The Socialize Podcast

Helen: 00:00

Welcome to The Socialized Strategy. It's Friday, and I'm in Jamaica. I'm at the Women's Entrepreneur Retreat, and I had a very long day. And I literally was settling down from the day, And I thought, oh, no. I forgot to record the podcast.

Helen: 00:15

So I set up my portable setup, which I've posted on my Instagram story, and I'm gonna do it. And here we are. And the topic today is really important. So I'm glad that I'm here, and I'm I didn't forget. It's about SEO and how do you make your social media videos more search friendly, more get that search optimization going so that potentially your videos show up when someone's searching for a topic.

Helen: 00:40

And I know for a fact it works. And I'm gonna tell you why I know that for a fact. Because I posted a video a year ago where I talked about how to do twirl a baton. It was more than a year, I think. How to twirl a baton.

Helen: 00:54

And I put the keywords, and I put the hashtags, and I did all the things. And some young lady found my video when she was searching for baton lessons on TikTok. If that isn't proof enough, I don't know what else to tell you. But she wrote me a message and said, was searching for baton videos, and I found yours. And I just wanted to know if you could make me another baton tutorial.

Helen: 01:17

So it works. SEO works, and I'm gonna give you all the tips on how to maximize and get the most out of it for yourself. So here we go. Hopefully, my audio is good. Alright.

Helen: 01:29

All of these points that I'm gonna talk about will are are across the board, meaning they will work for you on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, probably Facebook too. I I think across the board. If you use these things, they are not one platform specific. Alright? But I am after I go through the main points, I'm gonna talk about a few things that are platform specific.

Helen: 01:53

Okay? So number one, how to find your keywords. That is important because how are you gonna know what keywords to use if you don't think about how what ones you should be using if you don't search for it? And here's what you wanna do. In order to identify it, you have to think, what is my video about?

Helen: 02:11

And then you're gonna say, okay. If someone was looking for my content, what what might they be searching for? If you are a fitness expert, if you are, talking about aging or skin care, whatever it is, think about what you want to show up for when people are searching for it. You wanna start there. And then there's little tricks to do it where if you type that actual thing into the search bar, whether it's on TikTok or on Instagram or on YouTube or on Google, whatever.

Helen: 02:41

Other it'll start to fill in. You know how you start start to search for something and things other things fill in? And you can see what other phrases people are searching for. And so then you can know what phrases to use in your captions, in your videos to get that going. So first, identifying what those keywords are.

Helen: 03:00

And another hot tip on TikTok, actually, if you search in the top and then you type in, let's say, let's say for my video editing tips. And then I, when it comes up, I tap it, and I see other videos that will share video editing tips. But if you scroll down a little bit, it says other topics searched for, and it will show you other types of keywords that were searched for in that same realm. You know what I mean? So you're going a little deeper, not just seeing what pops up when you first type it in, but pick it and then see what videos scroll under the videos that show up and see what other searches were for the same topic for a similar topic.

Helen: 03:41

So that's like an extra step. I might make a tutorial on that soon. But it's really about identifying those keywords. And then once you've have them identified, how to use them. Okay?

Helen: 03:51

So now we're going to go all the ways through how to use them and and make the most out of it. So first one is saying the keywords. So if you have a speaking video, make sure you take note of those keywords and you use them when you're talking. Don't skip it. Like, if you wanna start with a different hook in the beginning, make sure that somewhere in your video, you're still talking about the topic.

Helen: 04:12

So if you wanna be clever about your opening, sure shortly after your opening, you're saying those keywords so that you're not losing that opportunity to have your video noted. So for example, for me, if I was making a video about how to do a green screen video, I'm if I wanna I may not wanna start. Here's how to do a green screen video. Obviously, that would be a great way to start because right away, it tells people what this video is about, and it tells the search what this video is about. But let's say I wanted to be clever, and I wanted to show something doing green screen and then say it after.

