Understand the basics of social media algorithms and use them to your advantage.
Nobody wants to login to social media and get bombarded by every single post from every single connection all in one go — at least, most of us don’t. This is where social media algorithms come in, helping to filter out the best posts in the most relevant order, so you can get to the content you care about first.
Algorithms choose which content to put in your feed based on your activity by taking note of what you click on, what you watch, and what you engage with to learn about what kind of content you enjoy. Additionally, algorithms take note of the activity of other social media users, such as the engagement levels of their content, to create an enticing social media feed that’ll keep you scrolling for more.
Despite what some marketers will tell you, algorithms are not your enemy — in fact, if you take the time to understand how they work and what they’re looking for, they could easily be used to your advantage.
Although a lot of social media networks keep the ins and outs of their algorithms under wraps, we’re here to talk you through what we know, what we’ve heard, and how to pivot your strategy for the optimum results.
Algorithms are essentially a collection of data and rules that dictate which content to prioritize in social media feeds. Algorithms are uniquely created for each person and are affected by how they behave online. As a result, no two people will have the exact same feed. Furthermore, each social media network has developed their very own algorithm, which also means that the rules are slightly different depending on your social network of choice.
Algorithms use all kinds of information to decide which content to present to you — including dwell time, shares, comments, likes, and saves — to make a judgement on which content you will find more valuable or entertaining.
Now that we have a basic understanding of what algorithms are and how they work, let’s take a more detailed look at each of the key social media channels.
Relevancy scores
Facebook’s algorithm makes a prediction about how you’ll react to every piece of content, whether it’s with a like, a comment, a share, or if you’ll hide it or mark it as spam. This prediction is then quantified into a number known as a relevancy score. Once every post has been assigned a relevancy score, the algorithm then uses this score to rank the content into the order they appear within your feed. Ads are also assigned relevancy scores. As with organic content, this is intended to create the best possible user experience by providing the most entertaining or interesting content first.
Friends first
Through surveys and other research, Facebook discovered that many users were worried about missing out on content from their friends and family. As a result, they decided in April 2015 to update their algorithm to assign higher relevancy scores to friends and family members so that this content could rank higher in the feed. Later that year, Facebook made a second update allowing users to handpick which of their friends and family — or even pages — they want to appear within their newsfeed first.
Dwell time
Dwell time, which is the amount of time spent looking at a post, is an important consideration for the Facebook algorithm, and is used as a key indicator as to whether content was relevant to you. If you spend a long time looking at a post, this could also encourage the algorithm to push the same content to the newsfeeds of your friends.
Video engagement
Facebook doesn’t rely on just engagement metrics when it comes to judging whether the video content in your newsfeed was relevant to you or not. The algorithm picks up on other things, such as whether the video was made full screen, if the volume was turned up, or if you switched the quality of the video to HD to indicate whether this content was relevant. Any of these actions can result in similar content appearing higher up an individual’s newsfeed in the future.
Why am I seeing this post?
In March 2019, Facebook made an update to allow users to see exactly why certain organic posts and ads have appeared within their newsfeed. This gives users insight into why the algorithm has decided to present this content and allow them to make further personalized changes.
Fighting fake news
Facebook’s fight against misinformation is well-known. Although this may not necessarily affect brands posting to Facebook, it does highlight the need for fact-checking, transparency, and honesty in your content, lest you be penalized!
Facebook algorithm takeaways
When it comes to crafting your Facebook content, our advice is to find your niche and maintain consistency in your posting; this will make it easier and quicker for the Facebook algorithm to work out who your audience is and push your content towards them. Be sure to include video as a must in your Facebook content strategy while also ensuring that your video content is of suitable length and engaging enough to grip attention spans from start to finish.
Algorithm ranked tweets
Once upon a time, the tweets within X’s timeline were displayed in reverse chronological order. However, for those following a large quantity of accounts, it was often difficult to keep up with every tweet, and very easy to miss out on key content. As a result, X (named Twitter, at the time) introduced an algorithm to make sure their users could see the most important or interesting tweets first. Currently, the first section of your X timeline is a collection of the posts that X’s algorithm has ranked as having the highest relevancy.
Although X, like many other social networks, is a little secretive about its algorithm, this blog from 2017 gives some insight into factors they rank for including recency, engagement, rich media, and activity of the user.
In case you missed it
If you keep scrolling down the X timeline beyond the most highly ranked tweets, you may encounter a section called “In case you missed it.” This is a collection collated by the algorithm that displays posts that might not be very recent but are from the accounts you engage with the most.
This feature is great for giving more exposure to brands and individuals whose content might be otherwise missed.
Reverse chronology
After you’ve scrolled past the posts that algorithm has picked out to display at the top of your timeline, the remainder of your feed will appear within the classic X format in reverse chronological order.
