Despite Google’s best efforts to attract a younger audience to use the search engine, 40% of Gen Z prefers using TikTok and Instagram for searches, according to Business Insider. Regardless of the demographics they target, brands with a presence on both platforms should welcome this shift. They must also make their TikTok and Instagram content more searchable.
Marketers looking to increase their discoverability on TikTok and Instagram need only to boost their SEO strategy to make their brand or business more discoverable. The platforms’ algorithms are constantly scouring for clues to try to serve the most relevant content to users.
Tips to make TikTok and Instagram content more searchable
Use these tips to increase the chances of getting your TikTok and Instagram posts in front of your target market.
Use relevant hashtags
Using hashtags with your posts is one of the easiest ways to increase your visibility and reach on social media. They help users find content, conversations and communities through a search.
Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags, which you can come up with on your own or find with the help of one of several hashtag generator tools.
Although TikTok doesn’t limit the number of hashtags you can use, captions are limited to 100 characters. And while you can post hashtags in the comments if you run out of space in the caption, they won’t be as effective.
Choosing hashtags can be a challenge, but you can start by asking these three questions:
- Who is our target audience?
- What are our goals with this post? (Do you want to gain followers, drive traffic to a website, get shares, sell a product, or increase downloads?)
- What hashtags are currently trending?
When in doubt, use a combination of broad and niche hashtags. Need an example? On TikTok, a brand that sells vegan shoes might want to use #sustainablefashion, #veganshoes, #veganfashion, #vegantiktok, #crueltyfreefashion, and #cuteshoes, as well as branded hashtags. Don’t forget to highlight other relevant benefits of your brand or company, such as #womenowned, #blackowned, or #Americanmade.
One important consideration: Have a couple of hashtags that you always use, regardless of the content or platform. Consistency will help the algorithms learn about your brand’s offerings, which will, in turn, help them position your content in front of relevant users.
Add descriptive alt text
Instagram allows you to customize alt text — an image description feature originally designed to help with accessibility for those with visual impairments.
Although these descriptions are generated automatically thanks to technology that aims to recognize the objects in the photo, brands can input their own text when creating posts. It’s yet another chance to use relevant keywords to help get discovered.
It’s worth noting that alt text differs from alt tags, the latter of which might simply say “boots” rather than “Brown vegan zipper women’s boots with wedge heels.”
Because TikTok is a video platform, images included in videos don’t have alt text. They can, however, be described in the video descriptions or captions.
Focus on keyword descriptions
At the end of 2020, Instagram added a new search feature to allow posts to be discoverable by keywords and phrases. Previously, users could only search by hashtag, profile and user names, and location tags.
The addition boosts brands, who can now beef up their captions to show up in relevant search results.
Beyond helping your own brand be found in search results, the keyword search function can also help you identify competitors, what they’re promoting, what hashtags and keywords they’re using, and the type of content they’re sharing.
As with Instagram, adding keywords to video descriptions on TikTok can help make it easier for the algorithm to match your content to users’ interests.
Use trending songs or sounds
The algorithms on TikTok and Instagram’s Reels use their updated formulas to find and promote trending songs and sounds. By simply adding popular audio — even at a low volume — to your brand’s video, your content will be categorized and shown to relevant audiences who have previously engaged with the trending sound or song.
To find out what audio is trending on TikTok, visit the monthly roundup.
To stay abreast of the most popular audio trending on Instagram Reels, follow the Instagram Creators account.
Create short, engaging videos
Experienced marketers know that you need to hook viewers in the first few seconds of a video or they’ll abandon ship. And while the quality of the content is essential to capturing interest, the length of the video can also play a role in discoverability.
On TikTok, the algorithm tends to favor shorter videos with a seamless loop. If a viewer watches the entire video — or better still, rewatches it — it’s more likely to be shared with a broader audience.
Although Instagram’s videos can be up to four hours long, your brand should be focused on creating short, fun clips for Reels. That’s because Reels typically get more engagement than regular Instagram videos and Instagram’s algorithms gravitate toward short and entertaining videos.
With just a little bit of effort, marketing on TikTok and Instagram could become easier as more users are shown your content in their search results. Apply these tips to your social media accounts to make TikTok and Instagram content more searchable and discoverable to existing customers and new prospects.
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