Make Content For Humans Not Algorithms

Nothing grinds my gears more than seeing a marketer on social media shouting “MASSIVE ALGORITHM UPDATE, REELS ARE DEAD!”.

Sorry, but I call bullshit. Yes, we know as marketing professionals that social media platforms are constantly making updates to the machines that drive their algorithms, which means one type of content or another may be prioritised slightly for a period of time. 

But at the end of the day, no matter what updates are happening in the background, the number one goal of ‘the algorithm’ is to keep users on an app for as long as humanly possible. So the best way to ‘hack’ this algorithm? Create content that resonates with the people that are seeing it. 

If you’re creating fantastic content that resonates with your audience, they will stop, watch your video or read your caption, and like or comment. This then means that the next time you post, that same audience member will be shown the post, because the platform knows that it will make them stop, and ultimately stay on the app for longer. It also starts to build a profile of the type of person that interacts with your account, leading to your content being suggested to others who might not follow you already, but that an algorithm has determined would likely be interested in what you have to say.

This is where it comes back to (as it always does), the fundamentals of a marketing strategy. Who is your ideal audience, and what will motivate them to spend their money with you? Creating content based on those motivations will lead to results 100X more impressive than any ‘algorithm hack’ will.