The Facebook algorithm. Whether you beloved it or detest it, you've got to empathise information technology to be successful in marketing your business organisation on the earth's largest social network.

The average organic Facebook Folio mail sees merely 0.07% engagement. To crash-land that up for your brand, you've got to learn how to signal the algorithm. Y'all want it to know that your content is valuable, authentic, and worth serving up in your followers' feeds.

Bonus: Download a costless guide that teaches you how to turn Facebook traffic into sales in 4 uncomplicated steps using Hootsuite.

What is the Facebook algorithm?

The Facebook algorithm determines which posts people see every time they check their Facebook feed, and in what guild those posts show up.

Substantially, the Facebook algorithm evaluates every postal service. Information technology scores posts and and then arranges them in descending, non-chronological lodge of interest for each individual user. This procedure happens every time a user—and there are two.9 billion of them—refreshes their feed.

We don't know all the details of how the Facebook algorithm decides what to show people (and what non to show people). But we do know that—similar all social media recommendation algorithms—one of its goals is to keep people on the platform, so that they see more than ads.

In fact, Facebook faced heat in 2021 because the algorithm was prioritizing controversial content. Controversy often gets the highest engagement and can fifty-fifty trigger "compulsive use" of the platform.

And as far dorsum as 2018, critics feared the algorithm was increasing outrage, divisiveness and political polarization while promoting misinformation and deadline content.

For its office, Facebook says the algorithm is all about helping users "discover new content and connect with the stories they care the most about," while " keep[ing] spam and misleading content at bay." Every bit you lot'll meet below, recent Facebook algorithm changes have aimed to address concerns about content, too as privacy.

A brief history of the Facebook algorithm

The Facebook algorithm isn't static. Meta has a whole team of people working on artificial intelligence and machine learning. Part of their piece of work is to amend the algorithms that connect Facebook users with the most valuable content for them.

Over the years, algorithm ranking signals have been added, removed, and had their importance adjusted. It all depends on what Facebook thinks users want to meet.

Hither are some of the more notable moments and changes in the evolution of the Facebook algorithm.

  • 2009: Facebook premieres its first algorithm to crash-land posts with the most Likes to the meridian of the feed.
  • 2015: Facebook starts downranking Pages that post likewise much overly promotional content. They introduce the "Encounter Beginning" feature to let users indicate that they'd similar a Folio'due south posts to exist prioritized in their feed.
  • 2016: Facebook adds a "fourth dimension spent" ranking point to measure a post'southward value based on the corporeality of time users spent with it, fifty-fifty if they didn't like or share it.
  • 2017: Facebook starts weighing reactions (e.g., hearts or the angry face) more than archetype Likes. Another ranking betoken is added for video: completion rate. In other words, videos that go along people watching to the terminate are shown to more people.
  • 2018: The Facebook new algorithm prioritizes "posts that spark conversations and meaningful interactions." Posts from friends, family and Facebook Groups were prioritized over organic content from Pages. Brands would now need to earn a lot more date to signal value to the algorithm.
  • 2019: Facebook prioritizes "high-quality, original video" that keeps viewers watching longer than one minute, especially video that holds attention longer than iii minutes. Facebook likewise starts bumping up content from "shut friends": those that people engage with the nearly. The "Why am I seeing this mail service" tool is introduced.
  • 2020: Facebook reveals some details of the algorithm to help users empathise how information technology serves content, and lets users take command of their data to give the algorithm amend feedback. The algorithm begins to evaluate the credibility and quality of news articles in order to promote substantiated news rather than misinformation.
  • 2021: Facebook releases new details about its algorithm and gives people better admission to their data. Here's their caption of the algorithm in 2021.

How the Facebook algorithm works in 2022

So, where does all of this go out united states in 2022? First upward, News Feed is no more. What you see when scrolling through Facebook is now just chosen Feed.

Facebook says Feed "shows y'all stories that are meaningful and informative." Every bit of 2022, the Facebook algorithm figures out what those stories might be using three main ranking signals:

  1. Who posted it: You're more than probable to run into content from sources you collaborate with, including friends and businesses.
  2. Type of content: If you most often interact with video, yous'll run into more video. If you engage with photos, you'll run into more photos. You get the idea.
  3. Interactions with the mail service: Feed will prioritize posts with a lot of date, particularly from people you interact with a lot.

Each post is ranked based on these main signals to make up one's mind where it appears in your feed.

Facebook also gives users options that help them train the algorithm and customize their feed:

  • Favorites: Users can select up to thirty people and pages to add together to Favorites (formerly known every bit "Run into Kickoff"). Posts from these accounts will appear higher in Feed. To access Favorites, click the downward arrow at the superlative right of Facebook, and then click Settings & privacy, and so News Feed Preferences.
  • In-feed options: Click on any postal service and you'll run into the option I don't want to run across this. And then choose Hide post to tell Facebook you want fewer posts of that nature in your Feed. On ads, the equivalent choice is Hide ad. Facebook will and then give you a ready of options to indicate why you want to hibernate the ad. This will help Facebook empathize what kind of advertisers you want to hear from, and which y'all'd rather avoid.

And, finally, Facebook will remove content that goes against its Community Standards. They may also "remove or limit audiences for sure kinds of sensitive content," such as nudity, violence, and graphic content."

8 tips for working with the Facebook algorithm

1. Sympathize what your audition wants to see

Facebook indicates it prioritizes content that is "meaningful and informative." So what does that mean, exactly?

