SEO for social media: how to optimise for each platform

TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms among younger generations, such as Gen Z and Gen Alpha. In recent years, it has evolved from being purely an entertainment hub to also becoming a powerful marketing and search channel. 

If your brand primarily targets young people and young adults, you must be present and active on TikTok. However, if you're a B2B brand, TikTok is less relevant. 

How to optimise for TikTok:  

• Integrate keywords into the captions, hashtags and audio of your content. Find important keywords by searching for viral videos in your niche. Check the 'Discover' page to find out which hashtags are trending. 

• Grab viewers' attention in the first three seconds of your video to increase retention. Give users a good reason to watch for longer. 

• Use trending audio/sounds. You can identify trending sounds by going to the 'Sounds' page and filtering by 'Trending'. 

• Include relevant keywords in the text overlay of your videos. 

• Combine trending hashtags with specific ones relevant to your niche. 

• Encourage interaction by asking users to leave comments and share your videos.

Instagram has been a popular marketing channel for many years. However, it also offers a lot of potential for SEO experts as it is a search channel for visual content with a strong focus on hashtags and discovery possibilities. 

Like TikTok, Instagram is primarily of interest to B2C brands and communications. 

How to optimise for Instagram: 

• Use relevant keywords in your profile bio and post captions. 

• Add descriptive alt texts to your photos. Instagram automatically generates alt texts for your posts, but these aren't always optimal for SEO. You can add your own alt texts by clicking on 'More options' when creating a new post. Then select 'Write alternative text'. 

• Use hashtags in the captions of your posts. Combine popular hashtags (used in 100,000–500,000 posts) and niche-specific hashtags (used in 10,000–100,000 posts) that are relevant to your brand. 

• Add location tags to your posts to increase your local visibility. This is particularly useful if you have physical stores or locations. 

• Use your most important keywords in the first line of your captions. 

• Use text overlays with keywords in your Reels for better indexing. 

Facebook is the world's most popular social media platform. It is also currently the most widely used social media platform by marketers. 

Like TikTok and Instagram, Facebook is primarily useful for B2C communication, particularly for local businesses and community building. 

How to optimise for Facebook: 

• Make sure your business information is always complete and up to date. 

• Choose the most relevant categories for your business. 

• Use relevant keywords in your business description. 

• Link your Google Business Profile to your Facebook page to improve your local SEO. Make sure your Google Business Profile is as complete and accurate as possible, too. 

• Use a variety of interactive content. Alternate text posts with photos, videos, events, polls, and so on. Use your posts to engage with your target audience, build a sense of community and encourage reviews. 

• Create or participate in groups relevant to your brand to establish your authority. 

LinkedIn is the undisputed king of B2B marketing and communication, as well as professional networking. The platform has a powerful search function that can be used strategically for SEO purposes. Additionally, there's the relatively new format of LinkedIn articles. With these, you can share longer articles that can be indexed by search engines. 

How to optimise for LinkedIn: 

• Use relevant keywords in the description and headline of your company profile. Try to use the most important keywords in the first three lines in a natural way. These lines are immediately visible without expanding. 

• Regularly publish articles and posts with relevant hashtags (three to five per post). 

• Plan your content strategically to ensure your network sees it immediately. LinkedIn's algorithm values engagement in the first hour after publication. According to LinkedIn itself, the best times to publish content are weekdays between 9 am and 5 pm. During 'normal' working hours, that is. 

• Use LinkedIn's tools to gain valuable insights into your content. Examples include the LinkedIn Sales Navigator and the LinkedIn Content Suggestions tool (for page managers). 

Pinterest essentially functions as a search engine and has the most 'traditional' SEO characteristics of all social media platforms. It's a highly visual platform primarily used for finding inspiration. Like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, Pinterest is primarily relevant for B2C brands. 

How to optimise for Pinterest: 

• Use relevant keywords in the titles of your pins/posts. Keep titles to under 100 characters. 

• Write informative descriptions containing primary and secondary keywords. Use between 150 and 300 characters per description. 

• Add descriptive alt texts to your images. 

• Organise your pins into thematic boards, using relevant keywords in the titles and descriptions. 

• Activate 'rich pins' to add extra metadata to your pins. 

• Pin new content regularly (5–10 pins per day). 

• Create multiple pin designs for the same post or product to maximise your reach. Pinterest favours current and recent content.

Although not used by many businesses, Twitter/X remains a relevant platform for B2B marketing and communication. It is excellent for real-time updates, customer service, community building and brand monitoring, i.e. gauging the sentiment of target audiences around brands. 

It is also a powerful real-time search engine dominated by trending topics and hashtags. 

How to optimise for Twitter/X: 

• Use relevant keywords in your business's biography and profile name. 

• Use one or two relevant hashtags per tweet, but no more. 

• Include images, videos or GIFs in your tweets. Tweets with media receive more engagement and visibility. 

• Create thread series around specific topics to provide in-depth content about your brand and industry.  

SEO isn't just for your website and social media. You can also optimise your YouTube channel, the world's favourite video platform. This is relevant for both B2C and B2B marketing, although the approach will differ depending on your target audience. 

For example, demos, ask-me-anything sessions and tutorials are very suitable content types for a B2C audience. For B2B, it is better to focus on thought leadership, visual storytelling and behind-the-scenes content. 

How to optimise for YouTube:  

• Incorporate relevant keywords in your video titles. Videos with short titles (50–60 characters) and clear descriptions often get more clicks. 

• Add an attractive and clear description that includes keywords. You could also use emojis to make the text scannable. Alternatively, create an overview of the topics discussed at each point in the video. 

• Always use subtitles and add them as an SRT file. This allows the algorithm to read the file and understand the content of your video. 

• Generate a transcript of your video automatically. 

• Add tags when uploading; these provide the algorithm with more information about the content and context of your video. 

• Use keywords in the video name. 

• Add 5–8 relevant hashtags to the description to increase your reach. 

• Select a category for your video to help the algorithm understand its subject matter  

• Create an attractive thumbnail as this determines whether someone will click through or not. 

• Encourage viewers to interact with your videos by liking, commenting, subscribing or sharing them. Engagement is also a factor that determines whether your video appears high in the search results. 

Reddit is a valuable platform for businesses looking to connect with niche target audiences and gather feedback. Its highly engaged communities and focus on product discovery make it a powerful tool for generating brand awareness, collecting customer insights and stimulating sales. 

How to optimise for Reddit: 

• Identify relevant subreddits in your niche/sector. 

• Use relevant keywords in the titles of your posts. 

• Focus on informative content that offers real value to the community. Reddit users are very critical of promotional content. 

• Build credibility by regularly sharing valuable posts. 

• Use relevant post flairs to categorise your content. 

• Hold 'Ask Me Anything' sessions to establish authority. 

Social media SEO shouldn't be a standalone strategy, but rather an integral part of your 360° approach. As the boundaries between traditional search engines, social media and AI search tools become increasingly less distinct, an integrated approach focusing on all three forms of search is needed. 

If you successfully implement 'regular' SEO, social media SEO and GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation), your channels will complement each other, creating a synergy. Using the insights from your channels, you can further optimise your content, build authority, generate backlinks and strengthen your overall SEO. 

Of course, you should focus on the social media platforms that are relevant to your organisation and target audience. You don't have to do it all.