A Guide to Finding Platform Specific Keywords

Nowadays, consumers use social media to find products and services they need. For instance, when searching for a lawyer, they often type a keyword like “lawyer in Salt Lake City.” That means to increase your social media visibility, you should use the right keywords in your profile. 

Choosing the right keywords and using them on your social media pages can increase your chances of moving up the social media algorithm. In this article, we will guide you in finding the right keywords for different platforms. We will also guide you on placing such keywords on your social media pages.

Importance of Social Media Keyword Research

Whether you are doing Instagram marketing or TikTok advertising, you should start with social media keyword research. This will enable you to discover the needs and wants of your  communities by:

• Determining the popular and trending topics.
• Determining the search volume of a particular keyword.
• Identifying if there is demand for a particular keyword.
• Understanding the keyword search intent.
• Identifying any relevant engagement points.

By researching the top social media keywords, you can understand how to communicate your message more clearly and the steps to optimize your content to get the most out of your social media marketing.

Differences Between SEO and Social Media Keyword Research

Social media keyword research is similar to SEO keyword research. Before searching for new keywords, you want to find those already working for you. However, there are also major differences between search engines and social media keyword research. These are:

• Query variance. You might find that a particular query is very popular on Google, but that doesn't mean it will also be popular on YouTube or other social media platforms.
• Behavioral differences. People behave differently on Google and social media sites. Additionally, users on one social media site, such as TikTok, will not behave like others on another platform, such as Instagram.
• Conversation vs. query. When people search for a query on a search engine, they mainly find a query or need. However, they primarily want to engage in a conversation, share ideas, and interact on social media. Therefore, you must understand more than just the typed keyword on social media.

Since user behavior is usually different between social and search, keyword-specific keyword research is needed. This can help you refine your research across various platforms. Here are ways to research keywords on some of the most popular platforms.

Keyword Research For Facebook

Facebook is the biggest social media platform, so boosting your presence is essential. Due to its incredible reach and highly engaged audience, Facebook is an excellent platform for PPC advertising, content creators, and brands looking to boost their visibility. Facebook is also great for brands because of its granular and high-tech targeting options.

The platform allows advertisers and marketers to target audiences based on different criteria, such as behavioral patterns, online interests, etc. However, since it doesn't offer traditional keyword targeting or a built-in keyword research tool, doing Facebook keyword research conventionally is impossible.

When performing Facebook keyword research, you should begin by profiling your audience’s profile data. The platform also offers targeting options based on different life events and data such as interests and demographic data. That means your first step in Facebook keyword research should be to determine the demographic of audience-based data. 

For instance, if you sell health supplements, you can target people with conditions such as Diabetes, arthritis, or HBP. This demographic is likely to be interested in health-related topics and products. Since there is a strong interrelation between interest targeting and money keywords, the granular audience targeting options on Facebook is a great starting point for your keyword research.

Here are the steps to follow when doing Facebook keyword research.

Determine Your Audience and Goals

Remember that keyword research isn't only for optimizing your content but also for improving your Facebook posts and profiles. When you use popular and relevant keywords, you can gain users' attention, traffic, and engagement for your target audience. Therefore, start by determining what you want to achieve and the audience you want to reach. This will determine the content tone, type, topic, and keyword.

For instance, if you are a digital marketing consultant, you might aim to position yourself as an expert and generate leads. You can target small business owners who need help with their online marketing.

Find the Relevant Keywords

The next step should be to find popular and relevant keywords for your Facebook profile and post. One tool you can use to do that is the Facebook search bar. This can show if people are searching for topics in your niche and the phrases and terms they are using. You can also use other keyword research tools, such as the Google Keyword Planner, to identify keywords that attract high interest from your audience.

Use the Keywords to Optimize Your Posts

After identifying keywords and mapping them, you can use them to optimize your Facebook profile. For ease of identification, use the primary phrase and keyword in the name, bio, username, and the about us section. When creating posts, include keywords in the headline, caption, tags, and hashtags. Doing that will create relevant and engaging content for your audience and help increase the reach and exposure of your posts.

Analyze and Monitor Results

Keyword research cannot be complete without monitoring your results to determine the effectiveness of your campaign. You can use tools and metrics such as built-in social media analytics, Google Analytics, and third-party keyword research tools. Then, you should compare and benchmark the results against your strengths and goals. You can use the data to determine your strengths and weaknesses and track the traffic and conversion you're getting.

Instagram Keyword Research

While Facebook and Instagram belong to the same company, Meta, and share several similarities in their algorithms, they also have some major differences. This is because their content is also different, with Instagram focusing more on visual content. This can often lead to creators thinking that Instagram SEO has no value.

