keywords driving results? Pull up a competitor’s channel and flex your HTML muscles. Go to any of the channel’s best-performing videos. Then, right-click on the page and select view page source (or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+U on PC, or Option+Command+U on Mac). Take a video about IKEA hacks from the Liz Fenwick DIY channel for example:

With one click, you’ll have a complete view of the page’s source code. If you don’t feel like combing through a long wall of HTML (who does?), search within the page for the word keywords (press Ctrl+F on PC or Command+F on Mac to open up the search bar):

The first instance of keywords will show you exactly which keywords the uploader has tagged their video with:

In this case, the uploader’s chosen keywords include the video-specific ones you’d expect (ikea diy, ikea hacks, ikea ideas) as well as more general ones that can be applied to any number of DIY- and home decor-related videos (affordable home decor, home decorating ideas on a budget, home decor diy). Pay special attention to the more general options. These keywords attract viewers who may not be looking for something specific.

Tagging a channel’s videos with some of those same keywords (only when relevant, of course), can help you capture new viewers you might otherwise miss.

Always incorporate relevant and accurate keywords in each video’s title and description, too. It’ll make the video easier for users to find, and if the channel is monetized, it may also help the video get targeted by advertisers.

If you want to see which keywords are already working for a channel, head to YouTube Studio and click analytics in the left-hand navigation bar. Next, click the reach tab at the top of the page:

Scroll down and you’ll see a box called traffic source: YouTube search:

There, you can see exactly which keywords people are using to find a channel’s videos within YouTube.

Optimize the Channel Page

Remember the concept of channel authority and how it relates to a channel’s completeness and cohesion? You can improve both those traits by applying a little TLC to a channel’s main page.

Start by fleshing out the about section of the channel’s page. Take a look at Thrive Market’s about section:

Notice the presence of a few key elements:

• cover image
• profile picture
• detailed description outlining the company’s services, products and values
• clear location information
• links to its main site and other social media profiles

Taken together, these components instantly paint a picture of the brand’s personality, beliefs and offerings while also providing evidence of its legitimacy—when’s the last time you saw a bogus brand with a polished site and linked social accounts?

For SEO practitioners, the about page also presents a prime opportunity to include a few more instances of the channel’s most valued keywords.

Don’t neglect a channel page’s other tabs, either. Use the channels tab to showcase other associated channels, the community tab to spark conversations with viewers and the playlists tab to highlight collections of related videos and encourage users to keep watching.

A warm welcome draws users in as soon as they click on the channel page. Choose a featured video to autoplay right on the home tab while you’re at it, highlight some of the channel’s best playlists too:

The best channel pages don’t cater exclusively to YouTube’s algorithm. They also enhance user experience and fulfill viewers’ desire to quickly find high-quality content.

Shoot for the Right Video Length

YouTube search is now so thoroughly refined that video ranking is directly affected by both content and format.

Backlinko’s study, for example, found a strong correlation between video length and ranking, with longer videos significantly outperforming their shorter counterparts. Just how long are we talking? Videos on the first page of YouTube average nearly 15 minutes.

Investing in longer videos quite literally pays. In July 2020, YouTube announced videos lasting eight minutes or longer are eligible to run mid-roll ads, giving uploaders an additional opportunity to earn ad revenue.

So, if a channel is monetized, you can maximize profits by ensuring each of its videos are at least eight minutes long.

Edit like a Pro

Even when striving to achieve the perfect video length, don’t let quantity overwhelm quality. Time and effort in the editing booth translate to more compelling content for your audience.

Seven editing techniques can make any video more polished and appealing:

• Record in HD. Shoot at a resolution of at least 720p to create a better user experience. Even a smartphone with a decent camera will do.
• Plan ahead. By writing a script (or basic notes) ahead of time and considering the video’s lighting, setting and movement, you can save yourself hours of editing time.
• Don’t be afraid of multiple takes. Doing another take is likely faster than tediously editing a flubbed line or fixing a bad camera angle.
• Cut the filler. It’s only natural to say filler words like um, OK,like or so, even when they add nothing to a video. Edit them out using jump cuts (just take care not to overdo it).
• Add music. Not loving a video’s awkward silences? Royalty-free music from the YouTube Audio Library can help fill in the blanks. Don’t forget to adjust the audio mix so your royalty-free tunes don’t drown out important dialogue!
• Add video effects. Even quick, simple effects like text and image overlays can make a video look substantially more professional.
• Use the right encoding settings. Once you’ve finished editing, export your video to as an MP4 file, and follow YouTube’s recommended encoding settings. Trust us, it’s a lot easier than it sounds.

Create Eye-Catching Thumbnails

You never get a second chance to make a first impression (thanks for the killer quote, Will Rogers). In the YouTube world, thumbnails are first impressions. Humans can identify images in as little as 13 milliseconds, and thumbnails take up much more page space than video titles.

If your goal is to get as many clicks as possible, stellar thumbnails are non-negotiable.

Almost every top-performing video on the platform has a custom thumbnail—90 percent of them, to be precise. But what does a click-worthy custom thumbnail look like? A closer look at some widely-viewed channels’ thumbnails reveals the answer.

Tom Scott, a YouTuber focused on educational videos, uses thumbnails that almost always include his own face, contrasting text, saturated colors or a mix of all three:

But is using these patterns good SEO for YouTube, or simply a quirk exclusive to educational or British channels? To find out, a visit to YouTube’s beauty category is in order. Jackie Aina, a YouTuber who primarily creates makeup-related content, typically includes her own face, colorful graphics, product photos or text overlays:

The same holds true in other categories as well. Linus Sebastian’s eponymous channel, Linus Tech Tips, built around (you guessed it) tech-related content, uses thumbnails with photos of Linus’ face, bright and contrasting colors, eye-catching text and clear product photos:

Given the clear presence of these trends across wildly different categories and subjects, we suggest your video thumbnails:

• include easy-to-read text that stands out from the background;
• incorporate a photo of a human, preferably a face;
• create a corresponding theme or color scheme to tie all a channel’s thumbnails together;
• use vivid, crisp colors; and
• give potential viewers a sneak peek of the content within.

