Guide To Social Media Algorithms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and YouTube)
Definition
Wondering what the heck an algorithm is and why marketers keep talking about it? Here's the quick run down: a social media algorithm is a set of rules a platform uses to determine what type of content a user would find most interesting before sending this content toward them.
For example: if you're someone who enjoys poetry posts, then your app will push more poetry into your newsfeed.
How the platform determines your interests, however, changes depending on which you're using. For example, some prioritize engagement above all else while others take the timing of the post into consideration.
Not let's find out which is which! We're going to break down a few social media algorithms (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) and tell you how you can be prioritized in it's calculations. Keep reading!
If you're looking to get organic reach on Facebook, you're going to find it a little difficult. Facebook is notorious for pushing regular user profiles above business pages - which can be nice for the average user who doesn't want to receive endless ads, but can be a pain for brands looking to advertise.
Now, this doesn't mean to abandon Facebook altogether! Facebook is at the very top of social media apps with around 2.5 billion active monthly users. This means there is a lot of people you can reach, so here's what the platform is prioritizing:
Posts from friends and family.
Posts from people you've engaged with previously.
Posts with lots of comments (especially lengthy comments).
Posts with lots of reactions (especially when multiple people have different reactions).
Recent posts from your the friends you engage with the most.
Posts with high engagement from your friends you don't often engage with.
Group posts.
Event posts.
Posts with hashtags.
Ways To Help Facebook Prioritize Your Content:
Use your personal profile sometimes! Tell your followers about your business.
Ask your viewers to comment or answer a question in the comments so you can increase engagement.
Create content that people will want to interact with (especially content that can start discussions).
Post videos.
You'll find it's a lot easier to get engagement from Instagram than it is from Facebook. And the best part? Brands and regular profiles are treated equally. So businesses, get excited! Here's what the Instagram algorithm is prioritizing:
Posts with a lot of likes.
Content posted very recently (as in content posted minutes ago rather than hours ago).
Posts from people users often engage with.
Posts that have hashtags users follow.
Ways To Help Instagram Prioritize Your Content:
Post Reels - a lot of brands have grown exponentially on the platform once they've begun interacting with this tool!
Engage with your followers' content right after you post.
Respond to all the comments under your post (at least in the first few hours).
Write captions that aren't clickbait and add value.
Encourage your followers to comment by asking questions.
Use hashtags and have a hashtag strategy.
Post Instagram Stories.
Be consistent.
Twitter's algorithm is unique. Why? Because it prioritizes post timing over anything else. So this means that if you receive lots of engagement on content you posted 3 days ago, it will not be pushed as strongly as content you posted under a day ago.
This might sound complicated, but it's actually really simple! Here's a small list of what Twitter prioritizes:
Recent posts with a lot of engagement (more so comments and retweets than likes).
Recent posts from people you often engage with.
Recent content posted minutes ago.
Ways To Help Twitter Prioritize Your Content:
Use two hashtags.
Use a 100 character limit.
Use images.
Ask your followers to retweet.
Tweet often (at least 2 times a day).
Ask questions.
Create polls.
Respond to comments.
Unlike the other social media platforms, when you log into LinkedIn, you expect to see business content. However, there is still a difference between a regular profile and a business page. Here's what the LinkedIn algorithm prioritizes:
Content from people who post consistently
Content from people you engage with a lot
Content from people who get a lot of engagement
Content that has lengthy comments
Content from regular profiles
Ways to Help LinkedIn Prioritize Your Content:
Leverage your personal profile
Test different types of content (images, text, videos) to see which gets the most engagement
Be consistent
Create content that will encourage discussions
Pinterest is another platform that can be considered very different from its counterparts - mainly due to its structure. But it's algorithm works much like the rest, prioritizing content that users are interested in over content that they have never interacted with before. But let's get into specifics!
This is what Pinterest prioritizes:
New pins
Pins that have been engaged with a lot
This is what Pinterest deprioritizes:
Pins that are repinned to a lot of boards
Pins from groups with a lot of users
Ways To Help Pinterest Prioritize Your Content:
Create pins that have high visual quality
Create pins often (at least 5 times a day)
Pin your content to important boards
Use popular keywords that relate to your content
YouTube
You may or may not be surprised to learn that the amount of subscribers you have on YouTube is not nearly as important as how engaged your subscribers are. Now let's get into what YouTube prefers to prioritize:
Videos that are similar to what users have watched before
Videos that are created by creators users have watched before
Videos that receive a lot of engagement regardless of whether it's relevant to the user
Ways To Help YouTube Prioritize Your Content:
Ask your audience to engage with your video
Use keywords
Have a consistent posting strategy
Engage with other users' videos
Ask your followers on other social media platforms to engage with your YouTube videos
Deliver on the title of your video immediately
Want More Guidance?
Now you know about the algorithms and how to become prioritized in them! But there is a lot more to building your social media presence than algorithms - you also have to learn more about the audience you're targeting.
We know, this seems like a lot of work to do on your own. Which is why we offer services to do the work for you! Schedule an appointment with Founder and Owner Jamie Cocco so we can start building your brand through your social media.
Click the button below to get to our scheduling calendar.