Social Media Musts in 2022
You have your website linked, you keep to a consistent posting schedule, and you make sure you're keeping the lights on in the comment section. That's all it takes to be successful on social, right?
Wrong. Well, kinda.
These are great basic best practices, but there is so much more you can do for your brand's socials. Optimizing your social profiles from your bio to your content, and even your content creation strategies can lead to a much more trustworthy experience for potential clients. Implementing these must-haves elevates your online presence, and ensures the folks who come across your page immediately take your business seriously.
Today, we're talking about the six social media musts for 2022 that you may have not considered before.
Show your bio some love
Social media bio sections typically bottom out at 150 characters. As such, you have limited space to communicate your brand's most important identifiers. Use them well!
You can do many things to fine-tune your bio, including ensuring your name is optimized for the search function. This can look like adding a job title within your profile name, taking the guesswork out of clients finding the correct profile. Later also recommends indicating your target audience via keywords and the phrasing of your brand's key offerings.
Your bio is a great place to show off your brand's personality and home base. Being short, organized and concise is key here. Just be wary of falling into the quantity over quality trap. Or the overuse of emojis; we've all been there.
Keep the hashtags in your caption
In 2022, the folks at IG and social media experts recommend including hashtags in the captions of your posts.
While there's no major penalty for including them in the comments, your biggest enemy is time. If you're too slow throwing the hashtags into the comment section of your photo, there is less of a chance of the post performing as well as it could have. This is due to Instagram's timely algorithm and search function, which also favours post copy keywords over commented keywords. We've been long-time advocates for hashtags in captions over the comment section, so use all 30 and you're set up for some great searchability!
Nobody is paying attention to whether your caption looks nice, especially when the content in question is engaging.
Utilize Linktree
So, you have your website linked, but why limit yourself to one link? Maybe you have a storefront or a funny TikTok account that may not have popped off just yet, but you don't want to sacrifice that all-important link space for anything other than your main site. This is where apps like Linktree come in handy.
Even utilizing the free version offers a wide variety of templates and link spaces, throw a playlist or petition in there for your clients too! You have the space and even more of an opportunity to show off what interests your brand to potential clients.
Engaging video hooks
These days, our attention spans are...not great. When creating video content we have less than 5 seconds to capture the audience's attention before it's on to the next for them. Since TikTok exploded on the scene in 2020, video content has been the blueprint for the future of social media communications. So it's time for your brand to get in on the action!
All you need to do to keep folks engaged is make sure your content is up to par and exciting to watch right off the bat. For example, if you're posting a recipe or DIY video, make the finished product your opening shot. This allows people the chance to have a sneak peek without watching the process, but also gets them interested in watching it come together.
Save those Reels audios
Nothing is worse than having an idea for a great reel, but not having any relevant or appropriate audios saved. This can really throw off a posting schedule and discourage the creator.
Keeping a library of usable audios at the ready sets you up for success and ensures you'll never have to deep-dive for the right sound ever again. This is also great to keep in mind when making reel replies on Insta, pushing traffic to both the original video and the follow-up. Utilizing trending audios as background music opens your video up to additional eyeballs on the Reels feed.
Cash in on trends with loopholes
However, at the same time, if you exist on the internet as a branded account, you've no doubt run into the issue of licensed songs being blocked from being used by you. It's frustrating, wanting to cash in on that latest TikTok trend for your niche, and not being able to partake.
However, there is a way. You just need to look for loophole audios. These are the audios often listed as "original sound" on IG and TikTok, and they're your key to participating in timely trends to popular songs. Alternatively, you can also keep an eye out for artists who record covers of popular songs. You get to make your timely trend video, and that artist gets another channel of exposure from use, it's a win/win. Another great loophole is remixes of popular sounds you wouldn't have been able to use. There's always a way, you just have to be flexible and think outside the box.
When you put the time and effort into utilizing every facet of your brand's socials, incredible things can happen for your engagement and your KPIs. Making these small adjustments in addition to the practices you already have in place can take your account from a person with a hobby to an actual small business in the eyes of casual followers and potential clients. This may seem daunting at first, but with the help of social media experts like the folks at Super Duper Studios, optimizing your channels couldn't be easier.
On the hunt for a digital branding partner? Super Duper Studios is a digital branding agency in Toronto. We specialize in game-changing visual identity, websites that make sense, and double-tap-worthy social media content. Nice to meet ya! Email me at rebeca.mackinnon@itssuperduper.com and let’s chat.