Helen: 04:46

So, for example, I could say, you see the background behind me? And then I change it, and then it's something else. I did this with green screen, and I'm gonna show you how to do the green screen. Do you understand? So I didn't say right away, here's how to do a green screen.

Helen: 04:59

I said, do you see the background behind me? Do you see how I made that change? Like, maybe I wanna say something different to get people's attention. So your keyword doesn't have to be spoken right in the beginning, but it should be spoken pretty early on in your content so that the platform recognizes it. And the algorithms do pick up on your voice because, in fact, TikTok does generate auto captions automatically.

Helen: 05:20

On Instagram, I think you have to tell it to generate the auto captions, but I'm gonna talk about Instagram at the end because it's important. I have a lot of things I've noted on Instagram recently, especially. Alright. The other thing is to use keywords in your on screen text. So you wanna make sure that you're putting something up on the screen.

Helen: 05:37

And a lot of people like to slide it off and hide it, which often will reformat your content, so I don't recommend necessarily doing that. It doesn't matter. Just make it a little bit small. Just put it there on the main page. Sometimes when people are scrolling and their sound is off, they'll see what you're what you've got written out on there, and they might stop and watch your video if they wouldn't have maybe done that before.

Helen: 05:57

So making sure that your keywords are in your on screen text and make sure that your lower caption also contains them. And I will tell you from a from personal experience, the things that have happened to me where I'm trying to be clever and I type watch this magic trick when I make, like, an outfit transition. And guess what? It categorizes my video as a magic trick, which is not what I want. I want it to categorize as an outfit transition tutorial.

Helen: 06:25

So clever captions can sometimes work against you. You wanna make sure that the first part of your caption really hits on what the video is about so that your cleverness doesn't end up putting you into the wrong search, the wrong bucket of content. Okay? That's like from experience. I know that that happened.

Helen: 06:47

It really just messes with your head because you're trying to be clever, and you're trying to be a good copywriter to get people's attention, and then you're really sandbagging your video. So okay. So be careful about that. The other way is to use keywords in your profile. And this is important, and I learned this early, early on in TikTok that the platform recognizes your name at the top and your username.

Helen: 07:09

So as soon as I found that out or I don't know how I discovered that early on. But when I realized that it was important, I started I changed my my user my name immediately. And I wrote, I think I wrote Helen Helen Pelosi TikTok teacher at one point. Like, had it up there. And then I realized, oh, the mothership was a good searchable word because people were remembering my username.

Helen: 07:32

So then I changed it and took off my name and put mothership the mothership TikTok teacher because I wanted to make sure I was coming up. I think the mothership is a searchable. A lot of people looking for me with mothership. Unfortunately, they're spelling it with an o, and I'm not showing up. But listen.

Helen: 07:47

That's my branding problem, not yours. But it is it is definitely important to have something about what your content is in your name somehow. And it's helpful because I even spoke with a woman who it was a private one on one session, and she had something in there like latchkey something, and her her content is about finance. And she and I saw her when I saw latchkey, I'm oh, she's probably a Gen Xer because that's what latchkey means that you were one of those kids that came home and you were by yourself till your mom came home from work, for example. So I would immediately think, oh, she's Gen X content.

Helen: 08:22

I didn't think she was in finance because there was nothing to tell me that in her username. And I suggested to her to to add something about finance in there, and she did. So I think, hopefully, she's getting more success on her content from that. Okay. That was a little sidebar, but gives gives you a good example.

Helen: 08:37

And then in the newsletter, we gave you some examples. Midlife mentor with your name, video tips by is a good thing. Anything that has something to do with what your content is about in your use in your username and your display name is helpful. And using keywords in your bio. So there's that bio section where you can type about, and a lot of people like to be clever there, and that's good to be clever.

Helen: 08:59

But it's also again, be careful that you're not having things work against you. Alright? Put something in there that really talks about what you do. Okay. This one's this next thing is a little bit, off the beaten path, but I don't know if that's the right phrase, but to pin your high performing videos to your profile.

