Solved! Social Media Algorithms Inhibiting Content Marketing

Have you ever wondered why only 2 people view your social media posts?

Maybe you thought that you lacked the best SEO tools.

No.

Somebody is robbing you in broad daylight.

You may have noticed that social media platforms have embraced the uncanny behavior of hiding your posts.

You are not alone. Content marketers all over the world are crying foul due to the disservice.

How can your epic post get only 5 views, 2 likes, one comment and no share and yet you have thousands of fans and followers?

This article is going to show you why Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media hate your content and how you can redeem your content marketing strategies and get more views.

You can as well name this article: Circumventing harmful social media algorithms in content marketing

Just look at this screenshot:

 

In the tweet above, Chris Messina was only introducing the hashtag. Something that never even existed. But look at the number of interactions with the tweet.

At the wake of social media networks, one would post a photo of herself eating beef and get hundreds of comments and thousands of likes and  shares.

Now let’s compare the above screenshot with something you may be familiar with.

 

The post has no comments or even shares.

As you see in the above screenshot, the topic is great.

In fact, the article is very informative. But why are there no likes, comm

You may think that the Blog Writing Service has a few followers until you look at this:

 

Why is this happening?

An algorithm is at work. There are high chances that only a few of the followers saw the tweet in spite of their numbers.

Check out these amazing digital marketing tips to increase sales

So, what is an algorithm?

An algorithm is not a person.

For purposes of this article, I will call an algorithm a set of programmed instructions which tell the server which kind of digital stuff to display to which person and at what time.

What does this mean?

Regardless of your hard work building your network, not all of your thousands of social media connections are going to see your posts.

Brutal huh?

In fact, with the algo (as many people call it for fear of biting their tongue) in place only 2% of your followers will receive your updates in their feed. The rest of your connections are swallowed by noise signals.

To make matters worse, the trends are the same on all social media networks.

 

Why are social media networks hiding your posts?

That’s a genuine question.

But here is the thing. How would you feel if you received five updates from your 30k LinkedIn connections, 100k feeds from Facebook friends, 90k Instagram and Twitter updates?

Suggesting that you will go crazy is an understatement.

But there is more.

1. All platforms were created to help people – that is why they are called social media platforms. They are not called digital marketing platforms. Actually, you are the one that is at the wrong place!
2. The platforms are supposed to make money – when you pay for ads. That is how they self-sustain
3. They own the platform – what are you going to do about it? The worst is to delete your profile and go.

 

How to Circumvent Social Media Algorithms in Social Media Marketing

I am going to give you a step by step guide on how to regain your audience on any social media platform.

 

Get More Connections

Somebody recently asked me “How did you manage to get 20K new connections in 2 months?”

I simply requested people to connect with me.

It may sound simple, but it works.

We have already said that your posts appear in the feeds of less than 10% of your social media connections.

To outwit the algorithms, you must get a way of increasing the number of connections.

The essence of getting more connections is to increase the number potential engagements.

Assuming that 10% of your connections see your articles and you have 1k fans, then only 100 of them will see your post.

If you add more connections to say 2k fans, then 200 of them will see your post and so on.

But how do you get more connections?

1. Put your ego aside: We are talking about success here. Success has nothing to do with your ego and everything to do with proactivity.

1. Ask for connection requests: Just do what you read. If it is Facebook, send connection requests. Request to connect on LinkedIn, follow other profile on Instagram and Twitter. Do to others what you want to be done to you.

1. Accept connection requests: I find it rather odd when a content marketer ignores or rejects a connection request. What if it is a lead? What if it is an investor. Social media is the best place to connect with as many people as possible.

1. Get quality connections: While you cannot choose who sends you a connection request, you have the freedom of choosing who to request. Be wise. Connect to people who matter. Connect to experts who have thousands of connections. That is how you will increase your network and enhance brand awareness.

To know the exact process of growing your social media network, read what experts are saying:

 

Create Great Content

I cannot emphasize this enough. We live in a world where unscrupulous people want to force low quality content down the throats of followers through dirty click-bait techniques.

Search Engine land reported what Google treats as low quality content. Such type of content has no place in the contemporary content marketing arena.

Now that algorithms have capped your content outreach, high quality content is your biggest savior.

High quality content is amazing content which gives value, making it irresistible to share.

Features of high quality content:

• Original
• Great headlines
• Value-driven
• Data-driven
• Factual and accurate
• Visually engaging
• In-depth and long form
• Deeply researched
• Broken down and readable
• Thought provoking
• Actionable
• Visually appealing
• Correct spelling and grammar.

You can learn how to create great content here.

 

Post Daily

Social media platforms earn from users’ interactions with content.

One of the best ways of engaging with your audience is by being consistent. Consistency builds trust and helps in maintaining traction.

Whether it is your blog or your social media status updates, be sure to be consistent.

Why does it matter?

You must have a content strategy in mind.

