You’ve posted something on social media which you feel really excited about. You check your page every few minutes as you eagerly wait for it to go viral.
Annoyingly, it only has a tiny reach with a handful of likes and very few comments. Frustrating, isn’t it?
Assuming the post is timely and relevant to your audience, and you’re not trying to sell thermal undies in a heat wave, the reason could be algorithms; those pesky, mysterious systems that order your timelines and decide who sees what and when.
They’re all for the benefit of the end user as, in theory, their timelines and feeds will contain the posts they most wish to see. Therefore their visit to the platform will be a much better experience so they’ll stay longer and return again soon.
You’ve probably heard before that, when posting on social media, engagement is key. This is why. When users engage with a post it signals to the algorithm that they want to see more of your content, and that their connections with similar interests might want to see it too. That’s how organic reach is gained and that’s what we, the page owners, love.
That’s also why a post from a celebrity with a huge following may appear on your feed below one from your mum. The celeb’s post may have millions of people engaging with it but, if you’re generally not one of those people and you and your mum tag each other in photos and engage with each other’s posts regularly, the algorithm will know that seeing posts from her will be of greater importance to you than seeing content from the celeb.
You would need a week off work to read all the other ways you can help increase organic reach, but below are a handful of suggestions to try...
Did you know, when you post an image and some copy on Facebook, typically around 1% of your followers will see it? That’s not many, is it? But if you post content which your followers engage with, Facebook will remember it and show your next post to more people. That sounds great, but if engagement is low on that post it will put the one after that back down to the 1-ish% again. Boooo to that!
If you want to increase the chances of content being shown to more than 1% of your audience, consider doing a ‘Live’ as this is much more favoured by Facebook. Do your Live at a time your followers are typically online and allow them time to log on as most will get a notification that you are broadcasting. If Live isn’t for you, try pre-recorded video instead which is second favourite on Facebook’s list.
Twitter moves much quicker than most of the other platforms and, like Facebook, engagement is a major factor in getting to the top of a feed.
It is acceptable to tweet the same content often, sometimes several times a day, so take a look at your analytics and re-use your top posts with very slightly modified content. It will save having to reinvent the wheel and give you more chance of getting the message across.
Sorry to sound like a broken record, but I’m sure it will come as no surprise to know that Instagram favours accounts which keep users active and – yes you’ve guessed it – engaged.
Unlike Facebook, Instagram doesn’t penalise people who use ‘click bait’ i.e. it is fine to ask for comments and reactions. This means you can easily find ways to open conversations, but make sure you respond quickly – not only will users appreciate this, but Instagram will love you more for it.
LinkedIn’s algorithm is formed of several stages, one of them involving real-life humans!
LinkedIn loves people who understand what the platform should be used for, so gifs of dogs wearing birthday hats, videos of what you got up to on Saturday night and a screenshot of a funny text you got from your sister have no place there.
Puns and fun jokes are OK, but only if they’re topical. It’s much better to write content which is relevant to your industry and will be of value to someone’s career, inspire someone in their work life or gives tips and advice.
You could share content from a credible source, such as a LinkedIn Influencer. They’re the ones with the small LinkedIn icons next to their names, whose posts bypass all of the filters and algorithm stages.
I hope that has been useful but, if you got bored and skipped to the end, the main thing to remember is that social media is an opportunity to socialise and build relationships; it shouldn’t be treated as a broadcast tool. There are no quick fixes, and it takes time to build up a following which is as valuable to you as you are to them.
Good luck, and keep an eye out for more hints and tips.