Hi everyone.  Brian here.  Normally this blog is for people who want to learn about creating art, selling art, and doing things to thrive in the creative community. Rarely do our blog posts contain words like algorithms (That type of stuff is usually reserved for the technology blog post I run over at resurgencewebdesign.com). Alas, today the two roads that normally travel parallel converge offering a rare opportunity for me to share some of the learning that I have garnered over the years of working in technology. Specifically we are going to be talking about algorithms, what they are, why they matter, and how you can adapt your business to them to reach the broadest possible audience.

What is an algorithm?

Algorithm is a word that gets used a lot in blog posts, media, and that seminar that you took that was supposed to grow your business by 1,000,000x propelling you into a stratosphere of success typically reserved only for those of us running technology companies whose daily petty cash fund is bigger than our retirement account.  For the most part we all know that there is an “algorithm” that is responsible for what content shows up in our social media platforms but that tends to be the extent of it.

I hate to break it to you but “The Algorithm” is really just a buzzword.  Algorithms are logical operations that computer programs use to make decisions. Think about a login for a website. 

If user is logged in show cool art stuff else ask them to log in

Think way back to elementary school math.  Remember those logic problems with the if-then-else scenarios. Computer algorithms are made up of thousands of these logical quandaries and computer programs are made up of many algorithms. The algorithm, although a bit of a misnomer, if a way grouping together all the if-then-else statements that Meta, Twitter, TikTok, or whoever is applying to your browsing habits to come up with the optimal things to show you. 

How does the algorithm work?

Well, that’s a secret.  Each of the big social media companies has their own criteria for how they choose which content they want to present you with. They are very careful to guard this information to keep people from being able to game the system and make sure their content is always at the top of everyone’s feed. They also constantly change their criteria so, what works once, may not work tomorrow.

There are a lot of companies that claim to have uncovered the algorithm. I am here to tell you: they have not.  They have made some best guesses and have figured out some of the things that work better than others. I’ll cover some common things that will help your content reach a broader audience and, I will admit, some of these companies have a lot of good pointers as well. Be wary, though, because a lot of these companies are trying to sell you a service. Their tips may be helpful but what is really going to give your social media legs is if you pay them because, just like everywhere else, money talks and they will use that money to place paid ads which will get you in front of more people.  That, however, is not what we’re here to talk about today. Today we’re talking about organic growth.

What the Heck is Organic Growth?

In digital marketing there are really two ways to get your content in front of people. One is through paid advertising and the other is through organic growth.  Organic growth is people basically stumbling upon your social media.  This could be because someone who follows you shared your content. It could be because you showed up in someone’s Google search.  Or it could be because the God’s of the Algorithm are smiling on you and your content was blessed with showing up in a great many peoples feeds.  

Organic growth is one of the most difficult ways of growing your business because we don’t know enough about the elusive algorithm.  We often just keep throwing things at our social media until something sticks and then make more of that same thing hoping lightning strikes twice (or thrice, and so on). Of course when something does catch fire we don’t always know what it was.  Was it the hashtag you used? Was it the filter you used? Maybe someone you tagged? Is it because Instagram is now favoring reels or because you made sure you posted every day to your Facebook account. It’s this black box that feels like LeMarchand’s Box which, when opened, is going to open up links to hellish dimensions unbeknownst to man.

How do I Grow Organically?

Clive Barker references aside the algorithm is a tricky beast to tame. That, however, doesn’t mean it can’t be adapted from a feral beast to a fairly harmless domestic creature. Let’s go through some ways to help you reach a broader audience with your social media:

