Social Media Algorithms

What's inside the blog:

Intro to social media algorithms 🤔
Optimization and KPIs 📚
Embracing authenticity on social media ✨

What is an algorithm?

An algorithm is a system of how social media platforms filter and distribute the content on the platform to different users. Mastering the algorithm is the key to reaching a wider audience and maximizing your content’s impact.

At Throne, we have experimented with various posting strategies focused on mastering this algorithm, yielding numerous insights along the way. In this article, we share some of our learnings.

Understanding social media algorithms is key to a successful online presence. Here at Throne, our social media team recognizes the significance of this knowledge. We recommend diving into social media blogs and industry insights to grasp the nuances of these algorithms.

Specifically, we recommend the blog posts from Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok that shed light on their respective algorithms. These resources offer invaluable insights crucial for navigating algorithms and understanding platform dynamics. Exploring these blogs can significantly enhance your strategy and impact on the social media landscape.

From these blogs, we've gathered valuable insights into how their algorithms function:

Twitter:

50/50 split for recommended posts between followers and non-followers
Prioritizes posts based on positive engagement
Utilizes heuristics and filters for a diverse feed

Instagram:

Each part of the Instagram app - feed, stories, explore, reels, and search- has its own algorithm
Generally, posts are ranked by evaluating popularity, user activity, posting history, and account details

TikTok:

The For You Page is crafted through user interactions- likes, shares, follows, comments, and created videos
The more you are using TikTok, the more personal your experience will be

We at Throne have often looked to influencers for inspiration. This is how we gained insights into the kinds of posts that optimize reach. Our experience has taught us that staying up to date with social media is crucial. It can provide you with trending ideas for your content. Trending content will outperform the algorithm.

Here are a few creators on Throne that are great at creating engaging content:

Users (left to right): @RIPmika, @noteasybeinwhee, @GuudeLP

Optimizing reach using KPIs

Carefully monitoring Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) has been pivotal for us at Throne. These metrics serve as guiding benchmarks, allowing us to measure post-performance against the ever-evolving algorithm. Once you identify the content that resonates best with your audience through these KPIs, the real magic begins. You can refine and repurpose this high-performing content to optimize its reach and impact. Consider it akin to curating your content just as the algorithm does – selecting and tailoring it to captivate and engage your audience effectively.

Here are 5 examples of KPIs the Throne social media team keeps track of:

Impressions: Reflects the reach of your content, indicating how many times it was displayed on a platform.
Engagement rate: A fantastic measure of how actively involved your audience is with your content. Improving this over time shows that your content is highly relevant and therefore more likely to be pushed up by the algorithm.
Likes: Signifies audience approval, quantifying how many people clicked the like button on your posts.
Comments: Measures audience interaction, representing the number of people who commented on your post
Followers: Indicates growth in your audience, representing those who clicked the follow button

We discovered that different types of posts resonate better with different KPIs, so the best practice for achieving your goal KPIs is to post a variety of content throughout the week.

Screenshot of a tweet from Throne: The words read "'I bet you look so cute gaming'" and "me" and then displaying a greyish green image of the dad from Coroline at the computer with zombie-like characteristics, wearing pink cat ear headphones — Here, we learned from our top-performing meme that shorter meme captions lead to better KPIs, and we continuously utilize this learning.

We encourage you to be authentic on social media. Thanks to our amazing Twitter community, we've gathered some valuable tips from our creators to guide you:

Keep it real: only share what you'd say or do in real life (@CBrianStevens)
Don't compare yourself to others (@moonschica_)
Be kind, respectful, and be yourself regardless of others' opinions. (@Syleste_)
Be positive and don't be afraid to be vulnerable (@RainbowZilla87)
Know your own worth! (@xMorganLeFayy)

5 tweet screenshots from 5 different users: @CBrianStevens, @moonschica_, @Syleste_, @RainbowZilla87, and @xMorganLeFayy. All the tweets are their advice on how to be authentic (summed above), and there is a dark blue background behind the screenshots.

Here are some more Throne partners who inspire us to embrace our authentic selves!

@AshleyRoboto on Twitter smiling at the camera, wearing a blue sweater, and holding her phone to take a mirror selfie with a blurry light colored background — Users (left to right): @AshleyRoboto, @okaydrian, @C9EmZ

@okaydrian wearing a green long sleeved shirt looking happily at the camera sitting in a gaming chair — Users (left to right): @AshleyRoboto, @okaydrian, @C9EmZ

Social media is a changing platform that optimizes its algorithm. Strive to optimize your posts to reach those who would love your content. We also encourage you to continue to create great content for your current audience. After all, that’s what social media is all about!

Our socials: Twitter, Instagram, TikTok

Check out our other blog posts here: Gift Guides for Every Occasion, All-New Wishlist App

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