Social media Algorithms for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn in 2020
/Algorithms - what are they exactly and how do they help or hinder your content online?
In Australia for the last 3 months, we have been suffering through the early start to our bushfire season. It has been a very devastating time for many people across the country and we still have several months to go.
This is not a political post, but from a marketing perspective it has been fascinating to watch the algorithms at play across social media, particularly Facebook. We can see how algorithms fan some content and not other pieces, regardless of truth, accuracy or who is posting it.
So how do these algorithms work, what are they actually doing?
If your business is using any social media channel, you are likely to realise that not everyone that follows you will see all of your content.
Why is this?
What is the ‘algorithm’ doing and why? Is this different across platforms and what should you be paying attention to ensure that your social media posts work with the algorithm and not against it.
In this post I’m going to summarise how the algorithm works across platforms so you can understand more about what you are seeing and why, as well as how you should be using that to your advantage in business.
“Social media algorithms are a way of sorting posts in a users’ feed based on relevancy instead of publish time.”
What is key here is the word relevancy.
Social Media Platforms will show you content that your past behaviour or the behaviour of others similar to you would indicate you want to see it.
It seems crazy to think that social media has really only been a thing for just over 10 years and back in the early days of most platforms, you would see all of the content from all of the people that you followed.
However these days, that is simply not the case. For most platforms, we only see a subset of potential content we might actually be following, this is particularly the case with Facebook - which is the most crowded of the platforms in terms of content and potential content.
So let’s have a look at each of the main platforms to understand a little more how the algorithm for each one works.
An overview of the Facebook Algorithm
At the start of 2018, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would be changing the News Feed algorithm to prioritize content from friends, family and groups. This is why you find more online gurus wanting to be your friend (when they don’t really want to be your friend at all!)
This was Facebook’s way of seeking to increase the amount of meaningful interactions online that we as users of the platform would have.
This was a big change from simply being about time on the platform and a shift to quality time on the platform. Quality time in Facebook language refers to active activity, like commenting and sharing over passive activity like likes and click throughs.
So if you are wanting your content ( for your facebook page or group ) to be seen by more people, you need to be asking more questions, encouraging people to share your content or sharing more thought provoking quality content in the first place.
We can see however, from recent events in Australia and overseas (Im looking at you Donald Trump) that controversial content will be rewarded. I am not talking about just click bait titles, as we know that falls into the passive category and hence is no longer rewarded with more eyeballs via the algorithm, but content that provokes a reaction, positive or negative.
Understanding this means that content designed to create a reaction will be seen by more people, whether you agree or disagree, and hence been seen by more people in the first place. This is why you may see posts that get you all riled up, because Facebook knows that you might comment on the post, or share the post, even if you don't agree with the content. This is how falsehoods are shared so quickly across this platform.
How can you use the Facebook Algorithm for Business?
Understanding the algorithm better, means that we can then focus on creating and posting content in a way that will benefit our businesses.
Firstly, we need to not be so scared about posting content that might be seen as controversial in our field.
If you believe something, post it, share it, put it out there. It will be more likely to be seen by your target audience. An example of this might be an Accountant who wrote a thought piece on the banking Royal Commission and rather than playing it safe, dropped some opinions into the post, rather than simply reporting on the outcome.
As business owners, we can do this as we are not journalists reporting the news, we are bringing our years of expertise into the online space, to help people make a choice about why they might want to work with us. Our role is not to report facts, our role is to share our value.
Secondly, reply to all comments.
Simply liking a comment is treated as passive action, Facebook will reward your post if you reply to all comments. It may seem hard to do this, but if you actually get a precious comment, make sure that you leverage this further by replying.
Share content to followers on your page via messenger. If a person reacts to a piece of your content, perhaps share with them some bonus information. Facebook loves Messenger content.
Thirdly, video.
Lastly, take advantage of the private spaces inside Facebook, stories, messenger and groups.
Social Media everywhere is becoming private and more ephemeral, as they take on board many of the things that made Snapchat and then Instagram so successful.
How does the Instagram algorithm work?
Prior to 2016, Instagram was an easy place, you saw all of the posts of those people you followed in the exact order that they posted them. It was a chronological nirvana and then Facebook dived in, snapped it up and well, in many people’s eyes, wrecked it. However, Instagram reports that since changing the feed order, we are seeing 90% off our friends posts and spending more time on the app to boot.
An algorithm was introduced and people no longer ‘saw’ all the posts of people that they followed. Well actually this is not quite true, unlike Facebook, the Instagram algorithm will still show you all the posts of everyone you are following, if you are prepared to keep scrolling, it just will show them to you in the order that your post behaviour, or behaviour of other people, plus the popularity of the post might determine.
So keep scrolling, you will see everything and everyone, eventually.
However most people want really spend hours and hours scrolling everything in their feed to eventually see your stuff, so what are the key parts of the Instagram algorithm you need to understand and take advantage of?
The first thing to think about, when thinking about the Instagram feed are the 3 areas that Instagram cares about in terms of what might show up in a feed, interest, recency and relationship.
Interest is clear, it is similar to how Facebook works, but recency is something very important to understand when posting on this platform.
You need to understand when your audience is online and post then.
