Instagram just hit a milestone, taking over as the top social media network with 3 billion users per year. Needless to say, half the world is now on Instagram. So, if you have a brand that wants to gain visibility, how is your audience discovering your brand’s Instagram content nowadays?
Earlier this year, Instagram launched a feature allowing for Instagram posts to show up in Google search results. This is kind of a big deal. Getting found and noticed while people are in the middle of Google searches could increase your traffic tenfold.
But, ensuring your brand gets found in Google searches can be a tricky task. Our team created this list to help you optimize your Instagram posts so that you start to get found on Google more often over time.
Tip #1: Know Your Audience
It all goes back to your audience. Ask yourself, “Did I take time to do the research to understand who my demographic is on Instagram?” Your audience research should include:
- Basic Demographics: Where are they from? What’s their age? What’s their gender?
- Basic Psychographics: What are their behaviors? What are their interests? What gets them to respond? What kind of accounts do they follow on Instagram?
- Deep Dive Psychographics: What makes them tick? What gives them pleasure? What gives them pain? What makes them want to share something? What makes them want to repost something? What makes them want to comment on something?
Spend the time getting to know your audience, because the more you understand about them, the more reach your account will have. If you haven’t already started building buyer personas, check out one of the best tools that comes with a free sheet that you can download.
Tip #2: Use a Conversational Voice
It is important to speak in the right tone and voice that’s appropriate, but also remember this is social media. Of all social media platforms, Instagram is one where it’s helpful to speak in a conversational tone as if you are speaking to one person. This includes the use of voiceovers and adding visual text.
When you write your captions or overlay visual text, think about how your audience would type their query into Google or Instagram’s search bar.
Just remember that you’re here to start a conversation with your audience. You’re here to communicate with them, and you want, in a sense, to humanize your brand and show that there are real people behind your product or service. Your captions should be inviting but not trivial.
Tip #3: Test Long Captions vs. Short Captions
Each time you post a caption, it can be up to 2,200 characters for a single post. We recommend, if you haven’t done a long post yet, test it out and see what kind of responses you get from it. Sometimes it can really benefit you to tell a story behind a photo.
Remember, Instagram is a very visual platform. If you can associate that photo to a story that connects with people, particularly to your audience emotionally (give them background, help them feel something, help them understand something, get them wanting to know more), sometimes a long caption can help you achieve that. For long captions, you have more room to utilize multiple optimized phrases tied to your audience persona, just be sure that they flow naturally in the story you’re telling.
On the contrary, sometimes short captions—just something short and sweet—are nice and refreshing, too. For these, focus on one keyword or phrase at a time. Really think about testing both variations and paying close attention to your Instagram analytics, which are available in the app if you have a business account. That will help you get a read on how much reach and engagement your posts are getting, whether it’s a short caption versus a long caption. Like we always say: Always Be Testing!
Tip #4: About Hashtags…
Instagram was once one of the most hashtag-friendly networks, but that has changed. You can still include up to 30 hashtags in a post or comment, but Instagram has discontinued the ability to follow hashtags. Over the past couple of years, they’ve been heavily phasing out hashtag strategies and do not recommend them for searchability.
If you’re going to keep using hashtags in your Instagram posts, make sure you’re taking the time to research hashtags, as well. One great resource for finding hashtags in your niche is RiteTag.com. Build a list of hashtags relevant to your brand. While you might actually use only 5-10 per post, build a list of 30-50 hashtags that you can rotate as you’re writing your captions.
If you’re a post-hashtags social media manager, you’re probably already focusing on the SEO of your caption copy and using tools like SEMrush and Google Ads Keyword Planner to build a similar list. Now that Instagram posts appear in Google Search results, you may want to create two lists: one optimized for Google search and one for Instagram search, with varying specificity and audience persona targeting.
Tip #5: Convey Your Most Important Message In The First Line
When you publish a post on Instagram, most people are only going to see one to two lines before the “see more” cut off, and they have to open up and engage with your post to read the rest of your caption. Even if it’s a short caption of just two sentences, they still must click “see more.” So, make sure that the first sentence really grabs people’s attention.
For example, if you’re running a giveaway, then you need to say “$20 gift card giveaway” or “dream vacation giveaway” right away. Don’t wait until later in the post to say that. You have to draw people in and capture their attention as they scroll through the feed. The best way to do that is to convey that important message before they have to click the “see more” button. If your first sentence is enticing enough, they will click to read the rest of your post.
Tip #6: Communicate Your Call-To-Action
If your goal is to generate website traffic, make sure somewhere in that post you’re giving people guidance on where to go to get more information. While it’s possible to configure a swiping link for certain types of posts (usually for Shopping posts), most commonly, people will write, “click the link in bio.” Remember, links will not be active as hyperlinks in your caption.
Pro Tip: While hyperlinks may not work in post captions, they do in Instagram Messenger! Ask your audience to Direct Message you if they have more questions. That gives you the opportunity to drop your links in an active, clickable way. This helps you achieve both engagement and traffic on your website.
If your caption is long, consider stating your CTA more than once. If it’s a short post, at least say it at the end of your caption to give people somewhere to go next. You could also drive engagement on the post by asking people to do simple things, such as:
- Tap the Like to agree
- Comment to disagree
- Like to agree or Comment to disagree
- Answer a question in the comments
- Drop a certain emoji if they can relate to the post
- Share or Repost to spread the word
- Share to their Story to respond with their own content
If you’re asking yourself how a CTA can help your SEO, remember that you’re not just trying to write a searchable caption; you’re trying to write an actionable caption. Whether your goal is to build your brand community, capture booking leads, or make a direct sale, it’s not enough for people to only find your post – they also need to find a way into your marketing funnel.
Homework Assignment 1: Test Our Caption Writing Tips
If you’ve already been posting on Instagram for a while, go back and revisit two to three of your most recent posts and think about, “How can I use these six tips to rewrite those posts?” Give yourself a little bit of practice. And once you’ve practiced and thought, “Hey, if I rewrote the post this way, it might be more effective,” start testing it out. Get to work on your future posts, whether you’re scheduling them or planning ahead, and use the six steps we just outlined to perfect your caption copy.
Homework Assignment 2: Can You Find Your Own Posts?
Open up a Google Search tab or Instagram Search and start testing your posts’ searchability! Plug in the keywords and phrases you researched and implemented, then check if your posts appear in the recommended results. If they are, how far down do you have to scroll to see them? If not, what posts are coming up and what are they doing differently than yours to reach those top results spots? How does revising or refining your search query affect the results and your posts’ visibility in them? Use these findings to optimize your caption copy strategy so that your brand rises to the top in your target search engine queries.
For more Instagram, SEO, and content marketing tips designed for your business, book a discovery call today. We offer social media content creation services, paid ad campaigns, digital marketing audits, and custom training to empower your social media marketing team’s strategies.
