Understanding Social Media Algorithms and Their Impact on Marketing

Social media platforms are constantly changing their algorithms. As a marketer, it’s important to understand how these changes can impact your Organic and Paid reach.

in this latest Knowledge Base post, we’ll take a look at:

1. What are social media algorithms?
2. How do social media algorithms work?
3. What are the recent changes to social media algorithms?
4. How do social media algorithms impact marketing?

What are social media algorithms?

Social media algorithms are the set of rules that determine what content is shown in a user’s feed. These algorithms are designed to show users the most relevant content.

How do social media algorithms work?

Social media algorithms use a variety of factors to determine what content to show users. These factors can include:

1. The type of content (for example, video, text, image)
2. The time the content was published
3. The user’s interaction with the content (for example, likes, comments, shares)
4. The user’s relationship to the content creator (for example, friends, followers)

What are the recent changes to social media algorithms?

The most recent changes to social media algorithms have been designed to show users more content from their friends and family.

How do social media algorithms impact marketing?

Social media algorithms can impact marketing in a number of ways.

Organic reach

Organic reach is the number of people who see your content without you having to pay for it. The changes to social media algorithms have caused a decrease in organic reach for many brands.

This is because the algorithms now prioritise content from friends and family over content from brands. As a result, brands have to work harder to create content that is interesting and engaging enough to get users to interact with it.

Paid reach

Paid reach is the number of people who see your content because you have paid for it. The changes to social media algorithms have caused an increase in the cost of paid reach.