This is because instagram prioritizes timely posts over items that are older, so if your audience is on mainly at nighttime, then post at nighttime, not in the morning.
Not sure when your audience is online? Make sure you look at your audience insights to see when people who follow you are actually online.
The other factor that is important is relationships, if you are looking to nurture a client, then you need to interact with them. The same is true inside Instagram, so engage with others in your space or target market, then they are more likely to see your content.
How to use the Instagram algorithm for business
As a first and foremost visual platform, I cannot stress enough the importance of quality visuals.
If you are going to take the time to think about when to post, you also need to take the time to tighten up your images. Spend a little time editing the photos from your phone using just your photo app or something like SnapSeed to enhance the colour and the contrast. It does make a difference.
Post often.
If your audience is on the platform at nighttime and you have 2 items to share, share them both. There is no penalty for sharing items closely together as Instagram will share them onto your followers feeds space between other people’s content.
Write longer posts.
Engaging images, with engaging lead in post content captions, will encourage people to stop scrolling and digest your post - not just like your image. This engagement cue, will mean that Instagram will show more of your content to these people in future too. Just like in Facebook, respond to every comment with a comment, not just a like.
Hiding post likes, does not contribute to the Algorithm at all, so sop called influencers who complain about reach dropping due to not showing likes, need to look elsewhere for the answer to that question. It may have something to do with Instagram cracking down on bots and like farms.
How does the Twitter Algorithm work
You are probably wondering why I have included Twitter in this piece.
For many businesses Twitter is not a relevant platform for you to engage with your audience, but for those businesses that are part of the news cycle, in the political or NGO space or entertainment industry, then twitter will be a platform you need to be using.
The Twitter algorithm places a high importance on timing of posts, sharing information that is relevant right now, regardless of whether your audience is online right then or not. Most diehard twitter users are not far from their phones anyway, but for a tweet to be seen by a maximum amount of people, we need to post as and when things happen, not saving it up for a night time roundup of the day’s events (which tends to work better for Facebook and Instagram, to be posting when you audience is actually more likely to be online)
A facebook post will hopefully live on and garner more engagement, however the Twitter algorithm needs to see you posting each day, engaging with other users however, will just like it does with Instagram tend to ensure that more of your content is seen by those people that you engage with ( the old “Social” media part of social media that many businesses like to ignore at times)
Use hashtags.
Hashtags are a great way to reach like minded people, so the more you can use branded hashtags, industry tags or community tags to reach you people the better ( all the way up to 30) You are not punished for how many you use, or whether you put them into your first comment or in your post, however from a reading point of view ( and longer form posts are gaining traction inside Instagram) I recommend that you continue to post in the first comment area.
I am very much looking forward to Sendible introducing this to their scheduling tool!
How does the LinkedIn Algorithm Work?
Does LinkedIn even have an algorithm?
Of course it does!
Firstly though, LinkedIn allows you to sort your posts either by the most recent or the top posts based on your interests and how popular the posts from accounts you follow truly are.
According to LinkedIn the key to the understanding the LinkedIn Algorithm is “People you know, talking about the things you care about”
Like most platforms, Linkedin is focussed on prioritising relevant content and promoting engagement. Relevant posts will also show above more recent post, unless you amend the feed sorting to be recent ( by default TOP will display)
In 2019, LinkedIn amended it’s algorithm so that instead of rewarding large LinkedIn influencers with virality, the latest version of the algorithm will show posts to LinkedIn members of people they know and also of topics that they are actually interested in.
So what I have been saying for 2 years now is truer than ever, grow your network inside LinkedIn as this is the platform, more than any other that your content will be seen by people who you are connect to plus if you are writing about topics your ideal customer care about, then this will be another way to ensure that people will see your content.
The key signals that LinkedIn uses are
Personal Connections, grow your network.
People are more likely to see your content if they are a connection and not just a follower. So grow that network!Interest Relevance.
LinkedIn pays attention to what you have in your profile to determine your interests as well as what and who you interact with on the platform. So make sure your profile is up to date and reflects all your interests and skills. Tag appropriate people in posts, this also will provide cues to LinkedIn regarding who sees your post.
Engagement
Like all the platforms, active participation within the platform on other people's content will help to showcase your content to the right people. Everything we like, comment on, share sends cues to the algorithm about us and our true interests, more than anything we might type in a status update. The other activity that LinkedIn places value on is timely responses to your content, so if you want to get eyeballs on the content faster to promote reactions and help to feed the algorithm in a positive way, tag people. Just like with Twitter and Instagram, use hashtags.
In the coming weeks, I will be posting more detailed steps to leverage the power of the algorithm in your social media channel of choice, but for now I thought it worthwhile to end this rather long post here with the words from one of the key bosses of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, where he talks about the platform and it concern for the wellbeing of its visitors.
Mosseri claims that they’re (Instagram) doing everything they can to give us the most relevant and fastest user experience with their algorithm changes. They understand that Instagram needs to be mindful of its role in modern society and the mental health of its users.
If it isn’t, it will become useless and forgotten, just like many social platforms that came before it.
I think this can be applied to all social media platforms. They have a role and we have a role to promote the right kind of things online.
