When it comes to social media, it’s absolutely essential for your business to stay up-to-date with changes to social platforms and algorithm updates if you want to maintain a strong online presence and effectively engage with your audience.
Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok are three of the most popular social media platforms and they’re constantly evolving, which is bound to present new opportunities as well as challenges for your business. In this article, we’ll explore recent and upcoming updates and changes to algorithms as well as how you can best utilise your business strategy in 2024.
What is a Social Media Algorithm?
A social media algorithm decides which posts rank higher than others on a platform; it’s a calculation powered by AI and its job is to promote an interesting user experience. It generates engagement on social media by prioritising content it thinks you’ll interact with.
Algorithms are important to businesses as they will influence how likely your posts are likely to be seen, and who they’ll be seen by. If someone engages with your content, the algorithm is more likely to show them more of your posts in future. By learning how social media algorithms are changing and how you can use them to your business’s advantage, you can maximise your brand engagement and your online presence.
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If you have a business page on Facebook, you’ll know that it can be difficult to achieve organic reach compared to using a personal account. This is because Facebook prioritises posts from users’ friends and family over businesses, as well as promoting the content a user engages with most, who they have messaged, and posts that generate lengthy comments.
A significant change to the Facebook algorithm relevant in 2024 is that it will prioritise posts made in groups and events, as these are the two most common reasons people use this platform. Facebook has also stated that it recommends using hashtags when creating a business post, as this helps to reach users who are interested in similar content.
To keep your Facebook page relevant in 2024 and to optimise your engagement, here are some top tips:
- Post short-form video content, as these types of posts tend to be prioritised
- Ensure all of your posts are set to “public” to allow sharing among users
- Ask interesting questions that are likely to start a conversation in the comments
- Utilise hashtags to reach users who are more likely to engage with your content.
Updates to the Facebook app in 2024 include:
- Further progressing the concept of the “Metaverse” by expanding its VR and AR offerings
- A greater focus on groups and communities, including allowing the publishing of stories and reels in groups
- Increased focus on privacy: be more mindful of how your business collects and uses customer data, and offer transparency on your privacy policy.
Despite Facebook’s sky-high number of users, Instagram has proven to be much better for engagement. Similar to Facebook, Instagram prioritises posts from people the user typically interacts with, as well as content that users engage with most. A key difference between the Instagram and Facebook algorithms though, is that Instagram treats business content in exactly the same way as content posted by consumers. Instagram also sporadically shows users high-performing content from a profile and hashtags that the user does not follow.
A prominent announcement from Instagram for 2024 is that they have disclosed the factors that affect whether or not the algorithm boosts your content. “Clickbait” does not get recommended, nor do contests, giveaways or repurposed content.
Here are some ways your business can work with the Instagram algorithm this year:
- Keep to a schedule - it’s important to keep your posting times regular as Instagram’s algorithm will “demote” you if you post randomly
- Use Reels to promote your products or services to captivate your target market
- Be time-conscious; engage with other content during the hour after you post something, and respond to every comment you receive within the three hours after posting. This will keep your content active on users’ timelines.
- Ask questions in order to generate meaningful engagement
- Use Stories to create organic engagement with your existing audience without affecting the aesthetic of your grid feed.
Some new features within the Instagram App include:
- Updates to DMs including chat themes, AI stickers for DMs and stories, the ability to toggle read receipts, and the ability to edit sent messages
- Ads with promo codes - this will encourage consumers to buy directly from Instagram as any valid promotional codes are automatically added to the advertisement
- Instagram will not promote any political posts from accounts you don’t follow.
TikTok
The TikTok “For You page” is highly targeted and personalised towards each individual user, and it clearly has a huge impact on businesses and consumers as Oxford Economics have reported that TikTok contributed $24 Billion to the US economy last year.
The biggest contributor to the TikTok algorithm is watch time – meaning that if you want to attract attention on this social media platform, you’ll need to post truly engaging content. Basically, when you first post a video to TikTok, it’s shown to a select number of viewers and tested to see whether or not people watch your video until the end or just scroll onto the next video. If your content performs well, it will continue being shared with larger audiences.
In order, these factors are what determines how much your video will be shown:
- Watch time
- Shares
- Saves
- Comments
- Likes.
For 2024, TikTok have said that they want to promote hyper-focused and useful content in order to peak users’ interest in things they didn’t even know they liked.
To utilise TikTok’s algorithm in 2024, try our tips:
- Post niche content; if your video is interesting, it can reach your target audience
- Use trending sounds to maximise views - trends tend to originate on TikTok before reaching other platforms, so leverage trends when they’re new for maximum engagement
- Try to grip the audience’s attention within the first few seconds of your video
- Add value by ensuring that your content is informative, entertaining, or inspiring
- Research trending keywords within the app and utilise them; many young people use TikTok as a search engine so doing this will boost your content.
Some app updates for TikTok include:
- The introduction of the Creator Rewards Program which rewards high-quality, original content over a minute long, using an optimised formula focused on originality, play duration, search value and audience engagement.
- An enhanced creator portal with improved monetisation tools and a Creator Academy to maximise creators’ potential.
In order for your business to thrive in the world of social media, digital advertising and content creation, it’s crucial to keep on top of important updates to social media platforms and their algorithms. By adapting your strategy according to each platform your business uses and by following our top tips, you’ll maximise your brand’s online visibility and engagement, ultimately resulting in more success in 2024 and beyond.
