How to Beat Every Social Media Algorithm (3 Easy Steps) — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00The social media algorithm is not a
2. 0:02mystery. In fact, it's [music] just
3. 0:03three simple steps. It's the same three
4. 0:06steps on LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, and
5. 0:09Instagram. And once you understand these
6. 0:10three simple steps, you'll never post
7. 0:13the same again. So, who am I and why do
8. 0:15I have the authority to talk to you
9. 0:17about social media algorithms? Well, I'm
10. 0:19Harry and I run a content marketing
11. 0:20agency called Leader. So, knowing about
12. 0:22algorithms and doing the hours and hours
13. 0:24of homework it goes to keeping on top of
14. 0:26them isn't just a hobby for me, although
15. 0:28it might seem like that. In fact, it is
16. 0:30a job and it's the job I do for clients
17. 0:32day in, day out. Our agency has taken
18. 0:34people from absolute zero, no audience,
19. 0:37no following, into profiles with
20. 0:39millions of followers across all social
21. 0:41media platforms. [music] And it's
22. 0:43something I'm even implementing right
23. 0:44here in this video you're watching
24. 0:46today. This channel, would you believe
25. 0:47it, is a month old, but already has over
26. 0:503,000 subscribers and has achieved over
27. 0:52100,000 views in just a month. That's
28. 0:54not luck, that's not a fluke, that's
29. 0:56because I understand how the algorithm
30. 0:58works, what content I need to put out
31. 1:00there, and how to go viral. In this
32. 1:02video, I'm going to teach you the most
33. 1:04important parts of the algorithm that
34. 1:05you need to know to go viral, too.
35. 1:08Firstly, we're going to go through
36. 1:09exactly what happens to your post after
37. 1:11you click publish that makes people see
38. 1:13it versus not see it, and then we're
39. 1:14going to go into the three steps you
40. 1:16need to implement to beat the algorithm
41. 1:18on every social media channel. It really
42. 1:20is so, so simple and that's why it
43. 1:23frustrates me because everyone can
44. 1:24implement these things, but they just
45. 1:26don't know what they are. Okay, let's
46. 1:27get into it.
47. 1:32Now, the first thing I need to get
48. 1:34straight because it really is at the
49. 1:35center point of all the thinking around
50. 1:37algorithms is that there is just one
51. 1:40algorithm across all channels. There's
52. 1:42not a LinkedIn algorithm, a TikTok
53. 1:44algorithm, an Instagram algorithm all
54. 1:46working independently. All of those
55. 1:48platforms have the same objective and
56. 1:50they've created an algorithm to get to
57. 1:51that objective in the same way. So, the
58. 1:54rules are the same. What is that
59. 1:55objective the social media channels are
60. 1:57trying to achieve? It's very simple.
61. 1:59They're trying to keep you on the
62. 2:01platform for as long as they can. More
63. 2:03time on the app means more time for
64. 2:05adverts, which means more money in their
65. 2:07back pockets. That's it. That is their
66. 2:09entire business model. Which means, and
67. 2:11this is really important for you to
68. 2:13understand, the algorithm is not
69. 2:15dependent on how good your post is, how
70. 2:17effective it is, how insightful it is.
71. 2:19It's only measuring your post on its
72. 2:22ability to keep that person on their
73. 2:25social media platform. It's ultimately a
74. 2:27matchmaker between content and audience.
75. 2:30It's trying to put the right post in
76. 2:31front of the right person. If that match
77. 2:33goes well, the person stays on the
78. 2:34platform. If it goes poorly, that person
79. 2:37will exit the app. So, stop asking, "How
80. 2:39do I write a good post? How do I beat
81. 2:40the algorithm?" Instead, start asking,
82. 2:43"How can I get my right content in front
83. 2:45of the right people?" Every single
84. 2:47tactic I'm going to go through in this
85. 2:48video is fundamentally around that core
86. 2:50belief. It's either going to help match
87. 2:52your content to the right people or make
88. 2:54your content more engaging to that
89. 2:55audience once that match has happened.
