Welcome back to another exciting episode of The Circle Sessions!

In this episode, we have Tonnisha English-Amamoo joining us to discuss a topic that will surely pique your interest.

Tonnisha has been delving into the world of social media apps like TikTok and Instagram and their unexpected role as search engines. We explore the concept of implementing SEO (Search Engine Optimization) into your social media strategy, uncovering tips and tricks to maximize your reach and visibility.

Tonnisha shares her insights on utilizing alternative text, adding topics to your posts, using keywords in captions, and the ever-evolving world of hashtags. We also delve into the importance of engagement and frequency of posting, providing valuable guidance on how to effectively navigate these platforms.

So grab your headphones and get ready to take your social media game to the next level on The Circle Sessions!

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Each week, one of The Circle of Experts talks about critical aspects of growing your podcast. We focus on marketing, social media, monetization, website design, and implementation of all of these to help you make the best podcast possible.

Have a question or an idea for one of our episodes? Send us an email at podcasts@circle270media.com.

The Circle of Experts are:

Yasmine Robles from Robles Designs

Tonnisha English-Amamoo of TJE Communications

Don The Idea Guy

Brett Johnson, My Podcast Guy, from Circle270Media Podcast Consultants

Copyright 2024 Brett Johnson, My Podcast Guy™

Welcome to the circle sessions featuring the circle of experts. The circle of experts are Yasmin Robles from Robles Designs. Tanisha English Amamu of Tje Communications and Don, the Idea Guy. I'm Brett Johnson from Circle 270 media podcast consultants. each week, 1 of the circle of experts joins me to talk about some critical aspects of growing your podcast. We focus on marketing, social media, monetization, and website design with the idea of implementing all of these together. This week, Tanisha is here from the circle of experts She's on a mission to help small businesses level the playing field through digital marketing solutions. Well, thanks for joining me, Tanisha. You wanted to talk about And I hadn't thought about this really. Social media users utilizing apps like TikTok and Instagram as a search engine. And, you know, it does have the little microscope or, I should say, you know, the the search engine opportunity for apps. But, yeah, really, really never think about using it other than, you know, through a hashtag maybe or something like that. So let's talk about how to implement SEO into your social media strategy? What are your thoughts about that? What are you thinking?

Yeah. So many people are doing this, and I have even found myself that when I'm looking for a how to that I tend to go to TikTok and look it up, mostly because I really want a video but I don't wanna, you know, I need something like 30 seconds or less. So I go to TikTok and search for it. And I'm seeing a lot of people do this. I don't think I mean, maybe, but I'm not really confident that this will overshadow Google in any way, shape, or form because I think what Google search has offered us is the the verification that, you know, a publication or something you're looking at is a quality versus like a TikTok or Instagram. You know, you might just be looking for a regular person, like, doing something that you're trying to figure out how to do. But I still think that it is an opportunity for people to Think about this when you are posting content. So I'm probably gonna sound like an echo of Yasmin, but I know she has talked about SEO so many times on the podcast, and everything that she's saying can be done. also on your social media. So one of the things that you should definitely do when you're making a post on, let's say, Instagram is to add that alternative text. You can also do this on LinkedIn and and other platforms as well. I know LinkedIn will actually prompt you to do it when you're posting Instagram. You'll have to click under the advanced settings of your post to add that in there. but you should definitely do this. So if it's, like, you know, you and your kids, you could say, like, you know, mom, business owner with 2 kids wearing a blue dress, you know, all of those things. You can also do that when you're making a post. Another thing that I've noticed on Instagram is that when you're posting reels now, mostly I've seen this on the business pages. I'm sure about personal pages, it'll ask you to add a topic to your reel. So it'll pop up a list of topics, you know, ranging from, you know, lifestyle topics like blog or recipe restaurant or business financials, things like that. And that's how Instagram has kinda been categorizing what the content is about, making it easier for people to find. So that's something you should also utilize as well. Another thing that you should do is to use keywords in your caption. So if you're making a post and it's about, you know, making a fruit smoothie out of bananas and strawberries, you should have fruit smoothie made out of bananas and strawberries in the caption versus, you know, sometimes we can get long winded with the cap and the pictures one thing, but the captions about something else. So there's no correlation there. You really need to think about what are you actually trying to get people to do and put that in the caption. And, also, of course, hashtags. I would say keep hashtags to a minimum. A lot of people are slowly moving away from the hashtag, and it seems like Instagram is also kinda moving away from the hashtag. and they're leaning more towards the alt text, the keywords, the captions, and things of that nature. So I would say

