Understanding Social Media Algorithms
/What is an Algorithm?
Social media algorithms are a set of rules defined by a social media platform to sort posts in a users’ newsfeed based on relevancy instead of publishing time. Algorithms are a way of prioritising which content the platform itself “thinks” you want to see, based on the likelihood that will want to see it.
How Do They Work on Social Media?
Put simply, they are based on your past interactions: ‘like’ or commenting, scrolling through more photos in a post, having a sneaky look at a particular profile based on a recent post. Social media platforms record all of this data and try to make sure you see similar content in the future.
Why Is This Important for Businesses?
If content that engages users pushes it in front of people, then surely the opposite happens?
Understanding how social media algorithms are important for business owners, and social media managers to get to grips with, so you can make sure your target audience interacts with your social media content, forcing algorithms to recognise your content is relevant.
How to Use Social Media Algorithms to Your Advantage?
Marketers can see algorithms as a roadblock to their social media content success but you can use them to your advantage? Here is a quick list to help you turn algorithms into your best marketing tool
Ask questions and encourage comments from your audience – The more times a post is liked, commented on, or shared, the more likely it is to be rewarded by the algorithms.
Tag other accounts in your posts – This serves as an invitation for other users to check out your content which so makes sure to tag a brand or person in your next posts.
Use the right hashtags – Hashtags on social media are a huge advantage when it comes to algorithms as they assign a category to piece your content to make it more likely to be seen. If you don’t understand hashtags, please have a read of our blog
Optimising your post timing to encourage engagement – Timing your posts can be useful as you have to consider when users are going to be active on that day. Weekdays people work but will go on their phones in the morning, on their lunch, and after work
Figure out your publishing frequency – Algorithms love accounts that will post content regularly, rather than random posting. Having the time to post consistently may be hard but try to create a content calendar, use scheduling tools, or outsource your social media to professionals, like us!
Publish more video content – Using video can catch the user’s attention better than still images or just text. The video doesn’t have to be professional but does have to be relevant to what your post is about.
Present your links and captions – You can have short captions but make sure they are snappy or humorous and if your caption is too long, try to shorten it so that algorithms can process but understand who you are trying to get the attention of
What Not-To-Do
There are also actions that can be to the detriment of the visibility of your content. The list below shows what not to do if you want to improve your social media discovery:
Content that promotes cosmetic procedures
Exaggerated health claims, such as “miracle cure” or “new medicine saves lives”
Selling product that is promoting a supplement to help a person lose weight
Promoting misleading or deceptive business models such as “risk-free”
Content that promotes a contest or giveaway
If you still struggle with social media algorithms, get in touch