Think about it. How much of the content in your social media feeds is actually from accounts you follow? On Instagram, more than half of the content viewed is recommended by AI-enhanced algorithms. As algorithms place suggested and promoted content in user’s feeds more than ever before, marketers have a better chance to attract new leads outside of their followers who are engaging with similar content. 

What is an algorithm?

Algorithms determine the order of content displayed in a user’s feed based on thousands of signals. Using complex rules and calculations, algorithms rank these signals to predict and suggest what content will drive the most engagement and satisfaction for each user. Now with AI pushing these capabilities even further, algorithms are becoming increasingly accurate at predicting behavior. 

Ranking signals often analyzed include:

• Relevancy: Posts are given a relevancy score based on factors such as a user’s likelihood to click, interact with, or find the content informative, as well as the likelihood a post is clickbait and/or links to a low-quality webpage.
• Engagement Level: The more likes, shares, and views a post has, the higher it will rank. High engagement levels also significantly increase the chance your organic content is suggested to users who don’t follow your page.
• Account Credibility: Information about each profile or business page is analyzed—ranking content posted by trusted sources higher. Algorithms will also look at your follower count, post frequency and follower engagement.
• Quality: Post quality is particularly important for videos. A low-quality video will decrease the likelihood of your video being suggested. Videos with better resolution, audio, lighting and shooting techniques receive a higher quality ranking.  
• Timing: Recent posts are prioritized so it's important to know what time of day/week your audience is online. If your post continues to see engagement over time, it could still show up in someone’s feed at much later dates if other signals such as relevancy or engagement are high. Frequency also plays a role since algorithms give priority to accounts that post quality content consistently.
• Demographics: Location, language, gender and age are factors considered when predicting a user’s content preferences.
• Content Type: Videos, images and text are analyzed based on user interaction. Algorithms typically rank videos higher because they receive more engagement.

The battle between privacy and personalization.

As customers demand both privacy and personalization, social platforms are giving users more options to control what content the algorithm recommends. At the tap of a button, users can mute accounts they don’t want to see anymore and report or mark a post as “not interested.” That’s why knowing your audience is critical. Irrelevant content will be labeled spam and hurt not only your post’s ranking but your account’s credibility. Your content must be relevant and engaging, providing value or entertainment.

How different social platforms rank content.

Understanding how content is ranked on different platforms will help you create posts optimized to your audience’s preferences, behavior and interests.

LinkedIn

Maintaining its reputation for being a thought-leadership platform, LinkedIn’s algorithm focuses on the quality of content and states it “is not designed for virality.” The algorithm filters posts into three categories: spam, low-quality and high-quality. It assesses the post for readability, keywords, hashtags and whether or not it encourages responses.

Other key signals considered are relevance, engagement probability, the author’s credibility and if there are meaningful and insightful comments on the post. And as a networking platform, relationship-building is prioritized. Content from 1st-degree connections ranks higher in a user’s feed, as well as accounts they engage with regularly.

Your post relevancy, formatting, call to actions, hashtags and interactions within the comment section play a huge role in post ranking. Content must provide real value and insights. Educational or how-to carousel posts perform much better than statistics, portfolio examples or product/service presentations.

Facebook

Facebook describes its algorithm as a four-step process. First, it inventories what content has recently been posted by friends and Pages you follow. Second, it analyzes thousands of signals such as account credibility, timing and even small details like the speed of your internet connection—will videos load? Then it predicts how likely a user will engage with the post and find it meaningful. Lastly, these signals are consolidated to generate a relevancy score, putting posts with the highest score at the top of your feed.

With a focus on friends and communities, content from friends and pages followed is still prioritized in user’s feeds. For Reels, however, the “highest quality” content is promoted first. Facebook defines this as content that entertains, inspires, or starts a trend, uses vertical video, creative tools (text, filters, camera effects) and music, and clearly showcases your content with good lighting and shooting techniques.

Instagram

Instagram has an algorithm for each part of the app—Feed, Stories, Reels and Explore. The Feed includes a mix of recent content from accounts you follow as well as recommended content and ads based on many factors, especially how long a user views a post and which posts they like, comment on, save or share. Format is also considered—if the algorithm notices you prefer videos over images, they’ll show more videos. And the accounts you interact with the most gain higher priority.

The Stories algorithm looks at how often you view and engage with an account’s stories. Suggested content isn’t shown in Stories, but ads are included. The Explore section is solely recommended content, with the algorithm analyzing past behavior to help users discover new accounts, content and communities—showcasing content from pages users don’t follow yet. This is why it’s critical for marketers to optimize content for searchability and ensure it adheres to Instagram's Eligibility and Recommendation Guidelines and Community Standards.

Reels are primarily meant to entertain or teach viewers. As a result, the majority of content shown is from accounts you don’t follow. Instagram surveys users regularly to become better at determining what will entertain people. It states the most important signals for creators to keep in mind is how likely users are to reshare a reel, watch a reel all the way through, like it, and go to the audio page.

Refine your social media marketing strategy today.

As you continue to create content, take algorithm considerations into account. With users being shown more suggested content and gaining control over what they want to see, it’s essential to understand your audience’s unique preferences.