The algorithms are coming!  The algorithms are coming!

In February 2016 Twitter finally introduced a smart algorithm. For social media managers this meant only one thing, we would soon end up telling our clients and business owners that they would need to consider a budget if they wanted exposure on this platform, but we were wrong!  The initial algorithm was quite tame, and we saw very little impact in the newsfeed from our clients’ accounts, until now.

In October 2016, we saw a new tweak to the algorithm and this  change is very familiar!  Yes, we now have the option to tell Twitter “We don’t like this tweet” – which is similar to the Facebook action “I don’t like this post”.   If your followers are clicking this particular button then this will certainly have an effect of your overall tweet exposure.

What is a smart algorithm?

Nearly all social media platforms now have a smart algorithm.  In its very basic form, popular content (those that get the most likes, comments, and shares) will be bumped to the top of the newsfeed. Until recently, Twitter did not have an algorithm, therefore if you tweeted something, only those that were online at the time of the tweet would see your message, or those that specifically looked at your personal timeline.

It started with Google’s “Page Rank” algorithm, and then Facebook followed shortly afterward with EdgeRank. EdgeRank is also responsible for the way in which older (but apparently popular) updates often appear on top of newer pieces of content on news feed.  Here is an excellent article explaining how to cut through these different algorithms on Facebook, LinkedIn & Pinterest.

If you want your Tweets to appear in front of your audience, you now need to have popular content.  No longer should you tweet broadcasting messages, or automate your Facebook account to your Twitter account.  Your content just won’t be seen.

How can make your Tweets popular?

Idea #1 – Utilise Twitter Moments

Have you been using the Twitter moments feature?  Tweeting content that is already popular will certainly gain you more exposure in the newsfeed, especially if you add commentary with your own opinion.  For the icing on the cake, why not create your own Twitter moments?  This is a fairly new feature so not many people are doing it yet, but in my experience, it certainly works well and I always receive retweets, replies and likes on this content.

Idea #2 – Personalise your content

Abide by the 80/20 rule.  20% of your content should ideally be broadcasting / sales / education of your services or products type of tweets.  80% should be more personal.

For example:

• Selfies (love them or hate them, they work!).
• Photos or videos of where you are, what are you doing.
• Posting something to do with what is trending today (look at the trending hashtags)
• Retweeting others
• Engaging with others.
• Fun or facts posts.

I challenge you now to take a note of your last 20 tweets.  Count how many are 80% posts, and how many are 20% posts.  Ideally, you should have 16 x 80% tweets, and 4 x 20% type of tweets. What was your score?  Please leave a comment below.

Idea #3 – Good old Follow Fridays

When I put together reviews for my clients and I look at the most popular tweets, the follow Friday tweets are nearly always amongst the top.  People tend to think that the #FF or Follow Friday is a dead strategy, but I am here to tell you otherwise.  The key is to produce the tweet in the correct way. Clumping a lot of people into one tweet is NOT the way to produce a good Follow Friday.  The object is to make the recipient feel special, valued and obliged to respond.  Remember, the more engagement you have, the more your content is shown in the newsfeed, so please put some effort into your follow Fridays.

• Always add an image to your #FF
• Post 4-6 follow Friday’s each week
• Do not post Follow Fridays on a Thursday! (Yes, I have seen this happen!).
• Who do you produce a Follow Friday for?  Suppliers, Clients, Prospects, or new followers.

Idea #4 – Link to Problem Solving Content

A popular style of content is the problem-solving tweet.  This could be a video that you have produced or perhaps an article that you have written.  If the content is “evergreen” then there is no harm in regurgitating the same content, as long as it is assisting your audience.  You can use software such as MeetEdgar, Buffer or eClincher to regurgitate content.

Idea #5 – Posting Industry News

Subscribe to industry specific magazines and post their content to your newsfeed.  Showing that you are up to date with the latest developments within your industry is always a good thing, but you will find that your content becomes popular as others will feel the need to share your content.  Please do not have an automated RSS twitter feed.  To make your content shine and to prove that you are actually reading the article that you are tweeting about, add your additional commentary.  Why should others click through to the article?  What makes it a good read?   Twitter is now monitoring click-through rates, so if people are clicking on the links that you provide then this will have a positive effect in the Twitter algorithm.

Do you have any tips?

Do you have any tips to share with us to make your content more interesting and engaging?  I would love to hear and I am sure the readers of this blog would appreciate your input.  Please feel free to comment below.

[social-bio]