What exactly is an algorithm?

Algorithms - love or hate them, as we continue to grow our digital footprint, they are here to stay. As a social media marketer, I am constantly looking at how each specific algorithm interacts with one another – and how they also compete with each other. It’s a lot like going to the casino, you’re inundated with seemingly unlimited options and need to make the biggest coin on a few machines as fast as you can.

At the core, social media algorithms are a way of sorting posts in a users' feed based on relevancy instead of publish time. Social networks prioritize which content a user sees in their feed first by the likelihood that they'll actually want to see it.

That means your Thursday night dinner has a good chance of being liked over 50 times on Facebook, but resharing your employers recruiting post may flop at the exact same time on LinkedIn, getting 20 impressions and 2 likes. You’ve also probably seen recommended videos when you go on a YouTube binge (thus keeping you trapped in the binge), or maybe you’ve had the passing thought “how does TikTok know what I am hyper-interested in when I have never posted any content or engaged with any creators?”

That’s the algorithm, studying your behavior, in all its glory. Welcome to social media!

So, what’s the big deal?

The biggest assumption about algorithms is that we can figure out a ‘hack’ to ‘beat it’ and be viral at our choosing. The algorithm is not perfect, and it never will be. When you post something that you’ve tried over and over with the hopes of reaching new audiences and expanding your networks will be bound to the same results that leave you frustrated. Rinse, wash, repeat.

The controversy around algorithm is their impact on reach. With their ever-evolving ways of making marketers try new things and making us comfortable at failing till we succeed, adaptation is our strongest weapon. Switching up content, delivering fresh takes on ideas and thinking like the algorithm does will set us (and you!) up for success.

If you like thinking on your toes and are willing to take risks to heap massive rewards, social media is for you!

If the risk/reward ratio is unstable, then what’s the point?

Without algorithms, sifting through content on each platform is impossible. It would take the most experienced social media marketer weeks to find patterns of behavior, trends and interests from their audience – and by the time they get the data, it will have already changed.

For users who follow hundreds or thousands of accounts, the algorithm does the legwork of delivering you content based on you want, and weeding out the rest.

This is where paid advertising on social media steps in. Especially now on Facebook, personal connections outweigh businesses looking for leads and exposure to what they do. If brands and those who do business on social media can’t reach their audience organically, they’ll turn to paid ads instead. Obviously, this means more money for social networks. Us social marketers know that changes in how social media algorithms prioritize paid and organic content can have a huge impact. It can make or break your business and brand.

For more information on social media algorithms, visit: https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/how-do-social-media-algorithms-work