Helen: 09:17

Because if you treat that like an SEO optimized homepage, so that if someone discovers you and gets to your page, they can actually see more about your content by your most logically pinned videos that are mostly about the thing that you wanna be searched for. So if you're a an appliance expert, you don't wanna have pin even though you had might have had viral video where you were, like, dancing with somebody, let's say, for example, that probably isn't the ideal video to pin at the top because it's not gonna tell the algorithm that that it's it's not it's telling the algorithm that that something else is more important to you on your page versus what you are hoping to be searched for. Whoo. That was a long way of getting to that one, but hopefully I got there. Okay.

Helen: 10:05

Now let's talk about, other kind of a little bit further out things like geotag. Geotag means you're putting the location on your video, you know, where you can pick at the bottom location. That's helpful because a lot of times people might be searching for something in New York City or in California or in Chicago or in Iowa, wherever. And if you have the geotag on there, you're more likely to show up in the search. So that makes sense.

Helen: 10:32

Right? If that's what you're trying to do. A lot of people are trying to find people in a local area because maybe they have a local business. And so it doesn't help them to have people in The UK, for example, that if their business is in the middle of Ohio. So that that's the geotag is helpful.

Helen: 10:46

It'll bring you up in a search where you where your people are. Now engagement is a form of SEO. Was I saying CEO the whole time? Whatever. I think I was saying SEO.

Helen: 11:03

I don't even know. My brain is so fried right now. I don't even wanna listen back because I don't wanna find out that I did that wrong the whole time. I'll just it'll just wreck me. Anyway, engagement is SEO.

Helen: 11:14

And so that means when you're commenting, when you're sharing, and when you're watching other videos, and you're engaging, and you're encouraging responses, it's helping the algorithm to tell it's telling the algorithm that you are involved, that you are not just, a poster, you're also a participant. And so it rewards you for those things. And once you're rewarded for those things, you'll your videos might be more likely to be seen. So it's a more distant relative of getting SEO. I'm just laughing.

Helen: 11:42

I hope I was saying SEO. Alright. Now let's talk about hashtags. Do you need them? Well, it depends.

Helen: 11:52

If you're on Instagram, you really don't need them anymore. And I have stopped using hashtags 100%. One hundred %. I stopped doing it. And I also noticed, I used to still see it when I searched.

Helen: 12:04

So if you type something into the search and it says accounts, posts, music, it used to say hashtags. And now it just says tags. Or maybe it always did that, but I I think it always I think it now just says, instead of hashtag, it says tags. And that to me is not necessarily a quote hashtag with the with the sorry, not a quote, but the number sign. I'm doing the number sign if you're not watching.

Helen: 12:30

That's not necessarily a hashtag. If it's tagged, it just means it's keywords again. So you don't have to kill yourself about the hashtags anymore on Instagram. And I pretty much think it's the same on TikTok. However, because I wanna make sure I'm showing up on TikTok, I've noticed and I look at other videos and I when I see them categorized at the top, I always look down at the caption to see what's in the caption.

Helen: 12:56

Do this per does this person have those hashtags in there? And a lot of times, they do have the hashtag for exactly what's in the little search bar at the top. So I that tells me it's like a safety net. I don't know that it's absolutely needed because I do think TikTok is picking up a lot already. It's picking up from your voice, your text, your on screen.

Helen: 13:20

It's picking up all the things. So I think hashtags are maybe less important. But in reality, I wanna guarantee it. So I'm using the hashtags in TikTok. But I know that Adam Mosseri, who is the CEO there's CEO, not SEO.

Helen: 13:36

He's the CEO of Instagram. He blatantly said hashtags are are dead, so you don't need them. So I'm like, well, if he said it, I I will leave it. So that's the end of that. But here's the thing that I wanna say that is most incredible to me.