  • Meaningful: Stories the user will want to talk to friends and family virtually or spend fourth dimension reading (based on by behavior), and videos they want to watch.
  • Informative: Content someone will discover "new, interesting, and informative," which will vary by user.

Understanding what will be meaningful and informative to your specific audience means you demand to understand their unique interests and behaviors. That means you need to practise some audition inquiry. We've got a gratuitous template to go you lot started.

ii. Create accurate and authentic content

Facebook says, "people on Facebook value accurate, authentic content." They also specify that the types of posts people "consider genuine" will rank higher in Feed. Meanwhile, they work to reduce the ranking for posts people find "misleading, sensational, and spammy."

A couple of tips for signaling the algorithm that your content is accurate and authentic:

  • Write articulate headlines: Brand sure your headline clearly describes what users will observe in our post. You tin can certainly get artistic, but don't use clickbait or misleading titles.
  • Be truthful: Put simply, tell the truth. Don't sensationalize, exaggerate, or outright lie. Date allurement won't win you the algorithm's sympathy.

On the flip side, hither are some things to avoid:

  • Links to sites that apply scraped or stolen content with no added value
  • Borderline content (content that is not quite prohibited just probably should exist)
  • Misinformation and fake news
  • Misleading wellness data and dangerous "cures"
  • "Deepfake videos" or manipulated videos flagged as false by tertiary-party fact-checkers

3. Don't effort to manipulate the algorithm

Simply wait, isn't this post all about how to manipulate the algorithm? No, this post is about agreement how the algorithm works so you tin can learn what Facebook considers valuable for its users.

You accept to do the piece of work to figure out how those overall principles apply to your specific audience. So create content that will resonate with them and in turn send positive ranking signals to the algorithm.

Bonus: Download a complimentary guide that teaches y'all how to turn Facebook traffic into sales in four simple steps using Hootsuite.

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Trying to manipulate the algorithm to get more distribution than your content merits based on those ranking signals is a large no-no. This might include, for case, paying for appointment or comments or engaging in other black-lid strategies to manipulate achieve. Facebook considers this spam. Don't do information technology.

The simple message here: Work with the algorithm, not confronting it.

iv. Engage with your audience

The algorithm prioritizes posts from Pages that a user has interacted with in the past. This means that bumping up your respond game is key.

If a person takes the time to comment on your post, don't waste the opportunity. Making them experience heard with a answer makes it more likely they will continue to annotate on your posts in time to come. This, of grade, sends more of those juicy engagement signals to the algorithm. Ignore them and they'll likely go silent in render.

Pro tip: Whether you're a solopreneur or you take a whole team of community managers in place, Hootsuite Inbox makes managing these conversations at scale a lot easier.

5. Become your audition to engage with each other

Remember how we said the algorithm values content that people want to share and discuss with their friends? Well, a pretty easy manner to send that signal is to go people sharing your content and discussing it with their friends.

Facebook itself says that if a post triggers a lot of chat among a user's friends, the algorithm applies "activity-bumping logic" to show that mail to the user again.

To get your audience sharing and discussing, check out our tips for boosting Facebook engagement.

6. Make the most of Facebook Stories and (especially) Reels

Reels and Stories live in a separate world from the main News Feed algorithm. Both appear in tabs at the top of Feed, above all the other content, offering yous a Facebook algorithm bypass strategy.

Facebook Reels on newsfeed

Source: Facebook

In February 2022, Facebook expanded Reels from its initial launch in the U.Due south. to worldwide. Facebook says that half of all time spent on Facebook and Instagram is spent watching video, and "Reels is our fastest growing content format by far."

They're designed to fuel the discovery of new things. Feed, on the other hand, mainly features relevant content from people and brands you're already continued to.

If you're looking for new eyeballs, Reels are an important part of your strategy. Facebook says, "We're focused on making Reels the all-time way for creators to get discovered." Brands can also find new connections through Reels if they make quality content.

In addition to the tab at the top of Feed, Reels can be shared to Stories and seen within the Spotter tab. Within Feed, Facebook is starting to add suggested Reels from people the user does non already follow.

7. Don't forget the basic status post

Didn't nosotros just say video content is the nigh of import matter? Well, not exactly. When you're trying to bump up your date numbers, it can exist tempting to seek out complicated Facebook algorithm hacks, Simply don't forget the humble condition mail service. (A post that has no photo, video or link.)

Hootsuite'southward latest research shows that condition posts on average get the highest engagement: 0.13%. Photograph posts are next at 0.11%, then videos at 0.08%, and finally link posts at 0.03%.

Facebook post engagement benchmarks

Source: Hootsuite Global Country of Digital 2022

8. Expand your reach via your all-time advocates

Your employees have more than credibility and authority with the Facebook algorithm than your brand page does. This is because they take more than credibility and say-so with their ain followers and friends.

Here's a calculator that crunches the numbers on your employees' potential reach when they're empowered to share your brand's content to their own circles. Hootsuite Amplify tin help arrive easy for employees to share pre-approved content to their social channels.

Affiliates are another great group of advocates that can help aggrandize your reach and build your brand'due south brownie. Give them resources and training to help them spread the word on Facebook and extend your targeted audience through their own algorithm signals.

Manage your Facebook presence alongside your other social media channels using Hootsuite. From a single dashboard, yous can schedule posts, share video, appoint your audience, and measure the impact of your efforts. Endeavour it free today.

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