Making the Social Media Algorithm Work in Your Favor

What should you pay attention to in order to make the social media algorithm work for you?

Here are some tips to make the social media algorithm work for you:

1. Consistency: Post new content regularly on your social media channels. This shows the algorithm that your account is active and that your content is relevant to your followers.

2. Relevance: Make sure your content is relevant to your target audience and matches their interests. This will lead to more engagement and interaction, which the algorithm reads as a sign of valuable content.

3. Engagement: Encourage interaction with your followers by asking questions, starting discussions, or running contests. This will help your content get seen by more people and rank higher in the feed.

4. Use hashtags: Use relevant hashtags in your posts to categorize your content and make it findable for people searching for that topic.

5. Analyze statistics: Analyze your statistics to see which content is most popular with your followers. Use this information to create more similar content.

6. Stay up to date on algorithm changes: Social media algorithms change regularly. Stay informed about these changes and adjust your strategy accordingly to make sure your content still reaches your audience.

7. Timing: By understanding when your target audience is most active on Instagram, you can strategically choose the best time to upload your video. This can increase the reach and engagement of your video.

8. Title of your post/video: An effective title is often short and punchy, clear and relevant to the content of your post. It should give the viewer an idea of what to expect, or trigger them to keep watching by making them curious about the rest of the video.

9. Thumbnail: An eye-catching thumbnail can grab a potential viewer's attention and convince them to click and watch the video. A thumbnail should give a clear picture of what's in the video and hold the viewer's attention. For example, it could be an interesting image, or one that captures the essence of the video.

10. Length of your video: Measuring watch time across all platforms is a complex matter. While shorter videos are often watched more, a longer video can benefit watch time, especially if it's watched in full. The unwritten rule is usually that if you don't hook the viewer in the first 4 seconds, you lose them. If you do hook them, you're still left with the question of what length works best. There are different views on whether short or long videos are more effective, so it's important to consider which option best fits your video's objectives and which watch time is most valuable for your audience. You can look at which videos get a lot of views and which get relatively fewer. Often there's a pattern here, and you can test further based on that data. Over time you'll discover what your audience prefers to watch and what length fits that. So this isn't a formula, and it can vary from case to case.

Conclusion

By keeping these tips in mind, you can make the social media algorithm work for you and ensure your content gains more visibility and creates more engagement. It's important to remember, though, that building a successful social media presence takes time and consistency.

BLOGS

In this series of blogs, Eigen Bodem covers various topics around video marketing. Upcoming topics include:

• Why every business should use video in 2023.

• Why video is an effective way to grow your visibility.

• What can you use video marketing for?

• How do you deliver a clear and concise message?

• What to watch out for when making a video?

• Video and SEO > tips for improving your content's findability

• Which platform should you use, and why?

• How do you create easy and free video content?

• What types of videos can you make?

• How do you create a strong video marketing strategy?

• When is a video successful?