Helen: 13:51

Oh my god. I'm let me see. I need a nice dramatic pause. The platforms are not only recognizing what you say and the things you type. It is also recognizing what has been filmed without even saying anything.

Helen: 14:09

And I have proof of this. Like hard receipts. Because how many times have you I mean, I know this this is most people don't probably put two and two together. But how many times have you put up posted a video you're preparing a video and you go over to TikTok and you put it in. I'm gonna use TikTok as an example.

Helen: 14:30

You put it into TikTok and it automatically adds music. And it adds music that is perfect for the video. And it's not an accident. It knows, oh, this was dramatic landscaping things. Or it knows this is a sports event.

Helen: 14:46

It you get me? If it knows enough about your video to pick the music correctly, I literally take my videos to TikTok and let it add the music just to see what it picks. And that's sometimes when I'm posting on something on Instagram, I go to TikTok first because I wanna make sure that that it'll it'll suggest good music. It's so much better than at doing that than Instagram as Instagram doesn't really do that. But TikTok does it.

Helen: 15:16

Let me tell you. And let me take it one step further because not only does it pick the right music. This is sweet. I posted a video to TikTok, and it was a video of a family weekend where I was in the Catskills and, you know, it's like family events. And then at one of the shots, one maybe two of the shots towards the end of the video were us playing a board game.

Helen: 15:41

So it was a whole montage. I had music picked, it was like me and Jenna and family and da da da da and we're, you know, smiles and laughing and all of that. And then there was, like, two board game shots. Okay? That video is categorized on, I think, on Instagram too, actually, both Instagram and TikTok.

Helen: 16:01

It says board games. Board games. I didn't talk about a board game. There's no speaking on the video. There's nothing in the caption about us playing a board game.

Helen: 16:12

There's nothing on screen about a board game. As a matter of fact, it's not even so significant in the scene. It's like one of the guys was doing something, everybody was laughing, and you could the board game was on the table. Oh my god. I I literally was like stopped in my tracks when I saw that that's how it was categorized.

Helen: 16:30

And it was on Instagram. I'm positive now because I screenshot it. I'll probably put it up here if I can find it. So I could not believe my eyes. And I thought, wow.

Helen: 16:40

Holy cannoli. These platforms are so smart. They're seeing they're seeing the content. They're picking things. I don't even know how that works.

Helen: 16:50

It's AI, I guess. But really, don't you think it's amazing? I'm amazed by it still to this minute. That's why I'm talking about it like I'm incredulous. But it's crazy.

Helen: 17:00

So I do think that it's like SEO is so far more advanced than we even think. And I'm so I'm like, I'll do all the things. But ultimately, I think even the search is seeing what's in the video. You don't even have to say anything. Oh my god.

Helen: 17:17

Okay. Two more things that are important that are not in the newsletter. When you post your video on YouTube and if you post your video from on TikTok from your desktop. So this is desktop posting. So YouTube, I post from my desktop oftentimes.

Helen: 17:36

A lot I do my phone when I'm doing YouTube shorts. But when I'm posting a proper horizontal video, I use my laptop. And I because I put the thumbnail and I put a description and I pick all the tags, I type all the tags, and you do all the work on YouTube. And I have a YouTube one zero one course, by the way. I have a it's not a course.

Helen: 17:55

It's like a YouTube one zero one lesson in the, socialized studio. So if you have interest in YouTube and a YouTube lesson, you can, jump into the studio. We have a seven day free trial. Right now, we have a really hot promotion going on, so I'll talk about that. But I'm telling you, you post from your desktop for these things.

Helen: 18:13

When you name the file name with what it's about, it helps your SEO. So for example, you airdrop your video to your computer, and it shows up img.m0v or something. It names puts a number on it. You taint you you highlight over that, and you rename the file. You call it video edit videos underscore editing underscore tutorial underscore green screen, whatever the heck it is about.