  • Hashtags: Ah, yes, the infamous hashtag. Back in the 2000s these were popularized by Twitter because of the character limitations but they have since seeped into pretty much every aspect of social media. Hashtags are basically ways of categorizing your post so that people who like similar things will be more likely to see it.  Hashtags are extremely powerful way to increase the reach of your posts. A few things to consider about hashtags.
    • Generic hashtags are not great. It may seem like that is the best way to get the most reach using a hashtag with millions of other posts. The truth is you’ll simply get lost in a sea of other posts using that same hashtag. Not to mention some companies will penalize you for using these hashtags as it can come off looking like spam. Try to find some that are more specifically targeted to your audience.
    • Too many hashtags can also be problematic. In addition to some companies penalizing you (for the same reasons above) it can also look garish to many people. There is no magic number for the right number of hashtags but it’s recommended to keep it to around 5-10
  • Tags: Tagging people, or offering to collaborate with other accounts, is a great way to get eyes on your posts. The best way to grow organically is to tag people with a broader reach than you with hopes that they’ll share it to their stories and that’ll get more eyes on your post. Remember, though, in order to get any benefit you need the person on the other side to acknowledge your post and share it. Best practice would be to let the person know beforehand that you are going to be tagging them.  Also, unless you already have a large following, make sure that you are targeting creators that have a slightly larger reach than you. Tagging someone with a million followers when you have 24 followers isn’t going to net you much benefit. Tagging someone with 7500 followers if you have 2000 is going to be much more productive. Similar to hashtags, tagging too many people can be off-putting and can net you penalties.
  • Follower-to-following ratio: One of the easiest traps to fall into with social media is following people with the expectation that they are going follow you back. Ideally you want to have more people following you than people you are following. This indicates to the algorithm that you have engaging content that people what to view. Having more following than followers means that the algorithm sees you more as a content consumer rather than a content creator and is going to be less likely to promote your posts. A good way to increase your reach without following a lot of people is to simply engage with other peoples posts. Like their posts, comment on them, and let them come to you. You may not get a follow on every interaction but the followers will come and it’ll keep your follower-to-following ratio closer to 2:1 which is optimal when starting out.
  • Engagement: Speaking of engagement… this is what is going to really drive your growth. Posts that have high engagement, such as comments, likes, and shares, is going to help you to be seen by a much broader audience. Use tools such as polls and prompts if they are available to help guide your customers to engage with them. Pose questions to your audience. Look for what is trending and incorporate those trends into your posts (where appropriate). There is a lot of research for what gets better engagement. Certain filters, keywords, compositions, and hashtags have been proven to reach more people. Leverage that research.

Now, I am not going to go through a laundry list of the things that do and don’t work for social media because, a, I am not an expert in this field and, b, it changes constantly and it will be mostly likely outdated by the time you read this.  What I will tell you is to do google searches, read blog posts by experts in the digital marketing field, read forum posts on sites like Reddit, and test things out until you see what works for you.

What things you should not do

I’d be reluctant to make this post without offering a few suggestions of things not to do. Since the algorithm is such a fickle creature it is very easy to end up penalized to the point where no-one is seeing your content. Some things to watch out for:

  • Getting shadow banned.  If you are banned from a service because you broke their terms of service or because you did something equally or more egregious you are at least aware that you are banned and you either have to appeal it or start over from scratch.  Shadow banning, however, is much trickier. Getting shadow banned means that you did something that the company didn’t like and they aren’t suspending your account but they will ensure that your account doesn’t appear on anyone’s feeds. This could even block you from your followers feeds. Keep your account professional, don’t get into heated debates, and make sure you are avoiding things that might cause people to report your account. Remember, this is your professional account. If you want to get into a dispute with others reserve that for your personal account.
  • Buying followers: This might seem really tempting. If you have a very low follower-to-following ratio you may be tempted to buy followers. This never turns out well.  Most of those followers you buy are going to be fake accounts and will offer absolutely zero engagement. It is better to curate who you are following to improve your ratio and work on improving your reach than trying to artificially inflate your follower counts.

Next Steps 

The next steps are really just getting out there and posting consistent ,high quality content. Watch trends and try to work them into your social media strategy where appropriate but don’t just iterate on trends. Innovate. Come up with your own ideas. Start a hashtag and try to get others to get it trending. Think of new, unique ways of sharing your content. You may be an artist but you are also a small business owner and a lot of business is done on the Internet so learn how to use it to the best of your ability to grow your business.  Have your own suggestions for growing your social media? Share it with us @bz_furfur and let us know. And, as we like to say around here, stay unique.