90. 2:57So, how do social media channels match
91. 2:59your content to the right audience? How
92. 3:01does it know what content you're putting
93. 3:03out there is going to engage what
94. 3:05audience? Understanding this is crucial
95. 3:07[snorts] to understanding the algorithm
96. 3:09as a whole. So, after you press that big
97. 3:11publish button, every single social
98. 3:12media channel goes through the same
99. 3:14three steps to determine if your post is
100. 3:17going to go viral or not. Those three
101. 3:20steps are classification, testing, and
102. 3:22then the third step is either scaling it
103. 3:24or stopping it. And that is the
104. 3:26algorithm trying to find out what your
105. 3:27post is about. So, it reads everything
106. 3:30at once. The content, the caption, the
107. 3:32title, the hashtags. It will also get
108. 3:34some information about other posts on
109. 3:36your page to see what they were about.
110. 3:38It's basically a deep dive trying to
111. 3:40understand as much as it can from the
112. 3:41raw materials on what you are posting
113. 3:44about. It comes out with two answers or
114. 3:46two hypotheses, if you will. What is it
115. 3:48about? Who is it for? It's also just
116. 3:50making sure your content at this point
117. 3:52isn't engagement bait or AI slop that it
118. 3:54doesn't want to put out there at all.
119. 3:56But, the reason I use the word
120. 3:57hypothesis for these is it doesn't quite
121. 3:59know yet. And that leads us on to stage
122. 4:01two, which is testing. Naturally, the
123. 4:03social media algorithms are not going to
124. 4:04just pump your post out to everyone
125. 4:06before it's tested. It first tests at a
126. 4:08small scale before deciding whether to
127. 4:10scale up or down based on the
128. 4:12performance of that test. So, it picks a
129. 4:14small group that it hopes the post will
130. 4:16do well within. Based on the engagement
131. 4:18of that concept within that small group,
132. 4:19it'll then decide what to do next. And
133. 4:21this is again something you want to go
134. 4:23over with you because it's critical to
135. 4:24the algorithm. They're vanity metrics
136. 4:26that the algorithm surprisingly doesn't
137. 4:27really care about. When I say
138. 4:29engagement, I mean how long is it
139. 4:31retaining that audience for? How long is
140. 4:33it keeping them on the platform for? Cuz
141. 4:35remember, that is the ultimate goal of
142. 4:37all social media platforms. Keep that
143. 4:39person watching the video. So, how well
144. 4:41has it achieved that in the pilot small
145. 4:43test group will determine where it goes
146. 4:45in stage three. So, stage three is the
147. 4:48exciting part of the test, and it's
148. 4:49basically it deciding whether your post
149. 4:51is going to scale up or it's going to do
150. 4:53the opposite and it's going to stop
151. 4:54showing it anymore. And it all depends
152. 4:56on how well you've performed in that
153. 4:58test group. If you put a post out there
154. 4:59and it gets its first 100 views and then
155. 5:01it stops, it's probably because within
156. 5:03that test group it didn't resonate with
157. 5:05the audience. If you get the 100 views
158. 5:08and then you start seeing more traction,
159. 5:09more traction, more traction, it's
160. 5:10because it's worked in that test group
161. 5:12and then the algorithm is testing it on
162. 5:14new groups, new groups, and expanding
163. 5:16that audience. That's the direction you
164. 5:18want your post to go in. So, those are
165. 5:20the three steps that every algorithm,
166. 5:22LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok,
167. 5:24they all go through those three steps
168. 5:26when deciding if your post is one that
169. 5:28should go viral or that should be dead
170. 5:30in the water. Now, before I get to the
171. 5:32most exciting and valuable part of this
172. 5:34video, which is actually what you can do
173. 5:35to your posts to beat that algorithm,
174. 5:38cuz trust me, I know how to beat that
175. 5:40algorithm.
176. 5:44I just I to quickly call out that if you
177. 5:46are enjoying this video, please do like
178. 5:48and subscribe. I'm doing a very long
179. 5:50series on how to grow on social media as
180. 5:53a key person of influence. If you're
181. 5:54trying to win clients and leads on
182. 5:56social media, whatever you're trying to
183. 5:57do, we're on this channel trying to help
184. 5:59you achieve that goal. So, don't miss
185. 6:01out on that content. Like and subscribe.
