Turn "the algorithm" from Villain to Sidekick!
This past week, there was another rash of artists and small biz owners posting something along the lines of: "Instagram has recently changed their algorithm so that only 7% of you see my posts. Please help my small business by commenting below if you see this post."
Social media marketing is massive and changes all the time. It's no surprise that small biz owners feel like they can't figure it out and think that IG penalizes them for not spending money on ads (not true). They use their follower count as a metric for how well they are doing (wrong tactic) and want to find ways to "beat the algorithm." I get riled up when I see these posts because all it takes is a shift of your perspective to change "beat the algorithm" (victim mindset) to "befriend the algorithm" (growth mindset).
Instagram hasn't made major changes to the algorithm since last year when it announced a change to the mission of both Instagram and Facebook. In the simplest terms, they stated they are promoting engagement. This means that the algorithm (in both platforms) shows you posts that it believes you will engage with which leads to 1. you spending more time on the app, 2. it gets to show you more ads, and 3. Instagram makes more money.
TIP: When encouraging engagement, likes, one-word comments and emojis will do little to tell the algorithm that you are engaging your followers. You may get a minor boost to your reach, but if you don't adopt a new strategy, you are not going to see new growth.
This week, I'm going to do a live video on my Instagram account Monday through Thursday to go through some of these fears and what you can do to befriend the algorithm. Let's change our perception of the algorithm from the villain to a goofy sidekick who loves showing you kitten videos.
MONDAY (6/10/19): It's Really Not About You- a New Way to Think About Your Marketing
TUESDAY (6/11/19): The Key is Authentic Engagement- 4 Steps to Success on Instagram
WEDNESDAY (6/12/19): What Gets the Attention of the Algorithm? Surprise! Likes and one-word comments don't count.
THURSDAY (6/13/19): 4 Simple Daily Tasks You Should be Doing on Instagram
FRIDAY (6/14/19): What Steps I Took This Week to Optimize My IG Account
Social media is a FREE tool that you can use to grow your small business. Click through to my profile and turn on notifications if you'd like to be notified when I post this week.
