THE INSTAGRAM UPDATE

Though some sources are claiming that Instagram content can now for the first time show up in Google Search, which would be a major change for brands, most public Instagram posts have actually been getting indexed by Google for years. Instagram did recently roll out this feature to more regions - but unless you received an alert of this on your brand’s account on July 10th, you were not affected by this change, and your public posts have been indexable since 2020. Read more on this in Social Media Today.

SEARCH & SOCIAL

However, this doesn’t discount that search and social media are becoming increasingly integrated. Consumers are using social media as a search engine - Forbes reports that according to a recent study, 67% of 18 to 24-year-olds say they use Instagram to search and 62% say they use TikTok, while 61% say they use Google. People are also using ChatGPT as a search engine (77% of people in the US, according to an Adobe survey) - which pulls from Bing and Google, which both index social media posts.

So not only are social posts showing up in Google and Bing searches, the social platforms themselves are being used for search, and this social content is also impacting ChatGPT results.

With this integration of social and search, it’s become key to think about search when thinking about your social media strategy.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU

Optimizing your social media content now not only means creating engaging content that people will want to watch and swipe through but creating content that will show up in search and help people discover what they are looking for. A few ways to do this include:

• Creating educational content that answers questions or solves problems that your target audience is likely to be asking - such as tutorials and how to’s.

• Answering questions you often see your customers asking in the comments and DMs or when they reach out to customer service.

• Thinking about topics your audience is likely to be searching for - whether it’s how to combat acne or what eyeshadow shade is best for brown eyes.

• Writing captions and social media bios that include keywords - just make sure they still sound natural!

• Including relevant keywords when adding text overlays and voiceovers to your content.

• Adding relevant geo-tags to your posts to encourage discovery.

Keep in mind that every post is an opportunity to be discovered by a consumer looking for exactly what you offer - whether on social platforms or beyond.