Helen: 18:39

Use a lot of words. Put all the damn keywords right in it, in the video name. And then when you post it, that helps your SEO. And I know for a fact it works on YouTube. And now, I'm understanding that when you post on TikTok desktop, when you do the same thing, it helps you there.

Helen: 18:56

Okay? So if you're using your desktop to post, that's what you wanna do. Okay. Now the last part is something I've noticed. The last thing that I wanna share is something I've noticed, and it's important, and that is when you have videos with higher views, they are more likely to show up in the search bar.

Helen: 19:17

So somebody might sit here and go, I do all these things, and my videos don't show up in the search bar. Yes. Of course. There's thousands and thousands and thousands of videos about video editing tips. When when somebody types that in, very likely, very unlikely that they're gonna get my video as the first one.

Helen: 19:34

Unless I have a madly crazy viral video that has 5,000,000 views that is video editing, it that will help raise it to the top of the food chain. So my point is you could do all these things, and you could think, did everything right. I don't understand why isn't it working. And I'm here to tell you that just like YouTube, just like any other platform, the most viewed and viral ish videos do show up at the top. But it's doesn't mean that yours don't show up at all.

Helen: 20:05

It just means that a person would scroll and they'd just like when you pick decide which YouTube thing you're gonna watch. When you're on YouTube and you're scrolling for, like, how to change the filter in my dryer or something like that. And you're you pick the first one just because, like, oh, let me just pick the first one that shows up. But if you scrolled a little more, let's say you didn't like the voice of that person when you picked that one, or the next one was like, oh, that wasn't, wasn't even in English or something, and you're trying to you know, it was in a different language. Whatever it is.

Helen: 20:30

So if you scroll a bit, you're gonna get to the videos that are less viewed, but they could be equally as as helpful. So it's the same thing on any of the platforms. Your the the top most top performing videos are gonna show up first in the search, but that doesn't mean you're not gonna get found. It doesn't mean no one's gonna search a little further and go down and and watch your video. Okay?

Helen: 20:52

So don't be discouraged about it. Just know that you've you're helping yourself by giving yourself the optimum SEO. And now for my final thought for today is well, it's not even a thought, and it's not about SEO, but it's a reminder that we are we are running a Mother's Day special up until May 11 in the studio if you wanna try it for first of all, it's free trial for seven days. But if you try do join the studio for a month, you get a free audit included. And if you join the studio for an an annual membership, you have a one on one session with me for thirty minutes, and that is free included.

Helen: 21:31

So we're just doing a Mother's Day promo, and that is a Mother's Day with a with a u. It's a Mothership's Day promo. And we're only gonna do that up until May 11 because I only have so many hours in a day, and I wanna make sure I'm able to serve everybody who would like to meet with me. So if you have any desire to do that, obviously, you can always book a one on one. But this is kind of a bonus thing because not only will you get my one on one time, but you'll get a whole year in the studio, and the studio is epic.

Helen: 21:58

So if you don't know about it, just click and read about it. One we have Zoom meetings every week. I have content suggestions that I do for small businesses. I give you a blueprint every week. We have a challenge.

Helen: 22:10

We have a lesson, a dedicated lesson every week. It's so much fun. I don't wanna, like, go on and on about it because it's just like it's exciting for me to talk about because I just enjoy it. But I just wanna make sure that I am making the red alert that right now this promo is only gonna go to May 11. So if you're interested, grab it.

Helen: 22:26

And that is it. I am chilling out now. I'm gonna decompress. I'm gonna post this, upload it, and get it ready to launch tomorrow, and then I'm going to rest. And I have an a big weekend ahead because I'm speaking at this conference where I'm gonna do a social media, not just a speaking.

Helen: 22:43

I'm actually gonna do a workshop, and I'm gonna teach these people hands on how to make videos. And it's gonna be great. I'm really, really excited about it. And that is it for today. Have a wonderful weekend, and I will see you next week.