Replies
X is said to be prioritizing replies in the feed. This means that any posts with replies are more likely to appear in feeds, but also that any posts you interact with will more likely appear in the feedback of those who follow you. As a result, your focus should be on getting as much engagement on your content as possible, as well as replying and interacting with those who leave comments on your content.
X algorithm takeaways
When it comes to your X strategy, engagement levels need to be your focus, above all else. To help boost your ranking, it’s worth experimenting with video content and making sure to post at optimum times (when the majority of your audience is online). It should also be noted that signing up for X Premium, X’s subscription service, will give your account prioritization in comments and in search. Although X has not explicitly confirmed that subscribers to X Premium will be prioritized in the feed, it wouldn't come as a surprise if an X subscription were to additionally benefit your ranking in the feed.
The six key factors for ranking
Much like X, Instagram put an end to their reverse chronological newsfeed in 2016 with the aim to prioritize timely and interesting content. Since then, Instagram’s algorithm has continued to develop over the years with the latest information suggesting that there are six key factors that dictate how a post will rank.
Interest: How interested the user is in the content is based on engagement with similar content
Timeliness: More recent posts will be prioritized over older posts.
Relationship: Content from accounts that the user has interacted with in the past will be prioritized.
Frequency: How often the user browses Instagram will factor into how their posts are ranked in the feed.
Following: How many people a user follows will affect what appears in their feed. Those following many accounts may see less content from some of these accounts.
Usage: How much time the user spends on Instagram also affects how content ranks.
Different algorithms for different areas
In 2021, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, revealed even more insights into how the Instagram algorithm works, confirming that there is not one Instagram algorithm, but a number of different algorithms, each with their own purpose.
Mosseri indicated that for the feed and stories, the key ranking factors were:
Information about the post — how much engagement it has, how recently it was posted, whether it is a video, etc.
Information about the poster — whether a user has interacted with this person within the last few weeks
User activity — whether a user will be interested in this content and how many similar posts they’ve liked
User history of interacting with someone — whether a user will be interested in seeing content from a particular person
Whereas key factors for ranking on the Explore page were:
Information about the post
User history of interacting with someone
User activity
Information about the poster
Instagram believes that people are looking for their friends and people they know in real life first, when it comes to the feed and particularly in relation to stories, while the Explore page is where they go to discover something new. As a result, the algorithms attached to these areas will prioritize the content differently.
Newer formats rank higher
Instagram has a tendency to award higher ranking to newer content types such as Reels or Carousel posts as a way to help users adjust to newer content formats quicker and encourage more usage of such formats. As a result, it’s important to be open to trying new Instagram features and formats as a way to get your content noticed and continue growing your page.
Instagram algorithm takeaways
Instagram is all about experimenting with new formats and features, as well as posting at the optimum times to garner the maximum amount of engagement. Like with other social networks, engagement should be a key goal for your strategy, while you should also aim to be consistent with your content (in terms of posting and quality) in the hopes that those who have previously engaged with your content will continue to do so.
Valuable conversations
As the number one platform for networking, LinkedIn’s algorithm has its own set of priorities for ranking content in the feed. In a blog from 2019, Pete Davies, Senior Director of Product Management at LinkedIn, revealed that LinkedIn is seeking “valuable conversations” to rank higher in the feed. But what constitutes a valuable conversation? Davies goes on to explain three key considerations:
People you know: The LinkedIn algorithm works to prioritize the people that you know in person, as well as those with whom you interact with the most thorough reactions or comments.
Talking: The algorithm also prioritizes those conversations that it simply deems are the best — those that have a constructive back and forth and a high degree of authenticity.
Things you care about: Content that is in line with your interests will, of course, also appear as highly ranked in your LinkedIn feed, inferred based on the hashtags you follow, the groups you join, and the pages you follow.
These three elements work together to pick out content from people you know who are talking about things you care about.
Practical tips
The above advice is fairly universal to any social media platform so let’s get a little more specific about what types of content LinkedIn really prefers.
According to the Digital Marketing Institute, some tips you can adopt to rank higher in the algorithm are:
Create posts that use between three and ten hashtags.
Encourage comments, especially since comments are more valued than likes or reactions in terms of engagement.
Make sure your content is engaging as dwell time is a factor.
Consider using more video because video content isn't necessarily prioritized by the algorithm, but it is more popular, therefore likely to get more engagement.
LinkedIn algorithm takeaways
Your main goals when creating LinkedIn content should be to create a valuable conversation that will get lots of engagement — especially comments. Make use of hashtags to make it more obvious to the algorithm what your content is really about and consider creating content that is either more long-form or video-based to increase dwell time and give more value to your audience.
While each of the social media algorithms have been independently created for each platform, you'll notice that there is still some consistency across the board. All algorithms are united in one common goal: to push the most interesting content to the people who will be the most interested. While there are various tricks and tips you can take on board to boost your content’s appearance in the algorithm and broaden your reach, the real crux of the matter will always be the quality of your content.