Escape The Social Media A.I. Algorithm
Arturo F Munoz
Marketing Systems Consultant | Guiding Solopreneurs to Location Independence Through Expert Lead Generation & Marketing Systems for Location-Independent Revenue Streams
Organic reach on social media platforms like LinkedIn has become increasingly difficult to achieve. Without it nobody reads you without you spending a pretty penny.
The culprit is a plethora of algorithmic changes that, combined with the sheer abundance of content now generated by A.I., have turned your indispensable material for somebody into part of a worthless pile of surplus fluff online, unworthy to be seen.
This makes inbound marketing no longer as effective a strategy for lead generation as it's been for over 10 years.
Algorithms on these platforms have become entirely unpredictable AND unreliable.
Terms of use and community guidelines on these platforms are devoid of meaning when it comes to helping you know what will reach an audience and what won't.
Their technology most often, if not outright, prioritizes content that aligns with the platform owners' commercial goals, rather than offer genuinely valuable material to the platform users you're after.
This means that these algorithms serve the platform creators, which is not the same as serving the content creators who feed them material to publish.
In short, this means that your carefully crafted posts may never reach your intended audience.
In fact, only too often creators find themselves shadowbanned for not adhering to the platform's opaque and ever-changing guidelines.
With no clarity as how they got in a pickle, all their posting goes into a dark hole.
The Dark Side Of Social Media Platforms
Expert YouTuber Sunny Lenarduzzi rightly highlights how social media is rigged against creators.
According to her insights, the platforms are designed to keep users engaged and consuming more content, but not necessarily your content.
"...these social platforms are big businesses and they have their own metrics for success. And if you're only measuring your success on social media based on what they care about, it becomes a losing battle. So, what matters most to these platforms across the board? Attention, eyeballs, and time spent on the platforms, because these three things are how they make money."
The algorithms are intentionally tuned to boost posts that produce platform stickiness (e.g. trending), generate ad revenue (especially from better paying platform customers) or reactions, but not particularly from those that offer genuine value or insight to your targeted audience.
This is why so many "content gurus" have resorted to using PODS to keep the semblance of effective reach. You know the drill.
You've crafted a unique, relevant, tactful, and flaming post. You wait for the right moment and click! You publish it.
Next, you wait and wait, and nothing. Why?
Didn't your followers like it?
It's not that at all.
The platform simply isn't showing it to your followers. They haven't even seen it!
Nobody can skip over or ignore what they haven't even seen yet.
This is why PODS were created.
Pods (as in "a pod of dolphins") are groups of people who agree to engage with your content the moment you tell them directly through a separate mechanism that you've made a post, e.g. you tell them via WhatsApp that you've posted on LinkedIn, and share that link with them.
In exchange for their engagement, you agree to engage with their publications likewise.
Not only this behavior is against the rules of most social media platforms but it's useless at getting you an ideal audience.
But the algorithm's unwieldy gyrations spawned a vicious cycle, where content creators are forced to find a way to game the system, which leads to having to compromise on quality (e.g. producing tons of A.I.-generated posts) and authenticity just to stay visible as their #1 priority.
Where To Focus Best In The Midst Of Ruinous And Fraudulent Content Posting?
Relying solely on social media platforms for your marketing and outreach has always been a risky strategy.
Instead, first focus on building your own digital assets—such as your website, email list, and content that you fully control.
These assets are not subject to the whims of ever-changing algorithms and provide a direct line to your audience once you've found it and begun outreach to it.
Next, old school (offline) marketing techniques should be an absolute part of your outreach game to bring leads into your fold, whether also offline or online. Here's a good example:
Multiplatform Marketing Is Not Optional Anymore
Invest in a robust email marketing platform like GetResponse or ConvertKit, and integrate it to multiple lead capture mechanism, such as QR codes, autoresponder triggers, surveys, lead magnet funnels, dial-in and chat bots, etc.
领英推荐
These tools allow you to capture but also nurture your audience and maintain control over your communication channels rather than solely rely on social media and Web search algorithms to reach your public.
Unlike social media, your email and snail mail lists are yours to keep, and through them you can reach your subscribers without worrying about algorithmic changes.
To build these, you must be constantly advertising, offering lead magnets, and regularly communicating through follow-ups.
There is no way around this. You'll also need competent content.
For Techniques On Content Marketing Try This
Don't rely entirely on social media gurus for your ideas on effective content marketing either.
You can get practical, how-to guidance, insight, and advice from content marketers experienced in strategies for building and leveraging digital assets by checking out the Content Marketing Institute.
It offers a wealth of resources on creating effective content marketing methodologies that aren't reliant on social media algorithms.
Links to Earlier Articles
Avoiding The Algorithm Trap
A common misconception is that creating more content will increase your chances of being seen.
Quality, however, always trumps quantity.
So, focus on creating useful evergreen content that addresses your audience's most urgent pain points and longing desires.
This is crucial for solopreneurs who don't have the bandwidth to be either creating content all day long or paying someone to do it for them.
Evergreen content is more likely to be shared and referenced too, helping you build a lasting reputation as a thought leader in your niche for less effort than constant briefings.
How A.I. Makes It Both Easier But Also Harder
Organic reach and traffic are both going the way of the dodo thanks to A.I.
A.I. has hastened this process, which was already well along, because of the limited amount of online real estate available on social networks and search engines where to publish a glut of existing content vying for attention.
You're going to have to become your own search engine, generating your own direct traffic to your own assets from multiple sources.
Mature social media platforms and search engines overwhelmed with A.I.-generated content won't deliver reliable results, except for the large accounts paying them millions of dollars to keep them top-of-mind before global audiences.
That won't be you anymore.
So, get ready to break free from the social media trap of promising you rainbows and unicorns in exchange for endless content creation to feed it.
I'm Hurting With You...Or Am I?
This article I've written, for example, I already know won't have much reach on this platform.
But being it's an asset (my asset), I will continue to point my ideal readers to it from multiple places where I meet with them, and not just rely on LinkedIn to get me views for it.
In other words, LinkedIn newsletters are just another blog I run.
And so, I practice what I preach since I take control of my own digital presence however and wherever I may find my ideal public.
If you want to meet other people who'd like to do the same, drop by my Solo Consultant Empowerment Forum.
Connect there with like-minded professionals, access exclusive resources, and get the support you need to succeed as a solopreneur. Joining is free for now.
It's one way to escape the social media A.I. algorithm.