When I scroll through my Instagram search section, I see cheeseburgers, pizza at home recipes, vloggers tasting different flavours of Tiramisu, and a lot of other food content. When I watch reels, I see either new K-drama scenes (even spoilers) or more delicious stuff.
Several times, I felt hungry right after finishing a meal simply because I had seen an aesthetic HD shot of savoury snacks. However, I realised how much algorithms actually impact my mind, time, and money only when I instantly ordered pizza and Coke after seeing a coupon discount Ad in stories.
Social media algorithms now impact 70% of consumers’ decisions. When users frequently see something they might be interested in, they end up buying it. Sometimes people buy what they probably don’t even need or use, but just like to own. Sometimes they buy something they may need in the future and can get now at a discount, and sometimes they simply get the perfect option in the product they were looking for to purchase.
All this happens because AI studies what social media users like by analysing the similarities in their search, likes, comments, story shares, saves, reel view durations, and follow patterns.
When social media was nothing more than a mere communication platform, consumers’ decisions were usually influenced by TV Ads, celebrities’ pictures on products, neighbours’ suggestions, and family discussions. Now, social media has replaced almost all of these; it has become a different world in itself for over 5 billion users.
Social media is used by people for more than two hours on average, and the decision-making conditions are created by these platforms. Social media algorithms determine and give priority to the content according to the user’s interaction and preferences, thus influencing the buying choice.
Nevertheless, a strong influence exists, but only a minority of marketers and business owners really comprehend the process of winning over the Algorithm to amplify their content. Many believe that posting daily with trendy music, hashtags, and keywords is enough to go viral. It is not.
What Algorithms Actually Reward
The primary goal of social media algorithms is to keep users engaged. If you want to master the art of creating high-reach content, start by studying the reasons why your target audience likes and engages with trendy, popular, or viral content. Study the similarities between top posts in your product niche, whether it is emotional storytelling, a humorous approach, an aesthetic backdrop, a clever solution, or the product’s making process.
Go through the comments, and check the kind of audience the post has attracted. Know what exactly the users like about the content, its transparency in rates, influencers’ recommendations, or how the product solves a particular problem.
Copying ideas is a common mistake, and their content ends up in a “quickly scrolled, no interaction” pile of the same content. Instead, study what worked for your competitors, set your goals, understand what’s unique about your product, and create your own strategy.
Rely on tools to make and track your social media game.
Each social media app’s analytics gives the user data on the reach, engagement, viewing time, and audience behaviour, which can be analysed to find the types of content that the algorithm likes the most.
Among other things, Google Analytics keeps track of social media-generated web traffic, and thus it can show how much the algorithm pushed the content in terms of clicks and conversions. Users of A/B Testing Tools (like Meta Ads Manager and Google Optimise) can test two variations of the content and see which one the algorithm prefers more.
Using the influencing abilities of the algorithm is easy once you understand it.
Sellers should concentrate on addressing the issues and needs of their audience by providing trust and solutions in order to make the most of social media algorithms. Regular posting also aids in the algorithm’s identification of the intended audience. Engagement is increased by attention-grabbing hooks in the first few seconds of video content. Some additional principles include:
- Diversify your content, avoid posting the same things frequently
- Pay equal attention to videos, carousels, stories, and collaborations
- Post during peak hours and have patience.
If your one post didn’t do well, don’t assume you need to change your marketing approach. All you need is perseverance and consistency. You can become the algorithm’s favourite child by setting reasonable goals, determining how long it will take to reach them, evaluating performance over that time, and adjusting your approach if you don’t succeed.