3

to 5 hashtags tops. I still see people do the 30 hashtags, which A lot of people just don't like the aesthetic of that. They don't like to see all those hashtags. So keep it minimum and utilize some of these other features to help your post be seen without 30 hashtags, 5 tops, maybe even, like, 3. but keep definitely keep it to a minimum.

So that means you're gonna have to do some research in regards to the the all tag of what's being used or at least the phrasing of of how to say it or a variable of it plus the the hashtag, especially if you're only using 3 to 5, you really have to fine tune what you you're gonna be a part of that stream of hashtags as well as the hashtag that you own. Mhmm. Yeah. Wow. That's interesting. So yeah. Yeah.

And I would imagine too with the alt text because we seen a lot of people do this on Twitter. The topic is trending. Somebody may tweet something that has nothing to do with the trending topic, but they'll use the hashtag just to be seen. And we also have to think about accessibility. So that's another reason why all tags are important as well. for, you know, accessibility purposes. So you don't if you're making a post and it's about Fruit smoothies, but, like, Nicki Minoche, trending. Don't use Nicki Minaj as the alt text because it first of all, it doesn't make any sense. And I am almost confident that if people are doing that, the Instagram will punish them by, you know, shadow banning their content in a way so that you're not gonna be seen or you're gonna have issues with your reach because you're not utilizing these tools in the way that they were intended to, which they do that. And so keep that in mind when you're using this stuff to make sure you're doing it right.

So is SEO affected by the number of times that you post on that social media platform? I mean, I I well, we we had a previous episode talking about Twitter, and Twitter comes to mind that, you know, the more you toy tweet that seems the better you are. And and, hopefully, threat threads does not turn into that, but it might. Is there a frequency that helps with SEO, or is it just comes down to doing the right stuff by by tagging pictures and and alt texting and and making sure you're doing all the other things the best way you can.

Honestly, I think it's a combination of all the things that you just mentioned. Alright. The apps are more sophisticated than I think what we sometimes get credit for. So, for example, I love doing these, like, swipe posts for myself. but I'm aware that those swipe posts do have a lot of text. So sometimes they hit well, sometimes they don't because there's a ton of text on the content. So, you know, going in and adding the alternative text could help with some of those posts that aren't aren't reaching. So it's a combination of the type of content that you post And also, you have to be engaged as a user. So if you're, like, a schedule and never check it, you're probably not gonna get a lot of engagement because Instagram will know that you're scheduling content, but you're not engaging with other people's content. You're not posting stories or interacting with people's Instagram reels and things of that nature. You have to be doing all of these things in order to have any sort of organic reach through Instagram.

Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah. Okay. So so it's still okay to use the outside sourcing for posting. You just need to be on the platform after that social media app planning takes care of it for you. Just you've gotta jump into the social media platform and see how that post is doing.

Exactly. Even if it's just, like,

10

to 15 minutes a day, you're going in, scrolling, like, and stuff commenting on things, I I even sometimes struggle with that. I mean, you get busy and things are scheduled, so, you know, you feel like you're good to go. But sometimes we have to take, like, 15 minutes of her day to just get on the app and and just be social. That's what that's what it's for to to engage and interact with other people.

That's true. It's a good reminder that that is the first name of it, social media.

Right. Even

though we kinda downplayed it that it doesn't feel very social. times, but it it it -- Right. -- that is the ultimate design of it. It's supposed to be social that we've changed it a little bit, but it yeah. It's kind of almost put a reminder to yourself that, okay. I I'm posting at 8 o'clock every morning or something. I gotta get on by 8 gotta get on by 8:30 to kinda see how it's doing.

