However, from a business perspective, this may seem daunting. Is the algorithm ‘gatekeeping’ your content from reaching your target audience?
Well, here’s the good news. The algorithm can be used to your advantage to improve your social media presence. But first, how does the algorithm work?
Each social media and online platform has an algorithm designed specifically for it. At its core, it evaluates each post and ranks it according to a pre-set criteria such as engagement and content relevancy. Higher ranked posts will appear first in chronological order and lower ranked posts will appear at the end. It’s a continuous learning algorithm meaning it will identify what users value and rank each post accordingly. Instagram as a platform differs to that of Twitter as it is mostly media-based with stories and reels whereas Twitter is mainly text based. Therefore, the interactions of these post differ.
Now for the good news, we have some tips that will allow the system ‘to work for you’.
1. Posting at the right time
‘The right time’ differs per platform and per audience, so this is a tricky one but there are tools to show you when your audience is most active on each platform. Generally there is an early morning scrolling crowd, and then a late evening crowd. In between, there are students scrolling between lectures or workers catching a break online between meetings. So find your ideal time by testing and seeing when your content hits home the best.
2. Use hashtags.
Hashtags are shortcuts for social media users. It allows people with the same interests to find your page making your page and content more discoverable. Make sure you only use hashtags that are relevant. You can research the most popular hashtags for your topic and also use more than one to catch users’ attention.
3. Make your page discoverable and tag your location.
Similarly to hashtags, location tags are shortcuts to finding places of interest. You can use this to pinpoint your business address or a specific location that is relevant to the post.
4. Avoid outbound links
Avoid attaching links that redirect users to third-party websites – your goal is to direct traffic to your website. You can use external links to provide value to your customers but try not to do this in every post.
5. Upload more videos
Video content has proven to outperform many other types of content. However, to gain maximum traction, avoid redirecting online traffic away for the social media page and link the video directly into the post so users can watch it there.
6. Post interesting and useful content
The aim is to create value for your customers, so create posts that users would want to save or share with others such as DIY tips or short clips. The more value to provide, the more loyalty you are gaining for your brand.
7. Live stream from your platform
The live stream function allows users to engage with a large audience instantaneously. The moment a user starts a live stream, all the followers of that page are informed with a notification. This allows your content reach to explode immediately. It has been proven that live streaming has boomed in the past years with page engagement almost doubling for pages of less than 10K followers.
8. Post consistently
Ensure to post content regularly to ensure your page gains constant engagement. But less is always more, so don’t post just for the sake of it. Rather get into a routine of one or two posts per week than try to post every day and don’t get engagement.
9. Engage with followers in comment sections
Respond to comments on your content and posts. Interact with other users and pages. This will allow your post and page rankings to improve and show your customers you are interested in them.
Following these simple steps will boost your content and page ranks higher and allow you a dominating online presence allowing you to reach a much larger target audience. Contact us and find out how we can assist you with your social media and beat that algorithm.