The fight for newsfeed real estate on social media networks is fierce due to the enormous deluge of content. Additionally, as social media platforms continue to play with their algorithmic structures, companies are stuck in a state of constant flux as they scramble to adjust as quickly as possible to stay visible. The greatest, most relevant content should be surfaced to users by social algorithms, yet this ongoing effort to improve user experience has clearly hampered companies' and publishers' ability to reach their target audiences organically.
So how does your company continue to appear in users' news feeds without using advertisements? A strong influencer marketing campaign is one of the strongest defences against unpredictable and occasionally inconsistent social media platform algorithm tweaks, given my experience working with influencers for a variety of brands. High engagement, good content, and solid relationships are three things that algorithms adore, and influencers excel in all three of these categories. They specialize in building active audiences and are aware of the best kinds of content to create to engage their followers.
What are social media algorithms?
An algorithm is a set of mathematical rules that describe how a collection of data should behave. Algorithms in social media help with maintaining order and ranking search results and advertisements.
There were over 4.5 billion internet users as of October 2021, and of these, nearly 57 percent of the world's population used social media. Monitoring and managing that is a huge task. Because of this, algorithms play a vital role in evaluating the legitimacy and positioning of social media accounts and content.
What Causes Social Algorithms to Exist and Change?
On social media, algorithms are employed to organize the items in a user's news feed. Given the abundance of content, it gives social networks a mechanism to rank the material they believe users would find interesting. That may sound fantastic to a marketer because it puts your content in front of the proper audience. Beware though, social media algorithms are far from flawless. An algorithm's main function is to weed out unimportant or poor-quality stuff. If your content does not meet the requirements, it could be buried or removed from feeds.
According to YouTube research, videos that the algorithm chose but was not relevant to the user received millions of views. In fact, the same survey discovered that 60% of users came across YouTube videos showing people engaging in risky or disturbing conduct, while 64% of users came across videos that seemed misleading or inaccurate.
Social networks routinely modify their algorithms to enhance user experience since they are imperfect systems. The answer? Make sure your content is of the highest calibre, pertinent, and enticing, and monitor any algorithm changes to determine whether you need to adjust your social media strategy.
Change alongside the influencer
Despite the dire predictions, influencer marketing is still alive and well and has definitely changed. Others are already thriving in this climate, while it is true that many influencers will be left behind because they are unable to adjust to new circumstances.
Influencers are expanding their reach well beyond their followers by concentrating their creative expressions on algorithmically based platforms and formats like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts, favouring discoverability over audience interaction. This change is so deliberate that many of these people have dropped the influencer label in favour of the new one, "creator."
The most adaptable brands are already adopting influential creators, or creative influencers, who reach larger audiences through these algorithmically driven formats as they see the demise of the old influencer model.