186. 6:03Let's get back to the video.
187. 6:08So, these are three steps you can
188. 6:09install today to give yourself the best
189. 6:12chance at beating the algorithm. Trust
190. 6:14me, they're going to work. So, the first
191. 6:16one is being easy to classify. This is
192. 6:18probably the least exciting of the three
193. 6:20steps, most boring, but it is actually
194. 6:22probably the one that's going to move
195. 6:24the needle the most. Almost be boring
196. 6:26and how easy you are to classify with
197. 6:28your content. You want to be able to put
198. 6:30into a box so the social media algorithm
199. 6:33knows who you're trying to reach and
200. 6:34what you're trying to show in your
201. 6:36content. Remember, your success or
202. 6:38failure depends on how you perform in
203. 6:40that pilot group of 100 people, and then
204. 6:42it will never ever go anywhere. The
205. 6:43alternative is if it's very clear who
206. 6:45you're trying to target, what's going to
207. 6:47happen then? Because they're reaching
208. 6:48the right people, they'll probably
209. 6:49engage with it more, which means instead
210. 6:52of scaling down at the end, you're going
211. 6:53to scale up and it's going to expand you
212. 6:55further. In other words, you're going to
213. 6:56beat the algorithm. So, how can you do
214. 6:58this? Well, pick one very clear niche
215. 7:01for your channel, and then pick one very
216. 7:03clear audience who you're trying to
217. 7:04speak to, who you're trying to serve,
218. 7:06and match those two together for every
219. 7:08bit of content you produce. You want to
220. 7:10be put in a box. This is the content
221. 7:12this person produces, and this is who
222. 7:13they're producing it for. Just imagine
223. 7:15if you're posting very sporadically.
224. 7:17You've got one post about a holiday, one
225. 7:19post about what you're wearing that day,
226. 7:21one's about marketing, one's about
227. 7:22sales. When you put a new video out
228. 7:24there, it's very hard for the algorithm
229. 7:25to know what exactly your channel is
230. 7:27about. So, it doesn't know who to show
231. 7:29your video to. The result on that is a
232. 7:31poor test group that doesn't engage, and
233. 7:34your video never goes anywhere. I say
234. 7:36video, but it's the same for any type of
235. 7:37content you're putting out there,
236. 7:38whether it's a post, a carousel, or a
237. 7:40video. The frustrating thing is however
238. 7:42excellent your post is, it could be a 12
239. 7:44out of 10 post, if it's not in front of
240. 7:46the right people, it's never going to
241. 7:48perform. So, this step is what you need
242. 7:50to do at the base to make sure you're
243. 7:52showing your content to the right
244. 7:54people. Step two is to own your test
245. 7:56group cuz you may be surprised to hear
246. 7:58that test group of people that the
247. 7:59algorithm first shows your post to in
248. 8:01determining whether it's a good or bad
249. 8:02post is actually not random and you do
250. 8:05have a bit of control as to who those
251. 8:06people are because it's often largely
252. 8:08built around people the platform
253. 8:10associates with your content. People
254. 8:12that have engaged with previous content,
255. 8:14subscribers, followers. On LinkedIn it
256. 8:16might be your network, on YouTube it
257. 8:17might be your subscribers, but it's
258. 8:19fundamentally people who know who you
259. 8:21are on the platform. This means you
260. 8:23actually have an assets that you're
261. 8:24building on social media. What's that
262. 8:26asset? Well, it's that audience, that
263. 8:28network of people who know who you are.