This is not the case because Instagram relies heavily on hashtags. In addition to the quality of content, the second most important factor in Instagram ranking is the use of relevant hashtags. Users can easily find relevant content to share with their followers using relevant hashtags. Additionally, they can discover related keywords to find the appropriate hashtags.

The good thing with Instagram is that it allows you to use as many hashtags as possible in your posts, enabling you to target as many keywords as possible. However, Instagram also doesn't have dedicated keyword research tools. Therefore, you can use third-party tools such as AHREF or Semrush. You can combine this with the Instagram search function to keep your campaign well organized.

X Keyword Research

X is very popular with content creators and brands, enabling them to engage with their audiences in real time. It also offers an unmatched reach for live events and breaking news. However, with its feeds regularly updated, hacking X’s keyword research and SEO can be challenging.

One of the changes that has occurred to X in the recent past is the change in its internal search algorithm to help users quickly find the content they are searching for. In the past, hashtags used to be big on X, driving conversations. While they are still used today, the X search function has been revamped to provide more accurate results. This means users can now use keywords to find relevant content on X and trending topics.

In addition to using the search functionality, X analytics can provide great insights into the keywords people use to find content on the platform. As we noted with Facebook, audience data is X’s strength. Users can find this data using the built-in X analytics tool since no X keyword research tool exists.

Therefore, the only option left is to use the search bar. When doing X keyword research, you can use quotation marks to find keywords, phrases, and hashtags. This is the same method you will use to search for a particular user’s feed for an exact match phrase. For instance, when you use a search term like “lawyer in Salt Lake City,” X will provide you with the results for all tweets using the keyword.

YouTube Keyword Research

YouTube is the biggest idea-sharing platform, with over 300 hours of videos uploaded every minute and five billion unique views every day. With so many videos uploaded on YouTube, keyword research and optimization are essential to a YouTube marketing strategy.

YouTube is also a search engine where users use keywords to find relevant content using keywords. Therefore, if you want to increase the visibility of your content and get more subscribers on YouTube, you need to determine the keywords people in your niche are using. That’s where keyword research comes into play. This is particularly important if you are trying to gain visibility in a competitive niche.

The good thing about YouTube keyword research is that there are tools made specifically for the platform, such as Tubebuddy and VidIQ. Additionally, the YouTube search bar can be a valuable resource for discovering more keywords for your content. To use it, simply start typing a keyword related to your niche and see the many suggestions YouTube will recommend. 

You can also do a wildcard search where you enter a search phrase followed by an underscore(_). You will be provided with a list of suggestions using the YouTube autocomplete feature. This is similar to the Google Autocomplete feature, which is understandable as the latter is the parent company.

Content creators running YouTube ads are provided with more tools to enable keyword research. These include the Google Adword Keyword Planner, a part of Google Ads that helps them find relevant keywords.

Pinterest Keyword Research

Pinterest is a unique social media platform focusing more on Pinboards while relying on user-generated and curated content. Despite this, keyword research is still part of the content optimization process on Pinterest. However, with lots of user-curated content on Pinterest, it can be challenging to find Pinterest keywords.  

One way to find Pinterest keywords is the Pinterest Autocomplete feature. This works similarly to the YouTube Autocomplete feature we discussed earlier. You will also see the search trends on Pinterest before you start your search. Another great way to find potential Pinterest keywords is the Explore feature. This will provide you with different topic suggestions you can later refine in your keyword ideas.

When you enter a keyword, you will receive several relevant keywords to add to a particular set or ad group. You can refine your results by selecting a suggested keyword and repeating the same process. Finally, you can use the Pinterest advertising feature to perform keyword research. However, you will need a Business account. Then, you can go to Promote Pin under the user menu to create a new campaign and set your daily budget.

You can now enter the keywords you plan to target to see related keywords. While not all keyword suggestions will work, you can get some useful ones. Even when others don't look promising, you can consider using them as negative keywords.

Final Thoughts

Finding platform-specific keywords for social media marketing can help you create a more effective campaign than your competitors. You will better understand your audience and the type of content they need from your brand. When doing keyword research, remember that user behavior varies from one social media platform to the other, and therefore, you should focus on finding platform-specific keywords.

You can find such keywords for different social media sites using our guide. You can then focus on connecting with your audience by creating relevant content that they find valuable. Whether you're creating a TikTok marketing strategy or Instagram brand marketing, using this guide to find keywords can mean the difference between the success and failure of your social media marketing campaign.