SEO vs Social Media Copywriting: How They’re Different

So, you’ve designed an iron-clad marketing strategy that involves search engine optimization (SEO) and social media campaigns. You’re now ready to delve deeper into creating content that will reach your ideal customers, increase their engagement, and turn them into loyal customers.

But you’re in a bit of a quandary: Should you hire a copywriter or an SEO content writer? To answer this question, you must first know the difference between SEO and social media copywriting.

What is SEO Content Writing?

SEO content is a type of marketing that utilizes the web’s algorithms to place higher in search engine rankings. SEO content writing involves producing optimized text that complies with SEO guidelines and is targeted towards a specific audience.

SEO writers typically follow a number of commonly accepted SEO best practices in order to increase their chances of having their content read by as many targeted people as possible. These include using keywords or phrases and including internal links as well as links from reputable websites.

The purpose of content marketing is to attract, engage, and convert potential leads into paying customers. As such, it has specific elements, nuances, and processes that are unique to content writing.

What are the key components of SEO content writing?

Although SEO writing and social media copywriting are sometimes used interchangeably as part of a digital marketing strategy, they are not the same. SEO writing has key components that will help you distinguish it from other forms of content writing.

 1.  Keyword Research

Before writing SEO-friendly content, keyword research must be done first. The purpose of keyword research is to find which keywords will be most relevant to the content and audience of your website.

A keyword is a word or phrase that a searcher may input into a search engine in order to find websites relevant to their query. Keyword research has become an essential part of developing a successful marketing strategy for any type of business.

To optimize the success of your website, it’s important to research keywords that your targeted audience is searching for. By doing keyword research, you’ll find the words and phrases that accurately describe your products, services, and content.

For many businesses, keyword research is the first step in optimizing their advertising campaigns. Businesses are attracted to ads that are relevant to their products or services. They often do not know which keywords they want to advertise on before they conduct this research.

The process is time-consuming, but it is crucial for businesses looking to reach more customers through campaigns. Knowing what keywords people are searching for will make it easier to create relevant SEO content and increase customer engagement with these businesses.

2.  Monitoring Changes in Search Engine Algorithms

Google continues to dominate the global search engine market with a whopping 86.64% market share. So, it’s safe to say that much of the content on the internet is written with the Google algorithm in mind.

Changes in the Google algorithm affect the performance of websites in terms of keyword ranking. SEO writers must keep track of these changes to make necessary adjustments and ensure that all the content are relevant and follows the SEO guidelines and best practices.

3. Focus on user search intent

User intent refers to the thought process the individual was thinking when they typed in a particular search keyword. Search engines can collect and measure data based on search habits while providing users with the best possible results based on their interests and intent. This tracking technology can help content writers understand more about what specific audience wants and needs from their product or service.

When you write with user intent in mind, you are focusing on the readers’ pain points and providing a solution to their problems through products or services. Embarque has a case study on how a company ranked in featured snippets using SEO content writing strategies.

What is Social Media Copywriting?

Social media copywriting is a way of creating content for social media platforms and is an essential part of any marketing campaign on social sites like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Copywriting for social media is an essential part of any social media campaign. It is used primarily to create compelling, persona-driven posts that are relevant to the platform’s user base. By tailoring your message to each social media platform, you can maximize your reach and increase engagement.

With copywriting, you are creating content for social media that will create brand awareness and increase engagement. Particularly, you are encouraging people to take action—sign up for a newsletter, shop for products, use the promo code, subscribe to a channel, or visit the brand site.

Social media copywriting has the following elements:

• The content is targeted for a specific audience for a specific social media platform.
• Understanding the trending topics on specific social media platforms
• Creating content around those topics and using hashtags
• It must pertain to buyer personas to determine different paint points.
• It must provide a solution to a problem or pain point.
• It appeals to the readers’ emotions to get a response.
• It must have a compelling headline that will hook the reader.

SEO Copywriting vs. Social Media Copywriting: What’s the Difference?

The contrast between SEO and social media copywriting is analogous to the divergent environments of marketing and creative writing. While both are marketing-focused, SEO writing focuses on the search engine while social media copywriters focus on content for different social platforms.

There’s a big misconception that SEO and social media copywriting are the same. Individuals often think one is interchangeable with the other or will work to promote their business in similar ways. However, there are fundamental differences between the two practices, as well as shortcomings to using one as a substitute for the other.

When to Use SEO vs Social Media Copywriting

The content strategy to use will depend on your marketing goals. For instance, if you want to promote a new product and want to direct potential customers from your Instagram to your promo landing page, then use social media copywriting. In this case, you need to apply Instagram SEO and hashtag research strategy, which you can learn from Flick.

On the other hand, if you want to increase traffic to your website, you can use SEO content writing. But since SEO writing and social media copywriting have their own purposes, they should be used together for maximum success.