264. 8:30The bigger and better that gets, the
265. 8:32better and more effective your pilot
266. 8:34phase testing will be. Let's say you
267. 8:36have a really loyal audience of 200
268. 8:39people that whenever you put a post out
269. 8:41there, they engage with that post
270. 8:42immediately. They are going to be fed
271. 8:44into that testing phase and if they
272. 8:46like, engage, and watch the video, that
273. 8:49is going to help you in when the
274. 8:50platform decides if it's a good post or
275. 8:52a bad post because it thinks it's a good
276. 8:54one. So, how can you build out this
277. 8:55community of loyalty? It's actually a
278. 8:58lot easier than you think. It's about
279. 8:59engaging with that community. I reply
280. 9:01very quickly and in depth to anyone that
281. 9:03comments on a post, video, or anything
282. 9:05else I put out there. I then often go
283. 9:07and engage with their content. So, if
284. 9:08they're putting content on their profile
285. 9:10or page, that's a good way to build out
286. 9:12audience, too. And it's about knowing
287. 9:14when your audience is around. If you
288. 9:16know your audience is largely from the
289. 9:17UK, you're going to want to post at a
290. 9:19good time for that UK audience to give
291. 9:20you the best chance of them appearing in
292. 9:22your testing phase. And the final bit
293. 9:24you can do is actually more of a don't
294. 9:26than a do, which is never, ever, ever
295. 9:28buy or fake engagements. It's not that
296. 9:30these groups don't work, it's actually
297. 9:32much, much worse than that cuz you're
298. 9:34telling the algorithm that these bots
299. 9:36that are watching your videos, they're
300. 9:38the type of people your videos are for.
301. 9:40So, what's it going to do? Well, it's
302. 9:41going to show your content to more of
303. 9:42those fake profiles, bot profiles, and
304. 9:45I'm going to go out on a limb and say
305. 9:46they're not the people you're really
306. 9:47trying to reach with your content.
307. 9:49Because let's say it finds out all that
308. 9:51bot traffic did well in the testing
309. 9:52phase, it's then going to expand to the
310. 9:54same kind of profiles. So, you're just
311. 9:56going to show it to more bots.
312. 10:01Now, just a quick pause before I get
313. 10:03into step three. We've talked a lot in
314. 10:05this video about content, beating the
315. 10:07algorithm, and basically how to scale on
316. 10:09social media. The reason you're probably
317. 10:10watching this video is you know it is
318. 10:12difficult. It is a headache. If it was
319. 10:14easy, everyone would do it. But
320. 10:16thankfully, having done this for 5 years
321. 10:18now, I know how to beat these
322. 10:19algorithms, and I know how to scale on
323. 10:21social media. I've got some very
324. 10:23exciting news that this week we've
325. 10:25launched an online course where people
326. 10:27like you can learn the exact systems
327. 10:29that I use to scale on social media.
328. 10:32It's basically a series of video
329. 10:33tutorials where I show you the exact
330. 10:35systems I use for LinkedIn, Instagram,
331. 10:38YouTube, and TikTok to go viral. And
332. 10:42it's more than just going viral, too.
333. 10:43It's about winning leads and clients on
334. 10:45those social media channels. And to say
335. 10:47thank you to you watching this video
336. 10:49right now, I've arranged a 7-day free
337. 10:51trial that you can use to get started
338. 10:54for free. The link is in the
339. 10:56description. I want to see as many of
340. 10:57you in there as possible. We can speak,
341. 10:59have some calls, we can catch up
342. 11:01one-on-one or in a group. As well as a
343. 11:02course, it's also a community, so you'll
344. 11:04see me and my co-founders on there. We
345. 11:06can chat and help you out and give you
346. 11:07some one-to-one advice on how to grow.
347. 11:09It really is exciting. I want you in it.
348. 11:12Make sure you sign up using the link in
349. 11:13the description. Let's get back to the
350. 11:14video.
351. 11:19Step three is to write your content with
352. 11:21the algorithm in mind. And that's
353. 11:23writing your content for rate, not for
354. 11:25reach. Here's what I mean. One, did that
355. 11:27person stop and stay? So, when they saw
356. 11:29your video, your post, or whatever you
357. 11:31put out there, did they stop and spend
358. 11:33some time looking at it? How can you
359. 11:35influence that? Well, it's actually very
360. 11:37simple. So, for a text-based post, maybe
361. 11:40it's a LinkedIn post or a Twitter post,
362. 11:41make it very easy for them to read. So,
363. 11:44line breaks as opposed to a wall of text
364. 11:45that they're just going to scroll
365. 11:46straight past. You can also include some
366. 11:48things in there that are going to keep
367. 11:49them a little bit longer, whether that's
368. 11:51a question, a stat, or an interesting
369. 11:53graphic attached to the post. For
370. 11:54videos, what's going to make them stop
371. 11:56and stay is being direct. If they're 20
372. 11:58seconds into the video and you're still
373. 12:00introing yourself, they're not going to
374. 12:01stay for much longer because they
375. 12:03haven't got what they came there for.
