Did you know that you can improve your social media for SEO purposes? In fact, Instagram is prioritizing SEO so that your account can be properly categorized and seen by people interested in your specific niche. You know, like wine content.

When it comes to social media and SEO, many people think that the two are mutually exclusive.

But optimizing your social media for SEO can be one of the most effective ways to improve your online presence right now.

Hear me out… Let's use Instagram as an example.

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms, with over 1 billion monthly active users. Yeah, yeah. While it’s primarily known for sharing photos and videos and engaging with your customers (my favorite reason to use social media), it can also be a powerful SEO tool for marketing your business.

Yes, I STILL believe this, even now. Even with all of the issues that Meta is having -- creating content on Instagram is still one of the best ways to truly be seen by your target audience.  

As you may or may not know, your page needs to appear in search results to reach your target audience. That’s where social media SEO comes in. 

Can you really optimize your social media for SEO?

The short answer is yes! Social media platforms like Instagram use algorithms that consider various factors, including the number of likes and comments on a post, as well as the engagement level of the audience. Instagram's algorithm analyzes every piece of material on the app, gathering data that it may use to determine what the post is about and who might be interested in it.

That means that if you want to improve your chances of being seen by potential customers or clients, you need to make sure that your posts are engaging and encourage people to interact with them.

Here are a few tips to get you started with social media SEO:

1. Post high-quality content. This should be obvious, but we don't always consider creating "high-quality" content as an SEO strategy. To do this, try to post unique and interesting content, as this will encourage people to interact with it. Because no matter how many keywords or hashtags you use, if your content isn't attention-grabbing and valuable to your target audience, they will pass it by. Create content that is both relevant to them and unique to your brand's voice.

2. Be consistent with your niche. This will help the algorithm understand what your page is about while appealing to your target audience. If you post an array of mismatched content, the algorithm won’t be able to target it effectively. So, if you want to optimize your social media for SEO, post content that is consistent with your niche.

3. Use relevant hashtags. Hashtags are a great way to help people find your content on Instagram. Use hashtags that are relevant to your business or brand. For example, if you sell wine, you could use hashtags such as #wine, #winelover, or #winecountry.

4. Use attractive visuals. As I mentioned before, Instagram is designed to be visual, so make sure that your images and videos are high-quality and eye-catching. See #1…

5. Use keywords in your caption. Just like with any other form of SEO, using relevant keywords in your caption can improve visibility. For example, if you sell wine in a specific region, the keywords “wine sonoma,” “winery, napa” or “wine Country napa” are more relevant than just the keyword “wine” which is generic and over used. Unless you have 50,000+ followers you probably wont be seen at all if you use that hashtag, so focus on regional, smaller hashtags within your niche that have two words.

6. Use keywords in your video scripts. If you are like me and you create video scripts before you record your videos (I write them using Siri's dictation tool so my words sound like ME, and then I edit and record using an app called Teleprompter on my phone), be sure to include a keyword(s) in your video. Social media algorithms consider the words and visuals in videos when steering your content toward your target audience.

7. Engage with your audience. One of the best ways to encourage people to interact with your content is to engage with them directly. Ask questions, run polls, and start conversations. The more you interact with your audience, the more likely they are to comment on and share your content.

8. Use calls to action. Calls to action are a great way to encourage people to take action, such as liking, commenting, or sharing your content. For example, you could say something like “Tag a friend who loves wine!” or “Share this if you’re planning a trip to Wine Country!”

9. Promote your content. You can do this by sharing it on other social media platforms, your website, or a blog. You can also promote your content through paid advertising.

10. Create content that is educational, entertaining, or inspiring. Similar to creating "high-quality" content, people are more likely to share content that they find valuable, so if you can create content that provides value to your audience, you’re more likely to see it shared. These seem to be the three categories of content that perform best on social media.

Following these tips can help you create content that is more likely to be seen by potential customers thanks to thinking about social media like you do SEO for your website.