Denise Alison empowers business owners to build relationships and connect with their potential customers on social media, and through live video.
By Denise Alison
H ave you ever wondered how social media platforms decide who sees what posts? None of it is by accident or by coincidence. Each social media platform has a sophisti- cated formula that determines which users see what, based on interest, activities, and other habits monitored by the platform. This is called an algo- rithm. “The Algorithm” was introduced to social media platforms because at a certain point, the sheer amount of content being posted meant that users would not be able to see every- thing, even from friends they are con- nected with and people they follow. All platforms have their own algorithm but they all work similarly and serve the same purpose – showing users the content they want to see.
How does this affect your business? It means that not all of your fans will see your posts, EVEN if they Like or Follow your page. In fact, some sources state that the average page reaches about 2% of it’s followers. How can you increase that number? By understanding how the algorithm works! The exact details and formula behind the algorithm are kept top secret. Although we are able to decipher some information on how it works. One important thing to note is that all social platforms have their own algorithm, but they all work similarly and serve the same purpose – showing users the content they want to see. Recently, during a media tour at its headquarters in San Francisco, Instagram (which is of course owned by Facebook) shared with its guests the factors that determine what posts each user sees in his or her feed. The three main factors are: Interest, recency, and relationship.
Your activities are constantly monitored while you are spending time on social media pages.
This helps the algorithm show your posts that you will most care about. This
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2018
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