Social Searches Are Growing in Consumer Influence
In modern marketing, it’s easier than ever for your ideal customers to “stumble” upon your brand. In fact, now more than ever users on the most popular social media platforms are actively seeking new products, services and content via social searches. Your youngest and most impressionable audiences are using Google and Bing less and turning to Tik Tok and Instagram search bars to find new brands. If you’re not investing time into the burgeoning frontier of organic social SEO to promote your business for free you are missing out on interest from demographics with increasing spending power.
According to Forbes, 67% of Gen Z use Instagram to search out content. 62% of the participants in one study said they use Tik Tok to search, and within the same sample group, 61% said they use Google. Obviously we all use multiple channels to search out information we care about, but this trend indicates that younger audiences prefer to seek out relevant content on social media rather than Google. Older audiences still rate Google as their most searched platform. However, Instagram and Facebook maintain at least 50% search usage within groups up to 44 years old. These SEO social signals indicate that as time goes on and Meta capitalizes on this trend, there will be even more value in organic social media marketing.
The Potential of Social Search Engines
In one survey, 91% of respondents reported that their offline purchases began online with varying degrees of frequency. Knowing this, shouldn’t you prepare your owned accounts to convey the most important details about your business? Info like operating hours, prices, address & refund policies are great for starters. Your customers are also actively seeking out recommendations, referrals, and testimonials to verify that your business is legitimate. When you find a way to highlight reviews you’ll notice more of your one-time customers becoming loyal advocates. Organic social SEO can deliver more eyes to your content so you get more opportunities to stand out among new users hearing about your brand for the first time.
Stoke excitement online in your comment sections and anywhere you can interact with customers by engaging thoughtfully with replies. Provide meaningful feedback to comments and queries to prove to new customers that there’s real people behind your brand image. As social search traffic grows and Google searches wane, you can capture more impressions that lead to conversions on places like Tik Tok, Apple Maps, Yelp and Bing.
Organic Social SEO Influences Consumer Behavior
While your organic social media marketing posts may have the goal of filling the ‘awareness’ or ‘conversion’ portion of your marketing funnel, your profile page itself should be most relevant to people in the ‘consideration’ portion. Most people want to feel confident in their purchase decisions so as they are considering your business, as well your competitors, inform them with some of the details listed above within your bio or maybe even in some pinned posts. Make it easy to access positive reviews, prices, carousels/galleries of popular products, and allow them to ask questions via DMs.
There’s an extensive list of factors that consumers consider before even visiting or contacting a local business. Some of them are psychological, but many are within your control. Some of the most important ones include: quality, cost, accuracy of data, speed of service and proximity. Others worth noting are: brand reputation, personal recommendations, customer feedback, high search ranking, visual content, unique offerings, locally owned status, online orders/booking, and loyalty programs/discounts. Be mindful of these factors while you’re creating your organic social media strategy, and you can successfully promote your business online for free.
Amplify Your Organic Social Media Strategy
Regardless of where your customers begin their journey, they are looking for some or all of the factors above. Place yourself at the top of their minds by consistently delivering relevant content that makes it to the top of their SERP.
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