376. 12:04Build your content around what's going
377. 12:07to make them stop and stay cuz that's
378. 12:09the first thing the algorithm is
379. 12:10measuring. The second one is, did they
380. 12:12do anything after watching or engaging
381. 12:14with that post? Like a like, comment,
382. 12:16share. The way you can initiate this
383. 12:18within your post is actually by saying
384. 12:20something controversial, a contrarian
385. 12:22opinion, or something that the masses
386. 12:24generally don't agree with. What's going
387. 12:26to happen? People are going to be
388. 12:27sharing it, they're going to be
389. 12:28commenting, and it's going to help boost
390. 12:29your post. And finally, third that the
391. 12:31algorithm is looking for is actually the
392. 12:33negatives. And a lot of people don't
393. 12:34think about this, but the tough thing is
394. 12:36that you can work so hard for these
395. 12:37positives, so making someone stay and
396. 12:39watch the video, like, engage, comment,
397. 12:41but one small negative almost cancels
398. 12:43that whole thing out. The negatives have
399. 12:45a lot more weight than the positives do.
400. 12:48The negatives are an unsubscribe, an
401. 12:49unfollow, an instant scroll past, maybe
402. 12:52a comment of something negative. One
403. 12:53person indicating they don't like that
404. 12:55content neutralizes a good four five
405. 12:58saying that they do. It's tough, but
406. 13:00it's just how the algorithm works.
407. 13:05So, that was the video how do social
408. 13:07media algorithms actually work and how
409. 13:09to beat them. What we've learned in this
410. 13:11video is they work in a three steps. As
411. 13:13soon as you publish that post, they're
412. 13:15going to classify it, learn as much as
413. 13:17it can about the post, it's then going
414. 13:18to test it before deciding whether to
415. 13:21scale it up or down. So, your objective
416. 13:23to beat the algorithm is to help it out
417. 13:26in those first two steps. Make it so
418. 13:27easy to classify what is your content
419. 13:29about, who is it for, because that then
420. 13:31gives you the best chance in phase two
421. 13:33when it's testing it within that group.
422. 13:35Do that correctly and you're going to
423. 13:37give yourself a very good chance at
424. 13:39performing well in that testing phase
425. 13:41and scaling up. Do that poorly, the
426. 13:43chances our engagement is going to be
427. 13:44low in that testing phase and the
428. 13:46algorithm is going to put a pin in your
429. 13:48post and not show it anymore. I know
430. 13:50it's simple, but it's literally the
431. 13:52system I've used to scale multiple of my
432. 13:55clients to millions of followers on
433. 13:56LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram. That
434. 13:59means that if you install this today,
435. 14:01you could achieve similar results. How
436. 14:03can you install it today? Well, make
437. 14:05sure you've really defined your niche
438. 14:06and defined who you're going after. Make
439. 14:08sure you're writing posts that are
440. 14:10really directly tailored to that niche.
441. 14:12It really is that simple. Do this and I
442. 14:15guarantee you'll see an uplift in
443. 14:16traction on your platform. Finally, just
444. 14:19a reminder that I do have that newly
445. 14:21launched community that is live now. On
446. 14:23it, I go through some absolute gems of
447. 14:25little tips and tricks I've learned when
448. 14:27scaling social media channels for myself
449. 14:29and for clients. It's completely free
450. 14:31for the first 7 days, so it really is a
451. 14:33no-brainer to go and check it out now.
452. 14:34Link in the description. And finally, if
453. 14:36you did like this video, please do like
454. 14:38and subscribe. I've got lots more
455. 14:40exciting content coming your way that
456. 14:41you don't want to miss out on. Have a
457. 14:43great day. Thanks for watching.