Confused on Meta's New Algorithm? Here's How You Can Fix It
Contrary to popular belief, there are actually three guarantees in life. Death, taxes, and Meta seemingly changing their algorithms every month. Jokes aside, social media algorithms never remain the same and the smallest of changes can have the biggest impact on your account's ability to reach your audience.
One of the most notable changes is the steady decline of organic reach for business accounts. According to a 2021 Hootsuite report, the average reach of an organic Facebook post is only about 5.2%, meaning only a small portion of your followers will actually see the content that you post. This is mainly due to how the current algorithm behaves. So, how does the algorithm work?
How Does Meta's Algorithm Work?
One of life's greatest mysteries is how the great pyramids were built... and also how social media algorithms work. Thankfully, Meta gives a comprehensive guide on how their algorithm decides what content should be shown to you. Below is a breakdown of the main takeaways that may link to why your posts may be losing their reach
Who Posted the Content
What is it? This metric determines who actually posted the content that appears in your feed. This identifies if a friend, family member, news source, business, or a public figure posted the content.
What Does the Algorithm Prefer? In general, the algorithm will give this metric a higher rank if you engage with this account often. That means if you like this accounts posts, leave comments frequently, and/or visit their page often, you will be more likely to see their content pop up in your feed.
Type of Content Posted
What is it? This metric simply identifies what type of content you have posted. It determines whether you made a text post, an image post, or a video post.
What Does the Algorithm Prefer? Similar to the previous metric, the algorithm prioritizes content that you engage with the most. So, if you typically engage with video-based content, you will likely start to see more videos appear in your feed from the accounts you follow.
Interactions with the Post
What is it? This metric measures how much engagement any given post is getting. This includes how many likes, reactions, comments, shares, saves, and link clicks a post is getting.
What Does the Algorithm Prefer? The algorithm likes posts that are getting the most engagement from other users. This is a signal to the algorithm that the content resonates with the poster's audience, thus you are more likely to enjoy it as well.
So, What Does this All Mean?
Essentially, these metrics are a signal to all publishers that your content needs to tell a story rather than sell your brand. According to Meta, they state that they have learned over the years that "people value stories that they consider informative," so the age of strictly posting about your products is now gone.
So, where does that leave businesses who rely on social media to spread the word about their products? Meta also provides some pointers on what can be done to improve your content to make it resonate not only with your audience, but with the algorithm. We will also share some accounts that we believe best represent these practices.
Post Meaningful Content
People value content that tells a story. People want to be engaged. People don't want to be sold a product. The days of hard selling your products are long gone and people now prefer to feel like the brand has a human-like quality to it. That's why it is important to shift your content strategy to tell the stories of the people who use your products.
Nike is a prime example of what it means to share meaningful content. If you take a look at their Instagram page, you'll have a hard time finding posts that directly promote their products. Instead, you will see posts that are centered around telling the stories of those who strive to change the world, achieve their goals, or motivate those they influence. The content is meant to make the customers feel like the brand is human rather than some disembodied entity that sells athletic equipment.
Here are some prime examples of the type of meaningful content they post.
Post Informative Content
We all have heard the phrase "content is king," and here at PS Digital, we cannot stress that enough. It doesn't matter how many products you sell. If you don't share relative and valuable information about your brand and products, you won't get very far. Thankfully, people on social media value information, and so does Meta's algorithm.
This metric is somewhat subjective. What you find to be informative may be completely irrelevant to someone else. That's why it is important that your content caters specifically to your customers rather than attempting to please everyone. This content can be anything that is relevant to your business and your audience.
- How your product/service was developed
- How your product/service works
- Features of your product/service that may need to be explained
- Case studies showing how real customers use your products/services
- Sharing industry news and showing how your product/service is relevant to it
- Addressing a common problem in your industry and how how your product/service can fix those problems
- Tips and tricks relating to your industry
- "Top 10" lists that can engage your audience
There is no silver bullet when it comes to posting informative content. So long as you identify what information your customers will find useful and you create content that will engage your followers, you will be on track to getting better results from your organic posts.
Here are some examples from Dain Walker, who consistently makes engaging posts about branding tips and trends.
Additional Pointers
Though posting meaningful and informative content is some of the best ways to increase your organic post reach, here are some other general tips that will help your posts appear in your followers' feeds more often.
- Have a consistent posting schedule
- Make posts that engage users with other users
- Don't use black-hat techniques to manipulate the algorithm
- Make sure the content you post is accurate and truthful
- Make use of Stories and Reels to reach your audience in more places
Explore Instagram's new collaboration feature
Bite the Bullet and Pay Up
Throughout this blog post, we have only talked about ways you can increase your organic reach. However, there are other ways for you to reach more people in your audience, and that's through boosting posts and paid ads.
For small businesses, this is obviously not the ideal option. However, with the decline in organic reach and the need to continuously monitor Meta's algorithm for new changes, putting a small budget into your social media strategy maybe a viable option. The premise of this strategy is that you can pay as little as $5/day to place your content in front of the people you identify as your audience.
They can be targeted very generally via the boosting method, or you can be meticulous in your targeting via the Facebook Ads Manager. We will talk about the difference between these two platforms in a later blog post.
Closing Notes
It has become more evident now than ever that people want to have experiences. Whether it's through traveling to a new country, going to a new restaurant, or in this case, scrolling through your social media feeds, people want to have an experience. Though Meta's algorithm will likely change within a week or two of this blog being published, clearly they are now interested in showing their users content that is informative and tells a compelling story.
So, if you are struggling to get more than five reactions on your Facebook post, take this opportunity to reevaluate your content strategy and think about the stories your brand can tell to your audience.
If you are interested in revamping your social media marketing strategy, contact PS Digital and see what we can do for you!
