It’s only when you understand how social media works that you know your friends and family are demoting your business posts

Not intentionally. It’s not like your friends and family sit there harbouring some grudge from 5 years ago and deliberately try to sabotage your business, rubbing their hands as they secretly want you to fail

The truth is most of your friends have probably never even heard the phrase social media algorithm, never mind know how it works

WHAT IS A SOCIAL MEDIA ALGORITHM?
Every social media platform uses a social media algorithm to filter and order posts

Gone are the days of chronological posts with the most recent posts at the top of your social media feed

Platforms have acknowledged that so much is being posted on social media it needs to have some filter so that it shows you what you’re interested in

And of course social networks are a business, so if business posts aren’t shown to everyone the business owner has to go down the paid social route

Facebook have long had an algorithm and you’ll have noticed it more recently on Twitter and Instagram

SO THAT’S WHY I SEE THE SAME FRIENDS AND FAMILY AT THE TOP OF THE FEED?
Yes – the more you interact with a person, the more you will see that persons posts in your feed

So if you don’t want to see people’s baby photos or “Vaguebooking” posts more often, it’s probably best not to interact with them

If you think of each like, comment and share as a tick which counts towards a scoring system of what you will see

Similarly – those old school friends that you never chat to or comment on – you probably see them less often over time

AND THIS IS HOW FACEBOOK PAGES WORK AS WELL?
Yes – think how many times you see Buzzfeed or Ladbible in your feed

That’s because yourself and your friends interact with the pages a lot and it gets boosted in the algorithm and shown to more people

At the heart of what Buzzfeed and Ladbible do it’s the idea of clickable and shareable content that appeals to the Bored At Work Network

Even Twitter which is considered “real time” when you do a search you’ll see top and latest results

Twitter is based on interaction as well even if it doesn’t necessarily distinguish between business users and individuals

SO IS THAT WHY I DON’T SEE MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY BUSINESSES ON THE PLATFORMS?
That’s right

You probably liked the page or followed them when they 1st set it up, but if you don’t interact any further with it you probably won’t see all of the updates on the

page

Facebook says the average user has access to about 1,500 posts per day but only looks at 300.

That 20% of posts you you see is dictated to a certain extend by your interactions

Facebook also weights individuals over business pages in the feed

AH – SO THAT’S WHAT YOU MEAN BY SABOTAGING FRIENDS SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS?
Yes – exactly

Think how many times you’ve shared the success of a celebrity on social media or shared the missing cat of a total stranger

And then you see a friend business success or new offer and you notice it but scroll past it without an interaction

If you don’t promote it, you’re demoting it

A like is quite light touch engagement (i.e it takes no effort) but it helps a lot to get the word out

Remember social networks have no idea you’ll mention it to them face to face when you see them outside the school gates, in the pub or at the local football match

If you don’t interact on the social media platforms you’re demoting the post

HOW CAN I HELP MY FRIENDS BUSINESSES?
At the very least – simply click on the like button as you see one of their business page posts

Ideally go one step further – comment and share / retweet

But deeper than that think about what you’re interacting with and what you’re sharing

There’s something wrong with people sharing bad news from newspaper more often than they share good news and helpful posts from friends and family they love

AND DOES THAT APPLY TO THOSE IN MY BUSINESS NETWORKING GROUP AS WELL?
Totally

Business networking isn’t about what happens in the room for 1 or 2 hours a week

It’s about everything in between the meeting

Your Business Networking group isn’t working properly if the group aren’t supporting each others businesses on social media

I find about 20% of a business networking group are doing 100% of the online promotion and social media support – which means 80% are letting everyone else down

IS IT REALLY AS SIMPLE AS THAT?
Literally like, comment and share

It really is as simple as that

Every time you mention a post to a business owner face 2 face it’s lovely, but deep down they wish you’d have interacted on the post on social and shown others you

care

All you need to do is care enough to interact

IF YOU’RE A BUSINESS OWNER – SHARE THIS POST AND ENCOURAGE YOUR FRIENDS & FAMILY TO AMPLIFY YOUR POSTS

NEED HELP WITH YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA?
Chat to about Social Media Marketing for YOUR business, so we can better understand YOU and what will grow your business

We can only find out what is unique to your business by chatting with you

Look at our Social Media Training and Social Media Management services

Or

Please call Alex on 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk

Alex

Alex McCann is owner of Altrincham HQ – a social media management and training company based in Altrincham, Cheshire that has worked with 100s of local business developing their social media strategy. Alex has 350+ LinkedIn testimonials and is ranked number 1 for Social Media Marketing in the UK via independent customer reviews on Freeindex.