All posts and updates must have the characteristics of great content.

A close examination of profiles of social media influencers reveal that they post consistently over a long period of time.

Let’s take LinkedIn as our example:

What is the effect of the LinkedIn algorithm on your posts?

I followed the posts of Oleg Vishnepolsky on LinkedIn and here is what I found out after four hours of posting:

 

After 4 hours, one of the “status update” post had  4530 likes and 358 comments.

Now let’s look at his article on LinkedIn’s Pulse:

The post has a fairly lower number of interactions.

 

 

And now for an article pointing to an external website:

Can you see the difference?

Evidence suggests that status updates reach a wider audience, followed by LinkedIn articles. Articles pointing to external sites only reach a handful of your connections, unless you use paid ads!

This alone tells you the power of LinkedIn status updates. It works!  Why don’t you replicate it across all networks?

Use micro-videos

People no longer want to read only; they also want to see you in action.

When I was selling books, a client asked me to provide a video version of one of the books. I had no video.

That is how I lost my client and went home empty handed.

That was 8 years ago.

Since then, video has evolved to be one of the most highly demanded type of content.

You may have realized that videos account for over 50% of your social media feeds.

Have you ever asked yourself why?

Neil Patel is one of the top marketers who leverages the power of video marketing.

In this video, he talks about how to

If you are not doing video marketing, you are losing a great deal of money.

Here are a few tips on how to create a smart marketing video on a budget:

 

Tag influencers

Influencers are important in helping you navigate the content marketing noise.

Why?

They are at the top and they can shout loud enough to be heard by their followers.

But how do influencers get the attention of their followers?

Most of them post daily, or they have somebody doing it for them.

Even if the algorithm were to affect their reach, they will still have a competitive edge due to numbers.

Social media sites like Facebook, for example, have decided to show more “People Content” and less “Business Content”.

What does this mean?

You get more feeds from people than from businesses. Since feeds from influencers have a wider coverage and higher popularity, you shall be constantly bombarded with them.

Why not use influencers to your benefit?

You can quote what influencers are talking about and build a new perspective out of it and then tag the influencer or request them to share your post.

 

Ask for Shares

Sounds desperate, doesn’t it?

No.

You can increase the number of social media shares of your article by asking your followers or your connections to share your article.

I believe you have received such emails or messages as this one:

Hello X,

I have written on “How to get paying clients using Facebook” and I would like to hear your opinion on the same in your free time. The article is here (url of the article).

You can also write something like this:

Hi Sammy,

I found this content inspiring, especially to content marketers. Would you mind having a look?

Link to the content here.

Your name

Since you mentioned that you would like to hear their opinion, your connection will:

• Read your content
• Comment on your content
• Share it if it makes sense

Make sure you are courteous enough. Don’t be too push. Nobody owes you a comment, an opinion or a social media share of your content.

Remember to return the favour when asked. I have realised that when you promote other people’s content, they are most likely to do the same to your content.

Let’s assume you request 50 people, each having over 5000 connections, to share your content and 20 of them accept.

At the end of the day, many people will definitely set their eyeballs on your content, even if we assume a 10% conversion rate.

 

Share, Like and Comment

It will be madness to expect other people to interact with your content when you don’t appreciate great content from other experts.

Your name and your brand gets seen when you interact with content on all social media platforms.

Let’s take the example of LinkedIn:

This is what people see when you comment on a post, or article.

Many of the connections engaging with the content will see your comment. What if your comment is clever and amazing? They may follow you or even request to connect.

Better still, you may get leads and clients.

 

Avoid Engagement Baiting

Engagement baiting is outright manipulation of your audience to take an action in order to boost your audience. Facebook recently declared to derank baited content. The earliest type of engagement baiting was clickbaiting.

When users became aware of the tactics, unscrupulous content marketers started using share-baiting, comment-baiting and like-baiting.

Clickbaiting: This is an uncanny way of creating headlines or links that promise too much than you actually deliver.

Like-baiting: It involves emotional manipulation of the audience to like your content.

Comment-baiting: You guessed it right. Here, you are coerced to comment to receive some favours.

Share-baiting: Somebody leverages the power of your emotions and tells you to share if you care.

Conclusion

Frequent changes in social media algorithms can rob you of your ability to reach your fans, followers or connections.

You can either curse the day you were born, pay the platforms or scheme a way to reach your audience. Any black hat social media manipulation tactics is out of the question.

One of the methods of doing this is by following the latest trends. For instance, high quality and visually appealing content is the hottest thing in town at the moment. To survive the competition, you need videos.

Increasing the number of social media connections and engaging with other people’s content will play in your favour.

You can also post regularly, use hashtags, get help from influencers and request your audience to share your content.

It is important to note that high quality content is the overriding principle in successful content marketing.

Otherwise, you will have to pay to get your content viewed.

Let’s talk.

How are you circumnavigating social media algorithms in your content marketing?