Don’t Forget the Title and Description

Along with the thumbnail, the first thing a potential viewer is likely to see is a video’s title and description. Bots will use both in serving up search results too. A perfect opportunity to work in your most important keywords, right?

Well, yes. But keywords aren’t the only way to optimize a video’s title and description. By making the former catchy and the latter detailed, you can drive clicks, better the user experience and attract new viewers.

Polish the Title

YouTube offers some helpful title advice of its own, such as:

• keep titles accurate;
• pique users’ curiosity;
• limit titles to 60 characters or fewer;
• put episode numbers and branding at the end;
• put episode subjects at the beginning; and
• consider the channel’s target audience.

For extra points, include super-clickable elements like numbers (“Top 10 Makeup Tips), emotionally charged words and phrases (The Most Awe-Inspiring Places on Earth) and one or two intriguing words in caps (The BEST Home Security System).

Resist the urge to create all-caps titles, though. Google’s Director of Product Management, Todd Beaupré, says they’re not algorithm-friendly.

Upgrade the Description

For descriptions, provide a detailed and customized blurb about the video’s topic and contents. This not only provides yet another space to target keywords, but also gives users a quick rundown of what they’re about to watch and a chance to click through to external links.

When users first view the description, they’ll only see its first few lines followed by a see more button. Photoshop Tutorials’ description boxes serve as first-rate examples:

Beneath the show more button, include helpful items such as social links, timestamps, hashtags, affiliate links, and links to the uploader’s website (you can even include a nice message to folks who bother to read the full description):

Include Closed Captions

For effective image optimization, accessibility and performance are critical. Using alt text both improves accessibility for users with vision or hearing impairments—and creates another chance to rank for valuable keywords.

When performing SEO for YouTube, closed captions provide the same enhancements. They provide a convenient way for viewers to fully experience the video without sound, and let you include keywords and crawlable text. Take the closed captions on a National Geographic video:

YouTube provides two ways to provide closed captions. One is to use the platform’s automatic captioning feature, and another is to create custom captions. You can even add subtitles in other languages.

YouTube’s automatic captioning is the fastest and easiest option—with a few caveats. It’s powered by machine learning algorithms, and in some cases is nearly 100 percent accurate, but still struggles with dialogue spoken by someone with a non–American English accent. It also has trouble parsing imperfect or unusual enunciation and uncommon words (think slang and jargon).

While custom captions take longer to create, the boost to accuracy is worth the trouble if you’re concerned automatic captions won’t cut the mustard. You can even use them to include hyper-specific sound effects. YouTube’s own videos make excellent use of this by using captions such as [DRUM MUSIC]:

Custom closed captions can significantly improve accessibility and a video’s search performance. Whether or not they’re worth the time they take to write is determined by the needs of your audience and your overall YouTube SEO strategy.

Write Corresponding Blog Posts

If you’re just learning how to optimize videos for YouTube, you might be surprised to learn one effective optimization method involves creating corresponding content outside of the platform.

This exterior content is beneficial in multiple ways. If a blog already has an established audience, its readers will naturally be more inclined to watch any featured YouTube video. In terms of SEO, external content can also help to bolster your link building efforts. The more trustworthy websites that link to a video, the more likely search engines are to give it a higher ranking.

Michelle Wong, the chemistry PhD and beauty expert behind the Lab Muffin blogand YouTube channel, provides a prime example.

In July 2020, she published a blog post featuring a YouTube video about the science of indoor sunscreen use:

While we can’t see much about the blog post’s performance other than its total comments, we can see that the featured YouTube video garnered more than 150,000 views (or nearly 100 percent of her total subscriber count) as of August 2020:

As an added bonus, any followers who can’t or don’t want to watch a video are able to access the same content in the corresponding blog post.

While it takes time to build such a successful system, any channel can benefit from publishing external content to complement its videos.

Promote Videos Across Platforms

Just as effective blog promotion is a crucial component of your overall marketing strategy, cross-platform promotion is an essential YouTube optimization tactic.

Similar to writing corresponding blog posts for a channel’s videos, promoting a video on multiple platforms provides an opportunity to draw in new viewers and build valuable external links.

If you follow any YouTubers on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, you’re likely already familiar with this tactic. A creator releases a new video, then posts about it on other social media accounts with a preview of the video’s contents.

Take for example Jennelle Eliana, a prominent vanlife YouTuber. If you like custom van builds and cute snakes, hers is the channel for you:

With more than 65,000 Instagram likes and upwards of 1,000,000 views on the original video, her strategy is clearly working:

With Smart YouTube SEO, Who Needs a Celebrity?

The famous folks of YouTube undoubtedly hold the eyeballs, if not the hearts and minds, of the viewing public (at the time of writing, Justin Bieber has nearly 56 million subscribers). But you’ll find truly compelling stories of YouTube success told by creators who built their channels from the ground up.

We can’t promise you’ll garner millions of views, but we do know consistent and creative YouTube SEO can bring in more views, help sites achieve greater authority and a higher conversion rate, and give creators the chance to engage with their audience in meaningful, compelling and profitable ways.

Image credits
We Are Social / January 2020
Screenshots by author / August 2020