Instagram, like Meta’s Facebook and TikTok, is a crucial tool in the arsenal of any marketer. And that tool just changed dramatically. Altering the way that social media marketingworks for Instagram and the wider internet.
With major shifts occurring in the way Google handles Instagram content, it’s essential for anyone working on social media marketing for a business to stay current.
Today, we’ll be going over the new changes that have come into effect for Instagram within this blog and discuss how the social media platform can now affect business.
Social Media Marketing
First, let’s talk about what social media marketing is. It’s a general term that encompasses a wide variety of content and strategies. Still, in essence, it refers to using social media to draw attention to or build a brand’s online presence.
Social media marketing works by tapping into the highly active online space. Allowing a business or marketer from a digital agency to analyse audience data, refine advertisement targeting and build viral campaigns that spread brand awareness faster than any other form in modern marketing.
Often, in part, by the users themselves relaying that advertising to their friends or family. For free.
What Has Instagram Changed?
As a digital agency that also offers social media marketing services, we stay current with online trends. That’s why we were excited to learn that Instagram had announced that its content would soon be searchable through Google.
We also previously covered the other details from the latest Google core update, if you want to learn more about the wider changes.
Now, the content you put on Instagram can be directly found through a Google search.
The changes have enabled any professional Instagram profile to have its content appear in the results of image and text searches. Significantly expanding the reach of content posted there. A fundamental change to how digital marketing works, for every business with a social presence.
How This Affects Your Digital Marketing
While content could previously be indexed in a limited capacity, such as Instagram content already appearing for 669,359 keywords in Italy alone, the range of searches for which it can appear has now greatly increased.
Increased Reach
First and foremost, any social media marketing agency worth its salt must address the potential increase in reach.
As content can be discovered through Google, based on both the search terms in the caption and the thrust of its meaning, the chance for your social media marketing to reach a wider audience is greatly increased.
Plus, it becomes more likely that your content can appear in searches based on similar meaning. So, a user could make an information request and be directed to your reels or carousel posts.
Search Ranking
Your social media marketing efforts are no longer just a piece of your advertising efforts. It has become a formative pillar of your strategy. As search intent becomes increasingly important, the body and meaning of your text or imagery become more valuable as well.
Due to recent changes, the relevance of something like your Instagram reels can affect your search ranking, not just the search terms that appear within it, but also the content itself.
This follows the advent of AI systems that have increasingly become users’ primary search engines. As these large language models can better interpret visual content than traditional crawlers, the chances that your profile appears at the top of Google, based on the visual content featured, have greatly improved.
Making both the optimisation of your captions and the visual content featured within the body that much more important. And more meaningful.
SEO is More Critical Than Ever
Despite the importance of the content included in your visual media, there’s also SEO to consider. This doesn’t mean partaking in keyword stuffing, as the creative culture of Instagram remains strong.
Rather, you should aim to include keywords naturally, tailor your content around them, use alt text effectively, and incorporate your keywords into any text or speech within your content.
That way, your content is more likely to be found relevant to search queries. Enhancing the effectiveness of your social media content.
Social Media Marketing and Digital Marketing
With the recent search engine changes and the greater emphasis on AI-based search, it’s clear that any social media marketing efforts must now be effectively paired with your other efforts.
This is not only to maximise your effective reach but also to bolster each form of marketing you’re undertaking, as there is effective overlap here.
When considering content outside of social media, such as ads or other online content, it is also necessary to consider social media engagement.
With the first line of Instagram captions having the same effect as a web page title, it’s clear how Google will continue to handle these divergent advertising avenues. Bringing them closer together into a more uniform way.
Need Help Navigating Your Social Media Marketing Strategy?
Having trouble keeping up? Why not let a professional social media marketing agency handle your campaign?
With our Warrington-based digital agency, we offer digital marketing services to help you keep ahead in the social media marketing game.
Not to mention, we also cover SEO, graphic design and web development. Every aspect you need to take advantage of the new trends in the online digital space.
If you’d like to get in touch, you can reach us through our contact form, by telephone on 01925563960 or via email at info@mosaicdigitalmedia.co.uk.
Let us help you tell your brand’s story and make it known!
