How To Beat The Algorithm On Facebook, Twitter, And Instagram
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Today, we’re talking about that big, scary algorithm, and how to beat it. You have thousands of followers and fans on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but when you post your content, it’s likely that not all of them are going to see what you post. This is due to algorithms that social media platforms have designed to create a better experience for their users.
I’ve talked about in other videos, this algorithm makes sense, but it makes it a challenge for us marketers who are trying to reach our target audience. These platforms use algorithm-based feeds to make sure that each user doesn’t get bombarded with content that’s not relevant to that person. Each platform has a different algorithm. These are constantly changing to reflect the needs of the users in each platform. So, how do you beat this to make sure that your material gets to the top and reaches the highest amount of users possible?
First, it’s important to understand how each algorithm works, and then I’ll tell you how you can combat them.
Your Facebook news feed. According to Facebook, each user has an average of 1,500 pieces of content available to them, but they’re only exposed to about 20%. To give users a great experience, Facebook constantly learns user’s behavior, and it identifies what kind of content they would most likely interact with. So, here’s what Facebook considers when they’re matching content to its users. Every post is assigned a relevancy score. Facebook ranks them in order of this score. So, every time you log in, the post that’s right at the top of your news feed is the one that Facebook thinks you’ll most likely engage with. Facebook thinks they know us so well, don’t they?
Facebook ads are given relevancy scores as well. Facebook only shows ads that could matter to you the most. It’s calculated based on positive and negative feedback that it’s expected to receive from its audience. Friends. Facebook is giving users options to prioritize posts that they want to see first from their friends or specific pages. When you’re on that page of your friend or a business or brand that you like to follow, you can click here, and click here to see first. Time spent on a post. The longer amount of time that you spend on a post, Facebook is more likely to serve you the same kind of posts. They’re really watching us closely, aren’t they?
Video Engagement. Facebook also monitors video engagements, such as turning on the video, increasing the sound, making it full screen. Positive actions such as increasing the sound on a video will leave Facebook to interpret that you like that post, which will lead to similar posts being exposed to you on your feed. So, the question is, knowing these facts, how do you beat the Facebook algorithm when marketing to your audience?
Create relevant and shorter-form content that engages your audience. Focus on increasing user time on your content, and making it relevant to them. Hook your audiences longer on each post by using creative visual content.
Now, let’s talk about Twitter. Have you ever heard the term FOMO? It’s an acronym for Fear Of Missing Out. The Twitter algorithm was designed as an attempt to get rid of FOMO, or Fear Of Missing Out, among its users. Tweet ranking is based on user engagement and real-time relevance, so this means that by default, Twitter’s algorithm will put the tweets in front of you that it thinks you will find the most interesting at the top of your feed. But, it’s still has to be recent and organized in reverse chronological order.
Tweets chosen are based on the accounts that you interact with and the tweets that you engage with. The rest of the tweets will also be displayed right underneath. So, how do you beat the Twitter algorithm?
Although your tweets will be seen all users if they keep scrolling and scrolling and scrolling for long enough, the most new and recent tweets wheel around us.
Post regularly, and make sure that you use the 140 characters well, by making the best use of words, hashtags, and phrases. Use content that is trending as well, you can look on the side to see the trending topics and get involved in them. Be intelligent in the way that you develop copying your tweets, use visuals to engage and hook your audience.
Instagram Feed Algorithm. Instagram has one of the newest feed algorithms. In 2014, it started by changing the explore tab to show users tailored content that is relevant to them. My explore tab is all Disney and celebrity news. Before that, the explore tab was about the most popular post across all users. Now, the feed is designed to show the moments that Instagram believes you’ll care about the most.
The algorithm works to order content on the following factors: post comments and likes, the user’s relationship with the one posting, post timeliness, and content user’s share.
So, how do you beat the Instagram algorithm?
Instagram will mostly show users content that they engage with the most, with emphasis on the time at which you posted the photo. To beat it, post regularly, create relevant content that is tailored to your audience, and use hashtags that are suitable to your audience.
In beating the social media algorithms, always take into account great content quality. These algorithms are designed to weed out poorly made and irrelevant content, so that great content could be seen by the users. I know that you have great content.
To understand what makes great content, you can download my free, Ultimate Content Share Worthiness Checklist, and to better understand about social media metrics that can help you beat the algorithms, you can download my free and insightful guide, Numbers Tell a Story: Social Media Metrics Made Easy.
