🤖 How to beat the algorithms

Hey 👋

Welcome to Neighbourhood Post issue #14 - easy to implement digital marketing ideas straight through your metaphorical letterbox.

How are you?

I’ve been writing a session I’ll be delivering at Stronger Conference this Saturday (2:15pm). It’s called “The State of Social Media: Getting The Most Out Of Paid & Organic Social in 2024”.

I’d love to see you there!

Anyway, on with today’s newsletter…

👉 By the way, if you’ve missed previous newsletters you’ll find them here.

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How to beat the algorithm 🤖⚡️

In 2023 we created 2,824 social media posts for clients.

Good job we love it ❤️

Publishing that much content helps us pick up broader trends.

Which is handy in our battle with the ever evolving, scary-when-you-think-too-much-about-it algorithm.

Without wanting to turn this into the sequel for The Social Dilemma, the algorithm interferes with our lives, and it certainly dictates the success of our social media campaigns.

Too many brands create content built on organisational needs, not the idiosyncrasies of the algorithm, and that’s where they fall down.

If you want to play the game, you have to play by the rules.

But don’t worry, we study this unfathomable enemy day and night, so you don’t have to.

Here are some things its current incarnation likes, and some things it doesn’t:

 ✅ Mixing long form (>1 min) and short form (<10 sec) video: It’s not one or the other, but both. The key is to mix it up.

✅ Strong hook rates: Your hook rate is the % of people who watch your video longer than 3 seconds. It means you’re stopping the scroll, which the algorithm loves. Focus on making your first 3 seconds engaging.

✅ Hashtags: We hated hashtags 🤮 but they’ve changed. They’re now for the algorithm, not the user. It uses AI to read your hashtags and show your content to users with similar interests. So we’re going to start using them again.

✅ Short videos (<10 secs) with long captions. This is a very recent one: Instagram likes longer captions. Add a short blog to the captions, pair it with an aesthetically pleasing video (and “read the caption” call to action).

❌ Videos with less than 100% watch rate. Get users to watch 100% of your video. Shorter videos that end abruptly work well. Where it make sense to, drop end slates and boring finishes. For example, don’t always put an end slate on a podcast preview clip, just get it to loop straight back to the beginning.

❌ Any post with a call to action. You’ll make it angry if you send people away from the app. Don’t abandon the phrase “Link in bio”, but understand that your post is unlikely to reach its maximum potential if you include those words.

Now I’ve equipped you with the ammo, good luck in your battle against the algorithm.

The odds of victory are stacked against you; it already knows you once liked James Blunt’s Facebook page in 2006, and whether you thought that dress was purple or gold back in 2015.

If you’d like us to take on your algorithm battles in 2024, get in touch. We’ve got some space for new clients in February and March.

See you next week ✌️

What we’re looking at 👀 and listening to 👂

📚 In an attempt to read all the books he got as Christmas presents at once, Dan is making little progress in any of them, although he’s really enjoying Demon Copperhead.

📺 Like the rest of the world, most of the team are hooked on Fool Me Once, although Emma is several episodes ahead of Lillie, so we’re not allowed to talk about it openly.

Before you go - we’ll never use these newsletters to directly sell you our services, but we’re always here if you need any expertise or support 👍