5 Ways to Increase Your Discoverability on this Powerful Social Platform
For some time, many have known that social media posts and profiles were searchable by search engines such as Google.
The truth is that today, social media platforms are like their own little self-contained search engine.
People use platforms such as Instagram to search keywords they are interested in to find accounts to follow, or information they need.
Getting lucky by using one hashtag that made your post go viral is an anomaly.
To break through and make meaningful connections and leads, you have to do your due diligence on SEO.
If you already know how to use SEO to amplify your blog posts and website, as well as build trust with leads, you might be wondering just how in the world you use SEO on a social media platform like Instagram.
The things you can do are actually quite simple, however, they do take a little time in research, thought, and planning.
Here’s how to up your SEO marketing game on Instagram to increase your reach and lead conversion.
1 | Research Comes First
Each platform can have small differences in how people use them and the terms they search. It’s key that you do research first, or you’ll just be posting into the internet void. Spend some time thinking about what keywords are relevant to your brand and then do some research on them. By researching keywords, you might find some related keywords to use in your posts that you might not have thought of previously. Try typing your keyword into the Instagram Explore search bar and see what else comes up. Once you have a list of your most powerful keywords, you can use them in your posts.
2 | Profile Perfection
Don’t forget about your profile page when it comes to SEO. Is there a way you can add a keyword to your username (the handle with the @ sign) or your name (the name in bold under your profile picture)? It’s a great way to rank higher in searches on Instagram. If you can’t find a seamless way to add a keyword into your username or name, add keywords or hashtags into the bio section on your profile.
3 | Caption Wisely
I do a lot of talking about writing rich content with value, and that is extremely important in gaining the trust of your followers. However, if you want to be found, you also have to sprinkle your keywords into your captions. Writing descriptive captions with choice keywords can greatly increase your discoverability on the platform. In fact, your captions might even be more important than your name, username, and bio. Another pro tip: to boost your descriptive captioned posts even more, post them at the best time. This means posting them at the time of day that your followers are most active. Your current followers liking or commenting on your posts can further boost your content!
4 | Hashtag Game
Hashtags are still one of the best ways to get discovered on Instagram, no matter if it’s an ad, a regular feed post, a Reel, or a Story. Public accounts that use hashtags will have their post visible on the corresponding hashtag’s results page or in the feeds of users who follow that hashtag. And because hashtags are often used to discover new content by users, adding the right hashtags to your posts to reach your target audience is crucial. Remember that keyword research you did? Hashtags are keywords, both short and long-tail keywords. So include up to 30 relevant and powerful hashtags in your posts to boost your discoverability.
5 | So Meta
No, I’m not talking about the fact that Instagram’s parent company is Meta. I’m talking about two important words here: alt text. Instagram has a feature that allows you to write custom alternative text to provide a richer description of your photos. While this feature was mainly designed to improve accessibility on the platform, it can also be used for SEO purposes. While Instagram currently uses object recognition technology to auto generate alt descriptions, you can manually add alt text when creating a post to add valuable keywords and details. You can even add alt text after posting by editing your post. You’ll find this feature under Advanced Settings when creating or editing a post.
Key Takeaways
Instagram is a platform where users are constantly discovering new brands, products, and services through keyword searches on the Explore page. By adding keywords to your name, bio, and posts you can greatly increase your discoverability. Don’t forget to also make your posts content-rich to hook new leads and build trust and credibility!