Social media has become interwoven into the fabric of our
society. We use it for personal reasons, socializing, networking and for work.
Billions of people are using Facebook every day. The popularity of social media
has the app companies tweaking their algorithms regularly to keep their
offerings relevant. The enormous amount of data available to us each day would
be overwhelming if not for this process. However, that also means that we may
not be seeing everything that we want to see in our feeds – or, conversely,
seeing too much of what we don’t want to see.
How do you make the algorithms work for you instead? You
have to invest a bit of time to get the huge payoff in the long run. It’s SO work it though. Here is a list of
things to do on Facebook to improve on the content in your feed and increase
the amount of quality, catered to you, posts.
Engage, Engage, Engage
The algorithm tracks how often you like, comment and share.
The pages and people you interact with the most are the ones you will see more
often in your feed. If you like something but are in a rush, do a quick thumbs
up as you scroll. REALLY enjoy something? That’s when you comment and share. You
will have to train the algorithm to display the type of content that resonates
with you.
Hide Sources
Did you know that you could hide sources? If a friend or
business page posts something you don’t feel good about – but normally shares
quality content – simply click the arrow in the top right of the post and hide
the source. That way you are still seeing that individual or company’s posts
but nothing from the source that you didn’t care for.
Unfollow
It can be tricky when a friend or family member becomes a
problem on your social media feed. Unfriending someone may seem a bit too
extreme and cause more drama than you’d like. You don’t have to unfriend them,
however. You can choose to Unfollow them instead. This means you are still
friends on Facebook but you won’t see what they post. This can often be a
win/win.
Click Cautiously
Our curiosity can often get the best of us and that is why
click bait is prevalent in social media. There are multiple issues with click
bait – or misleading posts created to convince you to click on a link – but the
one we are most concerned about here are related to the algorithm. Not only can
click bait be a waste of your time and lead to potential malware issues, but it
also informs the algorithm that you were interested in that post and that
source. Which means, guess what? More click bait in your newsfeed. Links are
great but use some caution. If you are uncertain but still curious, open up a
separate browser window and do a search for the topic in question instead of
clicking that link.
While this blog post has mainly focused on Facebook, these
methods can be effective on any social media platform where you spend your time.
It will take some effort on your part in the beginning but ultimately you, and
your feeds, will benefit from the cultivation of content that you actually want
to see.
Own a business page or social media account and want to
encourage more organic engagement? Make sure you are creating quality,
consistent content that your audience will actually want to engage in. If you
feel like your social pages aren’t getting enough attention, ask yourself
whether or not you are publishing content worth engagement.
Want some help with doing a social media audit or
suggestions on how to improve your social content? Give us a call. We know
exactly how to help you #BeAwesome with your social so that you can make those
algorithms work for you, instead of against you.
Want even more detail on this topic? Check out this Buffer
post on Decoding
the Facebook NewsFeed.
Be sure to Follow us and Let's Engage!
Hollie Clere of The Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media, Brand Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+,YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and the tools to manage them.
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