Yeah. Exactly. Wow. I'm gonna shout out somebody who I think her Instagram is Seabus Grind, but I'm gonna double check. But she was, yes, grind _sebas. So she was in a a mastermind group that that I've been a part of through Haven Collective. We're both both members. And I remember when she was, you know, growing her Instagram, she was, like, you know, kinda just stressed out about, you know, posting content and trying to get people, you know, fall growing her, and we gave her the advice. She shows she's a fitness trainer. And we told her to, like, okay. Just post, like, once a day and post, like, simple, like, workouts that people can do at home. And now she has last time I checked her thought, only had, like, 30,000 followers, but now she has

78,000.

And simply from being intentional, and posting one Instagram real a day and giving people workout tips that they can do at home. Of course, she's also a personal trainer, so you can work out with her. But that's really what it is on social media is that consistency. And this is, like, she was able to do this, like, post COVID. Post, like, the Instagram algorithm is in shambles. So, like, Yes. All of that has made it harder for us to have organic reach, but it hasn't made it impossible. you just really have to to be consistent. So I would say for podcasters, you know, posting clips of the podcast, even if it's just a picture of you and the cohost or a picture of you and whoever you interviewed, and it's just an audio clip on the, you know, behind that with just little snippets that that keep people engaged or that, you know, give those cliffhangers that make people wanna be like, wait. What? And go and listen to the full episode, people love that kind of stuff, but it's the consistency part that's hard. So getting it scheduled, yes, but then also doing all these other things like the all text, thinking about the caps, the keywords, and being in being consistently engaging on the platform helps as well.

Right? And and I'm sure the listener's kinda going, my gosh. How much time do I need to spend on? I know.

I was just mistaken that as I was talking But but,

you know, I guess it's inherent that all these social media platforms are fighting each other. Yeah. They they have to fight for your attention as well too. to to keep their millions or billions of of users and keep them happy and and make sure that when you open up that app for that certain social media app that you're getting what what you think you're gonna get.

Yeah. And I think too sometimes we are a little subconscious when it comes social media. And we think, like, oh my gosh. Like, I'm posting too much. Like, peep people are not always seeing what you post. That's why we have to always do it and be engaging so that people can remember that, hey. We're here too. So I think just take that out of it and just focus on, you know, creating content that you love. because I think that also makes it easier to post. is when it's content that you love, when you're talking about things that you actually love and want to do. I am not a a fan of chasing trends and algorithms because I think at the end of the day, just like we are seeing right now with threads and Twitter, at the end of the day, People want to be social. People want to be able to engage with the people that they wanna be engaged with. So if you stay true to what social media is all about, I think you will win every single time.

I think you're right. Egg exactly. Be true to yourself and be true to the social media app, and let let all the other stuff, okay, learn here or there. like, listening to circle sessions kinda going, okay. I need to do that. I need to do that. Mhmm. One more thing, but it only enhances the use and gets me in front of the people that wanna see my stuff.

Exactly.

Which is great. Yeah. If -- Yeah. -- if the listener needs to has some ideas or they wanna get a hold of you, from this episode that they thought, oh, I wanna talk to her about this. How would they do that?

Yes. Yes. You can schedule a free consultation by going to my website tjecommunications.com. You can also follow me on Instagram @tjecom. That's tjecom. And I'm also on threats now, so you can find me there at tjecom.

Stupid. And you can get to contact me at www.mypodcastguy.com. I'm also on threads too. That's another badge. I'm gonna have to think about putting

on something. I was thinking about that.

my gosh. So yes. Oh my gosh. at I'm on threads at at Circle 270media. I guess it's how you say that. I'll have to learn how to the vernacular of threads now. So yeah. Exactly. like, so super well thanks to you. --

somebody mentioned that the apps are, and I saw a post where it was, like, there was somebody posing next to a gravestone. And on the gravestone, it was Twitter, and the poll person posing was the at sign because it's, like, Twitter may be dead, but the at sign has lived on, and it it the ad is on Instagram, TikTok. Now it's on thread. So the at the at is thriving.

The at is the at is where it's yeah. The at is where it's at. Exactly. Yeah. I love it. We have

to do a episode about the at sign.

That would be great.

the the importance of keeping that consistent across different.

That's coming up. We will do that. We we just teased out the next episode. How about that?

Yeah. Exactly. Cool.

Well, thanks again for your time, Tonnisha. Appreciate it.

Of course.